The biggest factors to consider when planning the dates for your Disney World vacation are crowds, weather, special events, pricing and park hours. Depending on how you feel about each of these things will affect what time of the year will be best for your family to visit.
Crowds
Crowds are always at their highest if you are visiting when children have school breaks: Summer, Spring Break, President's Day Weekend, Labor Day weekend, Christmas break, etc. If you can avoid going during holidays when kids are out of school, you will be able to go during the lowest crowd times.
Lowest Crowds
- Mid-January to early February
- Late April
- Week following Labor Day until the week before Thanksgiving break
- Early December
Moderate Crowds
- Late February until very early March (before Spring break starts to hit)
- Early-Mid May
- Week before Christmas week
Busiest Crowds
- President's Day weekend and week in February
- Mid-March until Mid-April (Spring Break time)
- Memorial Day weekend in May
- June until Mid-August (summer break)
- Labor Day weekend in September
- Thanksgiving week in November
- Christmas week until Jan. 2
- Marathon weekends
Weather
Weather in Florida is generally nice. Here's the weather scope by season, so you can decide which scenerio is best for you.
- Late December-February: weather varies from 40-50's in the evenings to 70's during the day
- March-May: beautiful weather, 70's. Unpredictable rain spurts happen more often, but shouldn't affect your trip too much.
- June-September: HOT, 70's-90's. Unpredicatable thunderstorms are more likely in this season, but shouldn't last long or affect trip too much.
- October-Early December: beautiful weather, 70's
Annual Special Events
Each year, Disney has special events that occur during the same time each year. For those of us who visit frequently, this is nice to get to experience new things each time we go. You may be particularly interested in visiting during a particular event. The most famous and wonderful by far are the elaborate Christmas decorations you'll find throughout the parks in November-December.
Spring
- Princess Half Marathon Weekend
- Flower and Garden Festival at Epcot
- Star Wars weekends at Hollywood Studios
Summer
- Star Wars Weekends at Hollywood Studios
- Sounds like Summer Concert Series at Epcot
Fall
- Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party at Magic Kingdom
- International Food and Wine Festival at Epcot
- Eat to the Beat Concert Series at Epcot
- Wine and Dine Half Marathon
- Night of Joy at Magic Kingdom
- Festival of the Masters
- Children's Miracle Network Hospital Classic
- Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party at Magic Kingdom (starts in November)
Winter
- Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party at Magic Kingdom (Ends in December)
- Holidays Around the World and Candlelight Processional at Epcot
- Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights at Hollywood Studios
- Walt Disney World Marathon
Pricing
Lower crowd periods equal lower prices for resorts and vacation packages. Disney often offers their discount vacation packages during periods when they are trying to draw people in to increase sales during lower crowd times. If you want to pay less, check during the low crowd season (see "Crowds" portion of this article above).
We always go when a discount vacation package offer is available (Check here for current offers). Our favorite is the deal you can get at a Moderate Resort during their "Free Dining" packages which are offered unpredictably throughout the years. Discounts per season are normally announced a few months in advance. For example, if the offer is for dates in January-March, it will probably be announced in Novemberish. You are welcome to book as far in advance as you like, and if you see a discount that becomes available during the dates of your stay, simply call Disney and ask them to add the discount to your package.
Park Hours
Strangely enough, park hours is the only area in which the low crowds season is the worst time to go. Because of the lower crowds, parks won't stay open as long or offer as many sets of Extra Magic Hours. If getting in the parks earlier and staying in them later is important to you, you may actually wanted to consider a more crowded time of the year.
My Personal Favorite Time to Visit
For me, lower crowds and discount pricing are the most important factors when choosing my Disney vacation dates. Secondarily, I enjoy special events that could occur during my dates. This is my process for personally choosing the dates for my family:
- First, I choose the discount package that is currently being offered.
- Second, I find dates within that package that are within the lowest crowd time that also have a special event going on.
- Example: I booked a week in October during the "free dining" discount when Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party was happening.
Your Thoughts:
I'd LOVE to know how you decide when to go to Disney! Leave your comments below with your favorite time to go and how you make that decision.
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