Would You Do Mardi Gras Next Year?

[lindamomof3]

I need some advice planning for next year. We were there for Mardi Gras week this year and thought it was quite crowded. When I went to book next years trip- the week that works best in the kids school calendar is once again Mardi Gras which next year falls at the end of Feb. The benefit to this week is that
1.we can go during more weekdays- tues- sat- ending our trip without dealing with Sunday crowds
2. It is warmer- and the kids can swim

The other option is the end of January- we could do a Thurs- Sunday-Do you think weekend crowds in January are better then Mardi Gras crowds during the week?

Help!!!!

 

[wilde_oscar]

do you mean WDW or New Orleans for Mardi Gras.... I've been to New Orleans for mardi gras, once was more than enough

Use this years crowd as a guide, that was pretty typical for WDW during mardi Gras.

 

[Tiffanie]

Mardi Gras next year falls the week following President's Week, so if you thought this Mardi Gras was crowded, it will be even more so next year, since crowds are heavier from President's Week on into the spring. Also, you may run into the President's week crowds until the Sunday before Mardi Gras.

 

[lindamomof3]

Thanks- I thought that the couple of weeks after presidents day but before spring break werent too bad- but I have never been at that time- nor does it sound like i want to!

 

[PKWallaby]

lindamom0f3: I am dealing with the same dilemma that you are: we were also there this year for Mardi Gras and thought the parks were quite crowded. We also are considering the last week in Jan or last week in Feb for 2009, and the fact that Mardi Gras falls during the last week of Feb has me leaning more toward the earlier time. But, my kids also love to swim and that time of year can go either way(we really lucked out this year with temps in the 80's nearly every day!! )

Our trip this year was from 1/31 thru 2/6 and while the first 2 days were not bad at all(we were able to secure fastpasses for both TT and Soarin' at 7:30pm the first night we arrived, Thursday 1/31!!) after that it only got busier. This was a last minute trip(well, planned under one month in advance, that is) and it never dawned on me that so many families had off for Mardi Gras Week until I had already booked airfare and starting reading about it here(note to self, next time read DIS first, then book flights!! ) Nothing against the families/crowds that were there, we visited/met with many friendly LSU fans proudly wearing ther purple and gold while we waited in some lines...we just thought we could avoid those lines by going in late Jan/early Feb!!

Since most of our other trips have been during Spring Break(March or April) I am used to planning obsessively and reading up on other touring websites about which park to visit when, etc...silly me thought this trip did not have to be as hardcore. While we had a great time, there were a few moments when I felt I let my family down by not planning as well as I should have. That's me...Mom guilt-trip or what?

I also wonder if the fact that 2008 Mardi Gras fell during value season may have affected the crowd levels...someone else should be able to provide more insight into that, just another thing to consider ...

Good luck with your decision...at least we have plenty of time to decide one way or the other!!

 

[lindamomof3]

We were there this year from 2-2- 2-9- We founds crowds to be fine first thing in the morning but substantial by mid -day. Last year we were there the last week of January- crowds were low- but it was chilly and we did not swim once- this year we swam every day- I guess there are worse things to chose between then which time of year to go to Disney-

LInda

 

[rie'smom]

The end of January is not a good time either. There were bunches of threads saying the crowds were bad-midsummer bad. There are lots of conventions and other special events planned because traditionally, this was not a busy time. Not so anymore
Mardi Gras sees many ,many of south Louisiana families leaving for either the snow or the mouse. Still, with planning (Tour Guide Mike and RideMax are the 2 we use), it's not bad.
However, if as in 2007, Mardi Gras and President's Week are in the same week-RUN it's the perfect storm for crowds.

 

[turnlisa]

Mardi Gras is February 24th next year. President's week is the previous week with President's Day falling on February 16th. These are a week apart THANKFULLY!

We were at WDW last year when Mardi Gras and President's Week coincided. Very crowded but doable. Everyone was from LA. This year we were there during President's Week and you could tell the difference in the crowds from last year but still crowded. Use EMH to the full-extent and get there early. Y'all had me panicked there for a moment!

 

[littleelvis]

We always do the first week in Feb. And this year is the first time (since we have been going) that Mardi gras was the same time. I would NEVER go again during Mardi gras, please no flames. But the reason that we go during the first part of Feb is because of the crowd level. (we don't care about the weather) so going for a low crowd level and getting a medium crowd level was not as easy as past years. We did plan for the medium crowd level so we still had the "best time ever" (as my kids say) but seeing 2007 and 2006 I just would plan around Mardi gras from now on. Good Luck!

 

[lindamomof3]

So those of you who normally go the end of January- are Saturday and Sunday really crowded?

 

[Saskmom]

I have only been once, but this was our experience in 2008. We were there from Jan 28 to Feb 7. The first week we were there we basically had no waits for the rides (this would be the last week in January). We walked onto Soarin one evening at around 7:30pm. There were lots of people around but we only had to use fastpass once (for the jungle cruise at about 2 in the afternoon). In fact my husband and son won dream fastpasses on two different days that week and they didn't need to use them. A lot of the rides didn't even have their fast pass machines open during this week. We went to Typhoon Lagoon on Sat Feb 2 and we didn't have to wait for any slides until about 1 in the afternoon and then the waits were under 5 minutes. We went back to typhoon lagoon on Tuesday Feb 5 and ended waiting for at least 15 - 20 minutes for the family raft ride before noon. Our first indication of how busy it was going to be was when we went to Epcot on Feb 2 (beginning of Mardi Gras week) after our day at Typhoon Lagoon and all of the waits for rides were over 30 or 40 minutes. Soarin was 65 minutes. While this may not seem long to people who have been there during busier times it seemed really long to us compared to the week before. It wasn't unbearable by any means though and we had a wonderful time. We were just happy we had done the "must do" stuff the first week so if a ride had a realy long wait we could skip it because we had done it the week before.

 

[lindamomof3]

Sounds like your first week was great! Any idea what it was like the weekend before you arrived? Did you swim at all that first week? I know the week of Feb 2nd was hot- because we were there too!

Linda