Walt Disney World With Kids (Fodor's, 2012) - Fodor's [4]
—Kim
List of Maps
What Time of Year Should We Visit?
Crowd levels at Walt Disney World vary seasonally, so one of the most important decisions you’ll make is deciding when to go.
Spring
Spring is a great time to visit. Except around spring break and Easter, crowds are manageable—not as sparse as in fall, but smaller than in summer. While park hours don’t run as late as they do in summer, they’re generally longer than in either fall or winter. And the weather is sublime, with highs in the 70s, lows in the 60s, and less rainfall than in any other season.
Summer
The good news about summer is that everything is open and operational and the parks run very long hours. The bad news is that it’s hot and crowded—so crowded that the wait for many rides can be as long as 90 minutes.
If you have preschoolers, babies, or senior citizens in the party, avoid summers like the plague. But if the schedules of school-aged kids dictate that you must visit in the summer, the first two weeks of June and the last two weeks of August are your best bets.
Insider’s Secret
To check projected hours of operation during the weeks you’re considering, visit www.disneyworld.disney.go.com. Park hours generally remain as projected but can change; to be safe, revisit the site a couple of weeks before you leave home to reconfirm theme-park hours.
Fall
Fall has lighter crowds than summer and the weather is often great. There are, however, disadvantages to a fall visit. You have to work around the fact that older children are in school. The parks run shorter hours in fall; the Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood may close as early as 5 PM, although Epcot always remains open later. Earlier closings mean that some of the special evening presentations, such as the evening parade in the Magic Kingdom, are scheduled only on the weekends.
Helpful Hint
The size of the crowds corresponds with the school schedule. Any time the kids are out of school (i.e., summers, spring break, and major holidays) is the “on-season.” Any time children are traditionally in school is the “off-season.”
Fall is the season for two of Walt Disney World’s most popular events: Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party at the Magic Kingdom (with selected dates beginning just after Labor Day) and the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival. These events are doing exactly what Disney designed them to do—drawing people in during slower times. Consult www.disneyworld.disney.go.com to buy tickets early, or to note the party dates if you want to avoid them.
Late summer and early fall make up hurricane season in Florida, so there is some risk that you’ll schedule your trip for the exact week that Hurricane Laluna pounds the coast. Fortunately, Orlando is an hour inland, meaning that coastal storms usually only yield rain and, should worst come to worst, Disney has “ride out” plans (i.e., a hurricane policy) to ensure your safety. Furthermore, there are more rainy days in summer than there are in the fall, so, in general, the advantages of autumn touring far outweigh the disadvantages.
Insider’s Secret
One of the major changes since we began doing this book 23 years ago is that the number of fall visitors has steadily grown. It’s still less crowded than summers and holidays but the special events (especially the über-popular Halloween parties) have influenced crowd flow. If you want to go to the Halloween parties, great. The fun is worth the extra effort. But even if you don’t, be aware of the dates. The Magic Kingdom closes early on evenings the parties are scheduled to run, so you can’t go there, but with so much of the crowd clustered at the Magic Kingdom, it’s the perfect time to visit the other parks.
Winter
Winter is a mixed bag.