When to go … (Part 3 – Crowd Levels)

Today we’ll end our 3 part chat on choosing the best time of the year for your Disney vacation. For this edition we’ll be going over crowd levels and the Disney World event calendar. I know for me and my family visiting during a “slower time” is extremely important. Even though we usually follow plans that allow us to stay ahead of the crowds, there is something to be said for not waking up at the crack of dawn and still not waiting through crazy long lines for rides.

The least busiest time to visit Disney World is from Labor Day in September until the beginning of October. After that your best time is to go in mid-January after MLK day until Presidents Day in February. Finally the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas and then post-Spring break until Memorial Day are still better than average on wait times.

Without a doubt the busiest day to visit is Christmas Day and the crowds stay crazy until the beginning of January. Middle of March (aka Spring Break) through the week of Easter is still packed. Finally the week of Thanksgiving finishes my top 3 busiest times of the year.

As an example Space Mountain would have peak wait times of 30 minutes on Labor Day while on Christmas Day the peak wait time would be about 80 minutes. That’s almost 3 times the wait! I don’t know about you but I got better things to do with my precious vacation time.

Along with wait times there are other calendar considerations to mull over. Disney celebrates all kinds of events that are amazing to experience. I have a few of the big ones listed below. Please note that Disney has not released official dates yet for 2015 year yet. These are just estimates based on previous years. I will update you as things get published.

• January – WDW Marathon (usually the second weekend)
• February – Black History Month (all month), Princess Half-Marathon (Feb 19-22)
• March – EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival (Middle of March – middle of June)
• May – Star Wars Weekends (beginning this month but 2015 haven’t been announced yet)
• June – Star Wars Weekends, Gay Days (June 2-8)
• September – Night of Joy (usually the first or second weekend), EPCOT Food and Wine Festival (mid-September through mid-November), Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party (mid-September through Halloween)
• October – Twilight Zone Tower of Terror 10-Miler, Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party (mid-September through Halloween)
• November – Wine and Dine Half-Marathon (early November), Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party (November through December)
• December – Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade (taped 9 days after Thanksgiving and televised Christmas Day), Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party (November through December)

I hope this info helps. I am currently working on a document that I think will be super helpful for picking your dates. I am trying to combine all of this info into one spreadsheet page so you can compare and contrast one week versus another.

Send me a comment if there is other calendar considerations that you would want to hear about.

When to go….(Part 2 – Cost)

So today we’re going to chat about the everyone’s favorite topic, MONEY! Although we have a lot to discuss on the details of cost we will just be focusing on how it relates to the time of year and how it effects when you’ll be booking your vacation. The three main costs of your Disney adventure are lodging, tickets, and food.

LODGING

Lodging is the one expense where the time of year matters. Disney has a strange formula to determine when their hotels are cheaper or more expensive depending on how busy the time of year it is. They have 17 … count them 17!! … pricing tiers for each of their 4 categories of resort types. Below I have a listing of these tiers with their 2015 dates listed next to them. I also have each listed in order of their price per night. So the lowest pricing tier of the year is during their “Value Rate” and it only gets higher from there. Just as an example a week night at the All-Star Movies Resort during the “Value” rate is $96 while the same room at Christmas during the “Holiday” rate is twice that at $199/night. Crazy huh?

• Value : Jan 4-7, 11-15, Jan 19-Feb 11
• Value 2 : Aug 16 – Sept 10
• Fall : Sept 11 – Oct 8, Oct 12 – Nov 5, 9-20, Nov 28 – Dec 10
• Regular : Feb 22 – Mar 5, Apr 12 – May 21, May 25 – 28, Dec 11 – 17
• MLK : Jan 16-18
• Marathon : Jan 8-10
• Veterans Day : Nov 6 – 8
• Columbus Day : Oct 9 – 11
• Summer : May 29 – Jul 2, Jul 6- Aug 15
• Peak : Feb 12, 16-21, Mar 6-28
• Thanksgiving : Nov 21 – 27
• Memorial Day : May 22 – 24
• Presidents Weekend : Feb 13 – 15
• July 4th : Jul 3 – 5
• New Years : Jan 1-3
• Easter : Mar 29 – Apr 11
• Holiday : Dec 18 – 31

Since there are 4 different levels of resort types (Value, Moderate, Deluxe, and Deluxe Villa Resorts), with multiple subcategories of room types at each resort based on view and amenities, I won’t be going into detail on room prices in this blog. I just wanted to cover the overall pricing structure to show you the the times of the year where you can get a better deal.

TICKETS

Once again there is A LOT to discuss in regards to park tickets. There are so many choices in regards to number of days, ability to jump between parks, adding water parks, and the list goes on. For this conversation we are just looking at tickets in regards to the calendar for when to go on your vacation. The good news is that this portion is a no brainer. Tickets once purchased (until they are used for the first time) do not expire. That means you can by them whenever you want and use them whenever you want!

Now here comes the big BUT! For the most part it doesn’t matter when you buy your park tickets. BUT Disney does increase the price of their park tickets yearly (2006 saw price increases twice in one year). So actually the sooner you can buy your tickets the better so that you can avoid the next price increase.

One key thing to note is that Disney states that “unless you purchased the No Expiration Option, Magic Your Way tickets (read basic tickets) expire 14 days after their first use”. We will chat in more detail about some of these references like “No Expiration” and Magic Your Way” in future blogs. The key thing to take away from this is that once you walk through the turnstiles (Day 1) then you would have 13 more days to use the remaining days on your tickets before they expire.

FOOD

Food costs at Disney are ca-raaazy! The good news is when it comes to chow time you have some options. The 3 most popular of these are eating in Disney restaurants using the dining plan, eating in Disney restaurants paying out of pocket as you go, and eating outside of Disney (or your own food). Of course the last 2 would have no effect on when you book your vacation, but the dining plan option could possibly.

The Disney dining plan is a pre-paid meal plan so that guests can budget their dining costs in advance and (potentially) save money. Usually, and I will say this again, usually Disney offers a “Free Dining” incentive for guests staying during certain dates usually in the Fall. In 2014 the dates offering “Free Dining” are 8/31 through 12/23 with certain dates blacked out inside that range. This is offered for guests who are paying full price for Disney vacation packages (room + tickets). So you want to weigh the costs of any room discounts being offered vs. the cost of the dining plan and see which one would give you a better deal.

That’s all for today. Thanks for reading!

When to go…(Part 1 – Weather)

Let’s start at the beginning…..a very good place to start.

I want to walk you through some of the initial decisions of planning your Disney vacation. The first step is to decide when to go. Sounds easy enough right? For some people it is. Work or school calendars can dictate our travel dates while for others life is a bit more flexible. Although there are multiple reasons for choosing certain dates I would like to cover 3 of the biggest….weather, cost, and park attendance.

Hurricane Season

Today’s topic will be all about weather. I know what you’re thinking “It’s Florida, how bad could it be?” Well, if you are going during hurricane season then it has the potential to be pretty bad. Let me emphasize the “potential” in that last statement. Florida is a relatively big state and Orlando is smack dab in the middle of it which helps in your hurricane odds. Here are some trivia facts that will make you feel better.

1. Hurricane Season lasts from June 1st until November 30th.
2. Since 1852 (162 years ago!) central Florida has been hit by a category 1 or higher cyclone (aka hurricane) 17 times.
3. On average this is 1 hurricane every 9.5 years.

But this is something that should definitely be weighed heavily when choosing dates. Also, check out this link if you are curious about Disney’s hurricane policies and about refunding trips. I highly recommend travel insurance when booking a vacation. This is important not only for bad weather but also unexpected family or work emergencies that do unfortunately pop up from time to time. Take a look at InsureMyTrip.com to compare travel insurance quotes from multiple companies. Many places will include children under 18 for FREE in basic plans. I don’t recommend getting insurance through Disney as it’s usually more expensive and not as inclusive as other companies. For example, Disney will only cover the cost of the Disney portion of your vacation (plus airfare) it would not include tickets bought to visit other theme parks or any other special events not Disney-related.

Temperatures

So there is hot and then there is Florida hot. The humidity is killer. Not only on your hair but also your outlook on life when you are wedged up between randoms waiting in line at Splash Mountain. Now I’m not suggesting you plan your vacation on when your hair will be the least frizzy but those pictures of you and Mickey are going to be seen by alot of people! 🙂 The most temperate weather is in the month of October. The temps are cooling off with average highs in the low 80s and the rainy season is coming to a close. July and August are the hottest months with average temps reaching highs of 92. On the flip side winter time can bring chilly weather in the 40s. 

 

June is the rainiest month but lets face it it’s going to rain while your there. It’s just a Florida thing. Go ahead and assume now that if you are traveling between June and September then roughly between 3pm and 6pm it will rain. (side-note: rain showers are the best time to go to the parks. While everyone heads back to their hotels for fear of melting you can see awesome wait times to get on indoor attractions.) With that said, some months do see more rain than others. June through part of September can see up to 4 times more rain than the rest of the months in the year.

Hope this helps. See ya real soon!