Disney released it’s new ticket pricing this week with an unexpected side effect. It’s now super easy to find the busiest times at Disney World!
Read on to learn how to navigate the ticket calendar on the Disney World website to find the busiest times at Disney World. Conversely, you can see the slowest times at Disney World with this calendar, too.
Disney World Date-Based Ticket Calendar
Starting October 2018, the price for Disney World multi-day tickets depends on the dates you are visiting.
This is yet another attempt by Disney to distribute crowds evenly throughout the year. They have been offering discounted rates on their hotels during the “off-season” for many years, so this just extends that demand-based pricing to tickets.
What is helpful about this date-based pricing is that the highest-priced days correspond to the busiest days at Disney World. This can help you avoid those busy days when you are planning your Disney World vacation.
I always recommend getting discount park tickets from Undercover Tourist as opposed to directly with Disney. A reader just let me know she saved $365 on park tickets for her family by getting her tickets in advance from Undercover Tourist!
The Busiest Times of the Year at Disney World
The holiday season is one of the busiest times of year to visit Disney World
By studying the date-based ticket pricing I was able to find the busiest times at Disney World throughout the year. Here are the dates that are the most expensive to visit (and the US holidays to which they correspond):
- 1/1 – 1/3 (New Year’s)
- 3/15 – 3/24 (University Spring Break)
- 4/10 – 4/24 (School Spring Break/Easter)
- 5/22 – 5/26 (Memorial Day)
- 11/22 – 11/27 (Thanksgiving)
- 12/13 – 12/31 (Christmas Holiday)
If you want to avoid the busiest times at Walt Disney World, these are the dates to avoid in 2019!
Now if you already have a trip planned for a certain time of year, you can also use the Disney ticket calendar to find the busiest days within a month.
Here is an example for April 2019:
The most expensive days are highlighted in red – these are also the busiest days.
You can also use this approach to find the slowest days within a month:
The green dates are the cheapest of that month which correspond to the slowest days (at least of April).
The Slowest Times of The Year at Disney World
Festival of the Arts takes place in January & February at Disney World
By studying the date-based ticket prices you can find the slowest times of year at Disney World. Not surprisingly, most of these dates are when kids are traditionally in school.
I categorized the dates into the two slowest times of the year based on ticket prices. The slowest time of year is Value 1 and the next slowest dates fall into Value 2. Here are those dates:
Value 1 Season (the cheapest 4-day ticket dates)
- January 12th – February 8th
- February 20th – 24th
- August 22nd – September 25th
Not surprisingly these dates fall in January, February, August, and September.
Value 2 Season ($3-$5 more per day than Value 1)
- January 8th – 11th
- February 26th – March 1st
- March 29th – April 7th
- April 28th – May 17th
- July 5th – 11th
- July 25th – 31st
- August 8th – 21st
- September 26th – October 5th
- October 26th – November 1st
If you are trying to plan a visit during the slowest times at Disney World, these are the best dates to visit.
I hope this post helped you find the busiest times at Disney World as well as the slowest. If you want a recommendation on when to visit based on crowds, cost, and weather, check out my post on the Best Times To Visit Disney World here.
If you want help planning a Disney vacation from an expert (at NO additional cost to you!), get a free quote from Destinations in Florida here.
If you have any questions, just leave a comment below or join the discussion over at my free Facebook group for my Disney-only site, The Budget Mouse!