When to go in Feb?

WLWildlife

Mouseketeer
Joined
Apr 2, 2023
Messages
213
Has anyone been in WDW for the days between President's Weekend and the Run Disney event the following weekend? I work in a school so trying to schedule around a break since I don't get that much time to use during the school year. Am I going to be frustrated by crowds? I know President's Weekend brings in the crowds, but how bad is the Princess running event?

Thank you!
 
We used to go in February every year, but we went late FEb and early March, before spring break and after what you mentioned. One time we were close to President's Day and it was very Busy. We also hit the Princess run one time and after the run, it was very crowded too.
If you can swing it, I would not go at those times. The late February/early March timeline worked for us crowd-wise.

We don't like big crowds, so that plays into it. It depends on whether that bothers you or not.
 
It will be crowded, but it won’t be as bad as Christmas, New Year’s and Easter weeks, if that helps. If you can go earlier in February the crowds should be less, but if that’s the week you have, I’d go and plan to use Genie+LL etc. to maximize my activities.
 
We used to go in February every year, but we went late FEb and early March, before spring break and after what you mentioned. One time we were close to President's Day and it was very Busy. We also hit the Princess run one time and after the run, it was very crowded too.
If you can swing it, I would not go at those times. The late February/early March timeline worked for us crowd-wise.

We don't like big crowds, so that plays into it. It depends on whether that bothers you or not.

We don't like big crowds. We have been in Feb before, about 15 years ago, and Presidents weekend was on the tail end of that trip and the difference in the amount of people from Thursday morning to Thursday evening was astounding! We vowed never to be there for that again. I have never experienced a run event and wondered if the days between the 2 would be slow. I was thinking fly in on Sunday and fly home on Friday. Have 4 full park days. It will just be DH and I, our kids are adults.
 

It will be crowded, but it won’t be as bad as Christmas, New Year’s and Easter weeks, if that helps. If you can go earlier in February the crowds should be less, but if that’s the week you have, I’d go and plan to use Genie+LL etc. to maximize my activities.
This is helpful, just not what I wanted to hear. LOL I only get 3 personal days a year. If we are to travel during the school year it has to be on a short school week. I work most of the summer too. We are scheduled to go the first week of August, but I am 95% sure we are going to have to cancel. :(
 
Has anyone been in WDW for the days between President's Weekend and the Run Disney event the following weekend? I work in a school so trying to schedule around a break since I don't get that much time to use during the school year. Am I going to be frustrated by crowds? I know President's Weekend brings in the crowds, but how bad is the Princess running event?

Thank you!
It will be crowded. It won't be the running event on the second weekend that will keep the crowds elevated. It will be the fact that many school districts have that whole week off. School breaks during the school year always cause crowds at Disneyworld.
2023:
1686497296973.png

2022:
1686497254298.png
 
We don't like big crowds. We have been in Feb before, about 15 years ago, and Presidents weekend was on the tail end of that trip and the difference in the amount of people from Thursday morning to Thursday evening was astounding! We vowed never to be there for that again. I have never experienced a run event and wondered if the days between the 2 would be slow. I was thinking fly in on Sunday and fly home on Friday. Have 4 full park days. It will just be DH and I, our kids are adults.
We were there one time at the end of the run and thought the runners would leave after the race. Wrong! The parks were packed, so it was our mistake to go at that time. I hope you have good luck with your trip!
 
We went this year (2023) the last full week of February and although some runners arrived towards the end of the week, our extended family, whose previous trips had been in early October (twice) all said that this year was less busy than that.
 
Has anyone been in WDW for the days between President's Weekend and the Run Disney event the following weekend? I work in a school so trying to schedule around a break since I don't get that much time to use during the school year. Am I going to be frustrated by crowds? I know President's Weekend brings in the crowds, but how bad is the Princess running event?

Thank you!
I didn’t read other people’s posts on this but I find the hard part is if you are driving which includes Uber. Otherwise it’s not terrible relative to other times these days. If it were 2010 I’d say it’s way worse than other Feb or Jan times, but these days it’s never slow.
 
Has anyone been in WDW for the days between President's Weekend and the Run Disney event the following weekend? I work in a school so trying to schedule around a break since I don't get that much time to use during the school year. Am I going to be frustrated by crowds? I know President's Weekend brings in the crowds, but how bad is the Princess running event?

Thank you!
PD weekend and the following week tend to be pretty crowded, but it's not the level you will see around Spring Break or Christmas. Feb 2022 was out of control but that was tied to the whole "revenge travel" bologna but this last year was more normal following the holiday and the winter break that northern schools get. We've gone over PD weekend and yes it is busy but manageable imo. If that's when you can go, I say do it. We can pretty much only go over school breaks now too that my kids are in high school so we travel when they can.

The weather is usually pretty nice and I always say, even if it's crowded, so long as you have a plan and go in expecting crowds, you should still come away with having a good trip. Not having a plan and having unrealistic expectations of not waiting in lines for rides/food will ruin a trip for sure.
 
It will be crowded. It won't be the running event on the second weekend that will keep the crowds elevated. It will be the fact that many school districts have that whole week off. School breaks during the school year always cause crowds at Disneyworld.
2023:
View attachment 766751

2022:
View attachment 766750
Thank you for these! I want to avoid crowds. We are in the north, but our area does not give a week off. We have a couple long weekends throughout the winter to use as snow days. We have to make up every day that we miss.
 
We were there one time at the end of the run and thought the runners would leave after the race. Wrong! The parks were packed, so it was our mistake to go at that time. I hope you have good luck with your trip!
This is good to know! I would have thought they would have been tired after the run, especially since it takes place so early!
 
We went this year (2023) the last full week of February and although some runners arrived towards the end of the week, our extended family, whose previous trips had been in early October (twice) all said that this year was less busy than that.
That's helpful. Thank you!
 
I didn’t read other people’s posts on this but I find the hard part is if you are driving which includes Uber. Otherwise it’s not terrible relative to other times these days. If it were 2010 I’d say it’s way worse than other Feb or Jan times, but these days it’s never slow.
This is true too. I think we would be okay with a level 7 or 8 crowd, but above that, no way. We have no desire to be in holiday level crowds.
 
PD weekend and the following week tend to be pretty crowded, but it's not the level you will see around Spring Break or Christmas. Feb 2022 was out of control but that was tied to the whole "revenge travel" bologna but this last year was more normal following the holiday and the winter break that northern schools get. We've gone over PD weekend and yes it is busy but manageable imo. If that's when you can go, I say do it. We can pretty much only go over school breaks now too that my kids are in high school so we travel when they can.

The weather is usually pretty nice and I always say, even if it's crowded, so long as you have a plan and go in expecting crowds, you should still come away with having a good trip. Not having a plan and having unrealistic expectations of not waiting in lines for rides/food will ruin a trip for sure.
Definitely not expecting walkons, but don't want to be shoulder to shoulder most of the day either. I would love to have 70 degree days since it will probably be freezing or below at home. I usually have a plan, but we like to have spontaneity too. Flexibility can be difficult if you are working around crowds. Thanks for the information!
 
Maybe we should look at going the week before presidents weekend and fly out on Friday??? I doubt the weather will be as warm.
 
IMO, the bigger variable is Mardi Gras. Looks like next year it is February 13. We went once during Mardi Gras (which was after President’s Day that year) and vowed never again. Those crowds were insane!
 
Honestly while nobody can predict what next year will be like, the best metric to use to estimate crowds is the genie+ price. Our February vacation starts princess weekend, and I think Genie+ was about 20 dollars a day? The previous week was 29 dollars a person on Presidents day week, I don't think the full week was that high. But it was higher than the following week.
 
IMO, the bigger variable is Mardi Gras. Looks like next year it is February 13. We went once during Mardi Gras (which was after President’s Day that year) and vowed never again. Those crowds were insane!
I completely forgot about Mardi Gras! This is getting discouraging. Maybe we should just wait until next summer when I have a little more flexibility.
 
Honestly while nobody can predict what next year will be like, the best metric to use to estimate crowds is the genie+ price. Our February vacation starts princess weekend, and I think Genie+ was about 20 dollars a day? The previous week was 29 dollars a person on Presidents day week, I don't think the full week was that high. But it was higher than the following week.
I think this could be a useful gauge.
 












Save Up to 30% on Rooms at Walt Disney World!

Save up to 30% on rooms at select Disney Resorts Collection hotels when you stay 5 consecutive nights or longer in late summer and early fall. Plus, enjoy other savings for shorter stays.This offer is valid for stays most nights from August 1 to October 11, 2025.
CLICK HERE







New Posts







DIS Facebook DIS youtube DIS Instagram DIS Pinterest

Back
Top