Best time of year to visit

[_19disnA]

Disney is such a big draw that we find it crowded almost all of the time. It used to be several years ago things were slower at certain times, but Disney has figured out how to have various special events and offer discounts so it is almost always crowded now. We would never go in June/July/August since Florida is way too hot at that time and doing all that walking with the crowds and heat is just not enjoyable for us. The weather in the Spring or Fall is much better, but no guarantee it won't be crowded then either.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

We currently are booked to thru Dreams to WDW in late August/early Sept for a week. However, we are in Canada and things haven't opened up to a point where we can travel without 14 day quarantine, so I'm going to have to cancel (again....second time cancelling!). Our kids are currently 5 and 7, so young enough that I don't mind if they miss school. They've been to DL but not to WDW, and so we are more attraction driven and aren't too fussed about festivals etc. What time of year would be the BEST time to go, for crowds to not be too busy? I don't mind taking them out of school for a week, but would really like to not go at a time with massive crowds. Our school breaks in Canada don't always line up with when they are in the US, so I'm not totally certain when the peak times of year are down there. Thank you!!

So we've been most every month other than September, Oct and December. While it used to be back in the day summer was peak and that's just not the case anymore. There are really crowded times, like pre-covid shoulder to shoulder and you can't hardly walk times, even a few where they close the park to new guests for some times though-out the day. Those days are rare but they do happen. The crazy crowded times may be back or may not be, it's anyone's guess what will happen with park pass but I guess it's around until at least fall of 2022. I think the days of predicting crowds are now a bit harder and I also feel like being in the parks since Covid, the crowded feeling is definitely there even though it's really not crowded. So a really popular attraction may only have a 15 min wait, but the park can feel like everything is swamped. I hope by the anniversary, that most if not all, entertainment and shows are brought back so this will alleviate this issue.

If you can pick any time that works for your family, I would steer clear of June-September just given the weather. I'm not from Canada but I would imagine, the heat and humidity alone would be a deal breaker, let alone a hurricane. Throw in August/September peak hurricane season time, and I'm going to say you should pass since you are traveling from so far away. We are a few hours away so it's easy enough to change plans so we don't mind going that time of year but if I had to book tix, that would be a hard pass for me. Even though most hurricanes are a non-issue in central FL, it still can wreak havoc on air travel. We usually go early June and early August because of lower crowds and even our trip last August, Hurricane Isaias was off the coast and may or may not affected air travel but we just drove down a day early to avoid the rain.

The other times I'd be cautious of are American spring breaks (March/April), Thanksgiving and Christmas. The spring break season is a tough one since school breaks vary but usually the the week leading up to Easter is the busiest and the weeks where Osceola/Orange and other surrounding counties (locals) have break is also fairly busy. We really like visiting mid November after Jersey week (some teacher convention in NJ that for whatever reason, most of the New Jersey folks infiltrate WDW, IDK, it's a thing LOL) and it is def more crowded in early November because of it. But mid Nov before Thanksgiving are busy but not insane and it's typically great weather, cooler, not as humid and not rainy. Also, at this time, most of the Christmas decorations are up. We last visited this time back Nov. 14-19, 2018 and it was wonderful but we've not been able to pull our kids out of school since as they're older. We could swim, we enjoyed all the holiday treats, did a MVMCP and more. It was one of our favorite visits.

Another great time we like to visit is Jan/Feb. It will be more crowded closer to President's day but there is a lull mid January up until the holiday. Later April and most of May is also a nice time, it's hotter than most would like and can be rainy but it's usually not crazy crowds. October has gotten to be a fairly busier month too even though it is usually still pretty hot. I've never been the first week of December but that's also known to be a sweet spot for lower crowds, relatively speaking, than Thanksgiving and Christmas.

If I can go anytime with no regard to schedules, I'd pick January/early February or mid November. Both times have nice weather. If swimming is super important, you could also look at late April/May. I know the pools are always open all year and yes they are heated. We don't usually swim since it's too chilly for us but I suppose it's relative. Our kids are a little older so swimming is not super important to them but even in cooler weather, they'd usually swim and we'd sit that out.

 

[CheshKAT]

We currently are booked to thru Dreams to WDW in late August/early Sept for a week. However, we are in Canada and things haven't opened up to a point where we can travel without 14 day quarantine, so I'm going to have to cancel (again....second time cancelling!). Our kids are currently 5 and 7, so young enough that I don't mind if they miss school. They've been to DL but not to WDW, and so we are more attraction driven and aren't too fussed about festivals etc. What time of year would be the BEST time to go, for crowds to not be too busy? I don't mind taking them out of school for a week, but would really like to not go at a time with massive crowds. Our school breaks in Canada don't always line up with when they are in the US, so I'm not totally certain when the peak times of year are down there. Thank you!!

We mainly travel in Jan due to the low crowds and also it's the Value Season. Weather is iffy as it can get real cold and feel even colder if it rains. (2018 they had frost damage) Our next trip will be first week of Feb. Although there will not be any special events going on, we hope the lower crowds will make up for the lack of events. We did go at the beginning of Nov. once and that was nice. More crowded though! The US is thinking of opening it's side of the border so when you come back, as long as you are double vaccinated, you don't have to quarantine.

 

[DisneyDillyDally]

I haven't been there during those months before. Thanks for that! Yes, late Aug/early Sept will defintiely be hot, but we were ok with it as it gets HOT where we live in British Columbia (in fact just yesterday, it was 36 degrees celcius which is 97F)....not humid though. But now that we can't go this summer since our border isn't open yet, I'm totally open to pulling the kids out of school for a week next year.....just want to get to WDW sooner than later!

I also like February - looking st
Booking for that time now.

 

[silverace]

used to be early may, sept and jan but now, things are pretty crowded yea round. still these 3 are the least crowded

 

[slosinger]

How is Easter time? I went many moons ago when I was in HS and it wasn't bad, but now as a parent I am wondering if I would view it differently.

 

[tinkerhon]

We currently are booked to thru Dreams to WDW in late August/early Sept for a week. However, we are in Canada and things haven't opened up to a point where we can travel without 14 day quarantine, so I'm going to have to cancel (again....second time cancelling!). Our kids are currently 5 and 7, so young enough that I don't mind if they miss school. They've been to DL but not to WDW, and so we are more attraction driven and aren't too fussed about festivals etc. What time of year would be the BEST time to go, for crowds to not be too busy? I don't mind taking them out of school for a week, but would really like to not go at a time with massive crowds. Our school breaks in Canada don't always line up with when they are in the US, so I'm not totally certain when the peak times of year are down there. Thank you!!

Our has always been Thanksgiving - first week of December

 

[OkanaganAmanda]

Our has always been Thanksgiving - first week of December

We reached out to our Dreams agent and this is exactly what we have asked to book -- Nov 27 - Dec 6 (2022.....going to wait until this pandemic madness is hopefully in our rear view!)

 

[OhDannyBoy]

Our favorite time to go is the second week in January for multiple reasons.

1. it's our anniversary
2. It's cool out and rains less
3. the holiday decorations are usually still out (and we love our castle with a crane above it annual pic)
4. the crowds are usually tolerable

There are a few downsides:

1. Your castle pic will have a crane in it.LOL
2. if it does rain it can be kind of cold
3. splash mountain is usually down for repairs in January
4. there are a lot less shows