Category — n. Approaching Dates at Disney World
“Fall Breaks” and Autumn Crowds at Walt Disney World
FALL BREAK CROWDS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD?
One of the things you’ll see now and then on blogs and discussion boards is the claim that “fall breaks from school crowd Walt Disney World.”
“Fall breaks” are multi-day school holidays before Thanksgiving, and if material, would have an effect on Disney World—because Disney World is most crowded when it’s easy for kids to go.
If you check the facts, though, you’ll find that fall breaks are both uncommon and scattered across October and early November—other than Jersey Week and the Columbus Day weekend. [Read more →]
July 18, 2013 2 Comments
End of Summer Crowds at Walt Disney World
This site’s Disney World crowd calendars always show crowds dropping off in later August.
For example, in 2013, crowd rankings go from 9/high at the beginning of August down to 1/lowest in early September.
This page both explain how that comes about and also reviews how the site’s crowd calendars are built.
END OF SUMMER 2013 CROWDS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD
The highest-crowd periods at Walt Disney World all have one thing in common: they are convenient times for parents to take their kids to Orlando. That is, they are times that kids are out of school and that parents traditionally can take off of work.
What’s not so clear until you do the numbers is that actual school vacation dates are much more varied than you’d think. And there’s no good source you can go to that explains what all these varied dates are.
So every year about this time one of my nieces goes to almost 200 school district websites and captures all the key vacation dates for the upcoming academic year. (This time of year because you’d be surprised many districts don’t put their calendars up for the upcoming year until June; this year, about 180 had their calendars out by the time we agreed to stop collecting data.)
These include the 100 largest school districts in the U.S., plus eighty more of the next largest school districts in the more highly-populated states east of the Mississippi–that is, the states from which in particular Walt Disney World draws its visitors.
I then create a database that shows based on district enrollment every kid who is off on every date, sum these by state, and weight them based on the state’s proportion of total US visits to this website (because Disney won’t tell me actual visitation by state!) See the image above for a screenshot example.
Finally, I calculate percentage of total weighted kids on break by date and use that to inform the crowd calendars. (There’s about 12.6 million actual kids in the database.)
Above are the results of this for when kids go back to school in 2013.
So you can see that kids don’t start going back to school in real numbers until the week of 8/10; almost half are back in school the week of 8/17; almost 70% are back by the week of 8/24, and almost 90% are back in school by the week of 9/2.
Thus, in the 2013 crowd calendar, the week of 8/10 is rated 9/high crowds, the week of 8/17 6/moderate crowds, the week of 8/24 2/lower crowds, and the week of 9/2 1/lowest crowds!
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July 9, 2013 No Comments
Candelight Processional 2013 Narrators; Booking Opens July 9
NARRATORS AND BOOKING DATES FOR THE 2013 CANDLELIGHT PROCESSIONAL AT EPCOT
Crack commenter DisneyDiningAgent has posted one of his—or her!—incredibly helpful comments here.
There’s a lot of “food for thought” there, which I’ll note more about later, but for now, focusing on the Candlelight Processional Dinner Package:
The Candlelight Processional Dinner Package starts booking tomorrow, 7/9/13 at 6a Eastern at disneyworld.com and 7a Eastern over the phone (407-939-3463).
And the Candlelight Processional 2013 narrators are as follows:
- TBD: 11/30-12/3
- Ashley Judd 12/4-12/5
- Whoopi Goldberg 12/6-12/7
- TBD 12/8-12/10
- Dennis Haysbert 12/11-12/13
- James Denton 12/14-12/16
- Edward James Olmos 12/17-12/19
- Trace Atkins 12/20-12/22
- TBD 12/23-12/25
- Blair Underwood 12/26-12/28
- TBD 12/29
- Amy Grant 12/30
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July 8, 2013 2 Comments
January 2014 at Walt Disney World
OVERVIEW: JANUARY 2014 AT DISNEY WORLD
This page reviews January 2014 Walt Disney World crowds, prices, deals and discounts, weather, and operating hours; adds a few other notes; and ends with week by week summaries.
Early January 2014 will be dominated by holiday crowds and prices, but after the 4th, most days will see low crowds and low prices–with upticks around the Marathon (weekend of the 11th) and the Martin Luther King Day three day holiday weekend.
Late January has some of the lowest crowds and prices of the year at Walt Disney World.
Even so, January is not recommended for first-time visitors who may never return, because of ride closures.
New Year’s week–ending in 2014 around January 4–has among the highest crowds and prices of the year. Park closings to additional guests are common in this period, as are 8a openings and daily morning Extra Magic Hours.
June 18, 2013 2 Comments
December 2013 at Walt Disney World
OVERVIEW: DECEMBER 2013 AT DISNEY WORLD
This page reviews December 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.
Early December, with lower crowds, lower prices, and wonderful Christmas decorations and events, has the best weeks of the year to visit.
Later December with Christmas and New Year’s weeks has the highest crowds and prices of the year. Park closings to additional guests are common in this period, as are 8a openings and daily morning Extra Magic Hours.
December also has a special party, Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, a special evening event–with its own ticket–that has become a family tradition for many.
May 19, 2013 No Comments
New Year’s Eve 2013/2014 at Walt Disney World
2013 NEW YEAR’S EVE AT DISNEY WORLD
New Year’s Eve festivities will happen on December 31, 2013 at Disney World’s Epcot, Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios theme parks, and also at the Magic Kingdom on December 30.
The Animal Kingdom has no special New Year’s Eve events.
Here’s what’s known so far for the calendar for New Year’s Eve at Walt Disney World:
- Epcot is scheduled to be open until 1a on New Year’s Eve; Disney’s Hollywood Studios until midnight for the general public, and 2a for Walt Disney World Resort hotel guests; and the Magic Kingdom is scheduled to be open until 2a
- The Magic Kingdom has Wishes at 8.30p and special New Year’s Eve fireworks at 11.50p
- Epcot has its Illuminations fireworks show at 6.30p and 11.40p, plus DJs in various pavilions.
- Disney’s Hollywood Studios will have fireworks at midnight, and several sets over the evening from “Mulch, Sweat and Shears,” a live band
- Note that alcohol is not available at the Magic Kingdom, but is available at Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios
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.
DISNEY WORLD PARK CLOSURES ON NEW YEAR’S EVE
May 16, 2013 59 Comments