So Your Going to WDW: When to Go.

The question of when to go is often not up to us. Do to work and schedules we might only be able to go to Walt Disney World only at one time of the year. For those who have more of a choice, the WHEN becomes more of an issue. If you ask the WDW Resorts, the best time to go would be during their value seasons. There are three, 1/1 – 2/14 and 7/8 – 10/3 and 11/25 – 12/19. WDW needs to keep their rooms booked and they offer the best rates during these off season times. We have gone in each of these dates and there are pluses an minuses for each. We would go in September before the kids and when they were in pre-school. Now that they are older it’s the battle of should we take them out right after they have started school? Which is one reason why this is a good time to go. A lot of people say that same thing, which means less people in the parks. And one reason why not to go during this season, is the weather. Either the Summer heat or Hurricane season. Hurricanes can really hurt you if you are traveling, with cancelled flights and such. It is a different story if you make it to WDW before the storm hits. I have heard stories of people that were at WDW when a hurricane hit. Disney is well organized in these matters. You are asked to stay at your resort if the storm is bad enough that the parks are closed. They offer different things per property to keep you busy. Once the storm has cleared, unless it was a class 5, Disney has their parks cleaned and up and running within 24 hours. Only you can decide if it is worth the risk.
The second good time of the year to visit is from 11/25 – 12/19. This is the time between Thanksgiving and the week before Christmas. Everyone is tired of traveling for Thanksgiving and gearing up for Christmas, so they tend to stay away from the parks,. This is beginning to get a little more crowded each year, but on a scale of 1-10 where 10 is you can walk on peoples heads crowded, this part of the year is a 4-5. When we were there in early December, it was hit and miss. MK was jammed one day and empty the next. Or, Epcot was crowded all day but emptied out before Night Extra Magic hours . This is a special time of the year because you also get to enjoy WDW decorated for Christmas. (I’ll post about some of the Christmas things you can do later). The other good time to visit WDW is from Jan 2 thru Feb 14. You take your chances with the weather though. One time we went in early Jan. It was so windy and cold that we wore almost every item of clothes we brought layered to stay warm. Another time we bought bathing suits at a local store to go swimming. As for attendance, this time of year is very light. A good website to look for park attendance levels is TouringPlans.com. It is a pay site, but they have a sample chart to look at. I paid $6 for a membership last year and this site was very accurate in attendance predictions and touring plans. Another good planning site is ALLEARSNET.com.
So bottom line is that there are a number of good times to go to WDW. I have mentioned the low crowd times, but you can go based on events. Food and Wine festival or the Flower show both at Epcot are good times to go also. During Mickey's not So Scary Halloween Party and the Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party are also fun. So happy planning and let me know if I can help with any questions.