Need the opinions from the experts!When to go? Feb 16th-21st or 20th-25th

[Gabe's Mom]

I'm trying to plan my ds's first trip to Disney. Very exciting but also intimidating the more research I do. Dh is a teacher so looking to include the President's Day Holiday in our dates. Any opinions in terms of crowd size? Our date choices are 2/16-2/21 (Thurs-Tues) of 2/20-2/25 (Mon-Sat). The more I read I am seeing that this looks like a potentially bad time to go in terms of crowd size, but hope it's still better than summer? Anyone have any experience this time of year? I know the Monday should be bad but didn't know if the whole week was super busy. Thanks in advance for any insight!

 

[dougsmom98]

I am not sure which will be better as I have never been during this week. We are going the 18-24 (Sat-Fri). From the research I have been doing, I am planning to avoid the MK until Tuesday since Monday is the holiday and I am guessing many locals will be visiting the MK. So,if it were me, I would go Monday through Saturday to avoid the added crowds from the local population. I'm looking forward to seeing what others think.

 

[maps]

We went this past year for Pres week and will be there again 2/18-2/26.
I would proabably go Mon - Sat but be prepared for Mon to be the busiest. Last year, one CM told us that they had record numbers for Pres Day at MK. We avoided all the parks that day and went to Sea World.

We're early birds so the crowds don't ever seem to be much of an issue for us. If you truly want to see as much as possible during a busy season, I firmly believe you have to be there before the park opens.

We eat breakfast at Crystal Palace so that we are already past security and the ticket section. Then we stroll around Main Street after breakfast waiting for the park to open. It's so cool because there's hardly anyone there.

We were the first ones in the park and got all of tomorrowland done before the crowds of people came in. Then we headed to SM and BTMR. We always seemed to be right ahead of the crowds and didn't use any fast passes. By noon the crowds picked up and since we had seen what we wanted, we went to a different park and that's when we used the fastpasses.

Good Luck

 

[indigoxtreme]

for the Holiday Monday go to Ak it is not as crowded as the other parks and you will be able to enjoy the attractions and shows.

 

[ambymm018]

To be perfectly honest, both are pretty bad (I'm Sorry ) Between American school vacation and a high number of foreign friends visiting it's really hectic (add a holiday and the snow birds and it's a compasity nightmare) This past Feb the parks closed due to compasity on several occasions and the HCOE wasn't even started yet. Best advice take it all in stride and seek out castmembers to assist you sometimes they give you fast passes or what I like to call sneek backs (walk you to the front of the line it's awsome) also plan NOT to go to parks with early magic or late magic hours, the attendence at those parks is usually the highest.

 

[Gabe's Mom]

I decided today not to worry about how busy it will be. I booked the 20th-25th @ AKL. I'm sure we will all have a blast even if it's packed! Thanks for the words of wisdom!