February - President's day weekend

[tulabelle]

We are considering a trip this February, possibly over President's day weekend.

Is there a site that shows crowd levels, etc., similar to easywdw?

Based on trip timing, would you recommend staying at one of the deluxe hotels to get the express pass? Will be on a fairly tight budget. Kids are most excited about Harry Potter world and Minions.

Is it best to book early or wait? Do they offer "deals" on rooms or tickets?

Thank you for any help!

 

[jknc]

We are considering a trip this February, possibly over President's day weekend.

Is there a site that shows crowd levels, etc., similar to easywdw?

Based on trip timing, would you recommend staying at one of the deluxe hotels to get the express pass? Will be on a fairly tight budget. Kids are most excited about Harry Potter world and Minions.

Is it best to book early or wait? Do they offer "deals" on rooms or tickets?

Thank you for any help!

I've got the similar questions. I am looking at a 2/11 through 2/18 trip for UNIVERSAL/SEA WORLD.
I wonder if express pass would be needed during the weekdays preceding Presidents Day? The only calendar I could locate was on Undercover Tourist.

 

[macraven]

President weekend can be crowded
Kids can have 3 day weekend in some parts of the country and families do mini trips to parks

Book when you know your dates and stay at the deluxe for ep

Mardi Gras should be started by then but it would only effect the weekend for concert crowds and park activity

Do a search for this holiday time at the parks from last year
Use the button in the far right corner to search for past threads

I know we had threads about it regarding crowd levels

 

[damo]

President's week is crowded. We've been there many times and I would highly recommend a deluxe hotel for that time.

 

[kohlby]

Orlando Informer has a crowd calendar if you're looking for one. Last year, I considered President's Day week or April break to take my nephews to Universal. (They're off from school then and it had to be when they were off from school). The crowd calendar showed President's week MUCH worse than their April vacation week. So we did April. A lot of the northeast has President's week off from school which impacts things. (And some people just get Monday off but it's cold and they want a FL vacation so they pull their kids from school that week).

I would spend the extra money for one of the three hotels with express pass if you go during that time. (We've always found Royal Pacific to be the cheapest of the three but check all as others have sometimes found others cheaper). If you can wait and go during moderate crowds, then I'd still suggest onsite to get the early hour. We did Cabana Bay on our last trip and it worked out great.

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

I was looking at rates for President's Day week and the first week of April, and Universal has the resorts priced nearly the same for both weeks- and much higher than many other times of the year. That tells me that they expect similarly large crowds for President's Day week and April.

 

[macraven]

The above is the answer

When I see high room rates, it is a prediction of crowds in the park

Feb will have crowds next year is my guess

Valentine's Day weekend, president day and Mardi Gras for weekends will create a full park that month

 

[kohlby]

I was looking at rates for President's Day week and the first week of April, and Universal has the resorts priced nearly the same for both weeks- and much higher than many other times of the year. That tells me that they expect similarly large crowds for President's Day week and April.

When I mentioned April, I didn't mean the first week of April. I was just comparing my nephew's April vacation week with their Feb vacation week which was President's week. Easter and spring breaks impact April so April could have high or low crowds depending on when during the month.

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

When I mentioned April, I didn't mean the first week of April. I was just comparing my nephew's April vacation week with their Feb vacation week which was President's week. Easter and spring breaks impact April so April could have high or low crowds depending on when during the month.

That is what they told me this year about Disney in March/April regarding my Disney planning. My April week was predicted to be a moderate week (4-5 crowds) because it was not the week before or after Easter. Turns out, it was horrifically crowded-- worse than I have ever seen it (some sites in retrospect said 10+ crowds). The first week of April 2017 is also not the week before or after Easter, but based on last year, I would say I can expect it to be crowded-- and US also appears to be expecting big crowds based on their currently published rates.

I was primarily making the point that comparing published rates at the resorts for different time periods can give us an idea of how crowded management expects the parks to be. If the OP compares her February date rates with other date rates, she can get an idea about whether she will need the express pass.

I agree she will need one in February for President's Day week.