Have quiet days at the parks made you a Disney snob?

[mbroschak]

My wife and I don't have kids yet and have jobs that allow us to travel in the "off" season and have made it like a second career to plan our trips when we think that we'll miss the crowds and fortunately have been quite successful (except for an accidental run in with Jersey week; we were trip planning amateurs back then). Now that we've seen the parks at there slowest, we couldn't imagine going back during any kind of holiday or busy time.
I know some people are going to read this and say "I just feel grateful to have a chance to even be there at all" and I always feel lucky to be "welcomed home", but does anyone else make it a personal mission to avoid crowds?

 

[miles1]

We used to avoid the crowds like the plague, back when that option was available to us in "BC" time (before children). Even when the kids were younger we would take them out of school during late Sept or January for a trip just to avoid the crowds. (This is how we wound up in the parks one week after 9/11, which was quieter than I ever wanted to see it!)

These days we are grateful just to be there despite the crowds. And with a little advance planning and some help from the Unofficial Guide, we still manage to get to see just about everything with a minimum of waiting. This year we aren't going at all due to my work situation (i.e., there isn't any), so we'll be all the more grateful to return next year.

Perhaps in about 10 years when the kids are self-sufficient enough we'll return to going during the "slow"times of the year, if any still exist.

 

[Pioneer Hall]

I have been there during very busy and quiet times. Quiet times are nice because you can ride a lot more in a short period of time. I am not a fan of waiting in line, so you can definitely get used to being around less people.

However, the busy season does have some advantages. When the parks are more crowded they are open later. I really enjoy wandering the parks at night, so for me this is a huge plus. Also, if they are very crowded, you can usually see the MK extra magic hours go until 3am. Even if it is July, from 1-3am you barely see anyone in the park. I was able to ride Splash Mountain 3 times this past July without even getting off. The longer hours also give you an opportunity (if you plan right) to take in the parks and enjoy the amenities of your resort on any given day. You can wake up early and get some rides in, go back for a swim and shower midday, and then come back for dinner and rides in the evening/night. I personally like that better after all these visits than running all day.

 

[BrerMouse]

I agree with Insider... There are advantages to both. Our last two trips have been in January and March. When in January went during Marathon and parks were open later than they normally would have been and still did not see many waits that exceeded twenty minutes for anything. Love the marathon weekend. Then went the first week in March this year and we figured we would miss the spring break crowds, "my senior year of college, we have a very early break". But it seemed like there were more people there and the parks weren't open as late. So that was kinda a bummer, but I think it just had to do with the 7 for 4 and 200 gc. But all in all both times have there advantages and I would recommend doing both at least once. Because how bad can it be at the World.

 

[scheat]

Yeah my wife and I can definitely identify with you "m." We were unable to have children(long story), so we are easily able to travel to WDW in the off season. Although it was quite devastating at the time, there are a few perks to being infertile and we take advantage of them. Only time during the busy season was our first trip in '93 and we will never do that again. I understand what some of the other posters are talking about concerning some of the pros of traveling during the busy season and would go one further to say you have to be careful traveling in the off season because there may be more attractions undergoing refurbishment. For our money though we thoroughly enjoy less traffic in the park. It's just less hectic and we feel like it's easier to enjoy things on the whole and visit the parks leisurely without having to stay up until 3am. I would say though that even in the off season, WDW still has quite a few visitors, but it's not overwhelmed as we felt it was during the busy season.

 

[DisneyPrincess5]

We definitely make it a point to go at non-busy times. The difference between a busy time and a non-busy is really amazing and you don't realize it until you do it. You get to maximize your trip because you're not standing in long lines so you get to do more in a day, which allows you to do more of what you want.
Plus, there's nothing like walking through the parks when you're able to see the ground or 20 feet ahead of you

 

[gwhb75]

We went for the first time with our kids last September and it was great. We picked September to avoid crowds (our kids were in SK and Grade 3 at the time), and the parks were not busy at all. We've booked for September again this year. We figure pulling the kids out at the start of the school year isn't too bad, but we know it won't be possible once the kids get into the higher grades.

 

[Susan Savia]

We have always gone during the winter months for several reasons. We took our children out of school every year to go to WDW. We have always prefered the winter months (January/Feburary) to get us out of this Virginia cold and a mid year break until the next vacation and the crowd levels were always low. We did once go in October and found it much too hot.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Thus far we've tried to schedule our trips during slower, less expensive times because we, too, don't enjoy huge crowds and long lines. It's getting much harder to pull our kids from school, though, because they're getting older (the oldest will be in 8th grade next year). I will be joining my brother and his daughters for the girls' 1st trip at the end of May which will be my 1st experience with the busier times (Touring Plans shows 8+ every day). We have our strategy worked out much like the others who have experience with busier times. I'm interested to see how it all goes. We are pretty much at the point where my family has to decide which way to go from here on out: travel to other places or suck it up and go during busier times of year. It's just not doable to keep taking the kids out of school.

My inlaws are going to WDW in early January next year and want us to go with. We'll either leave the kids home and plan them a spring break trip or cancel our portion altogether so we can take the kids when they are off school.

 

[Red devil]

Our last 3 trips were in Sept. 08, Sept. 06, and Aug. 01, so we are now used to slow time crowds and I don't know if I could go during a busy time again, its just nice not really having to wait much more then half an hour for anything (with a few exceptions -TSMM!). Although I think our next trip will be in spring to avoid the heat and possibly see the flowers/topiaries.

 

[lilclerk]

I won't go during spring break/holiday seasons ever again! I hit the spring break/easter crowds last year and ... wow. It's not the lines for attractions that bothered me, it's the crowds. It was feeling like every space available was jam packed and having to weave in and out of groups of people to get anywhere. And this is without any phased closures, I cannot imagine that :dazzle:
This is actually one of the reasons I don't like AK or DHS all that much. No matter how short the wait times are, the walkways always seem super crowded. And don't even get me started on Fantasmic crowds! I am not looking forward to that again!

-hugs Epcot-

 

[gccgrad1996]

I am extremely jealous of all of you that can go in the off season. I am a teacher so the only time that my family can go is summer or holidays. Needless to say we only go in the summer. Over the last few years we have worked out a great schedule to maximize our time and have the best time we can. I did find that last year's trip in August was much less crowded then the past three in July. This year we are trying June. We will see.