Presidents Day Week at Disney

[themcive4]

We are taking our kids (7,3) on their 1st trip to disney the week of Presidents Day (Feb 18th-22nd) and when we booked the trip I had no idea that Presidents day week is among the busiest of the year.
Is it really going to be that busy that week? We have 4 day park hopper are we going to be able to do everything we want to do or will there be 2 hour waits on all the good rides? My son (7) wants to go on everything but I dont know how well a 7 year old can handle a 2+ hour wait in line. Any tips on how to manage and make their 1st trip to DW awsome?

 

[Disney Dad Ga]

I went last year on Presidents Day weekend, and it was slammed! DHS was horrible. The street heading to Rockin roller coaster and TOT was almost shoulder to shoulder the whole width of the road. I had a conference in Orlando and thought it would be nice to bring DW and DS for a weekend at Disney. Bad mistake. I hope it is different for you this year, but it was the worst crowds I have been in at Disney in 20 trips.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

I have gone many many years during that week and yes it is busy. Not only are the school in the New England states on winter break you also have twirl mania competition at Disney. You will also see an influx of nascar fans there. Since the Daytona 500 race is in high gear during that week. And the annual cochlear implant confernce is held at the CSR.

Plan accordingly and make good use of the EMH. And make good use of the fast pass options.

 

[binabodi]

Is there any threads on the boards that have the recommended times to go, or not go? We were thinking the week before or the week after PD both incorporating PD weekend. Hmmm.

 

[mhartel1]

You can check touringplans.com and see if the crowd calendar goes out that far yet. And just a heads up the week before is Mardi Gras, a lot of schools are out for the week all over the gulf coast.

 

[shoney]

I went last year on Presidents Day weekend, and it was slammed! DHS was horrible. The street heading to Rockin roller coaster and TOT was almost shoulder to shoulder the whole width of the road. I had a conference in Orlando and thought it would be nice to bring DW and DS for a weekend at Disney. Bad mistake. I hope it is different for you this year, but it was the worst crowds I have been in at Disney in 20 trips.

We went Wed to Wed over the President Day weekend. It was horrible!

Park hoppers weren't worth it, because if you didn't get your fast passes early, there were none left.

I do want to add, that many schools in NYC and Long Island have taken away the Presidents day week winter break this year. We missed too many days due to Sandy. I don't know if this will impact crowd levels or not.

If you could go another time, I would!

 

[mhartel1]

Last year was also a double whammy with Mardi Gras & Presidents week being the same week.

 

[coastermom]

This year due to Hurricane Sandy the NYC schools will now be open during the presidents week time . This should mean that many people who usually vacation that week in WDW will now be at work / school ! Not happy about being at work but happy that the make up days are not in the summer !! Think that alot of travelers will not make it from here ! Just a thought !!

 

[SweetMissy]

We went that week last year and from reading here and going by touringplans.com, we decided to go the Wednesday into the week until the following Tuesday. It was pretty crazy but once the weekend came it wasn't too bad. We went to DHS over the weekend and it wasn't bad at all. We were able to ride the star wars ride over and over with little wait...maybe 10 mins! It was awesome! We went to MK 2 days and it was absolutely insane! So definitely plan 2 days there. AK was busy busy too. It's ok....just go knowing you're probably not going to accomplish everything...it's near impossible.

 

[themcive4]

Yea I heard it was awful there last year and didnt realize how busy of a week it was until after we booked it. When I read that I got really worried cause I was afraid that it would be hard to keep the kids interested when they have to wait in long lines for every ride. Its out 1st family trip there (my 1st time since I was probably 8) But it sounds like it may not be as bad as last year with Margi Gras the week before and some of the east cost not having winter break that week anymore.

 

[pinky]

We lived in the mid-west and went every year during Presidents Week as this was our school's Winter Break. Not sure how old your kids are but there will be wait times. It seems like fast passes for Soarin and Toy Story Mania were ALWAYS gone within a couple hous of park opening regardless of what time of year we go so we are always at a park at rope drop. Make sure you have ADR's for TS meals or you may not get in. We always had a wonderful time that week and you will too! Now we have grandchildren and have to go during their school break (if we go with family). We're planning a big family trip during President's Week 2014!

 

[SmallWorld71]

The good news is, it doesn't overlap with Mardi Gras this year - that makes it extra busy like it did last year.

easywdw.com has that week at 8's and 9's out of 10 which is very busy, but manageable.

We've done what we wanted Pres. week when following a couple of rules:

1) Get there for park opening! This is the most important thing you can do when traveling at a busy time.

2) Check out easywdw.com for the crowd calendar which can help you pick the best days for each park.

Also, just remember that 4 days is not a lot of time in terms of the scope of WDW, even during a slow time. Set your priorities of what you really want to do and do that first. Then everything else is gravy.

 

[cdejean10]

We live in SE Louisiana and our kids are on Mardi Gras break often during President's Week. We love a Disney break during this time of year - however, we avoid Disney like the Plague if Mardi Gras and President's Week coincide. Disney is always fun - but the crowds are obnoxiously huge during that week.