How the Disney World 2013 Week Rankings Were Built



2013 Walt Disney World Weeks Ranking v3I’ve recently published the final revision of the weeks of 2013 ranked in order of how good they are for a family on their first visit to Walt Disney World who may never return.

This page explains how they are built.

HOW THE WEEK RANKINGS ARE BUILT

Basically, I chunk up the weeks of the year based on certain criteria, and then sort within each chunk based first on crowds, and then, within the same crowd level, prices.

“WEEKS TO AVOID” AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

The worst chunk for first time visitors who may never return is the ride closure season—early January to shortly before President’s Day.

There’s some great weeks among the affected eight 2013 weeks for returning visitors, but for those who may be on their only visit ever, times when terrific rides are commonly closed are to be avoided, and show up at the bottom of my list.

2013 Disney World Crowd Calendar v2-1-13-13The next-worst chunk is the weeks with high crowds—seventeen summer, spring break, and holiday weeks. These show up next to last—sorted, as are the ride closure weeks, first on crowds, and then on prices.

These two chunks together I class as “Weeks to Avoid.”

Taking out these two chunks leaves 28 low to moderate crowd weeks.

“WORSE WEEKS” AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

From these, the first chunk taken out is the 8 peak hurricane season weeks.

Like the ride closure weeks, there’s some great options among these for returning visitors, but the (admittedly low) risk of vacation disruption from hurricanes leads me to downgrade these for those who may never return.

This leaves 20 low to moderate crowd weeks that are in neither the ride closure season nor the peak of the hurricane season.

The worst rated of these 20 weeks are in the chunk of 6 weeks with moderate crowds.

These two chunks together I class as “Worse Weeks.”

“RECOMMENDED WEEKS” AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

That leaves 14 weeks with low crowds which are in neither the peak hurricane nor ride closure seasons. These weeks are this site’s “Recommended Weeks.”

They are divided into two groups—those in the Christmas program season and those outside of it.

The 3 Christmas program weeks are top-ranked; the remaining weeks are then sorted as usual based first on crowds and then on prices.

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