The Tightwad’s Guide to When to Go to Walt Disney World



This page is part of the series The Tightwad’s Guide to Walt Disney World

OVERVIEW: WHEN TIGHTWADS SHOULD GO TO WALT DISNEY WORLD

This site provides precise instructions elsewhere on when to go to Walt Disney World, the next best dates, and what to budget for such a trip. These instructions are designed for typical first time family visitors who are not sure whether or not they will ever return.

This page addresses when to go to Walt Disney World for a subset of first time visitors: tightwads.

MORE ON WHEN TIGHTWADS SHOULD GO TO WALT DISNEY WORLD

Tightwads should go to Walt Disney World the second or third weeks of September.

These weeks have a number of great things going for them…and a couple of lousy ones.

First, they occur within one of the periods of the year when Walt Disney World has the lowest resort prices—what it calls the Value Season.

See this for more on Walt Disney World price seasons.

Second, the lack of tourist and holiday traffic during this mid-September period makes airfares in this period as low as they get.

Third, for the past seven years, Disney has offered the Disney Dining Plan for free during this period, both in boom times and in bust.

See this for the 2012 Disney free dining offer.

Getting the Disney Dining Plan for free can save a family of four following this site’s Autumn-Winter-Spring Itinerary $1,300…reducing the cost of a minimum-cost eight night, nine day trip by 38%!!

Separate from the world of tightwads, there’s another good reason to go during this period: the crowds are low.

WHAT’S THE CATCH?

The first catch—as noted above—is that there’s no guarantee that Disney will offer the Dining Plan for free during this period.  The odds are really, really high that it will…but that’s not the same as a guarantee.

The second catch is that if the promotion in fact does happen, you may not actually be able to get one of the limited packages made available before they sell out, or before your preferred resort, or resort type, sells out. See below for help in increasing your odds.

  • You have to book these reservations within the time window that Disney makes them available. Recently, these packages have been made first available for reservations to be booked at times ranging from late March to early June, with the cut-off for reservations to be booked typically in later June. So you have to pay attention, and act fast.
  • But…this window is usually well after the 180 day period that this site instructs you to use for making your dining reservations.  This 180 day window is important during the free dining period, because, while the parks are not that crowded, pretty much everyone you see will be also on the free dining plan.  That means the preferred restaurants are completely booked way early.
  • Attend to sites like MouseSavers.com, and the Walt Disney World Resort Update section of MousePlanet.com, for news on when the packages open.
  • Another good idea is to sign up for a Disney Rewards Visa Card.  In recent years, such cardholders have had a couple of day window to reserve this promotion before the general public could do so.

The third catch is that this is kind of a lousy time to be in Florida, weather-wise—which is why this promotion is offered.

  • The period when this package has been offered—typically, from the beginning of the fourth week of August to the end of the third week of September—combines the continuing heat and humidity of a Florida summer with the peak of the hurricane season.
  • It is rare for hurricanes to have a major impact on Orlando, and even rarer for them to utterly ruin a vacation.  However, if one comes, at minimum you will have some days of remarkably heavy rain.  It’s also possible for your plane reservations to be messed up because of the weather.
  • It is for this reason that these weeks are ranked low on this site’s lists of weeks to visit ranked in order–e.g., 20th and 21st in 2010.
  • The two weeks noted here as the ones tightwads should target are typically at the end of the discount period—which means, at least in theory, that they will be cooler than the earlier weeks of this promotion’s traditional period. (These weeks are also typically less crowded than the earlier weeks.)

WHAT DO TIGHTWADS HAVE TO DO TO GET THIS DISNEY WORLD DEAL??

Because the promotion is usually made available for booking well after dining reservations are available, here’s what you need to do–and note that this is a little different than what your To-Do List says to do:

  • More than 180 days before your intended arrival date, pick or design your itinerary, and make a room-only reservation (“room-only” is one of the options you have, either on the Disney World on-line booking website or on the phone at 407-939-7675).  You make this type of reservation because it has much more flexible change and cancellation rules compared to the “book vacation packages” type.
  • Reserve the meals from your itinerary or that you have picked right at the 180 day restaurant reservation window.
  • Then, when the Dining Plan promotion comes out, call Disney World back and, using the discount code for the promotion, either switch your reservation to a package including the free dining plan, or re-book, but keeping your current dining reservations.

WHAT’S A TIGHTWAD’S NEXT BEST CHOICE FOR WHEN TO GO?

This promotion is usually available for four to six weeks of later August and most of September. (MouseSavers.com has a great list of the dates of past major Disney World promotions here.)

The two recommended weeks in the middle of September are likely to be cooler and less crowded than the earlier weeks.

However, if you can’t go in the later weeks, the earlier weeks of the promotion are still OK for tightwads…more crowded, and hotter…but still a bargain!

PUBLISHED SO FAR IN THE TIGHTWAD’S GUIDE TO WALT DISNEY WORLD

PUBLISHED SO FAR IN THE COMFORTABLE GUIDE TO WALT DISNEY WORLD

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4 comments

1 A traveler { 01.22.12 at 10:52 am }

This is a great website. May I dare ask. We have 5 kids, some very small , including a 4 and 5 yr old… In the past when we had 4 kids we have stayed at the cabins at camp wilderness. Is there any chance Disney would allow 7 people in the cabins?

2 Dave { 01.22.12 at 11:24 am }

Disney will allow you to enter six names into the system, and will only provide room keys, tickets on the keys, the dining plan (if you use it) and bedding for six, plus one more under the age of three.

3 Atraveler { 01.23.12 at 11:19 pm }

We have seven people in our family intending to stay at camp wilderness. Is it possible to split up, with some staying at a cabin and some staying at a tent camp site? We would all be driving in the same car. Which tent sites are closest to the cabins at fort wilderness? Thanks for all of your great tips.

4 Dave { 01.24.12 at 7:54 am }

Sure you can. See the map on this page: http://yourfirstvisit.net/2009/10/26/review-the-cabins-at-disneys-fort-wilderness-resort/

The campsite loop closest to the cabins is 2100, followed by 2000 and 1100. The cabin loops closest to these are 2200 and 2300, followed by 2400.

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