When are slow seasons?

[Yoop33]

I was trying to look it up on DVCmembers.com but wasn't able to find it. Anyone know what days the slow seasons start and end? I am tired of going to the parks just to turn around and go somewhere else cause the waits are so long.

 

[Mr Bill]

Late August, October and Early December were slow seasons, however as more and more people have discovered the "slow" season, more and more people have begun to take trips during it. It's nearly to the point where a slow season no longer exists.

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

If you base a "Slow Season" as coinciding with the Resorts "Value Seasons" then the dates are :-

1/1 - 2/14
8/5 - 10/3
11/25 - 12/19

 

[brkgnews]

And the DVC lowest-point (value, lowest attendance, etc) season is...

January 1 - 31
September 1 - 30
December 1 - 14

Funny how they don't jibe with the resorts, huh? By the way, the first week of December is notoriously difficult to get DVC ressies for (take advantage of your home resort 11-month window), but it's a wonderful time to be in the parks crowd-wise (which is why its so hard to get DVC bookings then).

 

[Beauty_Belle]

Late August, October and Early December were slow seasons, however as more and more people have discovered the "slow" season, more and more people have begun to take trips during it. It's nearly to the point where a slow season no longer exists.

Mr. Bill is correct with the current rise of free dining during late Aug and Sep, there is not really is not a "slow season." Sometimes, the crowds are just as bad as you would see in the summer, especially over weekends. I have not found bad wait times during the "average season." I've been there in Oct, Nov, Dec and May. All had about the same crowds, but it was less crowded during mid week.

 

[slappy magoo]

"Slow season?" What is this "slow season" of which you speak?

As others have said, even the Value seasons have seen drastic increase in business. Everyine has their theories as to why. Popular ones include: the internet clueing people in on what's traditionally been the slow seasons, and the big promotions like free dining inspiring people to wait for the slow seasons to go.

I have some other theories, slightly more radical but I'm sure responsible for at least some of that business.

1: We now have a generation of thirtysomethings who were babis when WDW opened, or not even born yet. They've never known a world without it, just like the generation behind me barely or don't know a world without cable TV and VCRs, and the generation after them only know what a "record" is if theyare or know a DJ. I digress. These are the now-parents who, as then-kids, dreamed of parents cool enough to take the out of school to go on vaacation, but especially to WDW. And now they can BE the cool parents, even if it means the kid needs to go to summer school because he/she flunked a course for falling behind. My wife's a teacher and sees it happen all the time.

2: Prices for WDW trips are rising so high, more people can simply only afford to go during Value season or with an awesome promotion.

3: The geopolitical landscape is so damned frightening, when people DO go on vacation, they want something immersive and familiar and "magical." Not just to escape a humdrum everyday lfe, but the stak horrors of war and terrorism and lots of oter things I've promised not to talk about on this form. We live in scary tmes,. Disney stories are sometimes scary, but good always triumphs. Which scary would you rather deal with? I'm guessing the need to escape has benefitted many tourist destinations year-round - hedonistic ones like Vegas and, well, Hedonism, plus other all-inclusive, leave-the-world-behind spots on islands and such. WDW is the ultimate manmade forget-your-troubles-c'mon-get-happy destination for so many people, especially families.

4: That damn Extreme Makeover Home Edition. It's practically an hour-long WDW commercial. Not to mention all the WDW specials always on Food Network and travel Channel.

No one theory would be responsible for all the increased business. But they all do their part
EDIT: Rather then try to fix my eleventy-seven-hundred spelling errors, please just know it was all typed on a Motorola Q during a very slow-moving, crowded, commuter train ride, and cut me whatever slack you deem appropriate. Thank you.

 

[JimboJones123]

"Slow season?" What is this "slow season" of which you speak?

As others have said, even the Value seasons have seen drastic increase in business. Everyine has their theories as to why. Popular ones include: the internet clueing people in on what's traditionally been the slow seasons, and the big promotions like free dining inspiring people to wait for the slow seasons to go.

I have some other theories, slightly more radical but I'm sure responsible for at least some of that business.

1: We now have a generation of thirtysomethings who were babis when WDW opened, or not even born yet. They've never known a world without it, just like the generation behind me barely or don't know a world without cable TV and VCRs, and the generation after them only know what a "record" is if theyare or know a DJ. I digress. These are the now-parents who, as then-kids, dreamed of parents cool enough to take the out of school to go on vaacation, but especially to WDW. And now they can BE the cool parents, even if it means the kid needs to go to summer school because he/she flunked a course for falling behind. My wife's a teacher and sees it happen all the time.

2: Prices for WDW trips are rising so high, more people can simply only afford to go during Value season or with an awesome promotion.

3: The geopolitical landscape is so damned frightening, when people DO go on vacation, they want something immersive and familiar and "magical." Not just to escape a humdrum everyday lfe, but the stak horrors of war and terrorism and lots of oter things I've promised not to talk about on this form. We live in scary tmes,. Disney stories are sometimes scary, but good always triumphs. Which scary would you rather deal with? I'm guessing the need to escape has benefitted many tourist destinations year-round - hedonistic ones like Vegas and, well, Hedonism, plus other all-inclusive, leave-the-world-behind spots on islands and such. WDW is the ultimate manmade forget-your-troubles-c'mon-get-happy destination for so many people, especially families.

4: That damn Extreme Makeover Home Edition. It's practically an hour-long WDW commercial. Not to mention all the WDW specials always on Food Network and travel Channel.

No one theory would be responsible for all the increased business. But they all do their part
EDIT: Rather then try to fix my eleventy-seven-hundred spelling errors, please just know it was all typed on a Motorola Q during a very slow-moving, crowded, commuter train ride, and cut me whatever slack you deem appropriate. Thank you.

5th gate you say??

 

[Champion]

"Slow season?" What is this "slow season" of which you speak?

As others have said, even the Value seasons have seen drastic increase in business. Everyine has their theories as to why. Popular ones include: the internet clueing people in on what's traditionally been the slow seasons, and the big promotions like free dining inspiring people to wait for the slow seasons to go.

I have some other theories, slightly more radical but I'm sure responsible for at least some of that business.

1: We now have a generation of thirtysomethings who were babis when WDW opened, or not even born yet. They've never known a world without it, just like the generation behind me barely or don't know a world without cable TV and VCRs, and the generation after them only know what a "record" is if theyare or know a DJ. I digress. These are the now-parents who, as then-kids, dreamed of parents cool enough to take the out of school to go on vaacation, but especially to WDW. And now they can BE the cool parents, even if it means the kid needs to go to summer school because he/she flunked a course for falling behind. My wife's a teacher and sees it happen all the time.

2: Prices for WDW trips are rising so high, more people can simply only afford to go during Value season or with an awesome promotion.

3: The geopolitical landscape is so damned frightening, when people DO go on vacation, they want something immersive and familiar and "magical." Not just to escape a humdrum everyday lfe, but the stak horrors of war and terrorism and lots of oter things I've promised not to talk about on this form. We live in scary tmes,. Disney stories are sometimes scary, but good always triumphs. Which scary would you rather deal with? I'm guessing the need to escape has benefitted many tourist destinations year-round - hedonistic ones like Vegas and, well, Hedonism, plus other all-inclusive, leave-the-world-behind spots on islands and such. WDW is the ultimate manmade forget-your-troubles-c'mon-get-happy destination for so many people, especially families.

4: That damn Extreme Makeover Home Edition. It's practically an hour-long WDW commercial. Not to mention all the WDW specials always on Food Network and travel Channel.

No one theory would be responsible for all the increased business. But they all do their part
EDIT: Rather then try to fix my eleventy-seven-hundred spelling errors, please just know it was all typed on a Motorola Q during a very slow-moving, crowded, commuter train ride, and cut me whatever slack you deem appropriate. Thank you.

Or ... maybe its the extremely simple and much more logical explanation of:

More guests during the year means its busier at all times. Remember thats its now cheaper, comparatively, to visit WDW then it was 10 years ago. So attendance is up all around, and that attendance is spread for the entire year. Nothing more complicated than that.

 

[stephdanielle]

I went at about the last week and a half of January one year, and I know we personally found it quite slow compared anyways to when we normally go which is July or August.

 

[gofylvr]

End of April beginning of May is great not too busy, for WDW that is they know how to handle crowds. The only annoyance was the school trips that were running around, we just left and went to the pool and came back around supper time, the school trips were all leaving by then.

 

[k.hunter30]

End of April beginning of May is great not too busy, for WDW that is they know how to handle crowds. The only annoyance was the school trips that were running around, we just left and went to the pool and came back around supper time, the school trips were all leaving by then.

In addition to the other times mentioned above, I'll second ^ early May. We came back from a May5-11 trip and were very pleased at the short lines and rather small crowds. During this time, the parks actually were more crowded during the week with groups comapred to the weekend.

 

[DavidTheGreat]

I agree with the opinion that there may be no such thing as the "slow season". Everyone thinks the same way, so of course this nullifies the notion of fewer people during certain times. One helpful hint maybe to look for places or spots that are less crowded. Check out the sections of the forums that contain info on quiet spots in WDW. Also, you can check out the extended evenings at certain parks. We tried it one time during November and pratically had the Magic Kingdom all to ourselves.

 

[Yoop33]

End of April beginning of May is great not too busy, for WDW that is they know how to handle crowds.

They know how to handle crowds?? I greatly dislike going because it is so busy and the parking lot is only half full... I can't imagine what it is like in the park when the sign on WORLD DRIVE for the direction for the Magic Kingdom changes from an arrow pointing up to a sign reading "FULL". There is no reason why they should let that many people into the park at once.
Think about it.... MK parking lot is the 3rd largest parking lot IN THE ENTIRE WORLD!!!
If you can fit 100,000 people into a (very) large football stadium with out their parking lot even being considered big, then how many people can fit in to MK before it is considered full? (yes that is an actual question and yes I am actually wondering how many people it takes to fill MK before the close it to any more guests)
All though I sit here and complain I will probably be going this weekend... and although I am sure it will be packed I will probably not even use our passes to Universal or Sea World and for some reason just stay at WDW.
POOL HOPPING ANYONE????

 

[happymom52003]

Even though there may not be a slow "season" anymore, there are still slower times. The difference in crowd level on our early December 2006 trip vs. our 2006 and 2007 late April/early May trips was significant (December was much less crowded). And even though the April/May trips were more crowded than our December trip, they were still less crowded than times we have been in the summer or over spring break. I am curious to see how our Janurary 2008 trip compares.

 

[jonabyte]

I have gone during the first two weeks in May for the past few years and have not been disappointed with the crowd.
I have been there in March, April, June, July and September and found the lines longer and overall the parks busier.

 

[ThinkTink721]

I was trying to look it up on DVCmembers.com but wasn't able to find it. Anyone know what days the slow seasons start and end? I am tired of going to the parks just to turn around and go somewhere else cause the waits are so long.

After Labor Day until Thanksgiving.
After New Year's until Spring Holidays.
After Spring Holidays until Easter.
After Easter until Memorial Day.
:wave:

 

[ryguy]

Since you are from Tampa, I assume you make day trips to the parks. So here is one tip that I know will assure you of little to no crowds. Go on Super Bowl sunday. Tape the game, and go to the MK, I gurantee you won't have to wait for anything.

 

[Mr Bill]

Since you are from Tampa, I assume you make day trips to the parks. So here is one tip that I know will assure you of little to no crowds. Go on Super Bowl sunday. Tape the game, and go to the MK, I gurantee you won't have to wait for anything.

Day trips from Tampa?

 

[PigletIsMyCat]

I have a friend in Tampa. It takes an hour to get from my house (eight miles form AKL) to her house. Granted, Tampa is not a small area, and I have no clue where in Tampa she is, but I'd drive an hour each way for Disney

 

[PintoColvig]

MK parking lot is the 3rd largest parking lot IN THE ENTIRE WORLD!!!

Really? That's a piece of trivia I haven't heard before. Interesting. So, what parking lots are first and second?