In terms of when to go, that’s probably more down to your personal preference, too, alongside budget, the availability of flights, house and hotel, Disney park availability, and whether you want (or need) to take the kids out of school or nursery.
Disney is always busy, but some times of the year are understandably busier than others. The quietest times are outside of the major holidays: Christmas, Easter, US federal holidays and June through mid-August, when the US schools are on their summer break.
From a crowd perspective, our favourite months of the year are May and September, though avoiding the federal holiday weekends at the end of May (Memorial Day) and beginning of September (Labour Day).
May’s weather is usually fantastic – blue skies, and not too hot, but that’s a relative term! September is in the middle of the hurricane season (June through November), so there’s always the risk of a passing hurricane.
However, in thirty years, we’ve only experienced two hurricanes during our trips, but, fortunately for the Disney and Orlando area, the impact was very limited, and it doesn’t affect our planning for future vacations.
One of our recommended, authorised attraction ticket sellers, Undercover Tourist, has a really handy Crowd Calendar that provides predicted crowd levels for each day of the year at each park.
The calendar helps you get a feeling for how busy a park will be on a given day, along with its historical weather for that day, and all of the parks’ opening hours.
If you have to go in the school holidays, then Easter’s a good time to visit – the weather’s great and the crowds are manageable – as is the second half of August when the US kids are going back to school – the weather’s hot, humid and subject to short/sharp thunderstorms in the afternoons, but nothing to worry about.
And, of course, there’s something really special about Walt Disney World during the Christmas holidays. Disney completely goes to town with its Christmas decorations, and Christmas-themed shows, outfits, and menus, across all of the parks, hotels and Disney Springs.
But do bear in mind that Disney does, naturally, charge quite a bit more during popular holiday periods than during its quieter periods for both its hotels and for theme park admission. Hotels even charge more for weekend nights than they do for weekday nights.
Naturally, the dates you choose to go to Disney will depend mostly on your budget and your availability.