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OVERVIEW: THE BEST TIMES IN 2024 TO VISIT WALT DISNEY WORLD

The rankings of times to visit Walt Disney World that follow are designed for first time visitors who do not know whether or not they will return.

For visitors on a return trip or first timers who will return, less concerned about ride closures or the peak of the hurricane season, the later January, early February, later August, and September weeks would be ranked much higher. All weeks good for returning visitors are marked in green at the far right of the image below.

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The rankings are in calendar order in the image above. In the discussion below, for each group, they are in rank order within that group. At the end of the post I have an image of the full year in rank order.

These week rankings are based on my 2024 Disney World Crowd Calendar, on Disney World’s 2024 resort hotel price seasons, and on Disney World’s 2024 ticket price calendar. (I handled prices a bit differently this year,* but this ended up making no material difference except where noted in the text.)

Other factors are key as well–the holiday program, ride closure season and hurricane season in particular.

For more on how I build these rankings–although it’s old, it still is mostly I do it–see this.

RECOMMENDED 2024 WEEKS AT DISNEY WORLD, RANKED IN ORDER

The twelve recommended weeks that follow are the best weeks to visit Walt Disney World in 2024 for first time visitors who may never return. They are lower crowd and moderate-minus crowd weeks that are not in the peak hurricane or ride closure seasons.

I divide them into two groups–the first group is lower crowd weeks, and the second group selected moderate-minus crowd weeks. In both groups, holiday season weeks go to the front of the line.

Among the low crowd weeks, the first two have the full holiday program, and the rest have none of it, and are scattered throughout the year. Weeks 3, 4 and 5 are very close, and I rank them based on better weather earlier in the late April/early May period they cover.

• 1: 11/30/24
• 2: 12/7/24
• 3: 4/27/24
• 4: 5/4/24
• 5: 5/11/24
• 6: 10/26/24
• 7: 2/24/24

Weeks 8 through 12 are the moderate-minus crowd part of my recommended weeks. In the past, I have not recommended any moderate crowd weeks, but the tools of Early Entry, ILL, and Genie+ make such weeks easy to manage. Listed first among these is a week with some of the 2024 holiday program. The weeks after are then ranked by price.

Those staying at deluxe resorts will want to flip weeks 6 and 7.

• 8: 11/16/24 (busy at the end of the week, fine before then)
• 9: 4/20/24
• 10: 5/18/24 (busy at the end of the week, fine before then)
• 11: 4/6/24 (busy early in the week, fine after then)
• 12: 3/2/24 (busy at the end of the week, fine before then)

Those staying at moderate resorts will want to flip weeks 11 and 12.

This completes the weeks in 2024 that are recommended for first-time visitors to Disney World who may never return.

2024 WEEKS I’M LESS KEEN ON

Weeks 13-30 all have moderate crowd levels, with different prices and weather, and those with some or all of the holiday program coming at the head of the line. I don’t particularly recommend these  weeks for first time visitors, but if you have to pick one, with good plans they are quite manageable. They are also fine for returning visitors.

As always I rank these weeks first by crowd levels, then by prices.

However, as in all these rankings, the levels I use for “resort hotel prices” is based on the simple average across all three resort types, so a week with high prices at the values, low at the moderates, and moderate at the deluxes would be evaluated the same as a week with low prices at the values, moderate at the moderates, and high at the deluxes.

So you might want to dig into the specifics (presented on the chart) to pick the best week for you based on where you are staying.

Weeks 13-15 see the lowest crowds of this moderate crowd group, but have bitterly hot weather, which is why despite similar crowd levels they are not included in the second group of my “recommended weeks.”

• 13: 7/20/24
• 14: 7/27/24
• 15: 6/1/24

Weeks 16-24 will be a bit busier than weeks 13-15, with weeks 16 and 17 seeing some of the holiday program. Weeks 18-24 are sorted by prices.

• 16: 11/9/24 (some holiday program)
• 17: 11/2/24 (some holiday program at end of week)
• 18: 6/15/24
• 19: 7/13/24
• 20: 6/22/24
• 21: 6/8/24
• 22: 7/6/24
• 23: 4/13/24
• 24: 10/19/24

Those staying at value resorts will want to flip the order of 23 and 24.  Those staying at deluxe resorts will want to move week 18 all the way down to between 22 and 23.

Last in this group are its highest-crowd weeks, with the first two seeing all or some of the holiday program, and the rest sorted by price.

• 25: 12/14/24 (high prices, very busy at end of week
• 26: 12/30/24 (very busy at beginning of week)
• 27: 10/12/24 (busy at beginning of week)
• 28: 6/29/24 (busy at end of week)
• 29: 5/25/24 (busy at end of week)
• 30: 3/16/24 (busy both weekends, fine during week)

Those staying in deluxe resorts will want to flip weeks 27 and 28.

Weeks 31-40 have one thing in common: while low or moderate crowd weeks, they all occur during the peak of the hurricane season. Hurricanes are rare and even more rarely affect a Disney World vacation, but for first-timers who may never return, why not just avoid the risk? I’ve always thought this, and am completing this page nearing my one-year anniversary of being trapped in Orlando due to Hurricane Ian…reinforcing this recommendation even more…

For returning visitors, though, the low-crowd, lower price weeks that can be found among this group can be, with weather luck, wonderful times to visit.

These peak hurricane season weeks are ranked in order of first crowd levels, and within the same crowd level by prices.

Weeks 31-35 have some of the lowest crowds and lowest ticket prices of the year, and generally nicely reasonable hotel prices.

• 31: 8/17/24
• 32: 8/24/24
• 33: 9/7/24
• 34: 8/10/24
• 35: 9/14/24

Weeks 36-38  have slightly higher but still fine crowds.

• 36: 8/31/24
• 37: 8/3/24
• 38: 9/12/24

Weeks 39 and 40 are the moderate-crowd weeks in this hurricane group.

• 39: 9/28/24
• 40: 10/5/24

2024 WEEKS TO AVOID AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

There’s two groups of weeks to avoid in 2024: high crowd weeks and weeks when some rides are often closed.

The first group, ranked 41-47, should be avoided because of crowds that traditionally range from high to unbelievable.

This group includes many of the busy March and April spring break weeks beginning 3/9/2024, and the busiest holiday weeks—President’s Day week, the weeks before and after Easter, Thanksgiving week, and the weeks around Christmas.

See the table above for exact rankings within these lousy weeks.

The next group includes the January and early February 2024 weeks when rides are often closed for repair or refurbishment—weeks 48-53.

Some of these weeks have among the lowest crowds and lowest prices of the year. However, this is the peak time for ride closures at Walt Disney World, especially the January weeks.

If this may be your only family visit, why go when you know likely a few of the best of Disney World will probably be closed?

2024 WEEKS AT DISNEY WORLD, RANKED IN ORDER

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*Traditionally, I have taken the average of hotel prices, and broken ties with ticket prices. This however does not work precisely given the wide variation between hotel prices in the three hotel price classes.  For example, if you sum these prices (for longer trips and a four person family),

• At a value resort, across the year on average tickets cost 2/3 of the total, and lodging just 1/3
• At a moderate resort, tickets and lodging each cost about half
• At a deluxe resort, tickets cost about 1/3 the total, and lodging 2/3

I did thus separate rankings for each resort class, but the differences weren’t wildly material, so I don’t show them. But once you have decided on your resort class, the color codes in the resort pricing columns are worth double-checking. For example, if you are staying at a deluxe, the weeks of 7/13 and 7/6 (ranked 19 and 22) are lower-priced at these hotels than all the other weeks with a crowd ranking of 6 that start at week 16…

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