Do I plan for swimming? My guess is no.

[Inspired18]

We are going in early February. I read the highs are 70/early 70s in Florida at that time of year. I don't think I've read anything about heated pools.

That'll be sad for the kids, but I have no current wish to visit FL when it's warmer.

 

[Bluegrrl]

Bring the suits anyway. My family visited around that time one year and my 5yr old brother decided he needed to swim!! The temp was around 20/30 and he was super insistent! My mom said the the lifeguards were watching him like hawks because none of them wanted to have to dive in if he did have trouble!!

Point - kids love water and usually nothing, not even cold temps, can keep them out of it!

 

[Mousemommy1]

The pools are heated. And, when we went in February it would get up into the 80's during the day and then down to high 60's at night. We live in New England, so those temps are like summer and my kids definitely wanted to still swim, and they did.m

 

[SWofDisorder]

Other than it being very cold air temp, that being under 70 degrees, we swim. The pools are heated and if your kids like to swim, it is best to have suits along than not.

Have a magical trip.

 

[DisneyObsessed87]

We swam in January with temps in the high 70s low 80s. Pools are heated. It was just a little chilly getting out, but if your kids are like mine they will get in anyway. Bring the swimsuits! Have a great trip!

 

[Happyjen27]

We swam daily on our first December trip, 2012. It was in the 80s and so hot we were sweaty in the parks. In December 2013, it was chillier, but we still had some pool days.

 

[MandiC]

Ditto everyone else, we went Jan 31-Feb 7 and we had 3 days with highs in the 80s and we did swim one day. The pools are heated so you really *could* swim even on cooler days. I'd bring a suit. Part of the appeal to a February trip for us was actually that we didn't feel like we'd have to schedule a lot of swimming time in. It was nice to do a little but I wouldn't have wanted the kids to want to go swimming everyday when we were paying all that money to be in Disney World LOL

 

[Raenstoirm]

Last Christmas trip, I expected it to be freezing and I was looking forward to all of the pics with us in long sleeves. NOPE. It was 1000 degrees every day!

 

[elaine amj]

Bring it. Our late jan trip we went from freezing in coats, hats, gloves,and scarves one day to swimming in the (heated) pool the next day.

We're banking on swimming during our Christmas trip!

(make sure you bring warm clothes - it can dip down to the high 30s in Orlando in winter).

 

[Inspired18]

No way, you guys! That's awesome. I'm glad I asked.

We are book for AofA, and the Cars pool looks like the Cozy Cone. My kids will love it.

I'm surprised by the temp reports! How am I going to pack for this, lol?

 

[elaine amj]

Check this thread for packing suggestions: http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3344592

 

[MandiC]

Wait till the week before your trip to pack we knew people that went both before us and after us last winter and they had some cold *cold* weather, we had 2-3 days (depending if you could the day we left, we were only at our resort till noon) of really chilly weather where we had jeans, t-shirts and sweaters on and one of those days we were a little cold even with that.
I packed us mostly shorts/short-sleeves and we were fine on the days with highs 70+ with that. Mornings/evenings were a little chilly but we toughed it out so we wouldn't have to carry extra clothes and it was fine (we are from Wisconsin though LOL). I brought with 2 pairs of jeans and 2 sweaters per person (1 that we wore down, 1 in each of our bags). One of my husband's coworkers that went in early January said they needed their winter coats!

 

[puffkin]

I pack in 2's (2 jeans, 2 shorts, 2 t's, 2 long sleeve, etc) and then do lots of layering and plan to do laundry if need be. Its not too bad. You will probably need layers on the warm days anyway because it usually still gets cool at night. We have been down lots of times and have had daytime temps from 25-90 degrees in Dec/Jan trips and EVERYTHING in between. Many times we will have a 40 degree span in one trip. So bring everything.

My son will swim in any weather. We always bring our suits. He is a competitive swimmer so we don't need to go in with him, but we all bring our suits just in case.

 

[SweetMissy]

Hubby and I are also going next Feb. and we don't plan on bringing bathing suits, well maybe, lol...ya never know. We went in Feb. a couple years ago and it was chilly at night but the kids didn't care...they went in anyway.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

We are going in early February. I read the highs are 70/early 70s in Florida at that time of year. I don't think I've read anything about heated pools.

That'll be sad for the kids, but I have no current wish to visit FL when it's warmer.

There are days you can and days you can't. Always be prepared. We swam on feb 2--though it was in Port Canaveral after we embarked on our cruise. But swimming happened that week at Disney from other trip reports.

 

[Inspired18]

I feel like I should've researched this more. Maybe I should change my reservation to later in Feb or early March? I just picked this time b/c of lower prices and crowds (wonder why it's lower prices and crowds, lol).

I had a baby during the Polar Vortex last January! I don't want hats and scarves in Florida! That's why I am going to Florida in February! LOL!

 

[MandiC]

I really liked the first week of February this year. The crowds were very manageable, waits for rides were short. It is lower price for a reason, it's off-season, schools don't really have any breaks, no holidays so they lower prices to try to get rooms full. Winter is also a time they close some attractions/rides for refurbishments (Splash Mountain was closed when we were there, Barnstormers closed one of our MK days....our second day, wish we had known on the first day so we would have rode it then, Lion King in AK was closed). I'd do a February trip again. The way I see it I can swim at home if I want, there are indoor swim parks that cost a lot less than Disney I'd much rather go to Disney in comfortable weather than sweating hot weather because the main reason I am there is the parks I'd also rather cooler weather than rainy weather I also like the timing of a February trip because we can do the Christmas surprise again and they can get things they'd want for Disney at Christmas as presents from grandparents so it makes it a little more budget friendly for us. We were so easy to shop for last Christmas
Is it our first choice for our next trip? No, I'd really like to see Disney at Halloween or Christmas. However, I'm starting to think February 2016 is likely for us.

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

Most of the pools are heated, splash pads and play areas are not. We're from Pittsburgh and we really enjoyed the opportunity to swim outside in January.

 

[fairyjess]

Pack your suits - why not? At least one of the waterparks will be open. If it is too cold, you'll know and they won't go swimming. But I'm from Wisconsin. 70s is plenty warm to swim. And when I was a kid I would have swum in anything that wasn't frozen over and been thrilled - I was a fish and now my nieces and nephew are the same way.