31 Days of Disney World: When to Go

This picture was taken on our first day in the Magic Kingdom on this last trip we took which was in September.  I wanted to post it today not just because that castle looks incredible, but also because I wanted you to notice the people in the picture. ...Mainly how few people are in the picture.  This photo was taken on a Saturday around 10am and there are that few people!

If you can choose any month of the year to go to Disney World, I'd recommend September.  The crowds are extremely low.  We walked on most rides and 20 minutes was the longest we waited for anything we couldn't walk on.  If you have toddlers, you may not be surprised to find out September is one of the busiest months for parents of toddlers to attend (no school!) but having so many other toddlers around can be really nice because your kids enjoy "toddler watching" and you enjoy not being the only parent who's kid is having a meltdown... people are understanding.  ;)  The weather in September is also great!  It rained almost every day we were there, but our stroller rental came with a rain cover and the overcast skies and rain was a nice break from the Florida humidity.  Most days it never rained more than an hour.

Our family has also gone to Disney World twice in January.  January tends to be fairly uncrowded as well but for us, there are disadvantages that hold us back from going that time of year again.  The sun sets earlier so days are shorter, the temperatures are colder and tots need jackets at night/morning which is just one more thing to carry, the Christmas decor is all being torn down so there's a big crane parked by the castle your whole trip (very unattractive), and it's too cold to swim which can be a nice break from parks for tots!

Before kids, Josh and I went to WDW in April twice.  In Oklahoma, Spring Break is in March so we assumed by the end of April Disney World would be dead with people being back in school.  This was NOT the case and one of the times we were there in April there was a National cheerleading competition happening (the other time I was pregnant!).  We approach vacationing at Disney World in a very laid back way so combatting crowds and feeling claustrophobic isn't for us.  We will always try to avoid March, April, June, July and any holidays at Disney World.

I want to say also that we've been in mid-August; for our honeymoon actually!  It's hard for me to accurately say how busy Disney World was then because at the time there were hurricanes in Florida and it poured daily.  The parks were almost abandoned except for us crazy few running around in panchos hopping from ride to ride.  We had a blast that trip, but I highly doubt if we went mid-August again it would be like that because even if it did hurricane, we'd be hulled up in the hotel with our kiddos anyway.  ;)

In the future, we'd like to try to go to Disney World in May, December and October.  I've heard the middle of May isn't so bad when it comes to crowds and I'd like to see for myself!  The week after Thanksgiving to about the week before Christmas are also supposed to be VERY abandoned at Disney World but all the Christmas decor and festivities start happening just before Thanksgiving. I'd love to see Disney World at Christmas and if we can't this year, I'd love to next year when our boys are 3 and 4 and will have even more of an appreciation for the Santas of the world, hot cocoa and Mickey's Christmas parade.  And that just leaves October which is more crowded, but it's when Epcot has their food and wine festival and I'd love to go!!!

So what are my tips for deciding when to go?!

1. Use a third party site.  We use www.touringplans.com and LOVE that service*.  They let you see what they're estimated crowd calendar is for 30-60 days from the day you look.  They are VERY accurate.  We followed their predictions our whole last trip and it worked wonderfully.  If you want to be really sure, you can pay $10 for their subscription and see they're estimates for the next 365 days.  I'd really recommend this because things can change and you can use their app while you're in parks.  You can also see ride wait times on their app while in parks which is SO nice!  When our boys would wake up from naps and we'd discuss going back to a park, we consulted which park they said would be least busy and took note of wait times since we'd be going later in the day.
2. Google something like "Disney World event calendar."  After being there for that cheerleading competition I swore up and down I'd never let something like that happen again so now I always check to make sure there's no big events happening while we're there.  Things like the Food & Wine festival do mean WDW will be more busy even if it's just with locals coming to sample all the delicious goodies .
3. Watch for deals!  Disney is ALWAYS running promotions - especially in the off seasons (not summer or spring break or Christmas).  I strongly encourage people to never pay full price for a Disney trip!  Usually 3-6 months out they'll run a promo for a certain percentage off of rooms or for free dining when you stay on property (which I recommend and will discuss why another day) or even for a gift card as part of your stay (in April '10 we got a gift card for $250 as part of our package and used that to cover our food costs).  
4. Try to avoid going in the busy months I mentioned (March, April, June, July & around holidays) if possible.  If you have school aged kids I know this sometimes is a must and if you want to take off the least days of work I know it's a must, but if you are not in that situation and can book in the least busy months (January, September, after Thanksgiving to mid-December) please do!  Low crowd levels means a less stressful vacation which means more fun and Disney Magic!

*Touringplans.com does not know about this blog or my writing about them.  These are my opinions of them that I was not paid to share.

P.S. I promise not every post will be so wordy.  ;)