March, April, or May? Best mix of weather and manageable crowds?

[Alucard84]

We went with a March 3rd-9th visit. Staying at Pop Century. 50-80 degrees sounds good to us. We can layer up as needed. Our last trip was in June and we don't want a repeat of that. The heat and humidity was miserable. Sapped the energy right out of all of us.

 

[g-dad66]

We went with a March 3rd-9th visit. Staying at Pop Century. 50-80 degrees sounds good to us. We can layer up as needed. Our last trip was in June and we don't want a repeat of that. The heat and humidity was miserable. Sapped the energy right out of all of us.

Good choice!

 

[M SH]

What do you guys think about April 28 -> May 5?
We are trying also for low crowds and manageable weather.

 

[SaintsManiac]

We went with a March 3rd-9th visit. Staying at Pop Century. 50-80 degrees sounds good to us. We can layer up as needed. Our last trip was in June and we don't want a repeat of that. The heat and humidity was miserable. Sapped the energy right out of all of us.

See ya there!

Not looking forward to being really cold, but it was so dang hot in September I don't think we'll mind this time!!!

 

[DTW2WDW]

What do you guys think about April 28 -> May 5?
We are trying also for low crowds and manageable weather.

We're doing early May because we want warm mornings, warm evenings but not stifling as we're travelling with a baby for the first time (15 months) and we also want low crowds. Hot temps in the afternoon are no problem as we always have pool breaks built in. Judging by Disney's new date-based ticketing those dates are among the cheapest for starting a multi-day visit so I'm thinking it's a good bet.

 

[cel_disney]

I disagree that the Star Wars races won’t impact park crowds. I’ve been that weekend last year and this year and found that crowd levels dropped dramatically after that Monday. The levels shouldn’t ruin anyone’s visit but they should have that information before making their decision on when to go.

ANY weekend compared to a Monday will be less. I’m saying that the runDisney crowd won’t impact crowd levels differently than you would expect. We had crowd levels usually as 6/7 on weekends and 5/6 weekdays during non easter weeks in April (including Star Wars weekend and non-star wars)

 

[AngiTN]

I disagree that the Star Wars races won’t impact park crowds. I’ve been that weekend last year and this year and found that crowd levels dropped dramatically after that Monday. The levels shouldn’t ruin anyone’s visit but they should have that information before making their decision on when to go.

And traffic. We were there last year for SWW weekend and the traffic on the Half morning was horrendous. At 10:00 AM it took 35 min to get from BWI to AKL. Same trip 2 nights later took 13 min. Buses couldn't even reach the resort, we called for an Uber, who said we got lucky as they had only made it because they were just dropping someone off. We were going to be his last fare and they were getting out of there. Traffic was nightmarish.

 

[disneyseniors]

We have gone mid February before, 2 years ago, with 70's and nice weather. Go figure?
Then we went end of Feb, first week of March this year with continued 60, weather, sunny and definitely very nice. we are from Mn. so 60's is great for us I don't know if it was just pure luck, but we won't hesitate to go first week of March again.

 

[JoanneAZ]

ANY weekend compared to a Monday will be less. I’m saying that the runDisney crowd won’t impact crowd levels differently than you would expect. We had crowd levels usually as 6/7 on weekends and 5/6 weekdays during non easter weeks in April (including Star Wars weekend and non-star wars)

First, I wasn’t comparing the weekend to Monday, I was saying that the days involved in the race weekend Wed-Mon were busier than that same timeframe on a normal week.
Second, you say it wouldn’t impact crowd levels differently than you would expect. For someone who has never been on a race weekend before or perhaps never been to WDW at all, they don’t know what to expect which is why I was giving them that information.

 

[cel_disney]

First, I wasn’t comparing the weekend to Monday, I was saying that the days involved in the race weekend Wed-Mon were busier than that same timeframe on a normal week.
Second, you say it wouldn’t impact crowd levels differently than you would expect. For someone who has never been on a race weekend before or perhaps never been to WDW at all, they don’t know what to expect which is why I was giving them that information.

I stand by my position. Unless it’s Marathon Weekend (so - not Star Wars) - ‘Race Events’ do not stress out park crowds. The number of race participants are capped and the non-marathon races are much smaller capacity and there are no longer ticket discounts for runners. If parks are busy those weekends - it’s likely for other reasons.

In 2016 - SW Race was during Spring Break for almost all of New England (can’t rememebr if it was the beginning or the end)

In 2017 - the race was the end of New England’s a spring break AND the weekend after Easter so likely many more people also had that week off and left the days after the race weekend.

In 2018 - SW Race was again the end of Spring Break for almost all of New England (but no easter overlap)

In 2019 - The Race will be 2 weeks earlier and not associated with New England spring break at all.

 

[cel_disney]

And traffic. We were there last year for SWW weekend and the traffic on the Half morning was horrendous. At 10:00 AM it took 35 min to get from BWI to AKL. Same trip 2 nights later took 13 min. Buses couldn't even reach the resort, we called for an Uber, who said we got lucky as they had only made it because they were just dropping someone off. We were going to be his last fare and they were getting out of there. Traffic was nightmarish.

I agree that traffic is definitely a bigger problem that needs to be planned for on race weekend and stated that in my original post too. Not all routes are problems - but the ones that are closed are really bad.

This year my Dad has an 8am Tee Time on the 10k day - they didn’t have any delays at all getting there from BLT. But I read many reports of others like Angi that did have trouble on other routes. It’s worth planning in advance for.

 

[AngiTN]

I agree that traffic is definitely a bigger problem that needs to be planned for on race weekend and stated that in my original post too. Not all routes are problems - but the ones that are closed are really bad.

This year my Dad has an 8am Tee Time on the 10k day - they didn’t have any delays at all getting there from BLT. But I read many reports of others like Angi that did have trouble on other routes. It’s worth planning in advance for.

Typically, the short races are off the road early enough to not be an issue. It's usually just the half and full marathons that can really impact traffic in the mornings.

 

[kelscross]

What do you guys think about April 28 -> May 5?
We are trying also for low crowds and manageable weather.

Just a warning...April 25th thru April 30th is cheerleading and dance worlds held at ESPN and Coronado springs. Thousands of cheerleaders/Dancers will be there. All star sports, movies, pop and Coronado is mainly where they stay. Avoid all-star sports like the plague. My daughter competes every year for the past 4 years. Weather has always been warm to hot with very little rain. Crowds are moderate, not low.
Also May 4 thru the 8th is cheerleading and dance summit. Same concept as before with 4x the amount of participants and younger kids.

 

[kniquy]

I think if you are trying to find the right balance of crowds and weather then I would pick the last week of April. We were there April 14-21 this year. It was pretty busy because it was spring break for many states. If you look at March there are many spring breaks taking place then for both college as well as grade school. Early April you get Easter and other school spring breaks. I think once you get to the last week of April everyone is back in school. The weather when we went was warm, but not humid and actually some mornings we were chilly wearing coats and sweatshirts.

So considering Easter is on 4/21 next year I would pick 4/28-5/5. Its the humidity that makes the temps unbearable so i think by this point it still won't be too humid.

 

[M SH]

I think if you are trying to find the right balance of crowds and weather then I would pick the last week of April. We were there April 14-21 this year. It was pretty busy because it was spring break for many states. If you look at March there are many spring breaks taking place then for both college as well as grade school. Early April you get Easter and other school spring breaks. I think once you get to the last week of April everyone is back in school. The weather when we went was warm, but not humid and actually some mornings we were chilly wearing coats and sweatshirts.

So considering Easter is on 4/21 next year I would pick 4/28-5/5. Its the humidity that makes the temps unbearable so i think by this point it still won't be too humid.

these are the exact days we are doing!