Hi Linda!
Welcome to the Disney Parks Moms Panel, and thank you so much for reaching out to us hEAR for assistance in planning a Walt Disney World Resort Vacation!
This is a popular question that many guests ask. After all, if you have a bit of wiggle room in your schedule, why not plan to get the most out of your visit? For some this means enjoying all that Mickey's house has to offer when the parks are projected to be the least crowded. But for others (me!) it means visiting when the theme parks are open for 14 hour plus days. While this information isn't released in an official chart or list, there are a few different places to glean how busy everything will be. There are of course big clues, like major and federal holidays, or the typical summer season are of course prime peak season. But sometimes you can find off-peak days in the middle of a week, or even in the middle of what you associate to be a popular time of year.
The first place you can kind of scout for info is by looking at the prices of a single-day, one-park
Disney Theme Park Ticket. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and you should see a month-view calendar. By clicking through the various months you'll tend to get an idea of when, historically, Mickey hosts a lot of guests. A second place to look is the
Park Hours calendar in the 'Month View' option. While the four Disney Theme Parks might host
Extra Magic Hours or even
separately ticketed Special Events on select days early in the morning or late into the evening, you'll want to focus on the regular park operating hours. The days that see all four theme parks closing between 6:00 P.M. and 9:00 P.M. are generally considered non-peak, and the days where the parks stay open later are more peak times. And a last clue that some people use is by checking to see if there are any
Special Offers, Deals or Discounts currently offered for certain times of year. One very popular offer is 'Free Dining', which is a special
Disney Resort Hotel and Ticket package that includes either a Disney Quick-Service or classic
Disney Dining Plan!
I really do think that every time of year is a wonderful time to visit Walt Disney World Resort no matter the number of other guests, outside temperatures or operating hours, Linda.
Spring, Summer, the
Holidays - they all bring something special to an already magical destination. Don't forget to 'like' and 'follow' the
Disney Parks Blog across all of your social media channels so you won't miss a minute of what's new during your vacation. And if you have any more Walt Disney World Resort planning questions, We're All Ears!
~Kristen