When would you travel- Jan, Feb, April or June?

pinkxray

DIS Veteran
Joined
Sep 4, 2009
I am hoping to get to Disney as soon as possible but due to paying for daycare for 2 kids our Disney fund isn't growing very fast. Hoping 2019 will be the year.

I know it's awhile out but I'm currently out on maternity leave and have a lot of free time to daydream about bringing the kids on their first Disney trip.

It will be DH,myself, and DD14 who have all been to Disney multiple times. DS will be around 4 and DD will be about 2 and it will be the first trip for both of them. DD14 will be in high school so avoiding taking days off is preferable, but willing to miss a few days.

Here are the options I'm looking at

Jan- during the Marathon- would love to run either the Half or full - DD14 would miss the most school
Feb- Feb break- would run the Princess- DD14 would miss 3 days of school
April- vacation- no school missed
June 10 or whenever school ends- DD misses no school

Here are some considerations- DH isn't a Disney person, hates crowds- April might not be the best for him
I love RunDisney runs but I did say in the past it does kill too much park time when I do a run and I wouldn't plan a trip around a run again (but I love having the training to motivate me to run!)
Weather- kids love swimming and I'm worried Jan/ Feb won't allow much pool time
June seems ok, but worried about heat/crowds
 
If the past couple years have been an indication, June would have significantly lower crowd levels than going during any of the other times you've mentioned.
 
I would choose June. I'm not against taking kids out of school, but I have found the older mine get the harder it is for them to not be in class and they are A students. We now vacation primarily in the summer and occasionally spring break which is in March for us.
 


I would pick June. Possibly April, if it's not the week before or after Easter. I would absolutely not pick January or February.
 
I'd pick April, I go March or April every year because I love F&G at Epcot. The weather is just about perfect, not too hot yet and not as rainy as summer. As far as crowded, I think that might depend on your idea of crowded. Evidently we have a very high tolerance for crowds and no matter what time of year we go, it just doesn't bother us.
 
If you don't like the heat, I would suggest April. The F&G at EPCOT is great, and the weather in the daytime is usually not too hot..and lovely evenings.
 


Going to chime in here with June as well. I am a bit partial because my birthday is early June, but I've always found when I go then the weather is overall nicer, not too hot or too chilly at night, and the crowds seem lower. I do tend to go the first week, sometimes into the second. I think older DD would like the idea of not having to miss school, because I know as I got older, I used to hate it because I found it more frustrating to be inundated with a lot more work at the end. Plus, going to Disney after the school year is so exciting to look forward to! Also I believe the park hours are longer then, I know they are much longer than the times we've gone in January. It was sometimes stinky to escape the frigid NE weather, only to get to WDW and still need jackets (about half the time, the other half was absolutely beautiful).

My second pick would be April. Nice weather, no school missed, and the flower and garden festival!
 
I would choose April, as long as your school break doesn't line up with Easter. We did April school vacation in 2015 when Easter was 2 weeks prior - it was awesome! Perfect weather, crowds weren't too bad. Now that we have 2 in college and one in high school, our only options are Christmas (no way) or summer - we're doing August for the first time this year.
 
I agree with those who say April, only if your break isn't the week before or after Easter. Otherwise I would pick June.
 
Pros and Cons to each date-

Lowest crowds are going to be January-February. We love this time period but stopped when our oldest entered high school. We just could not make it work for him to miss. Too many AP classes and too much work. Two years is a long time in the teenage world so just be aware that that option might be less appealing as it gets closer. Temperature can be all over the place.... warm to COLD. Swimming is iffy. Last week of January is great. Spring breaks for collages start in February.... upping crowds.

April is the best weather wise. Crowds can be crazy or not. It's been a while since we did this one but it was a good trip. Closer to Easter.... crowds get crazy.


June- We just returned the very end of May. It was a very good trip. Crowds are going to be a bit higher than we had but the earlier in June you can go the better. Some school go to mid June. It will be hot. Hours are longer and everything is generally operational.
 
As long as the April dates don't coincide with Easter (which in 2019 is the 21st), I'd go then--no school missed and great weather. 2nd choice would be June, though you're getting into the blowtorch weather months at that point.
 
Summer is too hot and humid for us.
Wouldn't do April if your vacation week is the week before or after Easter. Second highest crowd-levels of the year.
Wouldn't do February if your vacation week is President's Week. (Any other week in February would be fine, however.)
That leaves January which we have done twice now (school calendar was such that grandkids didn't miss any school). The only downside for us is the swimming issue, but the pools are heated, and our grandkids always plunge right in.
 
I've been all of those months. I'd have I went April of this year on a school trip. The weather was great. It was crowded though.
I took DD12 on a mother/daughter trip in Feb this year. It wasn't as crowded, but the parks closed earlier and some attractions were closed. It was too cold to swim.
January was for DD14's soccer tournament. It was really cold and crowded. I didn't expect so many people to be there. Again, the parks closed early and some attractions were closed.

My vote would be June. June 2013 was a family trip for Star Wars Weekends. It was hot and crowded. We had a plan though. We did the parks early, went back and swam and rested. We went back to the parks after it cooled down.
I'm planning for next June as well!
 
I would do April only if your dates don't overlap with the local spring break, if it does, go in June preferably the first two weeks, Feb can be too cold to enjoy all the water rides and sometimes even to walk around the park is annoying with all the layers you need
 
i personally wouldn't do June due to the weather. I love going in January! the parks are light and the weather is manageable.
 
I am surprised there are so many different opinions.

Our Feb break is always over Presidents Day and April is almost always for Easter. The only time it wasn't was when Easter fell in March one year. Looks like 2019 is in April so my guess school break will be the week leading up to Easter.

It seems like June might be the best option for us, but DH's busy season is summer at work. He has always asked that we don't plan long vacations over the summer. When DD was little we would travel during in Oct after DH's work slowed down. I hope I can convince him that it will need to be summer now that DD is entering high school.
 
June gets my vote, followed by January. April is crowded the WHOLE month--remember that not all schools have spring break in conjunction with Easter and it is also cheerleading competitions. I've found February crowds to be thicker than I expected, but nothing as bad as April. I was there June 12-16 this year and was pleasantly surprised at the crowd levels.
 

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