Disney in February

[JLKennedy]

Tell me the good, bad and ugly.

We typically go in Sept, Oct, or Nov for F&W Festival - this year's offerings don't impress me, and with a hectic HS daughter's sports calendar....February is looking better for us.

TIA!

 

[atisikitabasket]

Feb. is normally when we go but we have fallen in love with Nov but Feb is an awesome time. I would avoid Presidents week and fat Tues week. We normally go week before pres week.

 

[Luv2Run]

Early February is usually one of the deadest times of year in terms of crowds, but mid-February is President's Week, and then you've got the Princess Half Marathon the week after, so it's pretty busy during that time, too. I know a lot of west coast schools (and some others around the country) have mid-winter break around mid-February as well, but it usually doesn't have much of an impact on crowds. So, I'd say go earlier in the month, if possible.

 

[karly05]

For the past three years, I've been going to WDW in early February (leaving on the Wed or Thurs before Presidents Day weekend).

The Good: Disney resort rack rates are the lowest they get. Crowds very manageable. When the weather is nice, it's beautiful, with highs in the 70s. Out of 3 trips, this was the first year I saw any precip, just scattered, (mostly light) showers over a couple of days.

The Bad: It's a pretty fair bet that Splash Mountain will be closed. Temps can be cold, too; I had two freezing mornings in 2012. But it was a dry, sunny cold, and the one at DHS was actually kind of fun, I think it cut down on the crowds. Cold morning at AK was a mistake; not all of the animals can be out if it's too cold, so pick a more pleasant weather day for that.

The Ugly: I didn't look to see if your post showed where you are from, but watch out for winter travel weather. That's the main reason I'm probably switching to April for 2015.

 

[JLKennedy]

Thanks! We are from NJ and this time is likely the only time we can go with sports - avid Field Hockey & Lacrosse - and mildly avid swimming. For Feb. - we should be into individual state meets and won't be a problem for our swimmer.

I was looking at the very 1st week of Feb.

 

[LJSquishy]

We went in Feb 2012 (2/11 - 2/17 to be exact) and it was pretty much heaven! The year we went it was before President's Day Weekend so crowds were very low and the last day we noticed the crowds started to pick up quite a bit.

The biggest pros are that prices are low and crowd levels are low (for early Feb like you're considering).

We thought the weather was very nice when we were there, since we were coming from snowy weather in WA State. Mornings were chilly enough to need a jacket/hoodie/sweater, but it warmed up to around 70 most days. We never got chilled in the evenings. One morning was downright COLD. Overall, we enjoyed the weather and we didn't have any rain the entire week.

All of the water rides were open when we were there, including Splash Mountain and Kali River Rapids. It definitely wasn't as fun riding them in the morning when it was still chilly out but we didn't want to skip them. I read somewhere that they lower the water level and turn off the spraying features during the colder months, so nothing really sprayed us...though you obviously still get wet.

One major con is that February is a month that certain rides are still down for refurbishment. I missed out on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad because it was being refurbed and I was pretty heartbroken since it's a pretty major ride. Also, one of the waterparks is closed (alternating each year)...not that you would necessarily want to have pool time with it being a little colder out. The resort pools were mostly empty which is a bonus I guess if you would still swim in 70 degree weather.

Most rides were close to walk-ons...never waited in line more than 20 minutes and only used a Fastpass (legacy) here and there. It might be more important now with the FP+ system in place now though. We didn't have any trouble changing around our ADRs the day of, though we weren't trying for any character meals or anything like that.

We loved February and I would go during that time again except I was always worried about our flights due to weather, and in fact the day we flew to WDW they had to de-ice airplanes. That kind of thing makes me nervous so we will be going in late October 2015 this time. Funny how we are opposites!

 

[karly05]

Yep, 2012 was the year they did a major refurb of BTMRR from like January into April (?) and left Splash open. Someone once posted some historical data here that showed they used to alternate long and short closures of Splash in the winter, but 2013 and 2014 have both been long.

I'm convinced that if I do move my trip to April next year, Splash will be open in February.