Category — a. When to Go to Walt Disney World

The weeks before and after Easter are two of the most wildly crowded weeks at Walt Disney World.

The common-sense approach to handling them is to run, screaming, back home.

But if that’s not an option for you, here’s some more common sense that might help.

HANDLING YOUR DAYS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD DURING EASTER WEEK

You need a good plan for each day.  I’ve already covered this here, but the basics are

• Arrive at the turnstiles well before the park is scheduled to open
• See the rides that build long lines quickly first
• Use Disney’s free FASTPASSES to manage the rest of the long-line rides, until they run out
• Consider buying your way out of the problem of all FASTPASSES being taken early

PICKING WHICH PARK TO VISIT WHICH DAY

Don’t let me mislead you–from March 23, 2013 through April 6, 2013 every day is gonna be just rotten.  But some days are better than others.

The trick to finding the best days to visit the parks is to figure out what everyone else will do, and do the opposite.  This is the “judo” of Walt Disney World.

I’ve done this for the two weeks around Easter, where days with more color, and especially more darker colors, are worse.  See the chart–click it to enlarge it.

The best days at a given park will have three characteristics:

1. They’ll have no color at all
2. Other parks will have lots of color
3. The day will be right after, right before, or ideally, sandwiched between, days at the same park with lots of color

Epcot on March 27 is a perfect example of this.

BUILDING THE DAILY CROWD FORECASTS

The chart is built on the five common sense items that drive crowds at Walt Disney World:

1. The basic patterning of visits: The most common full day is Sunday, and people tend to see the Magic Kingdom and Epcot the first few days of their trip, and Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom after
2. The effect of Extra Magic Hours: Extra Magic Hours draw people staying in the ~30,000 Disney World hotel rooms, and those without hoppers then stay all day. So crowds are higher than on on-EMH days.  Note that the Magic Kingdom has Extra Magic Hours every single day, which makes things rough for those staying off site.  I’ve given the Magic Kingdom the darkest color here only on days with both morning and evening Extra Magic Hours
3. The extra attractiveness  of days with longer operating hours–a big issue at some times of the year, not much of a factor these weeks, because operating hours and evening shows are pretty consistent.
4. The holiday effect–people are drawn to the Magic Kingdom in particular, and also to Epcot, on major family holidays
5. The weekend effect: both longer and shorter visits tend to include weekends, so Saturday, Sunday, and Monday are particularly crowded days.

Combine all these drivers, and you can see how some days will be worse, and some better.  The weeks overall will be horrible–but having a plan will help a lot, and picking your days carefully will help some too!

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THE FOURTH OF JULY 2013 AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

Disney World celebrates the 4th of July at several parks–and on July 3rd as well!

On Wednesday, July 3, 2013, the Magic Kingdom has a special fireworks show “Celebrate America” at 9p.

On Thursday, July 4, 2013

• The Magic Kingdom has the same show at the same time–“Celebrate America” at 9p
• Epcot’s Illuminations has a special holiday ending added, and is shifted from its normal 9p time to 10p, and
• Disney’s Hollywood Studios will have a special 4th of July fireworks presentation at 10.15p

Other Fourth Fireworks

• The Magic Kingdom will be offering the same show–instead of Wishes–at 10p July 1, 2 and July 5-7

Those following this site’s summer itinerary for Walt Disney World will be in Downtown Disney for Cirque du Soleil July 3rd, and at Disney’s Hollywood Studios on July 4.

Sensible people might swap all this around, and see the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom on the 3rd, and do what the itinerary has written for the 3rd on the 4th…

FOURTH OF JULY CROWDS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

July is the most consistently crowded month at Disney World, and in the month, the week that includes the 4th of July is the most crowded week.

July is the most crowded month because every US schoolkid on a typical (that is, not year-round) calendar has the entire month off.  This is not true of either June or August.

Within July, many parents gravitate towards the week of the 4th for their vacations, because since the 4th is a holiday, they need to take one fewer vacation day to get a week off.

And people want to see fireworks on the 4th…so the Disney World parks offering fireworks on the 4th of July will be packed!

For more on July 2013 at Walt Disney World, see this.

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2015 AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

Questions about Walt Disney World in 2015 are starting to come in, so here’s some preliminary observations on the year.

(They cover just some specific periods, and not the basics you’ll find in Best and Worst Times to Visit Walt Disney World, so check that first if you haven’t seen it yet.)

• New Year’s Eve is midweek in 2014, so the Disney World holiday season crush will last until Saturday January 3, 2015.
• Mardi Gras 2015 is the day after President’s Day.  Many northeastern school districts have the whole week of President’s day off, which makes it a bad week to start with.  A few southern school districts have off around Mardi Gras, and they will add even more to the crowds this week.
• President’s Day itself, February 16, 2015, is almost as early as it can be.  This means fewer low-crowd early February days, but a few more good days in later February.
• Easter, on April 5, 2015, is in the middle of its range. The weeks before and after Easter will be mobbed, as usual, but there will be good weeks in very early March, and April after the 11th should be great in 2015!
• Memorial Day, May 25, 2015, is as early as it possibly can be.  This makes me think the week that includes it will be a little less crowded than usual, but it’s still a week to avoid!
• The Fourth of July in 2015 will be on a weekend, so it will be even more crowded than usual, and the weeks before and after it will be the worst ones in the summer of 2015 at Disney World.
• Labor Day, September 7 in 2015, is as late as it can be.  Some states have school openings tied by law to after Labor Day, so the end of August will be a little more crowded than it is in years with an earlier Labor Day.  The end of August is still going to be a good time to go to Disney World crowd-wise–just not as good as years in which Labor Day is earlier.
• Thanksgiving, November 26, 2015, is in the middle of its range.  The week that includes it will be as bad as usual, but there will then be three great weeks at Walt Disney World after it.  Pop Warner week in 2015 looks to be the week beginning December 5.
• Christmas 2015 is on a Friday.  Some school districts will go on break Monday the 21st, and others Thursday the 24th.  Rough crowds will begin December 19, 2015, but New Year’s week at Disney World–the 26th of December 2015 through January 2nd, 2016–will be a particular mess.

MORE ON DISNEY WORLD IN 2015

See the links below!

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 2015 weeks to visit, ranked in order, see this
  • For the 2015 Week Picker, see this
  • For 2016 weeks to visit, ranked in order, 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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OVERVIEW: SUMMER 2013 AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

Summer at Walt Disney World—loosely defined as Memorial Day in late May through Labor Day in early September–is an often difficult season.

Summer Disney World weather is hot and humid, and in mid-August shifts to hot, humid, and also the peak of the hurricane season.

Summer crowds at Disney World are very high most of the summer–lightest in the last part of August, and also lighter in early June. They peak over the Fourth of July holiday.

Disney World summer prices show a different pattern in 2013 than in prior years, and begin high only at the value resorts.  They drop to near their lowest level of the year at the deluxe resorts resorts in mid-July, and at the moderate resorts and value resorts in early August.

Deals and discounts are available for parts of this period.

[Read more →]

OVERVIEW: AUGUST 2013 AT DISNEY WORLD

This page reviews August 2013 Walt Disney World crowds, prices, deals and discounts, weather, and operating hours; adds a few other notes; and ends with week by week summaries.

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OVERVIEW: JULY 2013 AT DISNEY WORLD

This page reviews July 2013 Walt Disney World crowds, prices, deals and discounts, weather, operating hours, adds a few other notes, and ends with week by week summaries.

[Read more →]