One of the most popular questions people ask is “What is the best time of year to visit Walt Disney World?”. Our most recent trip to Disney was the first week of February, 2020. In this blog I will discuss why we decided to go at this time of year. I I’ll also touch on our experience with fast pass availability, dining availability, park crowds, and more!
We have visited Walt Disney World during many different times of the year. We have experienced different festivals, holidays, and special events. We have visited in June, July, August, September, December/January, April, and now February. We have gone in June several times because the Star Wars Weekends used to run the first two weekends in June and our kids were out of school by then. We have also gone several times toward the end of September because it was a ‘value’ season and also Food and Wine Festival. (not to mention it is also around my birthday!) I will have to say, September is my personal favorite time to visit Disney World. So, why did we try February?
In the past, we have visited Epcot during the Flower and Garden Festival, Food and Wine Festival, and the Festival of the Holidays. All of which we have immensely enjoyed! One festival we had yet to visit is Disney’s Festival of the Arts which runs January 17 – February 24 this year (2020). This Epcot Festival of the Arts immerses guest in Culinary Arts (my favorite), Performing Arts, and Visual Arts. There are also several featured artist that have booths for you to see their art, purchase their art, meet the artist, or watch them create their art on site! One of my favorite things at all of the festivals is the food booths. There are so many offerings to try and it is so much fun to eat around the world [showcase] and try new things. One thing my entire family enjoyed was all the chalk drawings. There were artists drawing amazing pictures with chalk down the walkway that leads to World Showcase. There were even 3D chalk art, which made the drawing come alive! The drawings are different each week because they wash them off every Thursday. Each festival features some sort of concert series and the one for the Festival of the Arts was Disney on Broadway Concert Series, where they brought in famous Broadway stars to perform Disney Broadway songs on the stage in the America Pavilion. There are always fun workshops at festivals and fun for everyone. Being able to experience this “smaller” festival was a big draw for us to go during this time frame.
For a long time, I haven’t taken my kids out of school for vacation but, considering the other factors, I decided to try it this time. Taking Kids out of school for a family vacation is always a risky thing to do, even more so once they are in high school. My son is taking AP classes and is also dual enrolled in some college classes. My youngest daughter is in 8th grade which is important, but i didn’t feel like it would be too hard for her to make stuff up when we got home. Of all the weeks we could have taken them out of school, we decided on the first week of February because the end of the semester for them was the end of January. Exams were done and the new marking period had just begun, so I figured it was the safest time where my son would possibly not miss any tests or big project due dates. It didn’t really work out like we planned because he did missed a few quizzes in his AP class, but the teacher was gracious to let him make it up and take it when we got back. If I had it to do over again, I would reconsider. I think with the college classes, it has been a stressful couple of weeks since we got back trying to get caught back up.
Michigan is WAY COLD in the winter and Florida is WAY HOT in the summer. Personally, I love the heat and would rather be in 110 degree muggy heat than -10 degree dry freeze! My mother has gone with us to Disney in June and July and she hates the heat! (I’m sure more people in my family think the same thing, but she is the most vocal about it) It makes her miserable and it is hard for her to enjoy herself when it is so uncomfortably hot. I totally understand this. I do get hot some too, but it just doesn’t bother me as much as it does other people. A couple years ago, we decide to go in August and she would not come with us because she knew she wouldn’t be able to enjoy herself in the heat. The weather in Florida is generally pretty comfortable in February, so I knew my mom would be happy and have a good time. The weather for us was, indeed, great! There were only a few cloudy days, but no big rain. It was chilly in the morning where you needed a sweatshirt, but most afternoons, you could shed the sweatshirt and be comfortable in a thin long sleeve or short sleeve shirt. A couple days were a little chilly all day, where you may want to keep your sweatshirt on. (for me, I bundled up a little more than most would need-keeping my winter hat on all day) Sunshine was abundant and not too hot – ever! I will throw in here that we tried to swim a couple times and I was dying from being too cold when we got out – the pool is heated though so that was nice 🙂
Cost of hotels and DVC point values for February (Value) vs. July (Busy). We have been wanting to stay at the Polynesian resort FOREVER! February is considered a value season at Disney so the pricing on resorts is a little less than what it would be if you went in a busier season. For example, a room at a Disney Value Resort, like the All Star Resorts, would run around $170/night in July, but in February, you would be looking at something more around $125/night. The same would be said for the Moderate and Deluxe resorts. As far as DVC points, they work the same way. Less points for a room in February than in the Summer, which means the small amount of points I own will go further in February. For example, a Deluxe Studio at the Polynesian Villas for a week between the dates Feb 1-15, 2020 is 153 points. (We only stayed Sun-Sat, so we used less points than this -subtract the points for a Saturday night) But for a week between the dates June 11-Aug 15 is 169. The cheapest point week is Jan 1-31, Sep 1-30 and Dec 1-14 at 118 points!
Disney’s Park ticket prices are based on the time of year and the day of the week. Prices vary depending on what month and day you visit. When I was plugging in dates for our park ticket purchase, there was a significant difference between a 6 day ticket in February compared to anytime over the summer. The price you pay per day is based on your FIRST day. There are military discounted tickets and since my dad is retired military, he was able to purchase 6 park tickets at the discounted military rate. You do have to get these tickets through MWR.
Crowds at the parks should be lower during the first week of February, right? According to all the charts and information that is put out on the interwebs, it shows that February is one of the least crowded times to go. Back in 2011 when we visited over New Years Eve, we went to the park on January 3 and it seemed pretty empty. I’m not sure if it was just a fluke since we haven’t really been during that time since. We have been around that time and the crowd level was pretty high. When we go in the summer it is very busy during the day, however, during Evening Extra Magic Hours it would be pretty vacant. Most likely because the evening magic hours are very late at night in the summer (11pm-2am) and most people with children don’t stay out that late. This February trip, we were hoping the crowds to be a little less than other visits, but what we found was that they were just as busy. Wait times for rides were 2-3 hrs for the more popular attractions . Our experience with getting fastpasses was fantastic and we didn’t have to wait in line. I was able to get fastpasses for all the most popular attractions. We only stood in the standby line for a couple rides, most of which were a 5-10 min wait. Peter Pan was the only ride we waited 60 min in line, because we were passing time before a dining reservation. 60 minutes for Peter Pan is actually a decent wait time for that ride as it usually doesn’t fall below 90 minutes. It was fantastic. We also had no problem getting any of the Dining reservations we wanted either.
Other random things we didn’t consider was Super Bowl Sunday, Tour Groups. Cheerleaders, and limited park hours. We checked in to our resort on Super Bowl Sunday and went to Magic Kingdom. We thought that the parks would be way less crowded because of the super bowl, but that is not true at all! It was very busy at Magic Kingdom that day! Also, we found out that the day after the Super Bowl, alot of the players and their families go to Magic Kingdom. I would suggest avoiding that park the day after, unless you want to try to see the football players.
We also noticed that there were a lot, and I mean a lot, of tour groups. Huge groups of young people with limited chaperones wandering the parks were everywhere. They were not annoying or anything, but we did find some huddled up by Rockin’ Roller Coaster sleeping on the ground one day. I had heard people talk about them being loud and chanting, but I didn’t witness that at all. We didn’t stay at value or moderate resorts and I believe that is where they tend to stay and perhaps that is where they make their ruckus. We also saw groups of cheerleaders roaming around. These groups were not as big and mostly not very noticeable. One thing to note about these groups… if you are going on a ride, be careful to not show up right behind them getting in line. The posted time will be WAY off because it will take at least 30-40 minutes JUST to get through the group that got in line ahead of you. (they are that big!)
Because we had been used to park hours being something like 8am-10pm and evening magic hours being 3 hrs after that, with several evening magic hours offered throughout our stay, we were thrown off a little with the park hours being shortened. The average park hours were 9am-8pm which is up to 4 hrs less time in the parks than we are use to. Plus, there was only ONE evening extra magic hours offered during our stay. It was at Epcot, (9pm-11pm), and we didn’t take advantage of this because there are not enough rides to make it worth it for us. We were able to ride all of them with fastpasses during regular hours. As far as the other parks with shorter hours, utilizing the fastpass options on My Disney Experience was key to being able to ride everything.
One last thing to consider when going in February is ride closures. We knew this ahead of time, but it still was a bummer that we weren’t able to ride Kali River Rapids, Splash Mountain, or Test Track because they were closed for refurbishment. These rides typically close during this time every year for maintenance.
No matter the time of year we visit, we ALWAYS have a fantastic time at Walt Disney World. We do everything we set out to do. We ride the rides, see the shows, eat the food, and have fun regardless of any of the aforementioned points to ponder. If you are wondering what time of year is best for you and your family to visit, just know that ANY time is a good time to visit Disney World!
Please leave a comment below and let me know YOUR favorite time to go to Disney!
Thanks for reading!
The Mouse Traveler 