Pre-pre planning - Orlando, FL April 2016 - The WDW Crowd Calendar

I love planning.  I love planning way ahead of time and feeling really prepared when it comes time to execute!  I've started thinking about our family trip to Orlando in April 2016.  We will be doing Disney World, Universal Studios and also taking a little side detour for a night or two to Savannah, GA.  Savannah is not only a historic and charming Southern town, it also holds many memories for us as the place where our family began. :)

One of the first things I looked at when deciding on when we would be taking this epic trip is this Disney World crowd calendar courtesy of the wdwpreschool.com website.
This is a very simplified Red/Yellow/Green calendar system but it should give you a good overview of when is a good time and what holidays periods cause attendance to spike up.

Now, I know it says it is a 2015 calendar but it's close enough for my purposes.  Luckily, Easter falls at the end of March, on the 27th, in 2016.  Traditionally, our school district gets the 3rd week of April whereas many other schools get their Spring Break the week just before or just after Easter.  Luckily, our Spring Break will be far enough away from Easter that we will avoid most of those Spring Break crowds and go back to a smaller and more manageable crowd size. :)

The most obvious advice about when to avoid crowds at Disney World is don't go when everybody else is going.  Since kids are the big reason why families visit Disney World, most people have to go during school vacation times, holidays and extended weekends.  The least crowded times to go, are when school is in session.  Besides the heavy crowds, I am also not a fan of Disney World in the summer because of the oppressive heat and near daily afternoon thunderstorms.

Another aspect to consider when deciding when to plan your trip is when Disney World itself holds special events: Marathons, the Food & Wine Festival, Flower & Garden Festival, Star Wars Weekends and traditional Holidays are all events which draw in extra visitors.