The Best Time of Year to go to Disney World
You've decided you want to go. Now, the decision facing you is when to go. Of course, a lot of this is riding on your work schedule and maybe the kids' school year and breaks (though we tell you about when to consider taking them out of school in this post).
Once that's all figured out, though, all things are still not equal. While I firmly believe you can have fun at Walt Disney World any time of year, some times are just better than others. There are a lot of factors to consider, such as the Florida weather, the cost of your hotel and tickets, the crowd levels, and the hours of operation of the parks.
An uncrowded evening for Happily Ever After... in the pouring rain
First, let's talk weather. In general, you can expect the harshest weather in Florida in the summer. Florida is hot and summer is humid. Many find this difficult to deal with. As you get into Fall, the weather cools slightly but it does take a while to feel comfortable still. Also, September and October carry the slight risk of hurricanes or tropical storms interfering with your travel plans, though hurricanes rarely affect things as far inland as Orlando.
Late Fall, around mid-November, things begin to become more pleasant both in terms of storms and heat. The weather cools down and becomes drier. It stays this way until about March when it begins to heat up again. You will never experience snow in Orlando, though you may experience nights in winter approaching freezing.
Second, let's talk Disney's ticket seasons. Disney tickets and hotels are going to be more expensive when the park experiences the most visitors, and least expensive when it experiences fewer visitors. These times of year can be broken down into three categories:
Peak - highest crowds, highest prices
Regular - regular crowds, moderate prices
Value - lower crowds, lower prices
Easy-peasy, right? Well, not exactly. Disney sometimes uses different words for these seasons. For example "Fall value season" may align with either Regular or Value season prices. In addition, recent pricing adjustments by Disney have made peak season tickets even more expensive. The latest shift seems to have driven more people to purchase tickets during the regular or value season because the peak season is now just too expensive. So even if you travel during the value season, that doesn't necessarily mean the crowds will be as low as they might have been in prior years. We were stunned traveling last year during February value season to find that crowds were easily reaching 7 or 8 on a 10 point scale.
So for now, consider "peak", "regular", and "value" ONLY to reflect pricing and not crowds. For crowds, you will want to consult a crowd calendar. We'll talk about this in another post.
So how do you know when it's "peak", "value", or "regular" season? Consult a good ticket pricing calendar like this one. You'll see that January, February, the beginning of March, and most of September are "value" prices, but every Saturday is "peak" price. Other peak prices occur the week of Christmas, the week of New Year's, two weeks in April around Easter, and the week of Thanksgiving. Also holidays like July 4, Memorial Day, and President's Day receive peak season pricing.
Now that we've explained two major factors in the "best time" to go, here are my recommendations and my admonitions, if you will.
My recommendations for when to visit:
1) Early December.
Arrive after Thanksgiving and leave before the Saturday before Christmas. On this year's calendar, this is a "regular season" price. In other years it has had value pricing, but it seems to be becoming more popular, and for good reason. The weather is perfect, usually sunny, days can still be warm, but nights and mornings cool, and low humidity. Think crystal clear blue skies and fog rising from bayous weather and I think you'll get the picture. Also, the Christmas decorations are up, Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party and the Candlelight Processional are happening, and there are few renovations yet as it's not quite value season. The only drawback to this time of year, I think, are the park hours and daylight, which is going to be shorter than usual.
2) September.
Once the kids go to school and hurricane season sets in, Disney experiences a dramatic drop in attendance. Hello, value season. September's weather is still going to be hot and muggy, but the crowds are reduced from summer, renovations haven't yet started usually, and you get value pricing. Also, you can often score "free dining" during this time of year (look for Disney promotions). Then, there is the food and wine festival which is great fun for foodies around EPCOT's World Showcase. Also, since the days aren't quite that short yet, you will still experience fairly extended park hours. The major drawbacks to this season are the mugginess and possibility of a hurricane or tropical storm impacting your plans, and by that I mean your flight in most scenarios. Only a few times have hurricanes forced parks to shut down but when they do, Disney will take very good care of you at your resort.
3) January into early February.
Arrive after the week of New Year's and leave before the week of President's Day. Most of these days will get you value pricing, and you'll be in the rare time of year when even Saturdays receive only regular pricing and not peak pricing. This season is the best value for your money, period. The threat of hurricanes has passed and you are back to mostly clear skies and dry weather, though you can expect some rainy days here and there. Weather can be cool, but if you are coming from the North, this should not be a problem. We're talking 40 degrees cool, not 0 degrees cool, which is a vast improvement from where I come from. And it typically does warm during the day into the 60s, 70s or even 80s later in February.
The downsides of this season are shorter hours in the parks (most will close by 7pm-9pm and not open until 8am-9am), and that this is the season where Disney typically shuts down the most rides for refurbishment. That's still only going to be one or two rides overall, but if you had your heart set on riding something only to find it's closed for refurbishment, then it's best to check Disney's refurbishment schedule.
4) The first two weeks of May.
Arrive after Easter. Leave by mid-May. This is value season for my "some like it hot" people. Because, yes, you are well into summer weather now in Florida. Expect it to be hot and muggy with a 3:00 or so thunderstorm that will consist of one crack of thunder and five minutes of rain every single day. (Gotta love Florida's predictability)
May is great because the days are longer, the park hours are getting longer again, gearing up for Summer, most rides are refurbished by this time, and the Flower and Garden Festival is going on at EPCOT. And you get to feel like it's Summer at Walt Disney World while experiencing value season prices.
The drawback? It's hot.
What if those times don't work out for you? Never fear. Disney is great any time of year. But that said, there are some things we like to avoid. It's up to your preferences whether you like to avoid them or not, but here's our list:
1) The last two weeks of April.
This is around the Easter holiday and is when the majority of kids in Florida are on Spring Break, not to mention other parts of the country. It's peak season, and it's going to get expensive and crowded during this time with your crowd's mean age being around the teenage and early college mark. The Flower and Garden show is happening and you might even see the Easter parade, but for me it's just too hot and crowded with too many kids.
2) Pop Warner Week.
Somewhere in January, this year it's the 18th-20th, Walt Disney World hosts a cheer and dance competition. Squads from all over the country descend upon the land with their chants and cheers. The weather? It's perfect. The price? Value season, baby. But if you find yourself swept into a flock of these chanting cheerleaders and maybe you're not exactly in the mood for school spirit and would rather hear the ambient Disney music around you, or the ride you're on, or the show? If that's going to make you mad, then this isn't the right time to go. Yes, it falls right into the middle of one of my recommended time periods. So I recommend looking up when Pop Warner week is the year you plan to go and then, well, planning around that.
3) July and August.
I have never in my life been so hot as I was one day at the Magic Kingdom in late August eating a turkey leg. Yeah, a turkey leg was probably not the brightest choice in the 100 degree plus heat index. But every day was like that and I wanted a turkey leg, darnit! Anyway, even if you don't eat a turkey leg, this time of year is miserably hot and humid. You're going to pay peak prices and the kids are out of school so you're also going to deal with peak crowd levels. The bright side is the parks are in full swing. The rides are operating at max efficiency, the restaurants and parks are open late, the night shows are running one or even two times a night, the characters are out and about. Disney pulls out all the stops during the Summer. But it's really really hot. And really really crowded.
4) President's Day.
I mentioned this before as a week to avoid in that magical February time-frame, and I bet some of you went "huh?". President's Day is a BIG DEAL at Walt Disney World. This is one fact of Walt Disney World that I am at a loss to explain. Where I'm from this is not a major holiday. Perhaps it's the long weekend in the middle of February when folks have been looking to get out. Either way, it's crowded. As in 10 out of 10 on crowd calendars.
This is true for any holiday, but I'd rather in at Walt Disney World on Easter, or Christmas, or the 4th of July, than a minor holiday like President's Day. So I don't see the value in going during this time. It gets peak season pricing and it's one of the most crowded weekends on the Disney calendar.
I hope I've given you some good ideas of when is a good time to go. While I didn't give you a definitive time, it's because it's subjective. You need to know your preferences for weather, price, crowds, and events, and go from there. We plan to add this post to a series that takes you through planning a Walt Disney World vacation from the beginning in the future, so watch for more posts like this.
Are you enjoying the blog? Do you have a question about Walt Disney World or a topic you'd like us to discuss on the next blog? Leave us a comment or like and comment on our Facebook page. See you next week!
