So I am looking to book a DVC for either President’s Day Week or the Week of April 3rd. These are my girls’ Winter and Spring Break respectively. While I need to wait another few weeks for the Crowd Calendar for April, the one released for President’s Weed shows crowd levels from 4 to 6…not awesome, but far from the insanity of the higher level crowds. In other words, very acceptable to me; however, the generic description of President’s Day by TP is “Extremely Long Lines. Crowd continue to get larger from the Thursday prior to PD to the Sunday after”. Historical year Crowd Levels have nearly all been 10. Am I right to doubt the Crowd Estimates. There is a world of difference from 4 to 6 and 8 to 10.
I don’t know what to expect for the April dates. It is a couple weeks before Easter but also during Spring Break for some Georgia schools and I’m sure others.
I’ve only seen Presidents Week really Christmas-New Year’s busy in years like this one where Mardi Gras hits that week (though honestly I don’t understand why people flee its epicenter only to subject everyone where they go to the insanity…if you love it that much, stay home! IMHO).
They are not the same week next year, so it should not be as crazy as it was this year.
We have gone three times February, it’s our favorite time to go!!
Here are some dates you need to know:
President Day (2/21) people typically make it a long weekend. And the Northest has that week off.
End of the Festival of Arts in Epcot (dates TBD).
Princess Marathon weekend (2/26-2/27) The days leading up to the Marathon will get busier the closer it gets to the weekend.
Mardi Gras (3/1) New Orleans usually have that week off.
Also February is notorious for ride refurbishment and they also limit ride capacity making lines longer.
In 2022 we will have to go during our Spring Break which is at the end of March (3/27-3/4/2).
I don’t know what to expect during that time, at least Easter is not until 4/17th. We have gone during the busier times and are expecting the same. We are also looking forward to Flower & Garden Festival!!
Touring Plans treated me right on our last trip, but I would take some issue if they release crowd levels that are all but guaranteed to go up. That seems silly to me and I’d rather book my DVC 10 to 11 months out as opposed to just a few months and be forced to choose the leftovers.
As for April, I do see some weeks in the past that have been friendly to crowd levels. That week is Spring Break for my county in Georgia and Easter hits on April 17th and we would be driving down on April 3rd in that scenario.
It is just too tough got keep the girls out of school, especially the older one. Need to take advantage of the school breaks or just not go at all.
Hello and thank desire!. Our last trip was in May, but we were able to take, at the time, our only child out of school and the weather was a bit on the warm side, but overall beautiful with low crowds.
I imagine the weather is beautiful in February, but is it truly your favorite time of the year if the lines are that long? I will have a six-year old at the time who I can extremely biasedly say is awesome, but not sure if long lines will make her or me snap first.
On our last trip, we followed TP to a tee and used Fast Passes successfully. We only waited three-times longer than 20 minutes and this was with most crowd sizes coming in at a 4.
When I give info I want to set your expectations in advance. If we could go in February 2022 we would go in a heartbeat but now the kids are older and we have to follow the school schedule. Our previous trips we have followed TP personalized plans, used our Fastpasses accordingly and never had to wait long for anything. Out of all of our trips we hit one issue when two rides went down back to back… it added an hour to our plan.
I also agree with @PrincipalTinker that crowd levels will be high. I’ll have to revsit crowd levels during our past trips.
If it is between President’s week and April 3rd, go with April. The crowd calendar (if there are not park limits) will be between 6-8 in February. TP usually adjusts those numbers multiple times.
Yes, this. Also, I think the lower numbers you’re seeing predicted now are impacted by COVID limits which are pushing crowd levels lower than historical numbers. In the pre-COVID times I experienced the 8-10 levels you suggest on or around those dates. I’m guessing/expecting 2022 to be more like pre-COVID park experience vs. current experience, but your guess is as good as mine when it comes to predicting life in 12 months time.
As someone who isn’t American, can somebody confirm for me that President’s Day is a Monday but the parks will likely be crowded the full week after? We’re tentatively planning to go Feb 24 but could easily push it back a week if that might help crowds.
Yes, President’s Day is a Monday. Next year it is on Feb. 21st. That entire week will be busy. Although this year it seems this week has been just as busy which seems odd with no holiday. We went late January/early Feb this year and it was fantastic- not crowded at all.
This is blasphemy, that’s the week we have booked. Guess we will just relax at the resorts. Either way, I’m sick of my house so I will try to just mask up and have fun. I am wondering if masking will still be a thing then. But I am not getting into that on this thread, just thinking positive thoughts!
My plan initially was Feb 24, but given that that was totally arbitrary I pushed it back to March 3 to try to avoid President’s Week crowds. I know it’s all in my head and I’m sure the week after will be more or less the same but if I can tell myself I’m missing the crowds…