There are two things most everyone planning a trip to Disney World knows going in. First, it’s the most magical place on earth. Second, it’s the most expensive place on Earth. Well, not literally, but close.
Disney World is expensive, even if you have a handy list of ways to save money. One of the first things people to do try and save money is to pick the right time—the cheapest time—to go. In this post, we’ll discuss the cheapest times to go to Disney World and explain how you should think about timing trips around low prices.
Update: 2025 Prices (Mostly) Debut
Prices for January through October 2025 have been released and they largely follow historical trends. To that end, we’ll be leaving this post in it’s 2024 form until later in the year, when we’ll roll it over to 2025. If you’re already planning a 2025 trip, the trends in this post should be enough to guide you toward your best options.
The Bottom Line
Even before we get to the bottom line, we need to point you to the current Disney World offers page. This post focuses on rack rates, because those are fixed for the year. But Disney releases deals to bring guests into the park, and those may make a time with high rack rates more appealing. Be careful in analyzing these discounts.
Now, I’m happy to give you some key points before we get into more depth. I encourage you to read this entire post, because it contains some surprising points, but here’s some quick highlights.
The cheapest time to go to Disney World is January, with prices increasing from the end of January into Presidents Day weekend. Once that weekend passes, the cheapest times are July through mid-September and a few scattered dates—particularly at Value Hotels—in October through December.
Your hotel choice will impact which dates are cheapest. Prices at the Disney hotels do not all move in the same ways, as we discuss later. Deals, which are somewhat unpredictable, also make timing the absolute cheapest trip challenging.
There Are Other Things To Consider
Yes—your budget is a big part of planning your trip. But other factors matter, too. How will crowd levels impact your trip? Will your kids need to miss school? Will you need to miss work (and will that cost you money)? What will the weather be like?
It probably goes without saying, but the cheapest times are the cheapest times for a reason—they’re not as desirable as other times of the year. This could be because the weather is bad, or because most families have conflicts like school, or for some other reason. If you come out of this post considering some specific months, you might next move onto our month-by-month posts, covering things like ride refurbishments, weather, and major events at the resort:
Prices Go Up Year After Year
It’s important to make sure you’re thinking about the months ahead of you, not just some calendars months. For example, I’m writing this post in May. If I wanted to plan the cheapest trip in the next 12 months, late August / early September isn’t much more expensive than the following January.
Here’s a look at some lowest rack rates in 2021 to 2024:
| Lowest Rate | All Star Movies | Riverside | Yacht Club |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2021 | $ 118 | $ 256 | $ 504 |
| Aug 2021 | $ 141 | $ 282 | $ 512 |
| Jan 2022 | $ 123 | $ 266 | $ 522 |
| Aug 2022 | $ 143 | $ 288 | $ 522 |
| Jan 2023 | $ 128 | $ 278 | $ 543 |
| Aug 2023 | $ 148 | $ 299 | $ 537 |
| Jan 2024 | $ 133 | $ 289 | $ 569 |
| Aug 2024 | $ 153 | $ 314 | $ 567 |
At All Star Movies and Port Orleans Riverside, January prices are better than both the prior and future August. However, at Yacht Club, August is usually cheaper than the neighboring Januaries. This means in any 12-month period, August is probably the cheapest time to stay at Yacht Club (a deluxe resort), while January is the cheapest time to stay at All Star Movies (a value resort) or Port Orleans Riverside (a moderate resort).
This brings up another interesting point…
Your Hotel Choice Matters, Too
You might think that prices will fluctuate the same across all Walt Disney World hotels, but that’s incorrect. Here’s a look at prices (forward 7-day averages), weighted by the average price for 2024 at Yacht Club, Wilderness Lodge, Port Orleans Riverside, and All Star Movies (i.e. this shows difference over time, not between hotels):
For the most part, the pattern is what you’d expect—rise from January into March / April (spring break), drop a bit heading into summer, drop again once school starts, and then raise heading into the holiday season, peaking at the end of the year.
But there’s one big spot where hotels diverge. In early summer, All Star Movies prices go up, while other hotel prices go down. The most obvious explanation for this is probably the correct one—that athletic teams and families with kids in school and on a budget drive up demand in the summer, when kids are out of school, at All Star Movies.
Conversely, guests with more money tend to be more flexible in their travel dates, and thus avoid summer like the plague.
Deals Come and Deals Go
Finally, Disney often uses deals to bring guests to the resort when demand is lower than they expected. This means that what looks like the cheapest time right now might not wind up being the cheapest time when all is said and done.
You can look at historical hotel deals over at MouseSavers, but the big caveat here is that these deals often have very specific availability, so it’s hard to really evaluate them in retrospect. A 35% off deal at a handful of hotels that sells out almost immediately isn’t necessarily going to be cheaper for you than a 15% off deal with wide open availability.
This holds true of deals from third parties, too. You’ve got places like Expedia and Undercover Tourist that routinely undercut Disney prices, and you’ve got even more extreme cases like Priceline’s secret deals where you basically have to hope you’re booking a Disney hotel.
Disney World Hotel Cheapest Seasons
I highly encourage you do you your own research on this matter by consulting the MouseSavers Walt Disney World rack rate table. That’s a good, deep resource. It doesn’t provide daily prices, so if you want to build your own Excel analysis, you’re going to need a different data source. But here’s that 2024 chart again:
The chart is the average rate for a 7-night stay, by start date, divided by the average room rate at the hotel for the year. Again, it’s meant to show difference over time—not difference between hotels. Here are the key takeaways from this chart.
Prices spike at Presidents’ Day weekend and never come all the way back down. That first spike up is in the lead up to Presidents’ Day. Effectively, this is the start of a new year of pricing. Prices then ebb and flow, with a notable spike for Easter week, until summer starts with Memorial Day.
Summer is weird. Prices at All-Star Movies go up for the start of summer because that’s when demand from families with young kids and on a budget (along with athletic competitions) is highest. That bump in the middle of summer is July 4, and you see that prices at the deluxe resorts fall even further for the second half of the summer. Prices bottom from about mid-August to mid-September.
End of year is rough all around. Once you get to early November, prices pretty much only go up. There’s a small gap between Thanksgiving and early December where value and moderate resorts see a dip in prices, but for the most part holiday season is all around high season at Disney World.
Example Prices from Low Seasons
Finally, here are some specifics from the low seasons. These are average nightly rack rates for 7-night stays beginning on the given dates at All Star Movies, Port Orleans Riverside, Wilderness Lodge, and Yacht Club.
Average Night In 2024: $209.83 / $359.84 / $651.75 / $729.05
January 15 to February 1: $156.43 / $298.43 / $538.00 / $589.57
April 13 to May 17: $198.57 / $351.43 / $639.43 / $727.86
August 18: $167.00 / $327.71 / $548.43 / $583.00
Disney World Ticket Cheapest Seasons
We’ve got a look at current prices through the end of 2024. These are subject to change, and this is another good time to remember that deals can impact how you evaluate the cheapest times, even for tickets.
Those low seasons are in January, August, and September, with increases or spikes around major holidays. Historically, ticket prices somewhat follow hotel prices, so these patterns aren’t surprising.
Notice that the difference between the lowest price ($116) and the highest price ($160) for the year is $44 per day. For a family of four, that’s $176 per day, or $704 (still pre-tax) over the course of a 4-day trip.
We recommend buying from an authorized discount Disney World ticket broker, but those prices are typically some consistent percentage off Disney’s rates, so the pattern of prices. should look roughly the same.
conclusions
The cheapest times to go to Disney World are before Presidents’ Day and during the low period of late August / early September when temperatures are high and kids are heading back to school, but you’ll always want to look closely at your specific plans because prices can do weird things throughout the year.
All Your Other Disney World Planning Questions Answered
Don't be overwhelmed by Disney World planning! Take a second to check out our most important content and you'll not only be an expert, but you'll save big $$$ along the way.
Just starting out? Check out our Walt Disney World planning guide! If you're still picking dates, we've got everything you need to know about Disney World crowd calendars. For picking your hotel, check out our Walt Disney World hotels guide.
When it comes time to book we’ll help you find discount Disney World tickets. Decide whether you need a dining plan in our Complete Guide to Disney World Dining Plans! And don't forget to book those Disney World Advance Dining Reservations!
Don't forget to master your Disney World Genie+ and Lightning Lane strategy a few months in advance. We'll keep you out of long lines so you can maximize the magical time in the parks! We've got park-specific guides as well: Magic Kingdom Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, Epcot Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, Animal Kingdom Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, and Hollywood Studios Genie+ and Lightning Lanes.
Know what to ride with our guides to: Magic Kingdom rides, Hollywood Studios rides, Epcot rides, and Animal Kingdom rides! Plus learn about the water parks with our guide to Blizzard Beach and our guide to Typhoon Lagoon! And for some some fun prep, check out our Ranking of Every Ride at Walt Disney World.
Finally, before you head out, be sure to check out our to-the-point packing list, 10 essentials you forget to pack for every Disney trip. And if you're interested in saving, there's no better list than our 53 Ways to Save on your Disney trip from start to finish.