Presidents Day/Princess Marathon vs Spring Break?

[emilymad]

We are looking at when we can travel next year. Our choices are either the week starting with President's Day and ending with the Princess Marathon or going mid March during Spring Break. I am assuming both weeks will be extremely crowded. Would one week be less crowded than the other?

We are fine with doing rope drop, having a plan, etc but we definitely want to escape the cold weather in the Northeast so these are the times we are working with.

 

[Coral Reef Diver]

We're already committed to President's Week, but we were considering Spring Break as well. We like to escape the Florida humidity.

 

[DisMommyTX]

I was surprised that crowds weren't bad at all during mid-March. Of course, we tend to travel at 'insane' crowd times, 4th July, week before Christmas, etc. so my perception is a bit skewed . Florida schools usually have spring break in April, so there is very little local traffic. I'd expect crowds to be similar both times, but March will be warmer. Feb usually still has cool evenings, whereas March tends to be better swimming pool weather.

ETA Correction-With Easter on April 1st this year, most FL schools have Spring break during the third or fourth week of March 2018! Beware!!

 

[emilymad]

I was surprised that crowds weren't bad at all during mid-March. Of course, we tend to travel at 'insane' crowd times, 4th July, week before Christmas, etc. so my perception is a bit skewed . Florida schools usually have spring break in April, so there is very little local traffic. I'd expect crowds to be similar both times, but March will be warmer. Feb usually still has cool evenings, whereas March tends to be better swimming pool weather.

Warmer weather would be good! February works better because we can escape the coldest weather back home though.

The week before President's Day is Mardi Gras so I am concerned it will be more crowded than anticipated. The Daytona 500 is also President's Day weekend this year. I have looked at the various crowd calendars but I am not sure how much any of this is taken into account.

For anyone who has gone mid March how bad is it? Easter is April 1st this year so our trip would be 3 weeks before.

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

We went during both President's Day week and Spring Break in 2016 and both were very crowded, but Spring Break was definitely more crowded. No question. Our Spring Break was the first week of April and was not the week before or after Easter, but it was still crazy crowded (though the crowd calendars predicted it would be about a 4-6, in hindsight the crowd calendars said it was a actually a 10+. So you really can't rely on the crowd calendars). February was pleasant to walk around the parks in the daytime, but in April during the daytime, MK was frustrating to walk through because of how crowded it was.

That being said, we had a great time both weeks and just had to plan well with fastpasses and ADRs.

February was really too cold for us to swim at all. A few people were swimming and the pools are heated, but temps had highs around 70 and that is a bit chilly for us, especially since in the morning and evening temps were in the 60's. If pools are important to you and you don't like swimming when the air is chilly, then I would go over spring break. February was also quite chilly at night. Though the parks were crowded in the daytime and the weather was gorgeous, MK was nearly empty during the evening EMH. The temp dropped significantly and my daughter and I had worn shorts or jeans and t-shirts during the day, so it was even too cold for us to stay long in MK at night in those outfits. I even brought sweatshirts for both of us and it still seemed cold.

In April, the weather was in the 80's with breezes during the day, so it was great for the parks or the pools. The temps were lower at night and the air was slightly chilly when we were wet, but the pools felt great since they were heated. Only about four of us in the pool one night in April at BWI (but that could have been due to the creepy clown rather than to the temps ).

I am probably going to go in February and April again this year simply because I have an AP and that is when we have school breaks. Not looking forward to the crowds, but I am okay with doing only 3 primary rides a day with fastpasses and spending a lot of time at the resort. You just have to go with the right mindset during these crowded times.

 

[emilymad]

Excellent points!

We went in April last year and the weather and crowds were great. We have AP's and we are trying to get in a last trip so unfortunately April dates don't work. April and May are our favorite times to go but sometimes we just have to make it work.

 

[MermaidMommy]

I was surprised that crowds weren't bad at all during mid-March. Of course, we tend to travel at 'insane' crowd times, 4th July, week before Christmas, etc. so my perception is a bit skewed . Florida schools usually have spring break in April, so there is very little local traffic. I'd expect crowds to be similar both times, but March will be warmer. Feb usually still has cool evenings, whereas March tends to be better swimming pool weather.

I don't think that's correct about Orlando area schools having April spring breaks. I believe that pretty much all of the local schools have spring break in March.

OP, the second week in March is often one of the busiest of the month. Most of Texas' public schools have spring break that week, which really drives the crowds up. With Easter being April 1 next year, the last week in March will likely be one of the busiest of the year. But, most of March will be very crowded.

 

[DisMommyTX]

I don't think that's correct about Orlando area schools having April spring breaks. I believe that pretty much all of the local schools have spring break in March.

OP, the second week in March is often one of the busiest of the month. Most of Texas' public schools have spring break that week, which really drives the crowds up. With Easter being April 1 next year, the last week in March will likely be one of the busiest of the year. But, most of March will be very crowded.

I stand corrected! I just checked a couple calendars and most do in fact have spring break in late March. In recent years, our family near Jacksonville has had their break in early April. Maybe it was an artifact of Easter or something. Sorry for any confusion!

Looks like early March should be fine, but later March will have extra crowds. Most of the schools I checked were the third or fourth week of March. We will be there with half the state of Texas during the second week of March .

 

[emilymad]

I don't think that's correct about Orlando area schools having April spring breaks. I believe that pretty much all of the local schools have spring break in March.

OP, the second week in March is often one of the busiest of the month. Most of Texas' public schools have spring break that week, which really drives the crowds up. With Easter being April 1 next year, the last week in March will likely be one of the busiest of the year. But, most of March will be very crowded.

Thanks! In PA schools have off either the week before or after Easter so it is good to know what other areas do.

We are leaning towards February since it sounds like both times will be really crowded.

 

[MermaidMommy]

I stand corrected! I just checked a couple calendars and most do in fact have spring break in late March. In recent years, our family near Jacksonville has had their break in early April. Maybe it was an artifact of Easter or something. Sorry for any confusion!

Looks like early March should be fine, but later March will have extra crowds. Most of the schools I checked were the third or fourth week of March. We will be there with half the state of Texas during the second week of March .

We'll be among the Texans there the second week of March, too. See you there!

 

[nfouey]

A while back we did an informal poll on spring break times. Perhaps this helps you. Basically it seems like most hover around Easter, but a lot are all over the place. We got 4/8-4/13 which seemed a little "safer" than other weeks. (I hope)

https://www.disboards.com/threads/spring-break-2018-when-is-yours.3592869/

 

[emilymad]

A while back we did an informal poll on spring break times. Perhaps this helps you. Basically it seems like most hover around Easter, but a lot are all over the place. We got 4/8-4/13 which seemed a little "safer" than other weeks. (I hope)

https://www.disboards.com/threads/spring-break-2018-when-is-yours.3592869/

Thanks for the link!