3rd week of February in Disney World

[BOTL76]

Hello Disney Fans,

Our son will be entering University in the Fall of 2013, so DW and I have already discussed the possibility of a February 2014 visit during his university reading week break.

If we were to go this upcoming February, it would have been February 16th to 23rd that we would have gone. We are from Toronto, and cross over to Buffalo to fly out of on all our previous Disney Trips.

Looking at this week for Feb 2013, touring plans has crowd levels at 9 and 10 out of 10, and flight prices are $300-$400 more round trip than what we are used to paying.
Are most US Colleges on Spring break this week as well? Is that why flight prices out of Buffalo are so high?

Any feedback if this a yearly thing for the 3rd week of February!

Thanks

 

[FiggieFan]

Last year we went the week before and are doing the same thing in 2013, we will be checking out on Saturday, 2/16. The week you are looking at is Presidents Week. From what I have read, it is very crowded that week because some schools around the country have their spring break then. You could tell a noticeable increase in crowd levels on our last two days. The morning we left, the restaurant for breakfast at POFQ was mobbed and a family from Michigan sat with us. They had just flown in because they were off the upcoming week from school. I did speak to someone who went in prior years and they didn't think it was that crowded, but it seemed so to me.

 

[Sheribo]

Unfortunately when the Ontario government instituted family day they put it on the same day as Presidents' Day which means our long weekend is their long weekend and our reading week is their Presidents week so it makes it a very busy time to visit. :-(

 

[dsneygirl]

It will be busy. We went once for reading week (back in like '99 when I was still in school) and it was about the busiest we have ever seen it. Haven't been back since.

 

[iluveeyore]

We've been that week before, but didn't do the parks, although the buses were always packed - it's President's Week holiday, Daytona 500 week, some early spring breaks, etc. We only went for the race and I got my Disney fix in by staying on property!

 

[rebeccaariel]

It's not spring break for American universities in February, but with the President's Day weekend, I've read that things can get very crowded.

I'm a university student from the Toronto area, and I also considered spring break for a trip with my mom, but because we heard it would be so crowded, we opted for the week after my exam period ends at the end of April. That time of year seems to be a lot less crowded and less expensive also.

 

[ottawamom]

OP, something else to consider. Depending on what school your son is attending they can sometimes schedule mid-terms up to and including the Saturday before reading week. I didn't think they would schedule such things for the Friday and Saturday at the beginning of that week but apparently they can/and do. A few of my son's friends had to drop a course because they couldn't write the mid-term (had trip plans to Cuba).

 

[pigletto]

We're planning to go this year from the 21st to March 3rd. Crowd calendars indicate it will packed for the first 2 days and then drop right off. This is my husbands reading week so it's when we can go.
One point on the flights though.. we grabbed a late Thursday night flight on Southwest for 120 per person so that wasn't too bad. I guess because it's towards the end of Presidents week.
We were there one year just before Presidents Week started. The last 2 days of our trips the crowds really started rolling in. A 10 is going to be just like Christmas. We're going to spend those first two days onsite at Universal so that we have Front of the Line access.
It depends if his break week is always going to fall over the Presidents Week holiday. I know my husbands doesn't but YMMV.

 

[Ted in Halifax]

It's definately President's weekend that drives that week into high demand.