What time of year should you go?

This is an age-old question: When should we go? Well, this will, of course, depend on when you CAN go, but if you have the freedom to plan for whenever, you will find that you can save yourself a LOT of money.

Most people who go to Disney World have children. Of course, you can go even if you don't have kids, but a majority of those going will have their kids with them. Because of this fact, we tend to plan our vacations around school vacations. The problem with this is that you end up being in WDW at the busiest times of the year or the hottest time of the year.

For example: The majority of the population has off for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Those are two weeks that you want to avoid at all costs. The actual COST of going on those weeks is higher than others and the attendance rates are at their highest. You also want to avoid Easter week due to Spring break for the same reason.

Then there are the summer months. These are the worst because of the oppressive Florida heat and the high crowds. Your wait time on most rides will be close to an hour and you will spend most of that wait hating yourself for ever even THINKING of going on this vacation! That is so not necessary!!

Most teachers will want to smack me for saying this but the best times to go to Walt Disney World require taking your child out of school for at least a week. We have gone in late September, early October, the week before Thanksgiving and the week after Thanksgiving and they have all been delightful because the crowds are low and the temperature was great. The bonus to going the week after Thanksgiving is that the parks are all decorated for Christmas and you've missed the masses that were there for the holiday.

If at all possible, make the sacrifice. You will find that you will enjoy yourself so much more and you will save on your total over-all vacation cost. "The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World" is a great resource to use to show you the charting of the traffic patterns for different times of the year. "Tour Guide Mike" is a website that you need to pay to have access to ($19.99, I think) and he will give you the most amazing details on the best actual DAYS to visit down to which parks on which days! A great resource but not if you are looking to save money.