Late February - Busy in 2019?

Does anyone happen to know why Touring Plan’s crowd calendar is showing the last week of February 2019 unusually busy? I know the Princess Marathon is the weekend prior, but I didn’t think it would have much of an impact during the week. I’ve checked other crowd calendars and they all show low crowds. I also read the Touring Plans write-up on February 2019 and the only cautionary times are for the weekend. I’m stumped!

We have a very flexible schedule, so I’m somewhat considering switching to the second week of February if there is a substantial reason for the moderately busy crowds in late February.

Thanks in advance or any advice!

Touring Plans Crowd Calendar:
Sun Feb 24 - Crowd level 8
Mon Feb 25 - Crowd level 8
Tues Feb 26 - Crowd level 5
Wed Feb 27 - Crowd level 5
Thurs Feb 28 - Crowd level 4
Fri March 1 - Crowd level 5
Sat March 2 - Crowd level 6

UK half term school holidays.

Thanks, Welsh_Dragon!

The UK school breaks must fall on a different week in 2019 (2018 crowd levels were 3 to 5 all days) OR they might be forecasting larger UK crowds this year. Glad to have at least one possible reason. Appreciate it!

I thought of that, but I’m not sure how big a difference we make.

I don’t find TP long range forecasts that accurate. I’ve been following Mar/April for the last 7 months, I’ve had parks go from 9 all the way down to 2, and then back to 6

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Maybe all those UK Star Wars fans?

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Yes, I could see that having a greater impact

We were at WDW this year 2/23-3/3 2018 so almost the same time you are thinking for next year. We had an absolute blast and I don’t remember crowds being an issue.

In 2019 Festival of Arts is running til 2/25 (ended 2/19 in 2018) & Flower & Garden starts 3/6 (started 2/28 in 2018). So maybe they are predicting an increase for Festival of Arts!!

If your interested in Festival of Arts then I would schedule your trip a little earlier so you have more days to explore it.

Thank you for the info. That’s great to know! Hoping it’s just an overestimation. Crowd level isn’t everything, but it certainly doesn’t hurt anything :slight_smile: I wouldn’t think Fest of Arts would bring too large of crowd across all parks, but that could be it! Thanks again!

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I’m going that same week. On the Kenny the Pirate crowd calendar it has the Half Marathon the first weekend and then it says High School and College Spring Trainings. Then for the second weekend it says a National Dance Competition. So maybe those are issues that are causing the crowd predictions to be a little higher. But overall, it’s not too bad that week. Wednesday is the lightest day everywhere.

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Slight correction… The first weekend would be the Princess Half Marathon Weekend. There is only one Marathon Weekend at WDW and it is in January.

Thanks, I have fixed it. I’m not a runner lol, unless I’m being chased of course

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It’s ok. A lot of people call any race a marathon - once you’ve done 26.2 miles… Haha! I don’t run anymore, but it’s still a habit. :smiley:

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Thanks mgcaekdb! I did notice HS and College Spring Training on the calendar. However, it started the same week last year, so it shouldn’t affect the crowd level any differently this year. Maybe they’re anticipating a larger attendance.

I try to take crowd calendars with a grain of salt, but it’s difficult to resist changing your dates if you have a flexible schedule!