When to go?

[lhafer]

Ok folks who go to Disney world and take their kids out of school...when is the best time to go (school and crowd and weather wise)? I have a second grader and feel this is the last "easy" year to pull her due to state testing starting next grade (We are in Texas, and she is in public school)

Additional info...hubby has a conference in Orlando March 23-25. Our spring break is the week of March 10th this year. But the crowd levels for the time of the 23-25th are supposed to be really high (other spring breakers). We are trying to figure out of we should make that a family vacation (adding days to the front or back), or just go another time. Last time we went we went the week after thanksgiving, but she was in preschool. But we loved going at that time, good crowd level, great weather, and Christmas decorations were up.

[SnuggleBuggles]

My friend swears by October. They are often there over Halloween. This year she went that week and other friends went the week before. The week before wound up being 90+ degrees and ridiculously crowded!

[123LuckyMom]

I like fall (very late October through very late November) or early Spring (late February/early March).We just went in the first week of March, and it was COLD, like in the 30s! I've not experienced that before, and I've gone in deep winter. Next time I would go in the fall.

[kaharris83]

Our very favorite time of year to go is end of January beginning of February before President's Day. Crowds are super low, we walk on the most popular rides over and over again. This year we went in November just after Jersey Week and Veteran's Day. It wasn't bad but a few days were still almost 90 degrees.

[123LuckyMom]

Our very favorite time of year to go is end of January beginning of February before President's Day. Crowds are super low, we walk on the most popular rides over and over again. This year we went in November just after Jersey Week and Veteran's Day. It wasn't bad but a few days were still almost 90 degrees.

The January/February time slot is great, but check the ride closings! They do a lot of refurbishing in these months, and you don't want to go when your favorite ride is down. This is true for most seasons, so it's a good idea to check no matter when you're planning to go.

[KDsMommy]

We live in Florida and always go when WDW does FL resident specials. Last year we went in April and it was perfect, not too crowded and beautiful weather.

[georgiegirl]

Our favorite time was the second week of November.

[klwa]

Easywdw does a breakdown of the best times to go during the year based on cost & crowds:
http://www.easywdw.com/category/calendar/crowdcalendar/

If you're wanting to go with the Chrismas decorations up, I'd look at just after Veterans Day next year. But since you're talking about wanting to go this school year, I'd look at early February, or waiting until early May.

[brittone2]

Ok folks who go to Disney world and take their kids out of school...when is the best time to go (school and crowd and weather wise)? I have a second grader and feel this is the last "easy" year to pull her due to state testing starting next grade (We are in Texas, and she is in public school)

Additional info...hubby has a conference in Orlando March 23-25. Our spring break is the week of March 10th this year. But the crowd levels for the time of the 23-25th are supposed to be really high (other spring breakers). We are trying to figure out of we should make that a family vacation (adding days to the front or back), or just go another time. Last time we went we went the week after thanksgiving, but she was in preschool. But we loved going at that time, good crowd level, great weather, and Christmas decorations were up.

We're taking our first trip and doing early Feb. We also considered early Dec. We HS so that part isn't an issue, but we were looking for lower crowd levels.

I would be interested in trying October in the future, but our trip was planned on short notice and we were just starting to think about it in Oct.

As of now I think there are two ride closings that I've come across while booking FP+.

[egoldber]

Our very favorite time of year to go is end of January beginning of February before President's Day. Crowds are super low, we walk on the most popular rides over and over again.

:yeahthat:

This is my absolute favorite time of year to go. My kids have a 4 day weekend at the end of January and we extend it a couple days to make it a week. Occasionally there is a major ride closed but IMO that is MORE than made up for by being able to enjoy the parks with virtually no crowds.

Also, since it gets dark early, the firework shows are early. No need for kids to stay up until 9/10 to see them.

October used to be a low crowd level time but it has gotten increasingly popular. WDW is now heavily marketing October with the Food and Wine Festival and the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Parties.

[SnuggleBuggles]

YOu know what I didn't like about off peak were the reduced hours. I don't want to pay as much as someone who gets to get there 14 hours and I get 10, kwim? This was DL so maybe WDW has a different ticket price structure. I get no lines means you don't need as long but still, I want that long. :)

[brittone2]

I know my kids won't be able to remain out any longer than fireworks, etc. at 8-9pm (and travel time back) so I don't mind the reduced hrs. If they were older and could reliably go-go-go, I'd be all for longer hours. I'm already not sure whether we'll be taking a mid day break...my just turned 7 yo goes from charming and bubbly to a whiny nightmare when she's tired, and needs 11 hrs of sleep. DS2 doesn't nap reliably any longer, but I'm hoping for stroller naps I guess. I would hate to lose all of the time heading back to the room and then back to the parks, but, I also don't want my kids to transform into:icon_twisted: :icon_twisted: :icon_twisted: after the first day or two.

[brittone2]

:yeahthat:


Also, since it gets dark early, the firework shows are early. No need for kids to stay up until 9/10 to see them.


Yes, verrrrrry happy about this for our Feb trip. I know as it is it will be a late night for the younger two. My kids adore parades and fireworks, so those are kind of a priority, but I know they would be trainwrecks staying up any later than what is scheduled for Feb (especially considering travel time back to the resort).

[kaharris83]

I found that this November there were more rides closed than we've ever experienced on our usual Jan/Feb trips. I will say we haven't done much swimming on our Jan/Feb trips. Usually one of the waterparks is closed for refurb during that time and it can be chilly compared to a summer Disney trip.

For us since we use the military tickets that are a smoking discount I'm not so bummed about the hours being shorter in Jan/Feb vs peak times. We literally rode Everest 16 times in a row with no wait(only stopped because we were feeling sick at that point). You can get entire parks done riding multiple times in the hours that they are open when there's no crowds.

[SummerBaby]

We went the last week of April this year- took the kids out of school. For us, it was perfect. The crowds were very low- we walked on most rides. The weather was also very nice- low 80s. We did have some rain, but the kids got to swim every day- which was important for them. I would definitely go that time again, or try October.

[lhafer]

I'm looking at the last week of April/first week of May. I really liked that last week of Nov/first week of December that we did before too.

[newnana]

We went around MLK day in late January when DD was in 2nd grade. She had an extra day off school and they never had homework on Friday’s anyway, so we worked around her having the least amount of makeup work.

One major benefit for us that I did not account for was that in the winter the sun sets earlier. That meant that the fireworks shows and light parades were all at a reasonable hour and DD had no trouble hanging in there for them. With our park hoppers, it also meant a couple nights we made it to more than one. Since we were planning on being at park openings most days, I didn’t think we’d make it to any of the night time stuff, but it worked out beautifully and crowd levels were definitely reasonable.

We followed the crowd guide on EasyWDW and went to the lowest crowd parks each day and had a blast. We weren’t too hot or too cold, but did have to pack for pretty big weather swings. 45-75 each day but the next week was apparently not like that at all.
Plus at that time of year we were able to get a pretty good discount on food/room. Maybe 30% off if I remember correctly?
Have fun!