Best Time To Go??

[SueQ]

I'm thinking of my husband and I taking my step-daughter to Disney next year. :mickey: She's never been before and my husband went when he was a small kid I think. Summer time is really really busy, right?? I'm thinking maybe a long weekend (Thurs-Mon) in either April, May or very early June. Any opinions or advice?? I would like to go for a whole week but she may be missing some school to go.

[momofdisneyprincess]

I only went once in the summer and that was all I needed to make me never want to go in the summer again. We usually go in October but May is our second favorite time to go. If you go early enough in the month, you can catch the Flower and Garden Festival which is absolutely beautiful!! The crowds don't seem too bad either.

[WelshieLover]

August is not too crowded. Especially late August ( alot of schools are back in session, but not where we live) If you go then be prepared for hot hot sticky weather with a downpuor mid to late afternoon. We always "closed" the parks and would take an afternoon rest period.

However my new favorite time to go is Janaury/early February. Both trips we have had nice weather (in the 60 - 70s). The parks close early but it is not too crowded. The only park super crowded is the MK on Saturday, all the locals come out. We were there for 2 Saturdays this past January and it was very crowded on both of them. On the Wednesday we went to the MK there was almost no one there.

[tdk316]

We've gone for years in mid-May and it has been a nice time of year to be there. Not too hot, or too much rain and a lot of kids are still in school so it wasn't too busy yet. If you have some flexibility I'd vote for April or May before the crowds and heat come on full force.

[crltkcagle]

September is the best time to go!!! They usually offer free dining and its not crowded at all. Plus if you go late enough in September you can go to MNSSHP. :mpumpkin::ghost::pumpkin::blackcat::frank::witch: :scrow:

[Imagineer1981]

As others have said, the off season is the best time. If you go in Jan/Feb it will be empty but the weather is cool if you want to swim, could be a problem. If you go in April you'll hit spring break crowds. Early May is usually pretty light crowds and then its packed until later in August/Sept/Oct when the crowds are are low again. If you go in Sept/Oct you can take advantage of MNSSHP or even early Dec for MVMCP, but as it gets closer to the holidays it will get packed

[Disney Doll]

My top priorities are avoiding heat and crowds. We like Jan/ early Feb or late October. We've yet to try May, but that's on the list because we really do want to see the Flower and Garden festival. I think late October is my favorite. Warm, but not hot. Unfortunately that's a bad time of year for DH work wise so we are trying late Sept for the 1st time this year. I'm dreading the heat already! We did a summer trip once (I think it was June) and never again. Way too hot plus crowded equals a bad time.

[epceddie]

We've had great trips going in May and October. It's always been very hot though.
We were at WDW May 4-9 and the area had record highs. It was like 95 degrees all week.
The weather was also hot on our 2007 October honeymoon.
We'll be going back down the first week of November. What kind of weather and crowds can we expect?

[tjstrike]

No more heat or high crowds for me, from now on my trips will only be from late sept. to early march !! Spring break and the summer months are not for me !! :sick:

[brownie]

Any time you can!

I like September/October. It was a little cool, but right after Thanksgiving worked well for us with the kids.

[Mousemates]

If a family has never been or doesn't go on a regular basis (and riding a ton of rides is more important), then for sure the off seasons (early january, septemb-october and late april to mid may) are the times to go. however, we absolutely love being there to bring in the New Year, even though its one of the busiest times of the year.

[PrincessJadesMom]

I reaaly liked going in September. There aren't many people there and we got to go to MNSSHP. The only downfalls about September were the heat and the love bugs, yuck!

[Gregandmel]

We went the first week in October and LOVED it. WEather was good, crowds were low and MNSSHP was awesome. Best of luck deciding!!!:mickey:

[LoriMistress]

If you go during the first two weeks of Oct, Nov, and December would be the best. January and Feb are the least crowded, but a lot of attractions will be closed for refurbishments. DH and I have been to WDW in November and December, and loved it. For our next trip to WDW in 2011 we'll probably go in December.

[Familyof4]

The end of April beginning of May has always been nice for us--We have done Mother's Day weekend as a long weekend and it was really nice--it is hot, but not terribly uncomfortable. June is hot. Wouldn't reccomend that.

[Daddy Mouse]

The only times I've been there is during the summer (my schedule) and over Christmas Break.

Summer is hot and really humid and depending on when you go really crowded. If you can take the heat, humidity and have a good plan summer is fun. The parks stay open later and the water parks are a blast.

During Chrismas the crowds become heavy but the weather can be great nice during the day and cool at night.

I would love to go in April (except Easter) or October, The weather seems to be better and the crowds are lighter.

[bruin1344]

Ive been mid-Feb, mid-May, end of May, and end of Aug. My favorite was mid-May do to the small crowds, lack of rain, temperatures in 80s, and not real humid.

Mid-Feb was also nice but crowds get large by end of the week and sometimes temperatures get cool for Florida.

[Daisy'sMom]

We spend the day at WDW often. If this helps, the only time we take a break is usually July, August and the beginning of Sept. :mickey:

[Snow's Mom]

I'm a teacher and it's common at my school for kids to miss a week and go to WDW. Ask. Depending on your step-daughter's age, it may be doable. High school is tough, but younger kids shouldn't be a problem.

Our next trip is in July. (Kids can get out of school, teachers can't!) We went in August last time and found out it works just fine. Just make sure you read these boards and have a plan for dealing with crowds if you decide to go in the summertime. We absolutely loved it. It's hot, but then, it's hot at home, too.

:vacation:

[DNS]

We have been there a couple of times in the summer, but never again. The heat combined with the crowds - too much for us. Our favorite time is late September, October, or early May.

[Grim Grinning Marathon Runner]

We just got back yesterday, and it ws HOT HOT HOT!! It was very crowded, but crowds are more manageable than weather, to me at least. We got fastpasses for the major attractions we knew we wanted to do, and we had a plan, like others have said.

I found that the dining was not crowded at all, we had some character meals we got in advance, but got some counter service meals as a part of our dining program, and had no problem at all.

My wife works in the school system, so we're limited to only times when she as a system employee has off, which most times is even a few days beyond when the kids get out. To us, this means really the only times we can go are those historically packed times.

After this trip (this is our third with our three year old and one of countless other trips) we vowed to try and not go again from June to August. For us, that leaves November right before Thanksgiving, which would be fairly crowded but great weather, the week before Christmas, pretty much the same, and our spring break, which is a little earlier than most. We'll probably do Thanksgiving or Spring Break, and deal with the crowds but have pleasant weather.

Disney in the hot summer is still Disney, but it's pretty bad when you see people being taken out of the parks on stretchers every day because of heat exhaustion.