Category — a. When to Go to Walt Disney World

BEST TIMES FOR A FIRST FAMILY VISIT TO WALT DISNEY WORLD

• Early March (busy and expensive, but your best Spring Break bet)
• Between the second week after Easter and the week before Memorial Day
• Mid-late October
• November other than the first full week, and Thanksgiving week
• December up until a week before Christmas
• (For returning visitors, January and February, except the Presidents Day and Martin Luther King Day holiday weekends, are also excellent)

These periods are highlighted in this site’s 2010 Weeks to Visit and 2011 Weeks to Visit –each ranking the weeks of the year in order of best to worst.

WORST TIMES TO VISIT WALT DISNEY WORLD

Pretty much all other times, but especially Christmas week, New Years week, and the weeks before and after Easter.

More specifically,

• Walt Disney World is the most crowded when kids are out of school: over summer through mid-August, Thanksgiving week, Christmas and New Years weeks, the college spring break month of March; and the weeks before and after Easter. Crowds matter because they can increase waiting times by a factor of 3-4, lengthening your trip and/or reducing its value as a vacation while you are there.
• The times when kids are out of school are (mostly) also the most expensive times to visit–Disney increases resort prices at times of higher demand, so that for example the same room at the Polynesian is $1800 more during Christmas week than during the week this site recommends.
  • Walt Disney World pricing is complicated, and prices do vary during these busy periods–for example, prices go down quite bit in August, even though the first two weeks are busy. Click the thumbnail for the exact relationship on prices vs. crowds at Walt Disney World (when it opens, click it again to enlarge it more).
  • But generally you will pay more during the periods when kids are out of school.
• Rides are mostly likely to be closed (for refurbishment) between New Years and mid-February. For more on winter ride closures at Walt Disney World, click here
• The hurricane season officially runs from June 1 through November 30, but strongly peaks from mid-August through early October.
• Warm weather becomes materially less likely starting in mid-November, and the chance of good pool weather does not sharply improve again until mid-February. See Weather and When to Go.

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 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 2010 price seasons, see this
  • For projected 2011 price seasons, see this
• For weather at Walt Disney World, see this

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OVERVIEW

This page has been made obsolete by 2009 Weeks Ranked in Order and 2010 Weeks Ranked in Order.

The thumbnail (click to open; when open, click again a couple of times to enlarge) lists every week through 2010 and recommends whether or not to go that week.

Note: 2009 is included on the thumbnail, but see also this for much more detail, including 2009 weeks to visit, ranked in order.

LINKS FOR WHEN TO GO

• For when to go, see this
• For next best dates, see this
• For 2009 weeks to visit, ranked in order, see this
• For 2010 weeks to visit, ranked in order, see this
• For forecasting crowds at Walt Disney World, see this
• For 2009 price seasons, see this
• For projected price seasons in future years, see this
• For weather at Walt Disney World, see this

Home       Donate      Summary of Instructions      Sitemap

When to Go      Future Crowds      2009 Weeks Ranked in Order      2010 Weeks

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.

LINKS FOR WHEN TO GO

• For when to go, see this
• For next best dates, see this
• For 2009 weeks to visit, ranked in order, see this
• For 2010 weeks to visit, ranked in order, see this
• For forecasting crowds at Walt Disney World, see this
• For 2009 price seasons, see this
• For projected price seasons in future years, see this
• For weather at Walt Disney World, see this

NEXT BEST DATES

If you can’t go to Walt Disney World the week I recommend,

• See this page for your next best 2009 choices: 2009 Weeks to Visit Ranked in Order.
• For 2010 weeks ranked in order, click here.
• And for 2011 weeks, see this.

To see the reasons behind these recommendations, or to pick your own dates, see the following links:

To Read the Entire Article, Click Here

WHEN TO GO

Arrive in Walt Disney World the second Saturday after Thanksgiving. In 2009, arrive December 5th; in 2010, arrive December 4th, in 2011, arrive December 3.

WHY GO THEN?

 To Read the Complete Article, Click Here