Feb, March or April?

[MrsMud]

Okay, just got back from WDW and already planning a trip to Universal (Gotta use those SW flight credits) We will probably do 4 nights, definitely onsite. We don't want to take the kids out of school so will have to do one of the following:

Feb. during President's week- Is the whole week crowded or does it slow down toward the end of the week?
March the few days preceding Easter- I imagine this is prime Spring break time?
3rd week of April- Is this still a busy time as far as Spring break or will Spring break be in March this year because Easter is so early?

Since we will be staying onsite, we are not tremendously concerned about crowds, but still want to avoid Spring Break! Also we have never gone during any of these times, so not sure about which dates would be more expensive in terms of hotel rates and flights. Can anyone offer any insight? Thanks!

 

[Darcy03231]

I know both President's week and the 3rd week of April are both big winter/spring breaks in New England. Massachusetts and Maine have both those weeks off.

 

[keishashadow]

We arrived two Sunday's before President's day for 4 days then moved onto WDW for 6 days.

The U onsite rates took a steep jump on Thursday prior to Pres. Day...which was immediately preceeded by the Daytona 500

 

[MrsMud]

Thanks for the replies. I think we have ruled out March as it seems the two weeks surrounding Easter are the most popular college break weeks.
So it's between President's week and April. I think the weather should be decent either time, right? Of course April should be warmer. We went once the first week in May and thought the weather was fabulous! Then again, it is pretty cold and dreary up here in February, it would be sweet to fly down into some warm (comparatively speaking) weather!
Can anyone compare crowds, weather, resort rates for these two times? Thanks again.

 

[Darcy03231]

Weather is definitely better in April. We've been in February and it can be hit or miss. Once it never really got above 55° all week. I've found as far as crowds and resort prices there really isn't much difference. The resorts know that from mid-February through the end of April someone, somewhere, is on break.

 

[tlinus]

End of April is the best crowd and weather wise in my opinion. That is what we are shooting for again.

 

[ATAfamily]

End of April is the best crowd and weather wise in my opinion. That is what we are shooting for again.

I have to agree
We've been twice now at the end of April and the weather has been great and we didn't notice the crowds much with FOTL.

We are planning on going the last week of April again next year.

 

[MrsMud]

Thank you !!!

I am definitely leaning toward April for the weather and (hopefully) manageable crowds. Not to mention that our favorite airline (SW) is already booked for all the decent flights/ fares for Feb. I will just have to wait for them to release April fares and hopefully we can get something decent.

Another question: I have been looking at the hotel rates at Loewshotels.com and they are running about $249 to $299 a night (standard room) right now. Do the rates usually come down as the date gets nearer? This has been my experience in the past, but we have always gone in off season, never a busy time. I am hoping they will offer some decent AAA, APH or SS rates. Am I being naive? Should I just accept that this is as good as it will get that time of year?
Thanks again!

 

[cindarella]

Need some help from you dis'ers. I am planning a IOA trip for Feb. are the crowds really that bad??? We have a Sept. break and a Feb. break from school. I have never gone in Feb. before and now reading the boards I am getting a little worried. Please give me your thoughts.

 

[Ka-chow!]

I'm a newbie and we'll do our first USO/IOA in November - staying at the HRH.

However, I can say that we went to the Disney parks in the days leading up to the 2007 President's day weekend. Minimal crowds at MGM on Wednesday. Crowds got progressively worse on each day until the weekend. By Sunday before President's Day, the parks were deadlocked - you couldn't get Fasspasses until 10 hours later . If US/IOA follow, they should be bad too. We will be avoiding that weekend in the future - just not worth it, for Disney at least.