Your favorite time of year and why?

[Jperiod]

As christmas is over and our kids are getting disney'd out , I'm thinking ahead to future vacations and doing USO instead. I'm curious your favorite times to visit and why.

Kids are 15 & 9. We're not limited by school calendars. We don't like heat and we don't like crowds. Our favorite time of year at Disney is the Christmas season and we go to Disneyland in early december every year. We love the holiday decorations and festivities, plus the mild weather. Each time we went to WDW, it was SO hot though (in Nov and Dec). We're actually going to WDW in 3 weeks because that seems to be the coolest temps of the year. We already got our christmas disney fix in DLR last month though! December 2020 HP during Christmastime sounds lovely, but I'm worried about heat and crowds. I think we'd def prefer to avoid halloween time altogether. My daughter and I are sensitive to visually scary things. January 2021 sounds like a good time to go, but will we miss out on things due to shorter operating hours and the off-season?

 

[macraven]

Last week of January- first week of February has lower crowds and temps

When I do a winter visit to UO, I usually do it in that time frame

There are other time periods with lower crowds and reasonable temps

OI has a decent crowd calendar that can guide you

 

[Rinzler84]

My favorite time of the year to go to Universal is early november before thanksgiving/mid-late Jan and early feb. just avoid holidays especially ones that happen on fridays and/or mondays.
the weather though is a really a coin toss. I went in january and the mornings were in the 50's and nights were cool-ish(cold to some) well especially for Florida.
then the next day it would be hot...like unbelievably hot for nov, jan, feb.

my last trip to Univeral was on the second week of November and it was great there were some crowds on the first day but overall the crowds were low.
Hope you enjoy Universal.

 

[macraven]

My favorite time of the year to go to Universal is early november before thanksgiving

my last trip to Univeral was on the second week of November and it was great there were some crowds on the first day but overall the crowds were low.
Hope you enjoy Universal.

That time period in November is another great time period!

 

[Jperiod]

besides crowds/temp, is there any other benefits to going during those times? Are things decorated for christmas in november?

 

[Rinzler84]

besides crowds/temp, is there any other benefits to going during those times? Are things decorated for christmas in november?

When I went around Nov 12 or the week of Nov 12th things at Universal were fully decorated with christmas* I will say if you are interested in the christmas parade that Universal does during that time be sure to check the dates for that because when I went we left the day of the first day for the christmas parade which was sad.

Crowds and temps are usually the top reasons to go on the dates I mentioned.

* > I will say the first day or two I was there Universal did not have anything decorated for christmas but overnight it all was fully decorated. I feel like Universal decorates for christmas better than disney does tbh. Once you get past main street and the castle area at WDW MK the decorations aren't as abundant while Universal sprinkles it all throughout the park. Ex: the area where the Escape from Gringotts is was heavily decorated for christmas. I didn't feel that way at wdw mk even on a night when Disney had their christmas party at the back near the barnstormer or over near big thunder mtn not as heavily decorated.
But that's just my opinion.

 

[hhoope01]

If you go in February/March, Universal will start up their Mardi Gras celebrations with daily parades, some evening shows, Cajun food, and concerts on the weekends. Of note though if you purchased Seasonal Passes, you won't be able to get into the US park on the days they have a concert.