Cheapest Dates to Visit Disney World in 2024-2025
Walt Disney World is never cheap, but some times of year are significantly less expensive than peak dates, which can cost over double the off-season. Wondering when it’s cheapest to visit Walt Disney World? This offers a list of days, weeks & seasons this year and in 2025 that have lower prices and crowds! (Updated March 3, 2024.)
As suggested above, “cheapest” is a relative term and not an absolute one. Walt Disney World is an undeniably expensive vacation destination, and the least expensive dates are still priced on par with traveling to Europe, Asia, or many tropical locales. Compounding that is the reality that total trip prices to Walt Disney World are up by thousands of dollars since 2019–and had risen by around 5% per year in the decade before that.
Park tickets, hotels, restaurants, and more at Walt Disney World have all increased dramatically in the last couple of years. The good news is that prices for 2024 have not increased–they’re the same price as they were last year. The bad news is that there will be 2025 Ticket Price Increases at Walt Disney World. We’d also expect menu and souvenir prices to increase in October 2024, with another increase possible in February 2025.
That sharp increase since 2019 doesn’t even take into account all costs, like transportation (airfare, rental cars, rideshare, etc.) or added expenses, such as souvenirs, dining, and more. It also doesn’t factor in the shift from free FastPass to the flat-rate Genie+ to date-based and per-park pricing for the line-skipping service. What was once free jumped to $16 per day and now is nearly triple that on busier days.
On a positive note, Walt Disney World has gotten more aggressive resort discounts as “revenge travel” has fizzled out, resulting in most resort rates effectively decreasing as compared to the last two years. In addition to this decrease after discounts, 2025 vacation packages and room-only reservations are now available and rack rates have actually decreased for many resorts. (See our 2024 vs. 2025 Walt Disney World Resort Hotels Price Comparison.) Those who drive or rent cars are the biggest winners, as there’s also no longer an overnight parking fee at on-site hotels.
This is all victory, the extent of which differs depending upon how much you zoom out and compare prices to past dates. Walt Disney World vacation prices are lower for 2024-2025 as contrasted with the peak of pent-up demand in 2022, but up significantly as compared to 2019.
Walt Disney World prices are still shockingly high and surprising to first-timers and those who haven’t visited since 2019 or earlier. We revisited this topic in How Much Does a Walt Disney World Vacation Cost? That was rather eye-opening for many people planning trips for the first time or returning from a hiatus of a few years.
The reader comments to that are equally illuminating, as many reported spending even more than our already high budget ranges on Walt Disney World vacations. Consider this post an indirect “sequel” to that–and one that aims to avoid overspending.
While this doesn’t help you cut costs or trim the fat from your vacation budget, it does aim to help you choose the most economical dates to visit! Similarly, our recent Top 14 Money Saving Tips for Walt Disney World in 2024 offers assistance with reducing your vacation budget by eliminating expenses that do not enhance your trip. In fact, some of that advice actually improves your trip–for example, doing breakfast in your room (saves money and time–plus food court breakfasts generally underwhelm unless you like powdered eggs).
This post is similar in that choosing cheaper dates will generally also improve your trip and can save you money. That’s because the dates with the highest prices are typically busiest, and vice-versa. As a general rule, higher prices do not deter people from visiting or “redistribute” attendance. Crowds are almost always a good proxy for prices–the lower the prices, the lower you can expect attendance to be. Double win!
That’s one of the general “rules” when it comes to the cheapest times to visit Walt Disney World, and there are a few more. Another is that prices typically go up every single year. These increases take many forms, and are staggered across the calendar. Typically, the cost of snacks, sodas, and other pre-packaged items increases in late January or February and potentially again in September or October.
Consequently, it’s usually less expensive to visit sooner rather than later. If you’re waiting for prices to drop, history typically is not on your side. However, as noted above, the last few years have been anomalies. As noted above, prices for 2024-2025 are lower than 2022 when revenge travel was running hot and not all hotels had fully reopened.
Rates for 2025 are slightly lower in some cases than this year, but that will probably be partially or fully offset by higher food and ticket prices. For on-site guests, the wild card that determines whether this year or 2025 is cheaper is discounts. (For off-site guests, 2024 will almost certainly be cheaper.)
Walt Disney World has already released more–and better–discounts for 2024 than were available by this same point last year (see All Current Walt Disney World Discounts). Discounts have gotten progressively more aggressive in the last several months, with savings of up to 35% off resort rooms (on average, discounts have offered 5-10% more savings on average as compared to last year). On top of everything else, Free Dining returned for 2024–a first since 2019.
In any case, the general rule is that traveling in the current year is cheaper than in the following year. But there can be exceptions to that even in normal times. For example, if you book your vacation early and lock-in pricing on tickets and hotels, it will likely be less expensive to travel most dates in January or February 2025 than in November or December 2024. That’s because prices usually decrease in the winter off-season as compared to the prior holiday season, and there are also typically better discounts for the off-season.
While it’s debatable whether February or September will be cheaper within 2024 after discounts, it’s likely that both of those months will offer lower rates than their counterparts in 2025. Even with slightly lower resort rack rates next year, that’s just one factor in pricing. It doesn’t account for the price increases between now and 2025 that will almost assuredly occur on Lightning Lanes, restaurant menus, merchandise, and more.
In other words, the advice here should be applied to dates or months in the same year (with the aforementioned carve outs). Unless you’re “banking on” another recession or economic downturn, it’s a safe bet that the general trend line for Walt Disney World prices will continue its upward climb on an annualized basis.
Getting down to brass tacks, the least expensive time to visit Walt Disney World are usually the winter off-season. This basically encompasses January and February, with the exception of the very beginning of the year when schools are still on Christmas break plus the weeks around MLK Day, Mardi Gras and Presidents’ Day.
The general rule is that January and February are the cheapest months of the year, on average. There’s a little more nuance to it than that, as the fall has had better discounts (historically) and other variables that can move the needle on a case-by-case basis. Nevertheless, we could say January and February 2025 will mostly be the cheapest months of the next 12, although portions of August and September 2024 could come close or even surpass the winter depending upon the circumstances.
Those aforementioned circumstances are mostly Free Dining, which is available in the late summer and early fall off-season, but not the winter off-season. For families that are the “right” size and can take full advantage, there’s no better deal than Free Dining. It’ll make those months cheaper than winter…but not across the board or for everyone.
If you’re looking for the best timeframes in the winter off-season when Walt Disney World is cheapest, January 5 through mid-February is best. Again, prices spike for the week of Presidents’ Day/Mardi Gras, falling again the next week–but not as low as those early-year off-season dates.
Following that, prices in March and April are hit or miss, usually driven by the timing of Spring Break and Easter. Whenever goes are on break, you can expect significant spikes to both pricing and crowds. This, Easter is early–meaning that March is more expensive (on average) and prices drop in mid-April. Next year, Easter will occur later, meaning prices don’t decrease as soon.
Fast-forward past Easter, and that week (after the holiday) through the week before Memorial Day once again see lower prices. This is technically considered “regular” season, but it’s on par with some dates in mid-February and is the cheapest Walt Disney World will be until early August.
About a week before schools go back into session, prices decrease again. This occurs earlier on the hotel side of the equation than with park tickets, presumably because locals continue visiting after tourists stop traveling–and only the latter books hotel stays.
Starting the third Sunday of August, prices return to near their lowest levels of the year and stay there until mid-September (with the notable exception of Labor Day weekend). Costs do get higher from then until early October, but it’s by a nominal amount. Technically, these rates are higher than off-season dates in January and February. As noted above, that can be further exacerbated by intervening price increases on tickets, food, etc.
However, it can also be more than offset by discounts that tend to be offered in the fall offseason (as discussed above). Prices for October through early December tend to be a veritable roller coaster depending upon whether it’s a holiday week/end or not. Columbus Day, Veterans Day, and Thanksgiving all see spikes–some fairly massive. Same goes for runDisney race weekends.
If it’s not one of those weeks or weekends, pricing is near its lowest levels of the year through the first week of December. That gradually escalates beginning the second week in December, culminating in the weeks of Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Beginning December 16 and lasting until the end of the calendar year, holiday season kicks in and prices hit their highest levels of the entire year.
If you’re simply looking for the very best dates in each season, they are as follows:
Spring 2024
- March 17 to 20, 2024
- April 7 to 11, 2024
- April 14 to 18, 2024
- April 21 to 25, 2024
- April 28 to May 2, 2024
- May 5 to 9, 2024
- May 12 to 16, 2024
- May 19 to 23, 2024
Summer 2024
- All Sundays through Thursdays approximately equal in June and July 2024
- August 4 to 8, 2024
- August 11 to 15, 2024
- August 18 to 29, 2024
Fall 2024
- September 2 to 12, 2024
- September 15 to 19, 2024
- September 22 to 26, 2024
- September 29 to October 3, 2024
- October 7 to 10, 2024
- October 13 to 17, 2024
- October 20 to 24, 2024
- October 27 to 31, 2024
Holidays 2024
- November 3 to 7, 2024
- November 10 to 14, 2024
- November 17 to 20, 2024
- December 1 to 5, 2024
- December 8 to 12, 2024
Winter 2025
- January 5 to 9, 2025
- January 13 to 16, 2025
- January 19 to 23, 2025
- January 26 to 30, 2025
- February 2 to 5, 2025
A couple of things to note about the above. First, these season by season prices are relative to other dates within each season. For example, that last set of December dates costs exactly $100 per night more than the cheapest dates in January. If the entire calendar is open to you and you’re primarily concerned with price, you really want to be looking at winter or the late fall and early fall off-season.
However, not everyone can or wants to visit during those timeframes, so we’ve also included dates throughout the entire year that are cheaper than comparable alternatives. In the case of the above example, those dates are nearly $100 cheaper than the two weeks that follow. So significantly higher than the true off-season, but far lower than the true peak season. It’s all relative.
Second, there are major price changes in Spring 2024. That’s almost certainly because of Easter shifting into March 2024, which makes that–and not April–the busy month for spring break season. April 2024 rates are still elevated as compared to January and February, but there are actually many dates that are less expensive than this year.
By contrast, every single day in March 2024 is more expensive than this year. Based on our research and comparisons, that’s the only month of the year when that’s true. (Although the jury is still out on October through December 2024–more price increases could come for those dates.)
Next, it’s mostly Sunday through Thursday nights that have the lowest prices, with Mondays through Wednesdays having the absolute cheapest rates. If you’re looking for the least expensive options, you’ll find them at the All Stars. Those Value Resorts start at $117 per night in the off-season, which will likely be right around $100 per night after discounts.
In general, Friday and Saturday will be the most expensive days of the week to visit Walt Disney World, with Thursday and Sunday costing less–but still more than Monday through Wednesday nights.
As for the most expensive dates to visit, we can say with almost complete confidence that the most expensive dates to visit Walt Disney World are December 13-31, 2024. (January 1, 2025 is also extremely elevated–prices drop like a rock the following night.)
If you want more specificity in the least & most expensive dates to visit and the best & worst dates to visit, it can be useful to consult our Walt Disney World Crowd Calendar. Look for the least busy dates, you’ll also generally find the cheapest dates.
Ultimately, that should answer some questions about when it’s cheapest to visit Walt Disney World in 2024…and perhaps raise even more. Basically, the least expensive dates on paper as of right now are January through early February and mid-August through September, followed by late April to late May, then October through early December–all minus long holiday weekends and the full weeks leading up to major holidays.
Against that backdrop and with that bias, if forced to choose dates to visit Walt Disney World in the next two years–for a range of reasons both qualitative and quantitative–I would not pick the winter months. Though great from a weather perspective and for EPCOT Festival of the Arts, winter is no longer the sleepy off-season it once was.
Instead, I would look to September. Even though the weather is far less desirable in the early fall off-season, September is reliably the best month for crowds and deals at Walt Disney World. It’s also a great time of year with Halloween, EPCOT’s Food & Wine Festival, and more. The big caveat here is that you need to be able to bear the heat and humidity if you choose these dates.
Personally, I’d actually go beyond September for my travel target and book the week after Thanksgiving. This is nothing new and actually has nothing to do with pricing–we’ve been recommending that week for ages, and it’s our personal favorite for a mix of reasons related to pricing, weather, crowds, and Christmas.
Late November and early December are “objectively inferior” to September, but the reality is that humans don’t take vacations in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. That’s the better week on balance. It typically offers superior weather (far lower likelihood of high heat & humidity…or hurricanes!), seasonal events, and more. It’ll be slightly more crowded and expensive, but that’s a worthwhile tradeoff in our view.
Everything has a cost, whether in dollars or otherwise, and you could argue that the non-monetary costs of visiting in September are higher than in the lull between holidays. For other dates we love to visit (and ones we dislike), see our Best & Worst Weeks to Visit Walt Disney World in 2024 and 2025.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think about this look at the cheapest times to visit Walt Disney World? Which would you pick in the January/February vs. August/September dilemma? Think discounts will continue to improve throughout 2024 and put a reality-check on runaway prices? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Thank u! But I’ve a my bad luck with gaining anything cheap.
As of today.
It is cheaper for us (from Canada, family of 3 with a 5yo) to visit Disney World for 7 nights (pop century) and 5 park days than visiting Disneyland for 5 nights (best western) and 3 park days
In the middle of September that is.
And that’s including airfare.
We were thinking about doing Disneyland for Halloween (we did Xmas in 2023) but now it makes me wonder if we shouldn’t so Disney World.
One thing you might want to consider is weather. While it can be hot in California during September, it will be hot and humid in Florida during September.
All else being equal, I’d probably favor DLR for that reason. (Obviously, all else probably is not equal. You likely have your own preferences, priorities, etc.)
That’s exactly the reason why we are still wondering what to do.. we have done Florida twice during September and I do remember the weather being rough. Especially the humidity.
A bit worried as to how our little one would deal with this..
On the other hand, rides like Frozen, Seven Dwarfs, Ratatouille, Kilimanjaro Safari.. that she never had a chance to experience are making us really considering the switch to WDW
Also more days on site means more money to spend.
Not easy to make a decision on that one.
We are taking our adult children and grandchildren in Oct sometime , a total of 15-20 any recommendations on where to stay ( as many in rm as possible) and doing for that large of group. Also is there any discounts for that many as far as tickets and room accommodations ? We ( my husband and I ) always stay at Port Orleans Riverside. Thank you
Hi!
Old Key West has villas that are VERY spacious. Very underrated Resort for BIG groups. I’m an Authorized Disney Travel Agent. Please reach out, I’d love to help you plan and give you some tips and tricks!
https://linktr.ee/carrieburgesssmartmomstravel
Carrie
February 4-10, 2024, all WDW hotels under $500/night (and most over $500 too) are showing sold out. Is something special going on that week? Or did I just not start planning early enough? I have some “use it or lose it” paid time off, and that looks like the best week for us.
You might get different results if you change your arrival or departure date. Last time, I couldn’t book the Sunday – Friday that I wanted…but I could get Saturday – Friday. The Saturday flight actually cost less, and I didn’t get park tickets for the check in/out days, so I think it pretty much evened out. YMMV.
This is great information. We have tried in the past to book a discount but end up tossing that out the window as we just have to go with the best dates that work for us. Still, again, great info and thank you for all the work that we all know goes into your blog. You really have upped our enjoyment factor with tips gleaned from your site.
I thought I was the only one with a Disney spreadsheet. Each tab is a different trip. I knew like your blog. Now I know we are kindred spirits. Lol.
Tom, this is super helpful. Could you do anything similar for Disneyland? Some of us are coming from far away to the “locals’ park,” and need help with knowing about times with lower crowds and prices. Like, our last WDW trip could have been helped by knowing that local FL kids don’t go back to school unt mid-week after New Year’s, not the Monday. Are there any similar hiccups with SoCal kids’ breaks? I know there is some week that Utah moves in when kids have a week off of school. It’s harder with prices, I assume, basing them just on the three official DLR hotels, but I hope to get some guesses for less expensive times for hotels and/or lesser crowds. Have you done MTFBWY at DLR? How insane is it? (I should note that a certain level of “insane” could be quite fun for May 4th as we would be going to be around a fandom crowd, but body-crushing squeezes in Batuu West would not be.)
A lot of Disneyland content is in the pipeline, including more crowd resources (those require additional experience, which we’ve been gaining). I hadn’t considered a DLR counterpart to this one, but will add it to the list!
I just tried to price a vacation for 1/21/24 to 1/26/24 for three adults and all the hotels had the blue “Check Availability” button, but no prices. When I tried to sort by lowest to highest price, no results came up. I then switched to 1/14 to 1/19 and experienced the same result. I’ve only ever seen this for a specific resort when there is no availability, but that was the resort I limited my search to. They HAVE resumed booking after the glitches last week, right? There is no way these two periods in January for only three adults have already booked up. Right??
Looks like the site was glitching or something. I tried again and now it is showing prices. Sorry for the needlessly panicked post!
No worries! I’ve had that and other problems repeatedly since 2024 reservations opened last week. This has been an issue for a while, but it seems even worse right now.
For anyone else having similar issues, the best option is to try private browsing. If that doesn’t work, try again in a few hours or the following day.
I priced a 1 day park hopper pass for my husband and I. We have been many many times but no longer can afford the visit. We are seniors and on fixed income. The price was 502.00. That is absurd. We do not live in FL and loved to stop in when we visited family. It’s really sad that it’s out of the question to do that now. .
I’m looking for best sites to find dinner reservations at WDW… thank you
President’s Day this year is Monday, February 20th. Mardi Gras this year is Tuesday, February 21st. A lot of families from South Louisiana, South Mississippi, South Alabama, even extending into the western Florida Panhandle celebrate Mardi Gras. In the New Orleans metro, this typically means the entire week of Mardi Gras off. This means a lot of people start leaving for vacation the Friday or Saturday of the weekend before Mardi Gras, which will intersect with the President’s Day crowds. It’s a conjunction that happens every few years. This means crowds for President’s Day will be worse than usual, and this is one of the absolute peak times of the year for crowds. For Mardi Gras travelers it means prices will be even higher than usual.
Clarification: Most New Orleans metro schools are off for Mardi Gras week. Hence many families will arrange vacation at this time, with WDW and ski resorts being the most popular destinations.
I’ve edited that section, as it was left over from last year.
In other post, we’ve been raising red flags that that week is going to be really, really bad. Not only is it Presidents’ Day and Mardi Gras, but also the Princess Half Marathon at the end of the week. On top of that, FL resident tickets are not blocked out.
I probably should do a standalone post on it, because I think those from outside the South may not realize how bad that week will be.
Thank you for letting us northerners know. Many New England states are off that week as well.
Thank you, Tom, for that informative report on the best times to visit WDW. I know it takes a lot of work to get to those results and it is appreciated.
We have always gone the first week of December, before the cheerleaders were there too, and loved that time. I believe that cheer group is now at Universal during that time?
We have also gone the last of February and first of March, before Spring Break, and loved that time of year too.
I guess we hit all the times you recommend by accident, LOL.
Thanks again for the hard work you put in on this site.
You’re welcome!
For what it’s worth, that first week of December was FANTASTIC this last year–the best it’s been in a while (at least in “normal” times), and I don’t think that was coincidence. Here’s my report from then, in case you missed it: https://www.disneytouristblog.com/best-week-year-disney-world-christmas/
has Disney shifted from kid-centric to adult-centric? i think this might explain much of what has been paining me about the gradual changes over the decades. do kids really care about restaurants? certainly not as much as their adult counterparts. same with merchandise. perhaps the company had to appeal to adults who control the family money but it really has all gotten quite reversed in my opinion with adults more or less dragging their kids around in support of their own pleasure seeking. Do kids really need to chase around in order to collect every ride or is that due to some need to get your money’s worth that really is an adult fixation? Yes, Tom, much as i adore you, this makes you sort of an enabler since you are showing people how to navigate the system for a favorable outcome, a seat at the parade, in a competition inherently at odds with how children tend to be, which is sort of goofy and focused on whatever interests them. Sure they can be demanding and troublesome etc but they don’t have that idea of checking all the boxes and being a vacation commando. The shift is that adults are now encouraged to be children, dressing in costumes with accessories, having fun in a wonderful world of color. But it comes at a price. That place on Main Street that was set up like an old fashioned movie theater and had those cranked flip-books is a perfect example of the disappointing shift from wonder to empty commerce. The street entertainment also gone because there were no cash registers connected. Once, i really felt that Disney cared about kids and sharing the wonders of the world with them per the original vision. It was a joy to present Disney World to our kids as a testament to human creativity, progress and innovation. But somehow we got drawn in and made the pursuit of our vacation escape too much in the forefront which perhaps shaped the parks away from being what was comparatively simple: a place to explore with your kids. I guess societal critics would say we Americans are infantile in a bad way. Don’t get me wrong- I am a total goofball clown as regressive as can be (you’d be very uncomfortable with me around), but your blog’s commenters are frequently completely focused on their own gripes and impediments and I suddenly realized that the parks originally meant for children and parents have become grievously tilted,..
While I think there’s a good amount of catering to a new audience of DINKs and convention-goers, that doesn’t seem to be what you’re describing (for the most part). While lucrative, that demo is not nearly as planning-obsessive.
It sounds to me like your issues are largely ones with corporate America’s increasing thirst for improving quarterly results and efficiency. It’s a different world than it was in the 1970s–not just at Walt Disney World, but everywhere. Very few legacy businesses have the same fun and meandering “inefficiencies” that they once did.
Tom, no need to post this comment,.. but I kind of feel you missed my point,. I’m fine with capitalism. My idea is that Disney went from designing primarily for kids-which made it quite unique- to designing primarily for the kid in adults which is simply less fun,..
@@ “no need to post this comment,.. ”
Then why did you?
Rob
Hi!
Old Key West has villas that are VERY spacious. Very underrated Resort for BIG groups. I’m an Authorized Disney Travel Agent. Please reach out, I’d love to help you plan and give you some tips and tricks!
https://linktr.ee/carrieburgesssmartmomstravel
Carrie
Buyers Beware of Undercover Tourist. They are a 3rd party company that sells Disney tickets. Do not do business with this company. Undercover Tourist ruined our vacation. Their customer service and management don’t care about their customers. After doing some research we found out they are part of a larger company called Entertainment Business Group (EBG). After working with them we quickly realized they only wanted our money. Can’t stress enough don’t do business with them. Honestly spend a little extra money and buy directly from Disney, it’s so much safer. Look them up, you will find lawsuits and many complaints on the Better Business Bureau.
Hey there Matt…Can you give us some examples? I’ve bought tickets from Undercover Tourist for 12 years for wdw, the waterparks, and sea world with no issues at all. Would be interested to know what happened to you. Thanks
Never ever had a problem with them. Always get our park tickets, event tickets, etc from them!
for our Disney Vaca Feb 2023, I purchased tickets from undercover tourist and had a great experience. i had to cancel tickets for one of us who ended up not being able to go and they refunded me my $ with no problem. if you purchase from Disney however, not only will they not refund the money, you have to use the tickets for the same person they were purchased for so another person cannot use them.
I find myself with very little desire to visit Disney. I could afford to, but I prefer not to deal with all the complications they’ve created in the past year or so, spending too much time on my phone instead of enjoying the Parks, all while experiencing high crowds. I’m going to National Parks instead, which are crowded also but don’t have the other complications. TBF, I already mostly went to NPs instead of Disney, but the decline of the Disney experience from what I can tell shifts the balance even more for me.
As soon as Disney world moves out of Florida, I’ll visit!
I’m thinking of booking a Sept. 2023 trip. If Free Dining drops in January, will they allow me to add it on to an already-booked trip? Just wondering if you know if Disney allows changes to existing bookings?
Yes they allow you to modify reservations but you will be on hold for hours.
Traci’s comment is a good reason to use a travel agent who will do this for you, and it won’t cost you anymore than if you book direct through Disney.