Best/cheapest weeks at Disney World

marinejjh

DIS Veteran
Joined
Mar 25, 2013
We homeschool our kids and our looking to make a 4 day trip next year. What are the best/ cheapest weeks to go?
 
January/ February. There are still lots of people and groups there. Just not like spring break, summer and Thanksgiving/Christmas breaks.
We also homeschool... i had to look up when breaks were was lol.
 
"Best" is probably the week after Thanksgiving IMO. The weather is usually great, the decorations are up and the special events are rolling. That's probably not the cheapest, though. Crowds usually aren't bad but they aren't the lowest either.
 
Cheapest/slowest is the 2 weeks after Labor Day but the weather can be dismal between heat, humidity, rain, and storm warnings. I'd pass on that one :)

Usually the end of January and most of Feb (avoid Prez week) are also cheaper with less attendance. 2020 has been a bit of an anomaly in this respect because I think many guests came in after the holidays for SWGE/RoR (making this season busier than usual). Epcot's Art Fest is awesome but the weather can be chilly if your kids love pool time, highs can be anywhere 60s-80s. Definitely worth considering.

The next cheapest weeks are those with good weather and average to below average crowds. I'd say these are the week right before and right after Thanksgiving week, and weeks from the end of April into the first half of May. These weeks would be my pick!
 


...
Usually the end of January and most of Feb (avoid Prez week) ...

Maybe the President day weekend was my mistake. Awhile back I was trying to book 2/14-2/21 and there was absolutely no onsite rooms available in any category. I decided I wouldn’t want to be there even if something came available.

I’m starting to think (and I know people have been saying this for some time) that mid summer is one of the lower crowd seasons if you can take the heat.
 
Maybe the President day weekend was my mistake. Awhile back I was trying to book 2/14-2/21 and there was absolutely no onsite rooms available in any category. I decided I wouldn’t want to be there even if something came available.

I’m starting to think (and I know people have been saying this for some time) that mid summer is one of the lower crowd seasons if you can take the heat.
Yeah, summer's much less crowded than in the past. I think with everybody going online for info now, most people see many warnings to avoid summer if possible. Travel patterns have changed alot at WDW over the past 5 years. Guests are better informed, and WDW has better data to spread crowds throughout the year.
 
We've been watching after Thanksgiving, but not too deep in December. Like the first week in December or so.
 


There is a way you can go onto Disney World website and look at the actual rates for each hotel on a calendar I’ve always found that, I don’t remember the exact dates, but it’s like end of January had lowest rates at least for the All-Stars in the end of August beginning of September. If I could take my kids anytime during the year based on the actual nicest time to visit versus prices I would go the week after Thanksgiving week
 
We homeschool our kids and our looking to make a 4 day trip next year. What are the best/ cheapest weeks to go?

We don't home school, so I'm tied to the school calendar. We've gone MLK weekend. It can be busy. But the WEEK before is usually a lighter traffic week. It is after the Marathon and before MLK. It is also before Epcots Festival of the Arts. We've had good luck with the weather and my son has gone swimming each year. But we did have a few chilly days mixed in over the last 5 years.

One year we went at President's Day, which also overlapped Mardi Gras, wow, the crowds were crazy. Be sure to watch out for Mardi Gras when looking at dates. It doesn't matter when it happens, it will be busy because schools are off.

If Epcot is a priority, I would personally avoid Festival of the Arts. Our timing was bad. We were at Epcot on the first Saturday of FoArts. The crowds were huge. I hear during the week would be better.

There are websites with crowd calendars. I know they aren't an exact science, but they do look at things like Cheer Competitions at ESPN, the race schedules and school breaks. So they are helpful, because they have done some of the research. Check WDW Prep School, she provides solid info.
Have fun!
 
I would suggest the first two weeks of May or the second week of September. Normally Jan/Feb (avoiding MLK, Marathon, President's Day and Princess Run weekend) are also pretty good, but this year, crowds were higher with everyone wanting to get on RotR.
 
We did our honeymoon the weekend after Labor Day for 10 nights. The crowd level was pretty low ( most non E-Ticket rides were about 15 minute wait time ). The weather was HOT and it did rain at least a little every day. It only rained twice in the 10 days though where we really needed to go inside not to get soaked. I like that during that time period you get the Halloween decorations, the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party and the Food and Wine Fest at Epcot.
 
For me it's the 2 weeks after Labor Day. It's STUPID hot so I guess that keeps people away. I come prepared for the rain and actually enjoy it relief from the sun even though it make it more humid.

The week after Thanksgiving I did once. Want to do that again. Great weather and low crowds. I love January. The "15's" not only don't bother me, I really enjoy having them around.
 
"Low" season here in Florida is always August and September, because they will either be the hottest, or have storms (or sometimes hurricanes, but don't let this scare you away!) Schools here generally go back in mid-August, so from mid-August to mid-September are decent times to go (if you can stomach the weather) because no one wants to schedule a family vacation when the kids have only been back in school for two weeks.

Spring break is basically all of March (because some schools it's early in the month, some it's middle, some it's end) so not a great time to go.
 

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