Winter 2011/2012 at Walt Disney World

By Dave Shute

WINTER AT DISNEY WORLD

Winter at Walt Disney World—loosely defined as November through February–is the most variable of seasons.

The weather is literally variable—cooler, and with typical daily highs ranging from the low 60s to the 80s. Tornadoes can be an issue during this period. See this for more.

Crowds are both at their lowest—in January and February after the Martin Luther King Day weekend and before the President’s Day week—and at their highest, over the week that includes New Years Eve.

Prices are the lowest of the year from early January through mid-February (the value season). They also hit their highest level of the year in winter, over the weeks that include Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

WALT DISNEY WORLD CROWDS DURING WINTER

Crowds range over the period from near lowest of the year to the absolute highest—but in a predictable way:

• The first full week of November is moderately crowded
• The next week has low crowds
• Thanksgiving week is crowded
• The three weeks beginning the Saturday after Thanksgiving are not crowded
• The next week begins OK but build to very high crowds by its end
• The week including Christmas is the most crowded of the year
• The week after begins with high crowds and ends with low ones
• The week after New Years through the end of February are not crowded with the exception of the week that includes President’s Day, which is quite crowded
• This same period of January-early February is the most common time for rides to be closed—which is why this site recommends against it for first-time visitors

See When to Go to Walt Disney World, 2011 weeks to visit Walt Disney World, 2012 Weeks and/or Future Crowds for help figuring out when to go.

WALT DISNEY WORLD WINTER PRICING

Winter is most complicated time for Walt Disney World resort hotel pricing, with prices ranging from the lowest of the year to the highest.

• Prices begin in November 17-12% higher than the lowest of the year, and have an uptick to this at Thanksgiving.
• After Thanksgiving, the drop to the elvle at which they began Novemebr, and continue at these elvels into later December
• On 12/23, they jump to 55-90% higher than the lwoest of the year
• On 1/2/2012 they drop to the lowest level of the year, and remain at this low level until mid-February—with a slight kick up over the Marathon and Martin Luther King day weekends.
• On February 16—President’s Day weekend—they go up 30-60% compared to the lowest of the year, and remain at this level through 2/25
• On 2/26 they drop to 15-30% higher than the lowest of the year, and stay at this rate through the month

For more on pricing, see this.

WALT DISNEY WORLD WINTER WEATHER

Weather during this period becomes appreciably cooler until around January 1, and then begins slowly warming up again.

Median daily highs drop from around 80 on November 1 to the low 70s in early January, and return to around 80 by the end of February.

Variability increases over the same period. For example, on January 1, 20% of the time the high temperature is 60 or below, and only 20% of the time is it 80 or over. Sixty percent of the time highs range from 60 to 80.

By the end of February, highs are 80 or better 50% of the time–as they are at the beginning of November.

Tornadoes can be an issue during this period. See this for more.

Click the image (from Weather and When to Go to Disney World) for more on temperatures. (When open, click again to enlarge.)

MORE ON SPECIFIC WINTER PERIODS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

See the following for more specifics on shorter periods.

• November 2011
• Thanksgiving 2011
• December 2011
• Christmas 2011
• New Year’s Eve 20112/2012
• January 2012
• February 2012
• Spring Break 2012

MORE ON WHEN TO GO TO WALT DISNEY WORLD

RELATED STUFF

• 5. Thanksgiving at Walt Disney World
• 6. The Christmas Season at Walt Disney World
• 7. New Year's Eve at Walt Disney World
• 8. Winter at Walt Disney World
• Times to Visit Disney World