When is the best time to go to Walt Disney World?

It is the number one question every vacation planner asks: When is the absolute best time to visit Walt Disney World? In this episode of Talk Travel to Me, host Kristy Ouellette, Owner and Founder of Mickey Guru Travel Company, brings her years of Disney expertise to the mic to help you finally answer that question. Choosing the perfect dates doesn't have to be overwhelming. Kristy breaks down the decision into four major factors you need to consider before booking:

• Crowds: How to navigate peak seasons and find the quietest weeks in the parks.
• Weather: What to expect from the Florida heat and how to plan around hurricane season.
• Pricing: Tips on stretching your budget and finding the most cost-effective times to travel.
• The Secret 4th Factor: What is the final, crucial puzzle piece to planning your perfect trip? You'll have to tune in to find out!

Grab your mouse ears, hit play, and let’s start planning your dream Disney vacation.

(Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review! For more travel tips or to start planning your next trip, visit MickeyGuru.com or follow us at @TalkTravelToiMePod .)

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Transcript

Talk Travel to Me: Season 4 Episode 3

When is the best time to visit Walt Disney World?

00:00:00 Narrator: Ready for your fast pass to the perfect vacation. This is talk. Travel to me. Join host Kristy Ouellette and the Mickey Guru team for one big travel question every episode. Solo insights or expert roundtables, all with a sprinkle of magic and the ultimate insider edge. Fasten your seatbelt. It's time to talk travel.

00:00:29 Kristy Ouellette: Hi traveler. Today I'm flying solo and I'm going to be answering perhaps the most asked question I've heard in my nearly fourteen years in the travel planning business. And that is when is the best time to go to Disney World? And the answer is it depends. All right, so there are four major factors that I want you to consider when we talk about when is the best time to go. First up is the one that I consider the least important. And that is going to be crowd levels. And the reason for that is that there will always be crowds. Disney has done a fabulous job of filling in what used to be the dead zones in the park. Okay, so years ago, two thousand and one to two thousand and eight ish. And then the period immediately following Covid. But now that we're in twenty twenty six, things look different. Disney has focused a lot of time and energy in making sure that they filled in that space so that rather than having pockets where it is truly out of control, crowded, um, they have spread out people's visiting throughout the year. Perfect example of this is October. It used to be a dead zone. Like I my first trip as a child. Well, my only trip as a child was in October. Granted, it was during a hurricane. There was a pattern there. I've been there for so many hurricanes. That's definitely another episode. How to deal with hurricanes. Um, but we're looking at October. Used to be completely empty, and now they have scheduled Mickey's Not-so-scary Halloween parties, which has become a huge reason that people go to Walt Disney World. But then they also have the International Food and Wine Festival over at Epcot, which brings in a lot of people as well. So October is now one of the busier times of the year. The least crowd levels, the levels that you're going to see, the least amount of people are going to be January except marathon weekend, early May, August, most of August, early to mid September and early December. So those are going to be the times that the crowd levels are going to be the least. I want to talk briefly before we move on to the next thing. I want to talk a little bit about high crowd levels. We see really, really high crowd levels in mid-March through the first week of April. And that's because most schools and colleges are on spring break. That's a really, really busy time in the parks. Um, and then we also see a really big draw in crowds the week between Christmas and New Year's. Uh, and that's obviously because a large majority of people are off during that time frame. And also, who doesn't have the dream of waking your family up Christmas morning and saying, here are the plane tickets, guys, we're going to Disney World. Oh, me, I haven't. Um, and only because I know just how crowded it is. And when I say crowded, I mean, guys, you you can't take full steps when you're in the parks during that week. You are literally doing what I call the shuffle shuffle step. Um, because there are just so many people that you are, you're just in the people soup. Um, so whenever somebody comes to me about that, I'm usually like, yeah, I mean, if that's the only way you can do it, I'll give you touring plans to make it as, as easy as possible for you. But I also would say like, let's avoid that as much as possible. Um, all right, so that's the crowd piece. And then the next one that I really like people to consider is the weather. Are you someone that likes heat? Are you not bothered by heat or does the heat and humidity turn you into a raging lunatic? Hi, I'm the second. I do not like the heat. And especially when you are in Disney World. And while the air conditioning is plentiful, um, you are outside a good amount of time during the day. So my preference is to not go when it's hot. I prefer cooler weather. I'm from New England, so we have like the snowiest, craziest winters most years. And so I would love to get away from here during that January February time frame, especially now. I'm going to be real honest with you. I will go to Disney World anytime. So have I been in the summer? Yes. I normally go two to three times during the summer, but those trips are completely different. So those trips when I go in the summer are very heavy on resort relaxation time. I'll get up early in the morning and go to the parks, come back during the middle part of the day, sleep, take a nap in the air conditioning. I will spend a lot of time at my resort pool and then I'll go back to the parks later in the evening. So it's doable. But when you're thinking about specifically if you're taking your first trip, you don't necessarily want to spend most of your time at the hotel, you want to be at the parks. Um, so considering your preference around weather is, is really important. And that's probably one of the most, um, one of the, the things that we talk about most is that we want to make sure that you're, you're aware of the weather. Now, of course, climate change is real. And we have situations where, you know, it is actually earlier this year, in twenty twenty six, there was a real cold snap in, um, Orlando. And my, a couple of my agents were there and they had photographs of the splash pads at the hotels with ice just all over them. So the weather conversation is important, but we also need to make sure that we are prepared for anything. We always look at the weather a week or so before you head out, right? And and do that. So weather is important. Knowing your personal family and their travel companions and making sure that you are considering that. One last thing about the weather I want to mention is that during the summer months, it rains almost every single day. At Disney World in Orlando, there are the thunderstorm capital of the world. It feels like. I think it might be the country, but it's the. It's thunder and lightning storms almost every day. You can also you can see it coming three to five p m is that real hot spot. And then normally it just goes away. It's basically all that heat and humidity. And then it cools down cools down another air quotes. Um, for the rest of the day, this is not a reason not to go. This is a reason to plan specifically what you're going to do during that time frame, but also for you to know that. Waterproof shoes. So important. Ponchos. Yes. Umbrellas they can be, but also they can be problematic. So we talk about that a little bit more specifically when you're traveling. But just being prepared for the rain and the clothes that you wear, like denim in the. Summer in Disney World, even if it's a denim skirt, please don't chafing. That's not a good thing. Not. You're not going to have a good time with that. All right, enough about weather because I really could go on forever about that. The next one I want to talk about is pricing. Now, we all know Disney is an expensive vacation, right? You're not going to get around that. But when you're looking at a time frame that is quote unquote less in demand, the pricing is going to be lower. So that week that I mentioned between Christmas and New Year's, not only is it, is it the most crowded of the year? It's also the most expensive of the year. Now, all of this is a little strange in twenty twenty six. And that is because Disney parks at Walt Disney World rely a lot on international travel. And the numbers for twenty twenty six, as far as international travelers, international travelers has dropped dramatically due to geopolitical geopolitical situations. Um, so it is very soft. So we are seeing some incredible promotions that Disney is offering because they're saying, okay, if we know people aren't coming from Brazil right now, or we know that people aren't coming over from Europe or Canada, which is another major draw, um, we need to entice more of our domestic visitors. So they're offering up to thirty five percent off hotel rooms, um, which is Not unheard of, but the the time span that they're offering those deals for you is much more dramatic than we've seen in the previous years. It does really feel more like post Covid times and post nine, eleven times in terms of the offers that we're seeing. Um, and I've actually seen a couple that are even better than that. So that is something to be aware of. Pricing is definitely something we want to consider because we want you to get the best value for your vacation dollar. And that means looking at pricing and crowds and your ideal weather together to figure out where that little magical sweet spot is for you. Now let's talk about the most important thing to consider of all. Okay. We've talked about the crowds and the weather and the pricing, and that's all important things to consider. The most important thing though, is when can you travel? It's not possible for most people to travel. Any of the three hundred and sixty five days a year or fifty two weeks a year, right? There are times, based on your personal life when you can actually travel, when you can leave work, when you can take kids out of school or away from other sporting events or, you know, things that are going on in your life. Um, I mean, as it is, like most teachers, they can't travel in September. So even if that was the best week of the year was right there in September, that's not possible. So we're going to be looking at the best options between your spring break, summer, the week between Christmas and New Year's, which if I haven't driven that point home yet, don't do it. Um, if you're an accountant, you're not traveling anywhere. January through April. April. So their best bet. might be May, early May or August or September. If you're a copywriter running your own business, you might be able to travel any time of year as long as you've planned ahead. Of course, you have kids and school schedules and all of that stuff, right? So really thinking about specifically what weeks of the year you can travel is rare that we're going to start to develop that little magical sweet spot that I talked about in the end. There isn't really one single time to vacation at Disney World, but what I want you to do is grab your calendar, a piece of paper and a pencil. You should be able to focus in on a few weeks during the year that works for your personal schedules, and then reach out and I'll give you some advice on which of those weeks is better considering the other factors. Deal. And that is one more question unpacked. If you have a travel stumper you want me to tackle, or if you're ready to let a pro handle the heavy lifting for your next getaway. Come find us at Guru.com or take a peek at the show notes. Oh yeah. I'd also love for you to pop over and say hi on Instagram or TikTok. See you next week when we'll be answering the question. Is a momcation actually a luxury or is it a mental health necessity? See you real soon, traveler.

00:13:11 Narrator: Thanks for listening to Talk travel to Me. We hope this episode cracked open inspiration for the treasures that await you at your next dream destination. If you love the show, please review, subscribe and share it with a friend at Mickey Guru Travel Company. We're your trusted guides for theme parks, cruises, resorts and more. Visit our website at mickeyguru.com to learn more and book your vacation today!