2008 Weeks to Visit Walt Disney World, Ranked in Order

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I recommend arriving the second Saturday after Thanksgiving. If you can’t go then, I present below the weeks of 2008 in order of best to worst…although I have grouped some almost equally bad weeks.

CRITERIA FOR RANKING WEEKS

My most important criteria in creating this list were:

1. Few attractions closed. Since this may be your only visit, you want to go during a time when the rides and attractions are likely to be open. While they can be closed for refurbishment at any time, the most common period for doing so is January and February.

2. Lower crowds. The basic source for the is this page on forecasting future Walt Disney World crowds.

A great supplement to this is Testa and Sehlinger’s touringplans.com. Sign up for a fee (or buy their book! which allows you to use their website for free), and double check their Crowd Calendar before making a firm commitment to a particular week.

I sorted the results so far based on three more points:

• Presence/absence of special events. One special event—Disney’s Christmas program—is a positive. Other special events tend to be of less general interest to first-time visitors, but do attract extra crowds for them to deal with, and are treated as a negative
• Avoiding the peak of the hurricane season, and
• Lower prices.

RECOMMENDED WEEKS

Based on this, I recommend the following 2008 Saturday arrival dates, in order. The patterns remain the same for future years, but because Easter and Thanksgiving move, the exact weeks may not.

1. 12/6: Lowest prices of year, low crowds, Christmas
2. 11/29: Lowest prices of year, low crowds, Christmas
3. 12/13: Low crowds, Christmas
4. 10/18: Low crowds, 2nd lowest prices of year, great pool weather
5. 5/3: Low crowds, great weather, 2nd lowest prices of year
6. 3/1: Low crowds for period, expensive
7. 10/25: Low crowds, 2nd lowest prices of year, great pool weather
8. 11/8: Low crowds, 2nd lowest prices of year
9. 11/15: Low crowds, 2nd lowest prices of year

The next 4 are about the same: higher crowds than 1-9, 2nd lowest prices of year, great weather
10: 4/5
11: 4/26
12: 5/10
13: 10/11

The next three are about the same: higher crowds than 10-13, similar prices
14: 4/12
15: 4/19
16: 5/17

The next two have similar or slightly higher crowd levels compared to 14-16, but higher prices
17: 3/8
18: 3/29

This completes the weeks I actually recommend.

WORSE WEEKS
See the continuation of this page here for the remaining, not recommended, weeks of 2008 ranked in order.

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LINKS FOR WHEN TO GO

• For when to go, see this
• For next best dates, see this
• For best and worst times to visit, see this
  • For 2009 weeks to visit, ranked in order, see this
  • For 2010 weeks to visit, ranked in order, see this
  • For the 2010 Week Picker App, see this
  • For 2011 weeks to visit, ranked in order, see this
• For forecasting crowds at Walt Disney World, see this
• For seasonal pricing at Walt Disney World, see this
  • For 2009 price seasons, see this
  • For 2010 price seasons, see this
  • For projected 2011 price seasons, see this
• For weather at Walt Disney World, see this