There seems to be no good time to go to Disney World anymore :-(

dakotajeanmarie

Earning My Ears
Joined
Mar 29, 2006
My husband and I booked our 7th WDW trip for November 28-December 5, 2017 at the Wilderness Lodge. We typically go in mid to late October (no longer a slow time) or early November. This is the first time we will experience all of the Christmas decorations and related events. We are SO EXCITED! What doesn't excite me is the stress of choosing the best possible time to go to avoid the heaviest crowds. We will be at WDW the first weekend in December when the Pop Warner event begins. That has me worried about how much more crowded and crazy WDW will be. We follow all of the Touring Plans and other tips. I am curious if anyone else has angst over when to visit WDW?
 
Not angst, but I won't go during the summer, but that's because of the heat, or the week between Christmas and New Years. Other than that, I take it as it comes as far as crowds.
 
I was just there over Easter and it was crowded sure but it was not a horrible vacation. I was even able to grab same day fastpasses and modify fastpasses we already had at almost every park. The only park where we said nope was DAK. We did see Lion King and eat but we went to use our Safari FP and it was starting to wrap around itself.
 


dakotajeanmarie, you have nothing to worry about. That is literally the best week you could possibly go to Disney World. Those first few weeks following the Thanksgiving holiday are incredible! Low crowds and so much holiday cheer, music, decorations that take your breath away, and mostly super pleasant weather, though here and there a bit nippy.

But anyway, in my opinion, as wonderful and amazing as all the tips are that we get online about Disney, one of the more overblown and exaggerated pieces of info we get are when otherwise terrific weeks on the Disney calendar are branded "This or that" week, striking fear in the heart of all Disney-goers everywhere!

Like, we can't just call it a great week, we have to say, 'But, wait! Beware, it's also 'Pop Warner' week!' So silly. And I am not discounting the few that have had run-ins with them, but it's really very over-stated. There are hardly enough of them to make a difference to the crowds, in my opinion. And, they are also easily avoidable, if it's really that much of a concern to you, because the information of which resorts they stay at is always readily available online and someone usually can provide it on the Dis if you're that worried.

There is no such thing as a 'perfect' week in Disney, in terms of crowd levels, but I have to say the first 3 weeks following Thanksgiving are literally #1 through #3 on the most desirable ranking on **************.net so I say, relax, enjoy, be merry, you're going to have the best DIsney vacation ever!

And yes, I forgot to say that I went those first 2 weeks, as my signature can attest, and I truly had the most magical time of my life and recall nothing of Pop Warner cheer groups or whatever they are.
 
I didn't see where Pop Warner effected the crowds at all when I went during the first weekend in December in 2015.
In my experience the first couple weeks of December is still a great time to go to avoid crowds and have lovely weather where you're not sweating your butt off.
 
Not angst really but a disappointment that even though we're now both retired and could go almost anytime, there isn't any low crowd time anymore like there was when we started going in 1990. The week after Thanksgiving may well be a great week to go according to some Crowd prediction sites. We seriously considered going that week also this year but decided to go for my birthday (never did that before). Knowing now that Pandora is opening might have swayed us to go in late November if we had known but no looking back, right?

We used to go the last full week before Thanksgiving and it was low crowds, good prices, and great weather. January was pretty good too but now half the month seems filled with marathon crowds at the hotels.

I'm beginning to believe that there is no real low crowd time anymore; maybe a few low days here and there but the era of low weeks is gone. Disney took care of that by offering free dining (which really isn't free!), more festivals and events to draw people and it has worked. I understand the reason why but I guess we all have to get used to bigger crowds more often and of course, higher prices. Experience and a good touring plan of attack is even more important than ever!
 


No angst here. After a couple of April trips, I've gone back to early Feb. It's the best time for me to be off work, prices are as low as they get, weather is usually nice, and crowds don't seem bad to me (understanding that MK is ALWAYS a madhouse). Yeah the 15s and cheerleaders are there and Splash is closed some years, but I can live with that.

I think picking a time to go is always a series of trade offs.
 
My DW is a teacher and she refuses, to her credit, to take a week off from school when she should be working. That means that our vacations are when school is out, aka Spring Break, Summer (we do NOT go to Disney in the summer, too hot), Thanksgiving, and Christmas. So that means that it's always busy. We just try to stay a little bit longer, maybe 8-10 days at Christmas or 8-9 other times, and we have found that we try to go at a more leisurely pace. We come up with a plan but we don't write it in stone, beyond making sure that we make our dining reservations. We've enjoyed our Spring Break trips and we've enjoyed going around Christmas because even with the crowds you're at Disney so it can't be that bad, right?
 
I've found the first week of December to be too busy, not necessarily because of the crowds but because of free dining and all of the rooms and restaurants being booked up.

I mean if I have to deal with crowds I at least want to be able to find a decent room and meal.

We're going to Disney again this year in July. It's not an ideal time because of the weather but I've done this before. I know hitting the parks early, taking a 1 o'clock lunch and swim break and heading back out around 5 until close is what works.

There really isn't a time I wouldn't go to Disney World as long as everything is paid for in advance.
 
Nope. Once our oldest DD got into 4th grade we no longer felt we could take her out of school for anymore then a day or 2, their school covers so much information in 1 week that it is very difficult to catch up. So, our vacations are set to our DDs school breaks, that is just life.
OP, you should be looking on the positive side, that you can choose different times to go.
 
We will (barring misfortune or a life change) be there 12/17-12/22. At first I was worried, but now not so much. Why? I visited Disneyland on a "yep it's packed" day this May- & while I had to bail before noon I still had a ton of fun beforehand. I think if you have a good plan, and plan b, c, and d- it'll be fine. I am NOT a morning person, but for work and Disney and travel I feel like you have to be. However, I am also not a must see everything and be in the park all day person either. We've never been into most of the parks at WDW, so I figure we won't know what we're missing. Honestly the biggest downer are people on these boards harping on "how it used to be". There's a lot of things that have changed since the 80's. Like affordable homes, incomes, education, Antarctica being full of ice... you name it. To quote the man himself, "You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you." I try to look at life that way. Being worried and negative is when I see myself at my worst. Lamenting what is lost, or what was never attainable, is senseless. Really the only rational thing to do is keep finding positives, keep working towards new goals and betterment. I feel extraordinarily blessed to even consider a visit to these places- even if I sometimes get really down about how much I make or not having a home or being able to afford to travel to the places I would truly like to travel to. There is always someone worse off, and the people that are better off- maybe they don't appreciate life in the same way. It's all perspective baby! ;)

Citations:
Capture.JPG
wealth gap.JPG
cost of home.JPG
To put the above in context:
Inflation.JPG
The average median household income wavers between $50k-$60k in most states across the US; with the largest portion of households bringing in $10K-$35K. (US Census Data)
Source svs.gsfc.nasa.gov4435.JPG
college.JPG
 
My husband and I booked our 7th WDW trip for November 28-December 5, 2017 at the Wilderness Lodge. We typically go in mid to late October (no longer a slow time) or early November. This is the first time we will experience all of the Christmas decorations and related events. We are SO EXCITED! What doesn't excite me is the stress of choosing the best possible time to go to avoid the heaviest crowds. We will be at WDW the first weekend in December when the Pop Warner event begins. That has me worried about how much more crowded and crazy WDW will be. We follow all of the Touring Plans and other tips. I am curious if anyone else has angst over when to visit WDW?
That’s basically the same time frame we were there in 2016. Crowds were not bad at all. MVMCP was very manageable and we even did a few walk ups for dining. You will have a great time!
 
I think of the cup as half full. Anytime we can go is a good time. After next years trip my daughter will be studying engineering so trips will be in high summer if we want to go.
 
Of course Disney will do whatever they can to avoid 'slow' days. It's a business, not a charity lol. I'm sure their goal is to have every park completely filled every day of the year. That would be mine if I ran the company! :-) You can't fault them for that. They DO provide top-notch service and attractions so it's not as if the quality is going down as the parks bet busier (not in my opinion, anyway).
 
DH and I will be at WDW around that same time frame as well (late Nov - early Dec). We picked that time knowing that it won't be as busy as Christmas week! I believe if you do your research, have a plan in place, and be flexible when you're there, you will have a great time. We are so excited to experience our first Christmas at WDW.
 
We made our decision for an October visit because there will be a tech conference at the resort while we're there. I am pretty sure we'll have a good time despite the Columbus Day weekend crowds. On those mornings we're just planning to do tours like KTTK and then leave the park to relax at the hotel and go to ADRs in the evening.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!










Top