Easter v summer holidays

[donna252]

Tied to school holidays for quite a few years yet. Definitely want to visit the original Disneyland at some point and San Diego - probably would make it a south California trip (but haven’t ruled out flying into San Francisco and driving down after a couple nights stay).

In terms of weather and crowds would Easter or summer be the best school holiday to visit Disney?

[cornishfrogboy]

We did Easter of 2018 (see trip report in signature). Whilst flights cost pretty much the same as the Summer Hols (much cheaper than Orlando), we believe we saved plenty on Hotels.

For us, the temperatures were perfect (21-24 ), but I believe that it can be a bit lower on average. Our motivations were..
1. Price.
2. lower crowd levels
3. Absence of smog over LA.

We also had no wish to visit Yosemite, which can be difficult to reach at that time of the year.

We must have enjoyed California a great deal as we booked and had to cancel March.. and then August of this year.

I suggest that temperature is the only issue and that you look at the year round climate data before making a decision. It is worth adding that Southern California does not get as hot as Central Florida in any case, being very much coastal to most visitors who tend to use the PCH.

[megaflyer]

The rather can be hit and miss - Palm Springs is often well over 100f in Spring Summer bu Sand Diego is mild (June is a month to miss - June Gloom (I used to work in California for 10 years so know it and it’s micro climates well) - LA can get boing and can get very humid too in the Summer but spring is a nice time to visit - it depends on your locations but you may need to pack vests and sweaters to cope for the differences

[Aims]

Summer and Easter are both busy times in California no doubt- but that being said, summer crowds are bigger overall. Spring break (or Easter break) usually lasts around six weeks because the schools and universities get out at different times. The busiest weeks in the spring are the week before and the week after Easter. Summer is busy from early June but the crowds drop off a little after mid-August since most of the local kids go back to school around that time- there will still be a lot of tourists in town, but it is slightly less busy in late August and September.



Weather around Easter is usually mild but can be rainy some years, and can also be very warm other times...usually though spring weather is pleasant and not boiling hot. Summers in southern California do get very hot and the closer you are to the coast, the more humidity in the summer- though it's nothing at all like Florida humidity! I find August to be the most humid month in my experience. Late May and into June have a lot of gloomy days (as Megaflyer mentioned), sometimes the gloom burns off by afternoon and the sky clears up- but not always. July is toasty and sunny (daytime temps in the 80s-90's for the most part).

[jdouds]

Hi would definitely go summer , while it is busy it’s still not that bunged like you would have experienced in Florida. If you start in San Fran and drive down the coast taking in Monterey, maybe 2/3 nights and then a night in perhaps Santa Barbara, cambria .
Lots to do in Monterey, whale watching fantastic, 17 m dr, pebble beach, aquarium, Carmel and the coast in this area fantastic.