Category — a. When to Go to Walt Disney World

The Recommended Weeks for 2013 are Out!

by Dave

BEST WEEKS FOR FIRST-TIME VISITORS TO GO TO WALT DISNEY WORLD IN 2013 RELEASED!

Yesterday I published my first draft of the recommended weeks of 2013. You can find it here.

The week rankings are based on the current drafts of the 2013 Disney World Crowd Calendar and projections for 2013 Walt Disney World price seasons, as well as other factors.

When actual 2013 price seasons are released and more 2012-2013 school year calendars are published (typically in the summer), I’ll update these week rankings.

In 2013, Easter (3/31) is early, and both Columbus Day (10/14) and Thanksgiving (11/28) are as late as they can be. This means fewer good March and October weeks, and more good April and November weeks.

The 2013 week rankings are designed for first time visitors who do not know whether or not they will return.

For visitors on a return trip, less concerned about ride closures, the January and early February weeks would be ranked much higher–with the Marathon and Martin Luther King Day weeks being the worst of these.

WHEN CAN YOU BOOK A 2013 VISIT TO WALT DISNEY WORLD?

Disney won’t let you book a 2013 trip unless it’s within 500 days of the date you book. See this. As I write this, rooms are bookable in all of January 2013 but no later.

Here’s a table of when arrival dates are 500 days before:

Arrival Date 500 Days Before

3/1/2013 10/18/2011
5/1/2013 12/18/2011
7/1/2013 2/17/2012
9/1/2013 4/19/2012
11/1/2013 6/19/2012
1/1/2014 8/19/2012

(See this for 2011 weeks ranked in order, and for 2012 weeks, see this.)

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 2011 weeks to visit, ranked in order, see this
- For the 2011 Week Picker, see this
- For 2012 weeks to visit, ranked in order, see this
- For the 2012 Week Picker, see this
- For 2013 weeks to visit, ranked in order, see this
For forecasting crowds at Walt Disney World, see this
- For the 2011 Crowd Calendar, click here
- For the 2012 Crowd Calendar, click here
- For the 2013 Crowd Calendar, click here
For seasonal pricing at Walt Disney World, see this
- For 2011 price seasons, see this
- For 2012 price seasons, see this
- For 2013 price seasons, click here
For weather at Walt Disney World, see this

September 20, 2011 No Comments

2013 Weeks to Visit Walt Disney World, Ranked in Order

by Dave

Hey…are you looking for

If so then click the links!

OVERVIEW: 2013 WEEKS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

This site recommends arriving at Walt Disney World one of the first three Saturdays after Thanksgiving.

If you can’t go then, presented below are the weeks of 2013 in order of best to worst (revised January 2013).

The week rankings are based on the 2013 Disney World Crowd Calendar and 2013 Walt Disney World price seasons, as well as other factors–the Christmas season, ride closure season and hurricane season in particular.

There are two pages of 2013 Disney World week rankings. The page you are on has recommended weeks. The second page has the rest of the weeks of the year, and is here. [Read more →]

September 19, 2011 284 Comments

Disney World Crowds in 2013

by Dave

December January February March April May June July

2013 CROWDS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

In the image you’ll find Walt Disney World 2013 weekly crowd forecasts (revised on January 13, 2013).

Dates in it are the beginning of the week, and the forecast covers the following 9 days.

(For 2014 crowds, click here.)

Crowd levels are ranked by week from 1-11 in the following way:

1: Lowest of the year

2: Lower

3: Low

5: Moderate-minus

6: Moderate

7: Moderate-plus

9: High

10: Higher

11: Highest

HOW TO INTERPRET THE 2013 DISNEY WORLD CROWD CALENDAR

Dates are the beginning of the week.

The “low crowd” weeks–those rated 1-3–represent the only crowd levels a family visiting for the first time, and unsure if it will ever return, should consider.

However, lower crowds, especially lowest crowds, do not always mean a better week. The lowest weeks are low for a reason–typically because they are in the hurricane or the ride closure seasons.

The “moderate crowd” weeks–those rated 5-7–have crowd levels I would not recommend to first time visitors. However, I’d go during such weeks myself with no hesitation, and think these levels are OK for returning visitors who don’t need to see everything and already know how to work Walt Disney World.

The “high crowd” weeks–those rated 9-11–should be avoided by everyone. They aren’t, which is why they are so high.

You may have noted that there’s no level 4 or 8. There’s a reason for that.

MY DISNEY WORLD CROWD CALENDAR GOES UP TO 11

My analytics only let me distinguish 9 groups–the lowest through the highest crowd levels noted above.

Since the influence of the Unofficial Guide and TouringPlans.com has led almost all Disney World crowd calendars to top out at 10, this presented a problem of needing to skip a number. The skipped number is hard to place among 9.

However, I’ve always thought that the really nastiest weeks of the year deserved an 11 for emphasis. So, in homage to Spinal Tap, I assigned 11 to “highest.” That let me skip two numbers, the ones that separate the moderate crowd levels from those higher and lower.

Walt Disney World 2013 Price Seasons

by Dave

2013 Ticket Prices 2013 Resort Prices 2014 Resort Prices

2013 RESORT PRICE SEASONS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

The material below shows the different resort price seasons at Walt Disney World at different times of the year in 2013.

(If you are looking for current deals and discounts, click here. For 2014 prices, click here.)

Ticket prices don’t vary over the course of the year–although they typically have an annual increase in the summer. See this for more on ticket prices.

Resort prices, however, are almost twice as high during some periods as they are at others. The details are below.

2013 DISNEY WORLD PRICE SEASONS

[Read more →]

September 4, 2011 67 Comments

Katia and Walt Disney World

by Dave

I’ve been getting a lot of questions and comments about the potential impact of Hurricane Katia on Walt Disney World.

As I update this Tuesday morning 9/6, long range forecasts for Katia don’t predict an impact on Florida. They show Katia curving away from the US coast and remaining out to sea.

But that may change.

Weather.com has an overview of Katia here, and the Orlando Sentinel has one here.

Other good links from the Orlando Sentinel:

For more on hurricanes at Walt Disney World, see this, and for some basic precautions see the lower part of my tornado page here.

August 31, 2011 No Comments

Taking Your Little Angels (or Devils) out of School and to Walt Disney World

by Dave

EDUCATION AND WALT DISNEY WORLD

Magical Blogorail Teal is writing this month about Education and Walt Disney World.

Welcome to those of you joining me from The World of Deej and those of you who have just hopped aboard. I am the 4th stop on our Magical Blogorail.

When the Magical Blogorail Teal gang started talking about education and Walt Disney World, my first thought was why not have kids spend nine months of the year at Disney World and only the summers in school?

Yes, this is kinda nuts, but there’s a point buried in it: a week at Disney World, when viewed in the long run, can be a lot more educational than a week in school.

The aim of education is not to accumulate classroom hours.

Rather–at least to me–the aim of education is to help develop a free person prepared to pursue happiness.

Classroom skills are critical to this—especially reading, writing and math. And a week out of school can hurt older kids with these unless you are careful to work with your teachers to make sure your kid keeps up (more on this later).

But there’s other dimensions to the aim as well. Enabling a free person to pursue happiness requires not just skills but also values and substantive knowledge, all aimed toward a life of autonomy, mastery, and purposefulness.

A key way to get from here to there is to help kids become fascinated by topics which will help them develop in these dimensions. This is because fascination is the most powerful motivational force we have.

And there’s lots of opportunities to develop and build fascination at Walt Disney World.

Since this site’s recommended weeks are all during the typical school year (because that’s when prices and crowds are lower) most families will need to take their kids out of school to take advantage of them.

Is that a bad thing? Absolutely not, given the educational promise of Disney World.

DISNEY WORLD AND EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES

Younger kids may simply enjoy Walt Disney Word purely in its direct presentation, and have as their educational experience what they learn about family life.

Older kids, in contrast, may find all kinds of things to be fascinated by besides the direct experience.

They can enjoy Disney World both in their direct experience of it and as a human-made artifact.

Almost any element of a liberal education can be tied to something about the presentation, design, management, history, or details of Walt Disney World.

Epcot and the Animal Kingdom present directly many potential topics of fascination—from marine biology to animal biology to conservation to car design to high-speed rail to why France and Morocco are different but related.

The Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios don’t stick such possibilities so directly front and center…but there’s still tons of things at them that can fascinate.

At these two parks in particular the opportunity is to understand the range of human capability by investigating the parks as designed and managed objects.

The basic questions that can help you get your kids there are “why?” and “how?”

To give just some “why” examples…

Why are there names in the windows on Main Street?
Why do some rides have FASTPASSES and others not?
Why are some rides filled and others half-empty?
Why are cast members so much more friendly and helpful than most other employees your kids may interact with?
Why are some fireworks shows not on every night?
Why is Disney World in Florida and not in our home town?
Why is that building/structure designed to look the way it does?
And that one?
Why does the street look the way it does?
etc., etc.

Walt Disney World is the sum of a set of human choices, insights, and actions, some long ago, and some constructed in the moment in front of you.

Anything you see there represents the totality of these choices, insights and actions as manifested in this moment, and the “whys” and “hows” of all of them are open to fascination.

YOU GOTTA WORK WITH YOUR TEACHERS TO GET YOUR KIDS READY TO GO

Some teachers may have no expectations about work to make up for the missed days and not get behind the class, but most will, and the older your kids are, the more important this work will be.

Involve your kids in preparing for the time away from school, but take responsibility for it yourself. If there’s work to be made up, your kids should do as much as possible before you leave. While my itineraries have time off in them, schoolwork is not how you want to spend it.

While different teachers may have different preferences for how they handle kids away from class, the absolutely wrong answer is to expect them to do everything to prepare your kids for being away.

Instead, make it your key priority to help them out. Find out how they like to handle make-up work, and then work with your kids to respond to these preferences.

For example, put together a typical calendar for class—what subjects are covered what days, what typical homework assignments are given, what known tests are coming and when papers and projects are due, so that all the teacher has to do is mark it up.

Teachers–I particularly welcome your comments on how families can help with managing time out of school. I’ve taught, but only at the university level, and my challenges there (hangovers) were different. Use the comment form below!

FINAL PREPARATION TO TAKE YOUR KIDS OUT OF SCHOOL FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD

The final step is to prepare yourself.

Your goal is to enable fascination by learning a little more about some ‘hows” and “whys” so that you can engage with your kids as topics come up.

The easiest way to do so is advance reading in Disney websites or guidebooks that focus on not only “what” but also why and how. This site fits, as do a number of its recommended books and recommended websites.

MORE ON EDUCATION AND WALT DISNEY WORLD FROM MAGICAL BLOGORAIL TEAL

Thank you for joining me today. Your next stop on the Magical Blogorail is The Disney FAITHful.

Here is the map of our Magical Blogorail loop should you happen to have to make a stop along the way and want to reboard:

August 23, 2011 2 Comments

Category — a. When to Go to Walt Disney World

The Recommended Weeks for 2013 are Out!

BEST WEEKS FOR FIRST-TIME VISITORS TO GO TO WALT DISNEY WORLD IN 2013 RELEASED!