We were looking at the crowd calendar for the first week of February, 2027. Noticed that the calendar shows 5s and 6s thru that week. But calendar numbers for summer and fall 2026 are lower, 2s and 3s in some cases. Our planning was based the first of February being a quieter period. Am I missing something?
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I think patterns are just changing. Maybe parents are more willing to pull their kids from school for a “once in a lifetime trip” in exchange for cooler weather and what they hope to be less busy times. Maybe the summer heat in FL is truly becoming unbearable. Maybe more adults are going to Disney without kids and time off is time off whether it’s in the summer or the winter so they defer to the winter. Maybe families are looking toward places other than FL for summer trips.
As someone who struggles in the heat and has three, maybe four months, I’d be willing to go to FL, I rather think weather is the epicenter of it.
Though we did go to Disney last February and having to wear coats and pants every day was a bit of a downer. But crowd levels then were about the same as what you are seeing. They still weren’t bad (avoiding 7, 8, 9) but not great either
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And I’m pretty sure there’s a cheerleading event that week, so you can expect the value resorts to be packed. Book early if you want a room there
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Summer is now a slower time. If you look at room discounts and bounce back dates, weekends in February are not even available. Bounce back dates run all the way through June and July so more discounted rooms typically means they have less people and need to fill those rooms.
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Just got back - crowds were low. Summer is low because of heat. People like to go away President’s weekend.
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I agree with your reasoning, but I think it’s already changed (as opposed to currently changing) and has been that way at least since the parks reopened after the 2020 shutdowns. The fall season was getting more crowded over the 2010-2020 period, but I don’t think the late Jan/early Feb crowds really pickup up until after 2020. There was also a period of time when WDW cut back on staff hours for the typically less crowded Jan/Feb dates so the lines were longer even when actual crowds in the park were not so high.
When I went to WDW as a kid in the 80s, WDW was packed in the summer and surprisingly much less crowded over Christmas break. Crazy how the crowd patterns have changed over time.
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Northern states also enjoy a week off each February since the 1970’s.
This is the third summer in a row I found crowds and wait times to be low.
And temperatures to be unbearable.
And those pesky homeschoolers can go anytime.
There we are
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Those folks are nothing but trouble 
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I almost threw in a “rise in homeschooling” but thought it’s probably more correlation than causation
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I actually looked it up.
Homeschooling typically grows 2-3% a year. Slightly higher the last 5 years.
But most of the homeschoolers I know can’t really afford regular Disney trips.
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Cuz no one wants to be inland Florida in summer. lol.
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