I need some help… I am wavering between the first and second week of December which do you think would be better for crowds etc.
Originally we were looking at December 7-15 or 16 and hoping for free dining. But I got a good rate through MVT and I think it will work out close without free dining and pay out of pocket allowing us to have a couple sit down meals as well. Because of this I could go the week earlier Nov 30- Dec 9th or 10th.
We have only been twice and have had the dining plan both times, stayed at Pop Century and second time we stayed at All star sports. We are going to stay at Pop this time again, we hardly stay in our rooms except to sleep and shower then off to the parks so no need to spend any extra on accommodations.
I haven’t been yet but I think the general consensus is that the first week of December is slower. That also appears to be the case from looking at the crowd calendar as I’m doing my planning. Check this out if you haven’t yet: Disney Crowd Calendar
There aren’t really any slow times anymore as it seems that WDW is flexing it’s staffing patterns to create a more consistent/flat crowd level experience.
That said I would do the first week of Dec. Intuitively that seems like more of a low time, post Thanksgiving but not too near Christmas.
“Free dining” is almost never your best value as it requires you to pay rack rate for the room, and sometimes buy features like park hoppers that you wouldn’t normally buy.
I think we will do the first week of December, flights are a bit better won’t need an overnight flight which is nice. I was a little worried about the Pop Warner groups that will be there but really we won’t be at the hotel much anyways so it prob won’t be an issue. Now if we can just speed up a bit so I can get to real planning
My family went first week of December 2015. It was great! Put it this way, even if it is more crowded than you were expecting/hoping, it will be no where near as crowded the week of Xmas & New Years!
Just make sure the week you select doesn’t include the weekend of Thanksgiving and you’ll be fine.
The thing we were most surprised about was how hot it still was during the daytime. Got to upper 70s and 80 degrees most days and with that Florida sun, it felt SUPER hot!
Now just need to figure out flights… Take an overnight flight landing in Orlando at 8 am and have a few hours in the park our first day before crashing… or taking a flight with longer layovers and arriving at 9:45 pm going straight to bed…
Where are you flying from? I ask because that sounds like the flights we looked at from Phoenix to MCO but, we got lucky and found a decent non-stop with American Airlines that was actually less expensive than the overnights and all the flights with stops.
That makes sense. We took an overnight from here one time. My DD was 9 at the time. I though she would hit the ground running but, she totally crashed on the way to the hotel A little unscheduled nap time and then she was ready to go.
I broke down and booked our flights last night, figured my as well get them done and start the count down No turning back now, we decided to do the overnight fight since it was less stop overs. We do have to layover in Toronto and go through us customs there. Hope it isn’t to much of a hassle.
I’ve been at WDW three times during Pop Warner week (all three at POR with mostly cheerleaders) and other than a busy food court and one night of DHS closing early…they were fine. No behavior or noise issues.
The first week of December is my favorite time of year to visit WDW. We haven’t been during that time for a while now because our kids are older and missing school is more of a hassle. Enjoy!
@minniemouse27 I am going to try to do the party, Last October we did the Halloween party at Disneyland and had a blast. Park was a lot quieter than previous days and we got to watch the parade etc. We had so much fun that night…
Booking flights always seems like the point of no return doesn’t it? Hopefully customs in Toronto makes getting to MDE at MCO a faster process. The one thing I wish I would have remembered for our overnight flight was eye masks. Every time a light went on I woke up
A little unscheduled nap time and then she was ready to go.