Switching from Sept to Feb possibly..

[ELG13]

So I've been crunching numbers and I'm not sure we will be where I want to be financially for our upcoming Sept trip. We've had a few unexpected expenses pop up and I'm not wanting to put anything on a credit card so that being said...I don't want to push it out too far but I want to get through the holidays so we were thinking February. What are y'all thoughts? We've always gone September/October so I'm not sure what we are looking at for Feb. We were looking forward to a waterpark this trip so that's out....

 

[DarthVader]

When in February? Since there's a school vacation in February, if you go that week, it will be very busy. There should be one waterpark open for that month, but it may be too cool to go there.

You definitely can change your vacation, just call Disney and depending on availability, they should find a resort for the week you're looking at. The sooner you call, the higher the odds that you can move it problem free.

 

[ELG13]

When in February? Since there's a school vacation in February, if you go that week, it will be very busy. There should be one waterpark open for that month, but it may be too cool to go there.

You definitely can change your vacation, just call Disney and depending on availability, they should find a resort for the week you're looking at. The sooner you call, the higher the odds that you can move it problem free.

I think maybe the first week of Feb? Or maybe even March?? I looked at a few 2019 crowd calendars that had all the big events and holidays on it and those two weeks seem good...we really want to stay at the cabins again...right now we have the all Star suite...that's part of the reason we want to switch also...we want to do a long trip to enjoy to grounds. We had such a wonderful time last time that we just can't seem to settle on anywhere else.

 

[Nemo14]

1st week of feb shouldn't be too bad, but Spring Breaks start in March, so I'd avoid that if you can.

 

[ELG13]

1st week of feb shouldn't be too bad, but Spring Breaks start in March, so I'd avoid that if you can.

Yes spring break was a concern but I didn't think the first week would be that time yet. And it was showing it as green on the few crowd predictors I looked at.
How would you think those two weeks compare to the week after labor day or any week in October?

 

[crxbrett]

Yes spring break was a concern but I didn't think the first week would be that time yet. And it was showing it as green on the few crowd predictors I looked at.
How would you think those two weeks compare to the week after labor day or any week in October?

I don't think any week in the year is more dead than the 2 weeks after Labor Day, but 1st week of Feb is probably one of the few weeks that is close to it. October I think tends to be more crowded now with the MNSSH and F&W attracting more crowds and locals.

Like you pointed out, most schools don't usually go on spring break until the 2nd or 3rd week of March in most of the country, so I think if you went the 1st or 2nd week you would be good. I don't know how DW crowds are firsthand then, but I know DL is usually a lot lighter in crowds the 1st 2 weeks of March.

Here are what the resort crowds were at DW for the first week of February and 1st week of March from the last 5 years (2014-2018) (according to TouringPlans).

(I took the daily resort crowd levels each day for the week (Mon-Sun) and averaged it for the number)
2018 - 1st week of Feb - 6.57
2018 - 1st week of Mar - 6.14
2017 - 1st week of Feb - 4.57
2017 - 1st week of Mar - 6.71
2016 - 1st week of Feb - 4.71
2016 - 1st week of Mar - 4.14
2015 - 1st week of Feb - 3.71
2015 - 1st week of Mar - 4.43
2014 - 1st week of Feb - 4.00
2014 - 1st week of Mar - 6.29

So using the data from the last 5 years, the 1st week of Feb averages to 4.71 for crowd levels and the 1st week of Mar averages to 5.54. Neither are bad really.

Hope this helps you!

 

[crxbrett]

Just for comparison's sake, here are the numbers for the 1st week of Sep the last 5 years (2013-2017)

2017 - 1st week of Sep - 3.00
2016 - 1st week of Sep - 2.57
2015 - 1st week of Sep - 2.86
2014 - 1st week of Sep - 1.14
2013 - 1st week of Sep - 1.29
Avg crowd levels for 1st week of Sep the last 5 years is only 2.17, making it the least crowded week of the year at WDW.

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

OP, we went in February 2 years ago, from the 7th to the l6th. For us, the weather was a perfect low to mid 70's, no rain. There were a couple of foreign tour groups but they were well behaved with no chanting. I wonder if Disney has clamped down on chanting?? I was surprised at their good behavior. There were a lot of cheerleaders there and we just avoided getting in lines behind them. It was doable. I don't know what the economy of S. America is now, but then it was quite bad for them, so there were not many visitors that we noticed. It was a great time to go weatherwise and crowdwise.

This past March we went from Feb 28 to March 7th. That first week of March was okay. The week before was the very popular Princess half marathon and many people stayed the following week. It was pretty crowded due to that, I think. But it was doable. The weather was upper 70's to 80's and very nice.

If I had to pick again, I would go for early March and a week after the big marathon the end of Feb.

 

[ELG13]

Ugh those Sept levels really make me not want to change my dates ....and it's so close! ***Deep breath***
So I was looking at the second week of Feb based off of a few crowd calendars. There are cheer comps the weekend before and after but we always check in on Monday and out on Saturday....
May seems to be a decent month also but I'm not sure if I can keep pushing this out trying to avoid people lol!

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Ugh those Sept levels really make me not want to change my dates ....and it's so close! ***Deep breath***
So I was looking at the second week of Feb based off of a few crowd calendars. There are cheer comps the weekend before and after but we always check in on Monday and out on Saturday....
May seems to be a decent month also but I'm not sure if I can keep pushing this out trying to avoid people lol!

Not sure how late you usually stay in the parks, but everything closes earlier in February. It's my favorite time to go, but I wouldn't go for less than seven nights, preferably eight.

 

[ELG13]

Not sure how late you usually stay in the parks, but everything closes earlier in February. It's my favorite time to go, but I wouldn't go for less than seven nights, preferably eight.

Mk we do open to close generally but the others we go, do, and leave. We tend to linger the most at MK.

 

[TARDIS]

We love going the first week of February. Crowds are pretty low aside from the cheer event going on. The parks close earlier but we find with that and the less hot weather (some years) we stay from rope drop to close no problem. Keep in mind the ride closures though. Hope this helps! I think it’s better to be comfortable financially before trips so you don’t stress before or during the trip.

 

[ELG13]

We love going the first week of February. Crowds are pretty low aside from the cheer event going on. The parks close earlier but we find with that and the less hot weather (some years) we stay from rope drop to close no problem. Keep in mind the ride closures though. Hope this helps! I think it’s better to be comfortable financially before trips so you don’t stress before or during the trip.

Where would I go to find planned ride closures?

 

[TARDIS]

Where would I go to find planned ride closures?

Sorry for the late response! I normally just google closures a few months before our trip date, many Disney blogs and sites will have them listed.

 

[ELG13]

We love going the first week of February. Crowds are pretty low aside from the cheer event going on. The parks close earlier but we find with that and the less hot weather (some years) we stay from rope drop to close no problem. Keep in mind the ride closures though. Hope this helps! I think it’s better to be comfortable financially before trips so you don’t stress before or during the trip.

Oh absolutely....I may be overshooting the reschedule. October would be sufficient. July is just a weird month financially for us so I'm planning far ahead but it may not be that bad lol

 

[ELG13]

Sorry for the late response! I normally just google closures a few months before our trip date, many Disney blogs and sites will have them listed.

No worries!!! Thank you!