Columbus vs Thanksgiving vs presidents day

[BraveLittleToaster2]

Which week would you go? We also prefer a time when their aren't tons of blackout dates for silver passes.
We have seen Disney at xmas time so that doesn't matter to us. We like crowds as low as they can be and not much rain.
Kids range in age from 6-15.
We are seasoned Disney goers so we have no problem with planning fp and dining well in advance. But we do like some rides to have lower waits (pirates, Nemo, mermaid, etc)

Week leading up to Columbus day weekend (heading home on Columbus day).
Or
Thanksgiving week
Or
Presidents day week in February.

In the past we've been in December, January, August, and early November. Loved the weather in December and January. Love the crowds in late August and Jan.

Thanks for any input!!

 

[mousehouse23]

I'd avoid Thanksgiving week if crowds are a concern. They'll be a nightmare.

I think Presidents and Columbus Day weeks would be comparable crowd-wise. You have Food & Wine at Epcot in October, which makes World Showcase busier. There will be Halloween parties at Magic Kingdom, which can interfere with park hours there.

I'd be tempted to go in February, I think. Better weather would tip the balance in the end, though Presidents Day weekend will be quite busy.

 

[EACarlson]

To piggyback on this, what are the crowds generally like the week after Thanksgiving? My wife and I decided on dates and booked without checking the holiday calendar. So we are arriving very late the Saturday after Thanksgiving and staying for a week.

 

[Shellyb84]

We've been all of those times of year except we were just there for Columbus Day weekend, not the whole week. Thanksgiving week is very crowded. We go every other year but only because we're limited on when we can travel. It's nice to see all the Christmas decorations, but it's hard to get to ride anything more than your 3 FP+. If it were me I would choose October, for F&W and I prefer warmer weather. Temps in February can vary a lot and it was definitely too cold for the pool for me. It also seemed a bit more crowded President's day week than Columbus Day.

 

[kydisneyfans]

Columbus Day weekend now has peak day type crowds. Thurs/Fri aren't bad, but Sat-Mon are crazy.
We used to do the week leading up to Columbus Day yearly, but do not anymore. It just got too busy and airfare was crazy expensive.
You also need to watch for hurricanes in October.

I'd go with February.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Thanksgiving is not as bad as people say. We had a blast in 2017 and have it booked again this year. We decided NOT to go Columbus Day week due to the heat still being a factor and the parties at MK.

I enjoy holiday weeks because the parks have extended hours. It really helps spread things out.

 

[Geomom]

I would do the week leading up to Columbus Day. It will be crowded that weekend, but the week leading up to it would be the lowest crowds of the 3 dates you suggested. Wed-Sun Thanksgiving is VERY busy, we did it this past year. We do presidents week every other year due to school vacation--busy but not as busy as Thanksgiving. (Also, if Presidents day falls during the week with Mardi Gras it will be extra busy due to Louisiana schools having it off in addition to NY/MA schools.) Columbus day timeframe is the least busy--just avoid Epcot on the weekends, and you'll be good! Enjoy food/wine during the weekdays.

 

[Delirium]

Thanksgiving is not as bad as people say. We had a blast in 2017 and have it booked again this year. We decided NOT to go Columbus Day week due to the heat still being a factor and the parties at MK.

I enjoy holiday weeks because the parks have extended hours. It really helps spread things out.

I'll piggy back on this. We just went Thanksgiving week this year, and while it was busy, it was not anywhere close to being as miserable as people make it out to be.

We've done Columbus Day multiple times in the past, and I would take Thanksgiving over that crowd wise. While the overall number of people are not as much, the park hours are much better Thanksgiving week. Non-party days at MK over Columbus Day week are the definition of miserable.

It all comes down to planning. If you use FP wisely, do both rope drop and late night, then Thanksgiving week is actually fairly pleasant. The weather was fantastic. Now, if you want to ride a headliner 6-7 times, then sure, that's going to require waiting in line. But, I can say this is all honesty. The longest wait we had the whole week was using a FP at Toy Story Mania. The second longest wait was standby for the PeopleMover. And, we rode absolutely everything in all 4 parks, except Astro Orbiter, at least once over the course of the week. You just have to be smart about what you do between 11-5 each day.

 

[BraveLittleToaster2]

I'll piggy back on this. We just went Thanksgiving week this year, and while it was busy, it was not anywhere close to being as miserable as people make it out to be.

We've done Columbus Day multiple times in the past, and I would take Thanksgiving over that crowd wise. While the overall number of people are not as much, the park hours are much better Thanksgiving week. Non-party days at MK over Columbus Day week are the definition of miserable.

It all comes down to planning. If you use FP wisely, do both rope drop and late night, then Thanksgiving week is actually fairly pleasant. The weather was fantastic. Now, if you want to ride a headliner 6-7 times, then sure, that's going to require waiting in line. But, I can say this is all honesty. The longest wait we had the whole week was using a FP at Toy Story Mania. The second longest wait was standby for the PeopleMover. And, we rode absolutely everything in all 4 parks, except Astro Orbiter, at least once over the course of the week. You just have to be smart about what you do between 11-5 each day.

Would the silver pass have lots of blackout days during Thanksgiving week??

 

[NJlauren]

To piggyback on this, what are the crowds generally like the week after Thanksgiving? My wife and I decided on dates and booked without checking the holiday calendar. So we are arriving very late the Saturday after Thanksgiving and staying for a week.

Saturday will be busy, the rest of the week won’t be as bad. At least in my experince. We have gone this week arrived Saturday stayed till wed, Saturday was crazy rest of the trip was fine.

 

[BraveLittleToaster2]

Is week leading up to and following Easter any better??

 

[The13thLetter]

Is week leading up to and following Easter any better??

I was about to start a new thread for this question as well. My wife is a teacher so Presidents Day break vs. Easter beak is our biggest back and forth. I am interested to see the answers.

 

[sscamarogirl2000]

We went this past year the week leading up to Columbus day. The crowds were low and we hardly ever stood in line. There was either no wait or i got a fp for everything except fop which we rope dropped and was off of by 9:03. The only day that it was crazy crowded was the Saturday before Columbus day. The lowest wait at mk was pirates and it was a 65 minute wait. I couldn't try to get another fp at that point because i had one at 7dmt later and my kids really wanted to ride it again. We ate at CRT that night during fireworks....thank goodness because they roped off the back of the castle 2 hours before fireworks and people were pushing at the ropes to get spots by then. We got caught up in it and finally got to the front where we just waited on our take for an hour in the castle walkway because we were afraid to get back out in the crowd. I did find out that starting that weekend the schools up north have a fall break that week and that's why it gets so crowded. My advice would be to go the week before Columbus day but do not plan for mk the sat or sun before Columbus day.

 

[dlavender]

We went this past year the week leading up to Columbus day. The crowds were low and we hardly ever stood in line. There was either no wait or i got a fp for everything except fop which we rope dropped and was off of by 9:03. The only day that it was crazy crowded was the Saturday before Columbus day. The lowest wait at mk was pirates and it was a 65 minute wait. I couldn't try to get another fp at that point because i had one at 7dmt later and my kids really wanted to ride it again. We ate at CRT that night during fireworks....thank goodness because they roped off the back of the castle 2 hours before fireworks and people were pushing at the ropes to get spots by then. We got caught up in it and finally got to the front where we just waited on our take for an hour in the castle walkway because we were afraid to get back out in the crowd. I did find out that starting that weekend the schools up north have a fall break that week and that's why it gets so crowded. My advice would be to go the week before Columbus day but do not plan for mk the sat or sun before Columbus day.

Out of our 10 visits last year, Columbus Day weekend was the most insane I’ve ever seen MK. The week leading up to it should be fine. But on Saturday get out of there. Lol

 

[Roscoe18]

To piggyback on this, what are the crowds generally like the week after Thanksgiving? My wife and I decided on dates and booked without checking the holiday calendar. So we are arriving very late the Saturday after Thanksgiving and staying for a week.

We went this past year, arriving the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We did Epcot that first day and while busy, it wasn't as bad as I had feared. MK was busy during the next week, but not awful. Other parks were fine. I thought it was a good time to go, personally.

 

[ljmiii]

I was about to start a new thread for this question as well. My wife is a teacher so Presidents Day break vs. Easter beak is our biggest back and forth. I am interested to see the answers.

Easter week is much worse. President's Day weekend comes close to Easter week but the rest of the week isn't that bad (relatively speaking). Easter week is painful each and every day.

Or to put it another way, since our eldest child entered middle school we've been limited to Xmas/New Years, Easter, and President's Week. The rest of the week after President's Day itself is by far the most pleasant of what we get to experience at WDW these days.