Avoid Presidents Day Week in FEB??

[Lori0963]

Hi everyone!

It has been 3 years since our last trip to DW & my DD wants to go back this year for her senior year of HS. Here is our dilemma... with working around the school schedule each week we can go is a high crowd level period.

Here are the possible dates:
Feb 12 - 17
Mar 21 - 28
May 23 - 30

We were planning a quick trip in February thinking that it would be less crowded then May; however, the crowd calendars say that the President's Day week is a level 10-11. Does anyone know if this is true?

[Butters]

Stay Away during presidents week!!! we were there two years ago, and the first half of our trip was the week before, and the last 3 days fell into presidents week...

The last 3 days the crowds were insane... almost an hour wait for small world. We ended up only doing what we could get FP's for and left early most days.

[AgentC]

Hi everyone!

We were planning a quick trip in February thinking that it would be less crowded then May; however, the crowd calendars say that the President's Day week is a level 10-11. Does anyone know if this is true?

I don't know if I would rate it a 10 or a 12, but President's Day week is very busy. Florida schools are out for President's Day and that adds to the crowds.

[Lori0963]

Butters,

How was your trip in June 2013, were the crowd levels less during this time? My thoughts were to avoid the summer months at all cost, due to the crowds and the hot weather.

Free Dining in the Fall has spoiled us, but we weren't able to get the free dining for our Oct 4-11 trip so we opted to go to Universal for the first time instead.

[Butters]

Butters,

How was your trip in June 2013, were the crowd levels less during this time? My thoughts were to avoid the summer months at all cost, due to the crowds and the hot weather.

Free Dining in the Fall has spoiled us, but we weren't able to get the free dining for our Oct 4-11 trip so we opted to go to Universal for the first time instead.

June was much better, and very manageable for us, I would not have any reservations about going back during that time. We typically like to travel in Sept or Jan time frame, but our kids are starting to get to the school age, so I'm sure we'll have to start planning around those schedules soon.

[buzznwoodysmom]

I would avoid President's Day weekend in 2015. It's the same week as Mardi Gras, which also increases crowds. Last year Mardi Gras was more crowded than Thanksgiving. We were there both weeks, and MG week was way more crowded than years past. I would expect it to be even worse with the two holidays combined.

[CleveSJM]

Take the kids out of school and go during low-season. Unless your kids really need the attention of the classroom, ours always did fine keeping up online at night or catching up at home later.

[Lori0963]

Take the kids out of school and go during low-season. Unless your kids really need the attention of the classroom, ours always did fine keeping up online at night or catching up at home later.

I would love to do that, if she were only still in Elementary School again. We use to take her out of school for a week either in Aug or Sep. Since she is in HS we can no longer do that, they have to take mid/end of semester exams if they miss even one day for any reason. My DD does well academically but doesn't test well so we avoid exams if possible. She's taking two dual enrollment classes to get college credit, Algebra and Statistics, so I don't want to put to much undue stress on her. She already completed a Phlebotomy class this summer to get a head start for the MLT program, all while working 2 jobs so I want this trip to be a wonderful treat for her.

[hauntedmansiongirl]

We've been once in the week preceding Presidents Day weekend, and checked out on the Friday to head to Daytona for the nascar Daytona 500. The Thursday and Friday were absolutely nuts. Literally the crowds went from 5-10 minute waits for almost everything to a 20 minute wait for the Swiss Family Treehouse, 2 hrs for Jungle Cruise and Haunted Mansion... I've never seen anything like it. It was horrible! I would never do that again!

We've done the beginning of April before (not Easter) and it was pretty good, but our best time was September.

Whatever you decide, make the best of it and use fastpasses well!