OVERVIEW: WHEN TO GO TO WALT DISNEY WORLD
Arrive in Walt Disney World one of the first three Saturdays after Thanksgiving.
See Next Best Dates if you cannot go on these dates.
WHY GO TO WALT DISNEY WORLD THEN?
“Here’s a tip for avoiding the crowds. The entire world over, two of the best weeks to go anywhere are the first two weeks of December. The weather is good in most places and attendance is almost always low. At Disneyland and Disneyworld in particular, the first two Wednesdays of December are often among the three or four lowest days of the year.”
Buzz Price, Walt’s Revolution: By the Numbers
Crowd levels* are the first factor to consider in timing your Walt Disney World trip.
Here’s why: daily attendance at the Magic Kingdom, the signature park at Walt Disney World, varies from fewer than 20,000 people to more than 60,000, with more than 90,000 heard of at Christmas. The park has a total hourly capacity of approximately 40,000 people–that is, the attractions can deliver about 40,000 rides per hour.
Consequently, on a day with 60,000 visitors, it will be hard for you to average more than one attraction every 90 minutes or so. Multiply this by the number of attractions in the park and it could take you more than 50 hours to enjoy everything at the Magic Kingdom. The attractions themselves take about 7 hours to enjoy; the other 40 or so hours will be spent waiting.
On the other hand, if you go to Walt Disney World during a low attendance period, you can enjoy an attraction at the Magic Kingdom every 20-30 minutes, reducing your total Magic Kingdom time to less than 15-20 hours, and your waiting time down to 8-14 hours.
Multiply this effect over the other three other theme parks at Walt Disney World and you can see how you can save literally days of waiting in line by going during a low attendance period. This allows you to
- Spend fewer total days at Walt Disney World, easing budget and schedule issues
- While seeing more of the best of the parks
- Taking more breaks from the parks, and, all in
- Having a less stressful, more satisfying experience
Other factors to think about in setting your date include seasonal pricing, the hurricane season, ride closures, and special events.
Given this, early December is the best time to visit.
Crowds are low, prices are low (in 2015, the week beginning 12/11/2014 has higher prices), the hurricane season is over, few rides are closed, and magical special Christmas events and displays are everywhere.
See best and worst times to visit if you cannot go in early December.
*But not the lowest crowd periods–these are low for good reasons: the peak of the hurricane season, and ride closure season, both of which should be avoided by first time visitors who may never return.
MORE ON WHEN TO GO TO WALT DISNEY WORLD
- For when to go to Walt Disney World, see this
- For the best and worst times to visit, see this
- For forecasting crowds at Walt Disney World, see this
- For the 2015 Crowd Calendar, click here
- For the 2016 Crowd Calendar, click here
- For seasonal pricing at Walt Disney World, see this
- For 2015 price seasons, see this
- For projected 2016 price seasons, see this
- For weather at Walt Disney World, see this
Want a second opinion?  Then check out my book lol.
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298 Comments on "a. When to Go to Walt Disney World"
Karen, I won’t have specific thoughts until Disney publishes its calendar for November–in about a month. But–til then–AK is typically a great choice the Friday after Thanksgiving, if you can’t wait, and Epcot is typically a good choice the Saturday after.
Hi Dave, we are planning a vacation for 11/26-12/5/15. We are going to be doing both WDW and USF. I know the first couple days will be busier as it will be the end of thanksgiving week. I figured we would take the first Friday to do a gingerbread house/resort tour. I was then thinking we would go to Epcot world showcase on sat, thereby leaving days with lower crowd levels for rides/other parks for the rest of the week. Have you been to world showcase at this time? Can you share your thoughts? Thanks!
Hi Holtone a couple of things: first Universal has just two parks, IOA and US. There is a Harry Potter area in each. On DIsney, I won’t be able to recommend parks for sure until the December calendar comes out, which will be in May. So check back then!
Danielle–my approach is just to fit enough park days into a typical “week off of work.” Because weekends are often more expensive and more crowded, a Weds-Weds is actually better!