Best and Worst Times to Visit Walt Disney World

BEST TIMES FOR A FIRST FAMILY VISIT TO WALT DISNEY WORLD

• Early March (busy and expensive, but your best Spring Break bet)
• Between the second week after Easter and the week before Memorial Day
• Mid-late October
• November other than the first full week, and Thanksgiving week
• December up until a week before Christmas
• (For returning visitors, January and February, except the Presidents Day and Martin Luther King Day holiday weeks, are also excellent)

These periods are highlighted in this site’s 2010 Weeks to Visit and 2011 Weeks to Visit –each ranking the weeks of the year in order of best to worst.

WORST TIMES TO VISIT WALT DISNEY WORLD

Pretty much all other times, but especially Christmas week, New Years week, and the weeks before and after Easter.

More specifically,

• Walt Disney World is the most crowded when kids are out of school: over summer through mid-August, Thanksgiving week, Christmas and New Years weeks, the college spring break month of March; and the weeks before and after Easter. Crowds matter because they can increase waiting times by a factor of 3-4, lengthening your trip and/or reducing its value as a vacation while you are there.
• The times when kids are out of school are (mostly) also the most expensive times to visit–Disney increases resort prices at times of higher demand, so that for example the same room at the Polynesian is $1800 more during Christmas week than during the week this site recommends.
  • Walt Disney World pricing is complicated, and prices do vary during these busy periods–for example, prices go down quite bit in August, even though the first two weeks are busy. Click the thumbnail for the exact relationship on prices vs. crowds at Walt Disney World (when it opens, click it again to enlarge it more).
  • But generally you will pay more during the periods when kids are out of school.
• Rides are mostly likely to be closed (for refurbishment) between New Years and mid-February. For more on winter ride closures at Walt Disney World, click here
• The hurricane season officially runs from June 1 through November 30, but strongly peaks from mid-August through early October.
• Warm weather becomes materially less likely starting in mid-November, and the chance of good pool weather does not sharply improve again until mid-February. See Weather and When to Go.

MORE ON WHEN TO GO TO WALT DISNEY WORLD

• For when to go to Walt Disney World, see this
• For the next best dates, see this
• For the best and worst times to visit, see this
  • For 2010 weeks to visit, ranked in order, see this
  • For the 2010 Week Picker, see this
  • For 2011 weeks to visit, ranked in order, see this
  • For the 2011 Week Picker, see this
• For forecasting crowds at Walt Disney World, see this
• For seasonal pricing at Walt Disney World, see this
  • For 2010 price seasons, see this
  • For 2011 price seasons, see this
  • For projected 2012 price seasons, see this
• For weather at Walt Disney World, see this

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