When to go to Orlando - 2 options

[11NigelTufnel]

We want to take the kids to Florida at some point. Probably disney and universal, with something nature somewhere. This is a once in a childhood trip and have been saving for years, so there is no option to go again. We usually holiday in UK. Question is when would be best to go from the below options.

1. In October when ds1 will be nearly 11 (year 6) and ds2 7. We would do half term, and there is normally an inset day attached, so would need 4 days off school. They are both prone to overwhelm, so this seem a quieter and less hot time of year. Concerned that ds2 might be a bit young to fully remember the biggest trip of childhood and have less stamina. We would plan plenty of breaks and a hotel with pool for relaxing. We love Halloween and Americans seem to do this big.

1. Wait 1.5 years and go when ds1 is 12 and ds2 is 8, closer to 9. This would need to be in Easter holidays, as we wouldn't take a child out of secondary school for a holiday, especially just after starting. I believe Easter is busier and obviously no Halloween, but ds2 will hopefully be more robust by then and remember more.

Be great if anyone could give opinions, especially if you have been there.

I was a good age when I went- I was just a few weeks short of turning 9. I was going to suggest the latter. But but do believe October is better than Easter!

Editing to add.. I still have awesome memories (33 now) of that holiday when i was 8. I chose it for our honeymoon destination as I loved it so much, and wanted to return with DH.

Definitely October. The weather is pleasant, crowds in the park much lower and lots of Halloween theming

I'd go for option 2. I've been 3 times, in April May and July (spread out over 20 years haha) and May was my favourite. Just lovely. Weather was warm but never overwhelming, and the crowds were surprisingly bearable! I think you might be underestimating the Halloween busyness.
I think the added bonus of the second option would be the DC being older - for a holiday of that significance, you'd want them to remember all they could about it.

October is a better option than Easter

Well we've just taken our DD for the first time. She's 4!
It's been perfect as she's princess mad at the moment. I don't think your youngest is too young at all.
That said if you can only afford to go once it might be better to wait for the sake of the memories and all that.

If I were you, I'd go at Easter.
Halloween can be a very busy time at Disney.

I agree that October would be a much better time to visit than Easter. Easter coincides with Spring break and aside from Christmas, it’s the only other time I’d suggest actively avoiding as the crowd levels are insane.

However, bear in mind that June-November is hurricane season and tropical storms are very common during then too. That hasn’t stopped us however, we usually travel end of August to early September when the American kids go back to school and the parks are quieter. We’ve encountered hurricanes Charley, Irma and Dorian over the years and whilst Charley was a bit erm dicey🫣, Disney and Universal are probably one of the safest places to be during a hurricane and we always have an amazing time. Just take a robust poncho and be prepared to go with the flow... The afternoon downpours are a great way to beat the heat anyway.

Age wise, I don’t subscribe to the notion of an ‘ideal’ age for kids to go to Disney. Any age is great in my opinion and Disney in particular, has something every age.🙂

@YaraRocks I don't know if I could cope with August heat there! Christmas would be too busy and probably chilly. May half term would coincide with spring break according to the internet.

As long as your son is tall enough to go on all the rides, his age is fine.

Fair enough, we’ve never found the heat to be an issue for us but we all have different tolerances. Having said that, we did the Middle East in August last year so perhaps we’re a bit extreme!

Spring break is typically March or April for most US universities though some have theirs in February. Full list for 2024 here: https://www.inertiatours.com/when-is-spring-break-2024/

Would it be Easter 25? If so I’ve seen some debates on the Facebook groups about whether that might be quieter than normal Easter due to how late it falls. If that is the case, id probably do it then. I’ve been looking at similar times trying to decide on Easter v October half term. The year itself and where it falls may be the thing that tips it one way or another. If 2025 we’d have gone for Easter but after all my planning have decided we probably would wait a few more years for my youngest to be a bit more robust.

To Be perfectly honest, it’s absolutely heaving no matter what time of year you go. Queues are hideous, I can’t overstate this, hideous.

It’s very expensive in every way from parking at the parks, to eating, drinks and ice cream. They just do anything and everything to get your money.

Be prepared for the above.

October is nice warm weather, not horrendously hot, they do Halloween spectacularly as they celebrate it waaaay more than we do here in the U.K., but souvenirs are extortionate.

I was bitterly gutted when we went last year because of the above, it lost its magic and excitement and left a very bitter taste unfortunately.

@Bunnycat101 that's interesting, I wonder if school holidays will fall either side of easter as normal. That could be an interesting option.

Our holidays fall before Easter with the kids back straight after Easter Monday so worth having a look on your county’s webpage as should always be up. It seemed from the crowd calendars that Easter week itself is normally incredibly busy but not necessarily the week before/after. There were still some people saying ‘don’t do Easter it’s crazy’ regardless of when it falls but it feels like you have to weigh up:

• Easter (good weather, busy, more expensive, can do in holidays)
• October (good weather; halloween, need to take out of school, busy) August (cheaper, less busy, shit weather (hot rainy plus hurricane risk).

@Jellybean23 at the moment the kids aren't fond of rollercoasters, so no worries about height. They will love the worlds though, star wars, Minions etc.

@MrsNandortheRelentless I went at a similar age and I am aware that it won't be the same. I really don't remember much in the way of queues for a start, plus I wasn't paying! We would do virtual queue stuff as kids wouldn't cope otherwise, but the sheer mass of people will still be a lot for them to cope with.

Easter is Easter worldwide. Between Easter and Christmas that’s the busiest time in the parks. October would be my advice. Not everyone has October holidays.

October is a great time as the US schools don't have half terms in the way we do. It's about the best time given you. we'd to work round school holidays.

If you're there over Halloween, it's amazing how 31st Oct is all orange and pumpkins then overnight they do a huge redecoration and turn red and start playing "it's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas" which at 28 degrees on 1st Nov, it really didn't!!

I first went aged 11 (brother was nearly 9) in December 1997. I know your second is slightly younger than my brother was but I still think those are fab ages to take the kids to Florida Disney for the first time IMO. I still remember it fondly and we had no problems handling the long flight (our first one!).

My vote would be to go for October.

Hi OP, I'm lucky enough to have been a few times and as other posters have said I would definitely go for October rather than Easter as Easter is so busy. Having just come back from Christmas there (which is also super busy) it makes such a difference for it even just to be normal busy! And if your kids love Halloween it will be great for that, you could even see if you can get a date which aligns to the not so scary Halloween party.

Also worth a look are websites like Thrill data where you can see trends in busy ness

Also agree that there isn't an ideal age for Disney, but if there was 11 and 7 are both great. We've just been with 9 and 7 year olds and they were big enough to go on everything in the parks (although they were things they didn't want to try!). Also my usual pretty lazy walk refusing kids seem to keep their stamina fine when faced with Disney-we were doing over 20k steps a day without moaning!

I would strongly recommend staying in Disney accommodation if your budget can stretch to it. Particularly as you mention having days you spend time in pools too. Our typical model is to go in for a few hours til lunch, come back, chill by pool and back in late pm. You can use free transport from
Hotels for this (saves extortionate parking charges in parks).

Staying onsite also gets you into the parks 1/2 hour earlier when it is quieter reducing the need for genie/fastpasses which cost more. While it may seem early to get up on holiday because of the time difference your body clock will start off closer to it anyway. It also gets you free parking and benefits like being able to book restaurants for your whole trip for the 60 day window. It's not the cheapest option, and if you can't stay onsite I would consider budgeting extra for fastpasses and parking.

Also do think about whether universal is worth the cost to you if your kids aren't into thrill rides. If they aren't big fans of Harry Potter/other universal theming I'd consider Disney only with then day trips to places like nasa. They are enough to fill your time if you're including the Disney water parks too and pool days. Of course if they are big fans of universal that's fine it's just a lot of money if they won't go on the bigger stuff.

Whatever you do good luck and enjoy!!!!

Don't take your kids out of school for a holiday, even one you are excited about. They'll miss valuable stuff and in particular it sends an absolutely dreadful message to them about the importance of education. You have an option that doesn't involve missing school - take it.

@LizHoney Even the four days OP is suggesting? I was out of school for two weeks every year for holidays* so that seems like nothing in comparison 😅

*bar exam years

@LizHoney I have never so far taken them out of school, wouldn't for any other holiday and definitely wouldn't for secondary. I won't fill this thread up with the terrible provision for autistic kids in mainstream education and how much distress is caused by going to such an unsuitable environment. Not the teachers fault, due to government decisions and massive underfunding.

I will say that I genuinely believe that 4 days off with a proper chance to do things they love is more beneficial to them than 4 days in a place they hate. Fully appreciate we may just need to agree to disagree on this one.

We went in October - hurricane season and absolutely sweltering still. 90% humidity 🙃

Reading your latest post, at least one of your child has autism? If so then please make sure you get the DAS pass for Disney so they don't have to stand in the queues. The website thedibb.co.uk has loads of advice. You also say that they don't like rollercoasters, if this is the case then I would question whether it is worth going to Universal which is more thrill rides or if a more relaxed trip to only Disney would be a better experience.

In my opinion, October is the best time to go as the weather is warm but not hot or (usually wet), crowds are manageable and the Halloween decorations are good. Easter is usually busy.

Late August is not too busy but it is very hot and humid with a good change of bad weather or a hurricane.

@Toomuch2019 they would love to see the dragon in Harry Potter bits and Minions for the younger one. Although it is possible he will have aged out of them by then. Can you get a ticket for a couple of days, or does it have to be the 14 days for the price of 7 like disney? I doubt we would get enough use to need to go lots of days.

We were thinking of staying near the parks at a place with a pool and room needs a kitchenette preferably as little one has restricted eating. Easier to not have to find food he will eat out. The hotels seem to say they have shuttles to the parks and the disney hotels aren't in walking distance to the park, so I wasn't sure it was worth it. Looking at disneyland Paris, you get in an hour early, so that seems a bit cheap!

I think I am too scared to drive in USA and dp wouldn't want to do all the driving, so was hoping to rely more on shuttles and uber than rental car.

@BingoMarieHeeler yuck! I used to be able to handle heat and have lived in much hotter countries than UK, but I seem to be ageing into not being able to tolerate much over 25. Different in a place set up for it though, as there will be pools and aircon. DP and the kids are heat seekers, so they will be fine.

@Onthegrid we have one child who is confirmed audhd with dyspraxia, so trips quite often. The other one is waiting for the autism assessment still, so wouldn't have any paperwork for a pass. He is the one who would actually struggle more, despitebetter motor skills. Should be confirmed by the time we go. Will have a look at the dibb, thank you. I personally love rollercoasters and can't believe I managed to make two children that don't!