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.

You don't need paperwork to apply for the DAS pass, it is about not being able to wait in queues and means you get a time to come back. It works really well in my experience when ADHD or Autism causing sensory issues is a factor. If you just need assistance to stand in the queue, you would be expected to use a mobility device (wheelchair).

Nothing is in walking distance, Orlando is huge, Disney World is not compact like Paris with hotels you can walk back to, although some of the expensive ones are closer.

I can recommend on-site transportation, however many of the hotels do not have kitchenettes so food prep would be a problem.

You can also use UBER and this can work out more cost-effective than car hire

We went at Easter - granted it was a few years ago - but we didn't find it too bad because our bodies were on UK time for the first few days so we got to the parks for opening time and had a good few hours before it got really busy.

Having said that we aren't good at crowds so avoided most of the big parades.

I know you mean well op but my advice is to consider whether you really want to go at all - it's so huge, so busy, October is still hurricane season. It's 20 years since I went and I'm told there's more than twice the footfall. It's obviously a huge financial sacrifice for you to go - my recommendation is to take them to Paris for 3 nights, perhaps drive and spend a couple of nights in Paris as well, or take the Eurostar. Go in the October half time or when your dc have inset days

We've done Orlando quite a few times, December twice, October twice, August/September once, and June once.

Our favourite time to go is October. If you can swing it, try and be there for the first few days of November.

At the end of Oct 31st, they swap to Christmaz in Disney. I've never been there to see it the very next day turned into christmas- but Christmas there is flipping fab.

Universals HHN will be too scary for your kids at their ages, but Mickeys not so scary Halloween is amazing! It's a separately ticketed event, but the park is open until midnight, and they do trick of treating, a special parade, the sanderson sisters perform, it has its own firework displays, different to the usual closing show.
There are special characters out, some characters are dressed up in their Halloween costumes too, crowd times tend to be much less (they limit tickets to 25,000 opposed to the regular 100,000 generally admitted to the park)
They have special merchandise you can only get at the party, 2023 had a special Tim Burton themed popcorn bucket. I think that the candy corn sipper that DD got was a special MNSSHP merchandise item too.

I love Orlando, and Disney, but I think I'm the biggest fan of the mickeys not so scary Halloween parties!

I also find the weather to be best at that time of year, it doesn't feel quite as humid, and I think we had less rain... it does rain a lot in Orlando, but prepare for it to be warm shower temperature and prepare to keep on, keeping on! An hour later it'll all be over and the rain will have usually dried!

Disney is amazing, I love it.
I took DS as 4 & 6 and he remembers both trips. At 6 we did all the rope drops and close downs of the parks and he managed just fine.

It's busy whatever time of year you go, so it's about planning, planning, planning really.

I think Either of those ages will work for you tbh, but definitely plan for crowds.

We always go in May. Last year we had a week during may half term and although busy totally manageable if you pick the right parks to go to and have passes.

It is very hot, but far better than August when it's stormy season.

Actually considering going in October next time I go, done it before, weather was a lot cooler in the evening.

We do purposefully avoid UK holiday times though as the prices just get silly.

@bobomomo there is definitely an element of wanting to give the kids the experience we had as kids. We were both taken by our families (seperately, we hadn't met then) and had such an amazing time. DP got to see a shuttle take off at Kennedy space centre and that has stuck with him for life.

The kids do like theme parks, but have obviously only been to MUCH smaller ones in the uk. Don't think peppa pig land compares! Ds1 is hugely interested in going to America. Like all of his friends, he wants to be a youtuber when he grows up and will fully expect to see Mr Beast strolling around drinking Prime. We have discussed with the kids that it is somewhat we have a consideration of perhaps doing in future, with no guarantee or decisions made yet and they do want to go. I don't think it is just parents reliving our childhood!

There's absolutely no comparison between WDW and Disneyland Paris.

Halloween/October is the busiest time. Have a look at Tom Brickers blog, he literally crunches the numbers on a week by week basis.
I would go at Feb half term, take them out for a few days either side. Super quiet, we didn’t queue for a single ride once in two weeks (we did have the genie +). Lovely weather, warm and sunny but not too hot, although tbh it did also get very hot some days. It was a wonderful time to go.

Avoid Presidents Day if you do go in Feb