[Franco54]

April is our choice of time. weather is great.
We have been there in all parts of the year
and IMHO its always crowded to a certain
extent and we have never been around any
massive crowds. Just have a game plan.

[requiem960]

Originally Posted by Soundgod

I'd say April, depending on when Easter vacations begin and end. The hurricane thing doesn't bother me, I live in South Florida. What bothers me most about September is it's still in the 90s during the day and the 80s at night and the possibility of love bugs, though they do come out in the spring, usually May. If however, it's a late Easter and Spring Break season, I'd do September which at least is a value season all the time.

As always Soundgod brings up some great points. I really hate to praise him all the time, but he's usually full of information.

September is love bug season, and those things get worse and worse every season. Heck, they are still pretty abundant right now in mid-October. They don't do much, except for being an annoyance.

Value season is also a great point. You'll get away with some nice discounts on room rates if you're a Florida resident or an AP holder. If you're out of state and choose to purchase APs or at least one, you'll probably save a small fortune on the room.

Bringing weather into account, September is a pretty hot month. It's hot all the way through November if we don't get any major cold fronts. But, April can be tricky too. Typically, the weather can be somewhat mild, or it can be hot, hot, hot. In April you'll usually get cooler nights than you would in September. Daytime highs can be nearly the same. It really depends. As for hurricane season, you never know what you'll get there either. This year we only had some disturbances that caused a week of rain and that was about it. Last year we didn't have much either. But go back a few years and hurricanes were every other week as if we bought them in bulk at Costco or Sam's Club!

Now I'd like to factor in crowd level. The end of March through Mid April can be really bad. That's when Florida Seasonal Passes go on blackout dates. But, the rest of April isn't exactly low season either. All of September is usually pretty slow. I'd say that is one of the best months to visit the parks, minus the heat.

So, here's my thoughts... I'd vote opposite of Soundgod and say go in September, if and only if you can take the Florida heat and sun. You can get rain in both months. So, I wouldn't take that into much consideration. Crowd levels in April are usually high, but they aren't unbearable either. If it were me, I'd do mid-late September. Also, if you are there on the last weekend in September, you'll get to do the Food and Wine Festival at Epcot! That is always good times!

Anyway you slice and dice it, you're going to Disney World and that's all that matters!

[jo-jo]

Thanks everybody for the input. I think we have decided for the sept trip. I know it can be hot, (like this yr) and the love bugs can be a pain(like this yr). But we like the lower crowds. My DH and I are no problem (wellllll, almost no problem) getting up early for EMH. After all, the man gets up at 5:15 every morning to go walk 2 miles. That should get us to any morning EMHs.

As far as free dining, we were really thinking about "what if???""". But we decided we have DVC points to use and the dining plan is changing. It doesn't make sense to stay at a value, spend 95 ish a night for the room so we can get roughly 115-120 in free food. [that number is based on 2-$30 entrees, 2-$6 desserts, 2-$3 beverages, 2 -$15 CS , and 2-$4 snacks]. Your cost may vary, I based these numbers where we would eat our TS meals. (I know that 20 something dollars a day in free food is nothing to sneeze at, but we already would have the DVC paid for. We would have to rent points out as to not lose them) We did the DDP (not free) this yr for the first time, and between my DH being sick and just feeling full all the time, I don't think we really use the plan well. We ended up using some CS and snacks, just to use them up as we left for the plane. I think for us, the DDE works almost as well and there is no pressure of "wasting" food credits. And for us, one of the joys of a DVC, is no one has to leave the room for that morning coffee. And if we are lucky, we would get an Epcot resort again. (ahhhhh, the joys of walking home, at least from a few parks.)

So thanks again everyone.

[KarenT]

As long as it in not Spring break time, I would go in April. We went in September/Oct in 2005 and 2006. The lines were great, but as you know it was hot and humid. My vote is non spring break April.

[softychik]

Originally Posted by jo-jo

So right now we have ressies for mid april. But just being down at in sept, it was hot, but the crowds were good. April is still considered spring break time. Based on temp and crowds, which would you choose? I know sept is high hurricane, but usually we go for 8 to 10 days, so if we lose a day or so, it wouldn't be bad. And it would be just DH and I. No kids bouncing off the walls being trapped in a room for 24 hrs. Which would you choose?

I would go in September! The crowds will be way better and we have never had a hurricane hit us while down there knock on wood! Plus since it is Spring Break there will probably be a younger ruder(sp?) crowd!