When to go.....

[Mousekedude]

Well, we are about to make our 5th trip to the world this next coming December....so we are Disney Verterans. However, my research and experience has been based on two adults traveling without kids in the off season (October, November, and February). Here is my question...

We are taking a family of 5 to the WORLD next year. They have kids, we don't. When is the best time to go? Our choices are.......
1.) March 2010 (Spring Break)
2.) August 2010 (8th - 15th)
3.) November 2010 (Thanksgiving Holiday)
4.) December 2010 (Christmas Holiay)

By next year the kids will be 12, 9, 3 years of age. I am leaning towards August because although it is hot , the crowds are lower. I just don't think that the 3 year old will be able to handle standling in line for hours. Am I right? Is this the best time for us to go with kids???? Any advice you could provide would be appreciated.

[boilerbabe]

Unfortunately the dates you've listed I wouldn't think are the best times to go. I'm a Disney veteran, I've got 16 trips so far and my most favorite time to be there is in Jan! No crowds!!! But, if you have to accomodate a family with children, you'll just have to decide if you want to deal with weather or crowds! My DH and I have no children yet, so timing isn't an issue. If you can go the first few weeks in Dec. the crowds aren't bad. Also, if you go Nov.-Dec. you can go to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party!!! I highly recommend that!!!

I don't know if this info. helps?! I hope you have a great trip though, no matter when you decide to go!!!

[DisBeamer]

Wow... those are all busy times, depending on what exactly you mean by Thanksgiving Holiday and Christmas Holiday.

I second boilerbabe's thoughts; the first few weeks of December are (relatively) uncrowded and you get the benefit of the Christmas decorations being up. If you're working around their kids' school schedules, though, I guess that might not be an option.

I've been in August before and while it's really hot, I didn't find it all that crowded (toward the end of the month, mind you - I think it was the 2nd last week and part of the last). I wouldn't recommend going over Spring Break or actual Thanksgiving 'weekend'. The time between Christmas and New Year's is pretty rough, too.

I'd vote August, unless you can get in sometime before ~Dec 21st. Also bear in mind that right around the holidays, Disney ramps up prices on buffets/character meals. That might be something to consider if you're going with little ones. We were there in Dec 07 and I believe the 'holiday buffet pricing' kicked in on Dec 17.

[Sleepy90]

I'm assuming that the dates fit with school holidays for the older children.

I have been in July, Thanksgiving week and Christmas and New Year. out of your choices August is going to be very hot and the Brits will be out in force the kids break up in July here.Christmas was very busy when we went but then it was 1999-2000 so that might have been busier than normal. Thanksgiving week was not to busy but then we did not go to the parks on thanksgiving day itself (we didn't think it would be open).

Out of what choices you have I think I would go for Thanksgiving, however boilerbabe is right end of January and start of February are the best times to go.

[99Soulz]

I agree with the above comments about there being better times to go - but I also understand the kid situation and being stuck with chosing times that fit in with schools being off (my wife is a teacher so we often need to utilize these periods as well). As for the 4 choices above, 3 of them have benefits of going. The 1 I would completely ignore is August. It is still pretty crowded being the summer AND it's ungodly HOT. Lines will still be long and then you are standing in the 90-95 degree heat for up to 60 minutes in outside queues.

The otheres each have something good about them. I think Spring Break is the least crowded of the other 3 choices, with Thanksgiving coming in close 2nd. We did Thanksgiving week last year and it was a great trip. There were some crowds but we saw most waits of 30 mins or less with some E-ticket attractions of 30-60 mins. You do get the benefit of having some of the holiday decorations up but its not in full force until the weekend after Thanksgiving. They put some of the special stuff on hold during Thanksgiving week to observe the holiday and then kick back up with Christmas the weekend after. Christmas week is absolutely magical there but along with that comes the crowds so you have to be patient with lines and possible park closings when at capacity. The other issue with Thanksgivng and Christmas is the weather. Some years it could be very cool but some in the 80's. Could be borderline for the water parks if that's on the list of things to do. Spring Break will be crowded too but I don't think as bad as Christmas week and weather should be perfect.

So I'm not really sure I helped you narrow in on your choice but thought I'd list some of the positives and negatives for each that we've experienced.

[Mr.ToadWildRider]

I agree it depends on what you mean by "Thanksgiving Holiday" and "Christmas Holiday" - presumably you mean during the actual week including Thanksgiving and Christmas. If so I would avoid those dates as though they had the plague. I went last year the week prior to Thanksgiving week and it wasn't bad in terms of crowds, but surprisingly chilly.

Of the choices I agree August may be the best in terms of crowds, but I'd like to point out you're still talking early August which a lot of kids still have off (probably why you chose it) so it's still going to be busy. We used to go the last 2 weeks in August every other year when I was a kid because MA tends to get out and go back later than other states and my mom (a teacher) and I would still have off. At those times (i'm talking the last 2 weeks in August) there'd still be fairly high volume of crowds (i.e. 2 hour wait for Splash/Peter Pan, 90 minutes for Space). It's not so much hot (ok it is that too) as it is humid as heck in August too. For little ones (and big ones alike) it may be very uncomfortable. I'd invest in those portable misters from a local store before you head down if you go then.

March may also be good too. "Spring Break" is from what i've heard a popular time to go for a lot of people, but the key is "Spring Break" is different for different states and schools. In MA the Spring Break is in April for the school systems. In terms of college spring breaks I attended Northeastern and ours was in February (yea, really) sometimes and March in others, but we were almost always 1-4 weeks earlier than other schools.

[momeja]

Of those 4 (and I agree with Boilerbabe and Disbeamer that none of them are good), I think I'd pick Spring Break. As long as it's not Easter Week (or the week after), Spring Break gets spread over 2 months, so I think you'd have the smallest crowds then.

I agree with Sleepy that early August is too hot! Us Canucks are also there then, since our schools generally don't start up again until September. And you'd never find me there during Thanksgiving or Christmas, unless I had an overwhelming desire to see the Osborne lights. Even then, I'd try to go in between the two.

[Clusty]

I've been in January, February and May. January is definitely the best time to go. Low crowds and it's not hot. February was like January but with a little more crowds. May was awful - extremely hot and un-enjoyable.

[timekeeper]

IF that is the only choices I would go with August. Christmas and Spring break are insane. I would assume November would be busier than August. If the kids are older they will want the big rides with the longer lines. They can brave the heat better than little kids.

[Mr.ToadWildRider]

IF that is the only choices I would go with August. Christmas and Spring break are insane. I would assume November would be busier than August. If the kids are older they will want the big rides with the longer lines. They can brave the heat better than little kids.

The OP stated the kids are 12 9 and 3. I think that's also kind of important because the 12 y/o and possibly 9 y/o would probably be big enough and may want to go on the bigger rides while the 3 y/o can't obviously. This means one of two things: Making a lot of sacrificies or trying to see everything you can using childswap when needed. If you do the former and give up a lot of bigger rides (i.e. the Mountains, EE, ToT, RnR, etc) you may be okay for avoiding a lot of long wait lines and okay for probably any of the weeks you mentioned minus Christmas*. If you do the latter you're probably going to run into trouble on both the aforementioned big rides and several more full-family geared rides (i.e. Peter Pan, Dumbo, Soarin', etc.) and you have more to be concerned with in your timing.

As someone else noted it may be worth pointing out that November and December the parks are decked out in Holiday stuff. This can be a turnon or turnoff depending on your likes/dislikes. If its a first/only type trip for these people then I may avoid those weeks and the parks feel different from their norm. If you all really love the Holidays and want that feel then I'd go in November.

*Christmas week is by far the busiest week of the year for WDW. I've never been there and have no desire to. Generally everything seems to be more expensive as it's peak week (I think they even have a special pricing just for the two weeks before Christmas through New Years for rooms) and the crowd reports are always horrifying (3+ hour waits on some rides, some parks closing their gate as they reach capacity).

[cccmouse]

I agree with most of the comments posted above. Christmas, Thanksgiving and Spring Break are some of the worst possible times to go. The August date would be the lesser of the four evils, but that will still be a hot, humid and crowded time to go. The only bright spot would be if you could go the week before or after Thanksgiving. That is a much better option.

[DisBeamer]

The one other 'plus' about August that I neglected to mention in my other post is that because the crowds are lower than the other 3 choices, you could offset the heat issue somewhat by taking breaks mid-day and hitting the pool and still be able to see most of what you want to see. If you're counting on breaks during the day over the holidays or Spring Break, you're going to be making it very difficult to see many attractions because of the crowd levels. Basically you'd be trading break time for time you 'need' to be spending in line. This is assuming that the family you're traveling with has expectations of 'seeing everything' - which as vets we know isn't possible but I'm not sure if the family are first-timers or not? Something to consider, anyway.

One plus of all the times you're considering, at least, is that park hours should be at their longest (again, assuming you're talking about actual Thanksgiving and actual Christmas - November before Thksgvng and after through the week before Christmas are actually shorter-hour times). Granted, that may not help too much with little ones in tow, but at least it's an option.

[PureDisney]

I've gone in early December and it really isn't bad especially if you are there in the middle of the week. The early you can go in December the better.

[Mousekedude]

Thanks everyone for the great advice. We definitely prefer the off season too. However, because we love our friends so much, and the only time they can go is when the kids are out of school, we are willing to sacrifice for them..... LOL

Because of the 3 year old, we are really considering August. Actually she will not quite be 3 when we travel. She is very dependent on her naps and so we will most likely head back to the room for naps most days. That is ok with us because we have been so many times and actually enjoy the break too.

I just about have them convinced to go for 9 days. This will give us time to see quite a bit. Because we are all from Texas, we are used to the heat and the kids do not go back to school until around the 25th. I am actually leaving it all up to them to decide. I made a spreadsheet of all of the data I could gather (weather, crowd level, etc.).

We do not have kids and love going in Jan, Feb, Oct, & Nov. We are going this December the week before Christmas!!!YEA!. I hear this is one of the slowest weeks of the year….can’t wait!!!!!!

Thanks Again!!!!

[neapolis]

October has been the best time for me , the weather is great , the flights are cheaper .... and you have Halloween cant beat it....