Category — a. When to Go to Walt Disney World

I’ve color coded the start dates of the various base ticket lengths in Disney World’s date-based ticket pricing system to indicate less and more expensive ticket dates in 2021, compared to prices in all of 2021.

The prices I show are pre-tax, per ticket day, and rounded to the nearest dollar. For 2021, I left out 1 and 2 day tickets, as they are of less interest and technically harder to color code.

In what follows, compared to other dates for the same ticket length

• The more and the darker the green, the better
• The more and the darker the red, the worse.

Dates with black text on a white background are everything else–you can think of them as “typical” or “average” for that ticket length. The technical details on how I color coded are at the end of the post.

I begin with an overview of the year see you can see the flow of 2021 price colors in one spot, and then move to two-month calendars.

If you compare 2021 colors to 2020 colors, you’ll note that while the rough calendar of reddish and greenish periods is the same as 2020, there are more red dates in the fourth quarter of 2021 than I have ever seen before.

JANUARY AND FEBRUARY 2021 DISNEY WORLD TICKET PRICES

MARCH AND APRIL 2021 DISNEY WORLD TICKET PRICES

MAY AND JUNE 2021 DISNEY WORLD TICKET PRICES

JULY AND AUGUST 2021 DISNEY WORLD TICKET PRICES

SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER  2021 DISNEY WORLD TICKET PRICES

NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER 2021 DISNEY WORLD TICKET PRICES

TECHNICAL DETAILS OF COLOR CODING

For each ticket length:

• Ticket prices approximately in the bottom 10% have darker green fill and black text, with the very lowest bolded
• Ticket prices approximately in the next lowest 10% have a lighter green fill and black text
• The next approximately 10% of prices has white fill and green text
• Dates with prices approximately in the 70th to 80th percentile have white fill and red text
• Prices approximately in the 80th to 90th percentile have a light red pinkish fill and black text
• Prices in roughly the top 10% for the year have a darker red fill and black text, with the very highest bolded
• Every other price in between has black text and white fill.

Note that my work is largely based on the rounded per-day prices Disney published. As a result, the “10%” breaks are not exact. Prices shown are also pre-tax.

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WHAT IS OCTOBER LIKE AT DISNEY WORLD?

Late October has some of the best times of the year to visit Disney World, with nice weather, low-ish crowds, low-ish prices, and fun special events.

The rest of the month is not so good, as

• The first two weeks are still in the peak of the hurricane season
• The second through fourth weeks see extra crowds from fall breaks, and
• The weekend beginning 10/9 sees both higher crowds and higher prices from Columbus Day.

Note also that picking the right park to visit each day is critical at this time of the year. See this, and use the comment form below to ask me about your specific dates!

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WHAT IS SEPTEMBER LIKE AT DISNEY WORLD?

September at Disney World combines lower crowds with low prices, and typically also has nice deals as well.

This makes it a great month for returning visitors.

But it has lousy weather, combining continuing summer heat and humidity with the peak of the hurricane season, making me not so keen on the month for first time visitors who may never return.

Note also that picking the right park to visit each day is critical at this time of the year.  See this, and use the comment form below to ask me about your specific dates!

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WHAT IS AUGUST LIKE AT DISNEY WORLD?

There are no great times for first-timers who may never return to visit in August. Kids start going back to school in August, so crowds (and most prices) go down later in the month–but that’s also when the peak of the hurricane season kicks off.

Hotel prices begin the month low at the deluxes and stay low all month long. Prices begin the month OK at the moderates, and high at the values. Values prices drop to lower levels 8/9 and on 8/23 prices drop to among the lowest of the year at the values. Moderate prices also change these dates, but stay within the general band of 10-25% higher than the lowest of the year.

Ticket prices are low in the second half of the month.

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WHAT IS JULY LIKE AT DISNEY WORLD?

Because pretty much every US schoolkid is on break in July, while shorter periods the rest of the year are more crowded, July overall has traditionally been the most crowded month at Disney World.

The last four summers have been unusually good at Disney World in terms of crowds. However, the new rides that have opened in 2019 and will open in 2020 make me doubt this trend will continue, and I’m expecting a rough-ish summer in 2020 at Disney World.

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WHAT IS JUNE LIKE AT DISNEY WORLD?

If you must go to Disney World in the summer, the very beginning of June is your best choice for a first visit.

Crowds, while not good, are lower than than much of the rest of the summer, hotel prices are OK, except at the value resorts, ticket prices are average earlier in the month but higher later, and the full weight of summer weather is not yet in place.

(The end of August is the next best summer choice.  Prices and crowds are much better, but you are not only in peak summer heat then, but also the peak of the hurricane season.)

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