What is the best time of year to go and the optimal amount of days to stay?
I have had really good luck the first week in May and about 8 days. Seems to be fewer kids, pretty good weather, lighter crowds, parks begin opening a bit later, etc.
What has been your best time at WDW? The best mix of the following factors:
As for "optimal amount of time to stay", I would say as long as possible!
The answer to many of these other factors (such as weather) will vary depending on personal taste. So my answer is a reflection of my own taste and I am not attempting to definitively say which is better for other people; these are just my opinions for what works best for me.
My short answer to the two most important categories for me, with an explanation below, followed by very detailed answers to all the categories:
WEATHER (based on best temperatures for my tastes as well as the relative lack of rain):
Gold Medal - January
Silver Medal - February
Bronze Medal - December (although all 3 are very similar)
SPECIAL EVENTS/PARK HOURS
Gold Medal - late December (MK Christmas entertainment during normal park hours, combined with EXTREMELY long hours, make this my fave overall time to visit)
Silver/Bronze Medal - March/April (The extremely long park hours of March and April due to Spring Break and Easter coincide nicely with Epcot's Flower and Garden Festival, my second favorite seasonal overlay)
More Detailed Answers to all the Categories:
1) Crowds - To quote the Birnbaum guide, "anytime school is out, the crowds are in at WDW". So if someone is dead set on avoiding crowds, avoid not only summer vacation but Christmas vacation, Easter vacation, spring break, etc. However, the trade-off is "slow season" gives you a much shorter operating day, fewer performances of MSEP and Fantasmic! per week, etc. For these reasons, and since I can use FP and the longer hours to cancel out any disadvantage caused by the crowds, I actually have more satisfying visits during peak seasons than slow seasons - especially during late December when it's nice and cool and the MK Christmas entertainment is free and included with your AP!
2) Weather - Perhaps the most sensitive of these subjects for me, as I keep my house cooled to between 65 and 68 F (20 C) whenever I am in it, and NEVER run heat in the winter! (I live in the south) The frozen food section of a grocery store feels like PARADISE to me, and I can comfortably wear just shorts and a T-shirt down to around 50 degrees (10 C). But the flip-side of that is even 75 degrees is very uncomfortable for me if I am standing in direct sunlight, and I can get symptoms of heat exhaustion if it is merely 80 degrees outside (sometimes no matter how much water I drink). So a + 80 degree day in a theme park means me having to drink a complimentary cup of ice water from a counter service location every half-hour to an hour, and having to frequently pour another one down my shirt just as often as well, just to TRY to keep cool.
So, my mantra at WDW is,
"The colder, the better!"
Obviously, Winter is the best for me. With an average high of around 70, there are still a few sunny days that can get a bit hot for my tastes (when it exceeds the average, or even AT the average, if in direct sunlight), but nowhere near as bad as the rest of the year. And since the temperature at park closing RARELY goes below 55, I am good to go with just shorts and a t-shirt on most days! Occasionally when it dips into the 40's I'll bring an easily-removable sweater that I can wear over my T-shirt while outdoors at night, hold indoors, and stash in a locker during the hotter middle of the day, but I NEVER wear long pants because I find since so much at WDW is indoors, long pants are uncomfortable in the winter whenever you go inside and they have the STUPID heaters blasting making you feel like you are going to suffocate from the stuffy heat. I don't care how "cold" it supposedly is outside, room temperature is 70-72 degrees, people!
Here is a link to the average WDW temperatures by month:
http://www.weather.com/weather/wxclimatology/monthly/USFL0615
My ranking of the months in order of most preferable weather, based on this data for best temperatures (and personal experience which support the same conclusions):
GREAT
1) January (72 (average high) / 60 (average median) / 48 (average low) )
2) February (73/61/49)
3) December (73/60/50)
OKAY
4) March (77/65/53)
5) November (79/68/57)
6) April (82/70/58)
PUSHING IT
7) October (84/74/65)
8) May (87/76/64)
(by this point, the highs are WAY too high and ONLY the overnight low (when the parks are closed) flirts with my ideal "neutral" room temperature of 65-68. For the rest of these months, feeling hot and sticky at NIGHTIME instead of cool and pleasant is the norm rather than the exception, at least for me):
WELCOME TO THE 100 DAYS OF... HADES (Memorial - Labor Day)
9) June (90/80/70)
10) September (90/80/71)
11) August (92/82/72)
12) July (92/82/72)
This guy has the right idea:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPrbccEdI5o
The only thing I hate as much as heat weather-wise is rain and thunderstorms, and interestingly, when ranking the months based on least likely to rain using average rainfall, the results are very similar with the same 4 months bringing up the rear.
The first 5 are so close and very similar:
1) April (2.02 inches Average Rainfall)
2) December (2.24)
3) January (2.39)
4) November (2.42)
5) February (2.72)
6) October (3.17)
7) March (3.32)
8) May (3.83)
(Here's where it significantly PLUMMETS):
9) September (6.01)
10) June (6.02)
11) July (6.55)
12) August (7.32)
3) Wait Times - Coincide closely with crowded times discussed above, although the bad waits on FP attractions can be canceled out by using FP, with longer waits for the few non-FP attractions that get long wait being canceled out by the longer hours during crowded times.
4) Type of people in the parks (fewer tour groups, kids, rude people, etc) - Can't really answer as I mostly don't really notice other people as I am so into my own world of enjoying the "Magic". Having said that, sometimes people are so rude that you can't help but notice (such as someone talking so loudly on a blasted cell-phone that you can't hear the attraction audio), and since it only takes one "bad egg" for this to happen, I would say it could happen at any time.
5) Special Events - My favorite is late December after the upcharge Christmas parties are over and the Christmas entertainment is FREE for ALL guests during normal park hours! (Christmas is my fave holiday, much more than Halloween). My second favorite is the Flower and Garden festival at Epcot, even if the weather isn't as much to my liking as it is in December. But at least it's not summer yet! As far as the crowds, I find the longer operating hours at these times and the ability to use FP negate any disadvantage caused by the crowds.
6) Favorable park hours - The more crowded the parks are expected to be, the better the hours. Such as the week before and after Christmas, Spring Break, and the week before and after Easter. Most of March and April have fantastic hours. Since I have plenty experience with crowds (such as using FP, good touring strategies, etc), these are my favorite times to visit the parks. I love the nice long days,(8AM to MIDNIGHT or 1 AM in the MK!) and the fact that MSEP (formerly Spectro) and Fantasmic! are presented TWICE a night, EVERY night (14 times a week) during these periods. Being able to walk up to the 11 PM night parade in Frontierland just as it is getting there REGULARLY and get a PERFECT front row spot, hardly anyone else around, and plenty of character interaction is MUCH MORE preferable to me than EVERY viewing of the parade being packed in the "slow season" because it's only presented 2 or 3 times a week and virtually EVERYONE at WDW that week is in the MK at that time trying to see that showing of the parade.
