Looking over the February Crowd Calendar at WDW

February can be a great month to visit Walt Disney World, but it can be a reasonably busy month, depending on the week. Here’s a quick view of Walt Disney World’s February 2013 Crowd Calendar:

And here are a few specific days that I would like to bring to your attention:

• February 3, 2013 is a holiday for many Americans…Super Bowl Sunday. Traditionally, we have not seen much change in wait times on this day, although we do not recommend going anywhere near the ESPN Zone at the BoardWalk during the game.
• February 11-17, 2013: As part of Disney’s Limited Time Magic, this is “True Love Week.” There will be many love-related decorations and photo opportunities, as well as special character meets. This will most likely increase the crowds slightly, although we do not expect it to adversely affect wait times.
• February 12, 2013: Much like Super Bowl Sunday, we have not seen much, if any, change in wait times due to Mardi Gras.
• February 18, 2013, is the only holiday in February: President’s Day. The long weekend increases crowds significantly and keeps the crowds higher than average for the entire ensuing week. If you do not need to utilize that extra day off, any other February week will be significantly less crowded.
• February 22-24 is the weekend of the Princess Half Marathon, which is a very popular event. As this weekend also bookends the weekend of President’s Day, higher than average crowds are expected through the weekend. Much of the crowd disperses following the race, so wait times will lower significantly starting on Sunday.

As a reminder, here’s how to interpret the crowd calendar:

• Crowds are rated on a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 indicating the highest crowds.
• The crowd rating is based on attraction wait times, not the number of people in any given park.
• Ratings are generally comparable with previous years, so if you visited Disney World in 2010 on an “8” day you can expect an “8” day in 2013 to be similarly crowded.
• Ratings are not comparable from park to park. A “6” at the Magic Kingdom is not necessarily comparable to a “6” at the Animal Kingdom. Why? The Animal Kingdom has fewer rides and shows than the Magic Kingdom, handling different numbers of people per hour. The number of people that make the Magic Kingdom a ‘6’ would overwhelm the Animal Kingdom’s rides.
• Some rides, such as Soarin’ and Peter Pan’s Flight will still have a wait of around 60 and 30 minutes, respectively, even on the crowd calendar’s “1”-rated days. A “1” simply means that it is one of the least busy days, relative to all other days.

If you are fortunate enough to be traveling on a day with low crowds…enjoy! If you find yourself going on a day that has a higher crowd rating…you have no worries, either! Why, you ask? As a TouringPlans.com subscriber you have access to thousands of Touring Plans (which are now optimizable) and our Lines mobile application which will guide you through the parks and keep you from waiting in long lines. Arriving at park opening and following a Touring Plan is the best way to totally negate the crowds.

Hopefully this shed some light on our Crowd Calendar ratings. Feel free to ask questions!

Thanks!