President's Week and the crowds

[disgirl]

I have read a few posts from people that have returned from wdw stays during President's week and know some talked about it being crowded. I am thinking of booking for Presidents week for next year but it would only be for a few days. My question is is it worth going (airfare from NY) during that busy week if it is only for four nights? I do not like to take my ds out of school so we usually just go away in the summer, but with this winter being so cold, I am seriously considering a short trip during President's week next year. Those of you who went to the parks at this time, would you say an average wait for the most popular rides was over 45 minutes? Were there ever times that the crowds were not so bad, later at night, perhaps? Any info anyone can give me about their experience with President's week this year would be great. I was only there once, 14 years ago at this time and I really forget how crowded it was.

I was considering trying for Vero Beach instead, but thought being that it was only a short trip maybe we would not want the almost 2 hour trip back and forth to MCO on this trip, plus my ds does enjoy the attractions at Disney.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[tiffany123]

We were at BCV from Feb 13th through the 18th. This is the second year that we have gone to WDW during President's Day week. We thought all the parks were more crowded this year than last. It was definitely colder this year than last and we thought that maybe the parks were more consistently crowded because it was too cold to swim. By afternoon, fast passes were gone and there were waits of over an hour for many of the MK attractions. President's Day week is very popular for WDW as many Eastern schools are on break that week, it's race week at Daytona and many South Americans are vacationing in Florida. That being said, we had a great time and will go again over President's Day----maybe throwing an extra jacket or sweatshirt into our luggage.

 

[FatCow]

We will try again sometime between 3rd week of October to the 2nd week of December of this year. Why? We don't want to ever come back during President's Week. It's horrible.

 

[disgirl]

Thanks for the responses.

FatCow: Was it really that bad? What days were you there?(15-22?). Did you find that everything you tried to do, including meals, pool time if any due to weather, were crowded as well as the parks? Have you been there during the summer months and how does it compare to that? Thanks.

Anybody else that went President's week?
I love to hear different opinions.

 

[cmjaffe]

Just got back 2/25 from stay ... got to WDW on 2/21...did Blizzard Beach that Sat. (heard it was VERY cold prior to that). Was fairly crowded. Hit parks on Sunday and Monday.. crowds were HORRIBLE... fastpasses didn't buy much... waits were about 90mins on standby. MGM on Monday AM was crowded... MK Monday afternoon was worse than Sunday afternoon (only good thing on Sunday at parade time Splash had a 45min wait then otherwise closer to 60-90.. Think crowds were worse on Monday than Sunday, and that was week after Pres. day. Tuesday was heavy rains and Weds was overcast. Feb. weather can be hit or miss w/sun-warmth and rain.
Good luck
Carolyn

 

[FatCow]

We were there from the 15th through the 21st of February.

The crowd, although packed, was manageable on the 15th. Strangely enough, the crowd level went up as the week went on and peaking on the 19th.

We still average 1 ride/show per 30 minutes on the first days, but on the 19th, it became 1 ride/show per 70 minutes.

Furthermore, the crowd was so bad we couldn't even walk starting the 17th through 19th.

I went to Disneyland (twice), Tokyo Disneyland (once) and WDW (once) before during the summer time (anywhere from the 3rd week of June through the 3rd week of July) and the crowd were never worse than then the 15th and 16th.

17th, 18th, 19th, the crowd was much worse than my summer experiences.

 

[mzzbuzzlightyear]

We were there 2/14-2/22. We went to Magic Kingdom on Sunday 2/15. It was packed; we did only 2 things all morning...Buzz Lightyear (of course!) and Carousel of Progress.

Went back to OKW to have lunch and pool...it was too cold for us to swim, so we went back to MK and did some more rides. We had gotten 2 Fast passes, which were for afternoon hours.

Peter Pan was a 90 minute wait!

On Monday, we went to Animal Kingdom which was crowded, but not as much as MK on Sunday.

It seemed to get less crowded as the week went on. Wednesday, we moved to BWV. Epcot and MGM were busy but not packed when we went there.

For us, President's week is ideal...the NJ Grandchildren have off from school the entire week. The crowds are LESS than ideal!!!

June

 

[disneyterri]

We were there for President's Week this year and it definitely was pretty crowded. But with fastpasses it made it much more managable. We were there from 2/15-2/21. I had thought the crowds would thin as the week went on, but they seemed to stay the same. MGM on Thursday was the worst, got almost nothing done. Epcot on Monday (President's Day) was very managable as we got everthing done that we wanted to. The only reason we got everything done at MK was because we went for a couple of hours on Tuesday night and again for EMH on Thursday morning, then spent the entire day there on Friday (what a zoo). Would I make the trip that week for only four nights. . .I don't know. It's definitely doable, but I would think you would need more time. I'd probably wait until I could take a longer trip.

 

[amylovesdisney]

We must have been at the other parks that you previous posters were at! We were there from 2/18-2/22 and found things to be much better than they were compared to last July when we were there.

The weather was much more pleasant. Yes, we had to find a light jacket for DH & me and the shops were pretty depleted in their inventory. The kids still swam at SAB although that was incredibly crowded. I could not find a single chair for the hour we were there!

I stayed away from the park that was EMH. We went straight to the most coveted ride. At opening time at MGM but not on EMH, DS and his buddy grabbed a fastpass for TOT for one hour later and then did standby for TOT which took 15 minutes. While they rode it the first time, DD & I used our tickets to get a fastpass for them for R&RC Bottom line, they rode TOT (15 min wait), rode R&RC (20 min wait), used fastpasses for TOT, then R&RC. Within the first 1 1/2 hrs of being in the park, the boys rode TOT & R&RC twice.

We used that strategy at Epcot for MS & TT and had the same experience.

MK - we walked right into MPhilharmagic - 1st show. Did all the rides in Fantasyland, GB in Toontown, and walked over to Tomorrowland where we found 20 min standby waits for BL & SM. At that point, the kids asked to go back to the BC to swim as it was shaping up to be the warmest day of our trip. The pool was not crowded at all that day!

Priority seatings were within 5 min. of arrival at all the restaurants we chose. Walked right up to Illuminations 10 min before the show and had a great spot.

We usually travel during the summer so this was a welcome relief - weather + crowds - were much more pleasant. And we're from Texas where it gets really hot during the summer!!

So, here's another viewpoint for you to ponder, disgirl.

 

[disgirl]

Thanks for the responses everyone. Now, I am rethinking my planning. As I said before, with this weather being so cold this past January in New York, I really wanted to try to get away to Florida next year. We just joined DVC so I thought we could use some points we had for a short winter trip, but maybe disneyterri is right, maybe it is not worth it for only four nights. With ds in school, I really don't see going any other week in the Winter time for us. I guess many feel that way and that is why it is so crowded that week.

Well, thanks again for telling me of your experiences. Now, I need to rethink this.

amylovesdisney: That is too funny. I was just about to post this reply and then I saw your post. Oh boy, now, I really need to rethink this one. LOL Thanks for your opinion and experience. I am glad you did not find the crowds too much of a hinderance for you and it seems you had a good time.

Patty

 

[Mskanga]

For two years in a row we have gone the week before presidents day weekend, and we have loved it, the crowds are minimal and the wait times in some attractions maybe 10 minutes at the most.
I have taken my kids out of school since kindergarten without a problem for vacations and my oldest is already in fifth grade.
Now, once presidents weekend starts ( thursday / friday ) the crowds start to build up , by the weekend they are unreal. We waited on saturday 2/14 night for Peter Pan's ride and the wait said 55 minutes, we didn't mind because we had done Disney already for 9 days prior to that so we had gotten our fill on the attractions, this was just killing time day.
I took a trip in December 2002 for four days and I would do it again, but only if I'm flying.
This year we went from 2/6- 2/15, and we plan on going around the same time when we go back.

 

[DisneyObsessed]

For the past 4 years, we've been going the week before Pres week. This year we went during Pres week because the kids are too old to take out of school. They miss way too much. Never again. The crowds were not enjoyable at all. I kept saying while we were there. that I was glad we had been so many times in the past, so we didn't feel like we had to do everything. I felt bad for people who were there for their first time. It must have been very discouraging. One day, I think it was 2/18, we went to Epcot. The fastpasses for Test Track were sold out for the day, and the wait was 3 1/2 hours.

 

[zman]

We were at the world from 2/15 to 2/20, visiting the parks from Mon the 16th, President’s Day, through Thursday, 2/19. One thing I have learned about opinions on crowds is each person has a different perception. Crowded to one is not crowded to someone else.

We felt the crowds were very manageable. We were able to do the attractions we wanted and could navigate the parks without great difficulty. It only felt crowded to us during SpectroMagic on Tuesday evening…stake out your position early, 75 to 90 minutes in this case.

We got to each park right at about opening, avoided whichever park had EMH and utilized FastPass immediately. For instance, in MK on Tuesday, my family went to Space Mt. while I trucked over to BTMRR and got FastPasses (it’s a good idea to have one person get the FPs). We did Space Mt., then HM, then BTMRR and then Mickey Philharmagic all by 11:30, with BTMRR being the only attraction we used FPs (Splash Mt was shut down for some reason). Now granted, it was a bit drizzly in the morning and I think that may have held the crowds back for a little while. I also noticed that Fantasyland and Tommorwland were more crowded than other lands at MK.

We stayed at the BWV and found being able to walk to MGM and Epcot a HUGE bonus (once, my eldest really wanted to do ToT again and it was mid-afternoon…we got the FPs walked back to the BWV, had snacks and rested a bit and walked back…very convenient). Also, we visited Epcot often and it never seemed crowded.

One more thing...it was a bit nippy that week...but better than back here in WNY!

PM me if you want more detail.

Paul

 

[antmaril]

We were there for four nights beginning Monday, February 16th. We went to the Magic Kingdom on Wednesday morning. Had a PS at the Crystal Palace for 8:20. We enjoyed our breakfast and headed to Haunted Mansion, then Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Mickey's Philharmagic, It's a Small World and Pirates of the Caribbean. All were walk-ons. Space Mountain's line was 90 minutes and we didn't wait (we've done it before). It got very crowded in the afternoon and that's when we'd had enough. I wouldn't want to go to WDW for the first time during Presidents' Week, but for those of us who have been many times it was fine. It was a cool sunny day and I will take that ANY time over the heat and humidity of July!

The next day we did MGM in the morning and EPCOT in the afternoon. Again, we hit the highlights and had a great time. The weather that day was sunny and 72 - didn't even need a jacket - perfect weather for the parks.

I have to say I enjoyed Presidents' Week better than the summer!

 

[picantel]

WEnt went during that entire presidents day week and it was pretty crowded. When we left it took us over 3 hours to go 42 miles due to daytona 500. I think many of them came over during the week for a little mini vacation. that being said, we also went last thanksgiving and will never go then again. It was horrific. You had to go sidewise just to get through the crowds. If you can help it never go thanksgiving.