We are considering surprising our daughter with a trip to Disney World for her 5th birthday which is March 4th, 2017. It sounds like lots of fun to us to wake her up that morning and say “Guess waht…happy birthday…we’re going to Disney.” (We surprised her with our first trip year. We asked if we went back did she want us to tell her or did she want us to surprise her, she said “surprise me.”) BUT. . . . . . .
We are concerned about crowds. We would be hitting Disney right between Mardi Gras and right before Spring break. Some of the crowd predictors rank it is a “low” time for crowds, but touring plans gives it a 7. We were there for a 6 and found it really crowded! (It was also unseasonably hot for May, so that might have made it feel worse!) Anyone have any thoughts about how to reconcile the various estimates?
Should we just plan to go another time? And if we do, can we still claim it as her Birthday so she can have the extra magic that happens with a birthday badge?
Thanks for any thoughts!
james
Crowd predictions are all over the place right now. The last few years attendance has been crazy. I’m afraid what used to be a six is probably now more like a 2. It’s just a reality that a lot more people are going now. For several years as crowd levels were tracked to make estimates attendance was very low due to the recession but now more and more people are coming back to the parks and it throws the numbers off. There is a less and less slow season each year. The best bets are the first week in December and a bit of January and February no including holiday or race weekends.
Your daughter can wear her pin whenever she goes. It’s a celebration pin and it doesn’t get her anything but a lot of Happy Birthday wishes. You might occasionally get a freebie from a CM but that is totally random and never guaranteed. We always go between our two birthdays near our anniversary and we get pins for all of them.
DD age 28 and I went early March. Both birthdays for us. Free dessert each meal, many greetings. Was more crowded than we expected but with FPP fairly smooth. Not real pool weather