Category — Times to Visit Disney World

DISNEY WORLD’S SPECIAL EVENTS

Over the course of the year, there are a number of special events* at Walt Disney World.

While they are subject to change, over the last few years they have included:

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THE BEST 2011 WEEKS FOR YOUR VISIT TO WALT DISNEY WORLD

Those who have clicked around here know that I give a lot of advice on when to go to Walt Disney World.

Most of this advice is for the “average family”—a family that wants to avoid crowds, higher prices, the peak of the hurricane season, and such. 

But your family may be different than the “average family.”  You may wish desperately to avoid winter, you may not care about prices, you may be less concerned about crowds.

And while the site gives all the material you need to work out for yourself the best weeks to visit for your family—including a crowd calendar, price seasons, and extensive material on weather—you may not want to dig through all this to figure out the best time for your family visit to Walt Disney World.

For families like this, I have just published the 2011 Week Picker.

HOW THE 2011 DISNEY WORLD WEEK PICKER WORKS

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NEW YEAR’S EVE AT DISNEY WORLD

New Year’s Eve festivities will happen on December 31, 2010 at Disney World’s Epcot and Magic Kingdom theme parks.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios has no special New Year’s events, but will be open late. The Animal Kingdom has no special events and closes at 8p.

• Epcot is open until 1a on New Year’s Eve; Disney’s Hollywood Studios until midnight for the general public, and 3a for Walt Disney World Resort hotel guests; and the Magic Kingdom is open until 2a
• The Magic Kingdom will have New Year’s Eve fireworks at 8.30 and 11.50p, and Epcot will have fireworks at 7.30 and 11.45p
• Note that alcohol is not available at the Magic Kingdom, but is available at Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios

For more details on operating hours, see this.

The Magic Kingdom will have the same fireworks at the same times on 12/30.  This date will likely be a little less crowded than 12/31.

For more thoughts on how to celebrate New Year’s Eve at Walt Disney World, see this from the Disney Parks blog.

For thoughts on how to manage the crowds, see this.

For dining discounts during this period, see this.

DISNEY WORLD PARK CLOSURES ON NEW YEAR’S EVE

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OVERVIEW

Winter at Walt Disney World—loosely defined as November through February–is the most variable of seasons.

The weather is literally variable—cooler, and with typical daily highs ranging from the low 60s to the 80s. Tornadoes can be an issue during this period. See this for more.

Crowds are both near their lowest—in January between New Years and the Martin Luther King day weekend—and at their highest, over the week that includes New Years Eve.

Prices are the lowest of the year twice—between the end of Thanksgiving weekend and mid-December, and from early January through mid-February (the value season). They also hit their highest level of the year in winter, over the weeks that include Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
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OVERVIEW: FEBRUARY 2011 AT DISNEY WORLD

This page reviews February 2011 Walt Disney World crowds, prices, deals and discounts, weather, operating hours, adds a few other notes, and ends with week by week summaries.
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For Spring Break 2012, click here.

OVERVIEW: DISNEY WORLD DURING THE 2011 SPRING BREAK SEASON

As I noted previously here, Disney World Spring Break 2011 is a little different because of how late Easter is–April 24, as late as it has happened since 1943.

Disney World Spring Break crowds are driven by three factors. 

• The least important is college spring break dates, which will peak the first two full weeks of March 2011.
• Next is the wish for Northerners to get out of the cold, which begins over President’s Day weekend and continues through March
• Most important is the timing of school kids’s Spring Break dates.

I’ve recently analyzed 2011 public school spring breaks (March to May) for 135 school districts covering more than ten million kids. 

Based on that and other data, this page highlights the best and worst weeks to visit Walt Disney World during Spring Break 2011.

See also 2011 Weeks to Visit Walt Disney World, Ranked in Order.

SCHOOL SPRING BREAKS AND THEIR LIKELY EFFECTS ON 2011 WALT DISNEY WORLD CROWDS

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