February 2024 at Disney World: Crowd Calendar & Info
This guide to February 2024 at Walt Disney World includes a free crowd calendar, weeks to visit & avoid, weather, seasonal events, and new attraction openings & closures. This covers all tips & info you need for Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios is covered here. (Updated January 31, 2024.)
In general, February is a good month to visit Walt Disney World aside from weekends and holidays. The weather is starting to improve, crowds remain low most of the month, hotels are offering discounts and off-season pricing, and it’s a great time to see the parks without seasonal decor. All of this makes February a pretty solid time to visit Walt Disney World.
February has a lot of parallels to January at Walt Disney World. The biggest difference between the two months is that February lacks that holiday hangover–that awkward time in mid-January when you’re “over” Christmas and there isn’t any seasonal entertainment, but the decorations are still oddly up and Christmas music is still playing. Additionally, February has slightly better weather than January.
Before we get going, let’s start with a quick update: we’ve adjusted crowd levels upwards pretty much across the board for February 2024. This follows data from Visit Orlando that hotel bookings for 2024 are outpacing last year by over 5%, and advance airline ticket sales into Orlando are up in the first quarter of 2024 by roughly 10%.
Most importantly–since not everyone flying into Orlando or booking a hotel room visits Walt Disney World–it comes after higher wait times and our anecdotal perceptions of ‘feels like’ crowds thus far in 2024 at Walt Disney World suggest that this trend is playing out at the parks, too. (See our latest on-the-ground crowd report: Winter (Still) Is Not Off-Season at Walt Disney World.)
That’s the bad news. The good news is that February 2024 is still a fantastic time to visit. Even though we’ve raised our forecast for wait times and attendance, it’s still below-average for most of the month. February did not just go from one of the best months to one of the worst. It’s not all or nothing; most dates in February 2024 will be incrementally busier.
Let’s take a look at the other upsides and downsides to visiting Walt Disney World in February…
February WEATHER AT DISNEY WORLD
As noted above, Weather is one of the biggest upsides to February. Based upon historical averages for the month of February, you’re looking at highs in the mid-70s and lows in the mid-50s. Now, this is only around 5 degrees better than January, but I think that makes a big difference. Additionally, based on our visits during both months, it seems like February is a lot less likely to have a freak cold spell with freezing weather.
That’s just anecdotal, but it has been our experience. This isn’t to say it can’t get cold in February, and you should still watch the weather forecast in advance and pack items that might be useful for your trip, but you’re probably less likely to need to bust out that parka.
Really though, if you’re escaping the blizzards of the northern states, even those low temperatures in Florida are going to feel like tropical paradise! Read our Winter Packing Tips for Disney post for more insight on what you might need to be prepared for colder weather in February.
February Special Events at Disney World
In terms of special events, normally there is not much during February. The only major thing is the continuation of the ‘festival season’ over at EPCOT, with our favorite one of the year beginning in January and running through late February. Read our Guide to the EPCOT International Festival of the Arts for more info and tips about this special event.
Then there’s the Princess Half Marathon Weekend, which will occur February 22-25, 2024. There are also a few major events going on at the ESPN Wide World of Sports, all of which will have an impact on the parks–but more importantly, the resorts (see below)–throughout the month.
In terms of general public events, very little happens during February outside of Festival of the Arts. It’s mostly just pin releases, art signings, and other minor merchandise happenings. Nothing around which you’d plan a trip…unless you’re a huge Precious Moments fan. (Hey, we aren’t judging! 😉 )
This lack of events can be a good or bad thing depending upon your perspective. You get to see the parks as the Imagineers originally designed them, without any decorations or overlays “blemishing” things. On the other hand, “blemish” is in the eye of the beholder (hence the air quotes) and a lot of the decorations and seasonal events are fun and a nice change of pace, especially if you’ve visited before and want something new to see or do.
February REFURBISHMENTS & NEW ATTRACTIONS
In terms of other attractions that will be closed during February 2024, check the Walt Disney World Refurbishment Schedule. Just a heads up: that might be a bit deceptive in terms of actual construction work, especially in Epcot.
The construction project that will have the most noticeable impact on the guest experience is the massive reimagining at the front of Epcot. This is much better now that the World Celebration Gardens have opened and there’s a path directly to World Showcase, but there are still a sea of construction walls to navigate around the still-in-progress CommuniCore Hall & Plaza. Based on recent progress, it appears unlikely that this will be done in February 2024.
EPCOT is also home to Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, which is now a couple years old but still incredibly popular. Other even more recent additions to EPCOT include Moana’s Journey of Water (water exploration trail) and Luminous: The Symphony of Us (nighttime spectacular). Both are worth checking out.
Then there’s the biggest addition to Magic Kingdom: TRON Lightcycle Run. This is still the newest major attraction at Walt Disney World, and is less than a year old as of February 2024. See our Virtual Queue Strategy Guide for TRON Lightcycle Run for details, tips & tricks for success, and more (Cosmic Rewind also uses a VQ–apply the same advice to both rides).
Another alternative for Cosmic Rewind or TRON Lightcycle Run is buying line-skipping access via the Individual Lightning Lanes. Those posts explain each option, their pros & cons, and everything else you need to know. Suffice to say, do not just show up expecting to join the standby line–as there isn’t one for either ride.
For an overview of what’s on the horizon, see What’s New & Next at Walt Disney World in 2024 & Beyond.
February 2024 Disney World Crowd Calendar
We’ll begin this free crowd calendar section with the same preface that we offered in January. Wondering why you don’t see a color-coded crowd calendar here? It’s because we don’t really trust them anymore and don’t think you should, either. If we just had a visual crowd calendar graphic here, many of you would only look at that and not read the accompanying explanation that covers what you might actually expect.
Such an approach would do readers a disservice, and we’d strongly caution you against over-reliance on any Walt Disney World crowd calendars. While they can be useful tools, crowd calendars are but one small piece of a much larger puzzle. We no longer choose our own travel dates based upon crowd calendars and we’d encourage you to do the same.
Disney doesn’t release official attendance numbers, so crowd calendars use things like school schedules, airport traffic statistics, hotel pricing & occupancy, and other indicators as proxies for crowds. For years, this approach worked and made crowd calendars reliable. Walt Disney World attendance followed an identifiable pattern that tracked with the aforementioned proxies.
More recently, Disney has become adept and more sophisticated at manipulating both attendance and crowd flow. February attendance is still lower than most other months, but wait times often don’t bear this out. Think of this as the difference between the actual temperature and the “feels like” temperature, but with crowds.
We can still actual crowd and attendance patterns, but not wait times. The latter are what most of you likely care about (the “feels like” crowds), but it’s more difficult to accurately forecast wait times via Walt Disney World crowd calendars.
As a general matter, we want to warn you that winter is not the “sleepy off-season” at Walt Disney World. In Winter Is Not Off-Season at Walt Disney World, we explain how January and February crowds have grown since ~2017. There were a couple years when this wasn’t as bad, but those were the exceptions rather than the rule. Winter 2024 is proving to be a return to normal, and definitely not the off-season.
There are a variety of times crowds spike during the first two months of the year. Everything from runDisney events to under the radar holiday weekends to school breaks push attendance and wait times even higher. With all of that in mind, here are our crowd calendar predictions for the best and worst weeks at Walt Disney World in February 2024…
Regardless of overarching crowd trends, the busiest dates in February 2024 will end up being President’s Day week. For most people, President’s Day isn’t a weeklong holiday, but in terms of crowds at Walt Disney World, it absolutely is. A lot of people visit for the long weekend, with some staying the rest of the week.
Suffice to say, this will be the busiest week of the first quarter and could be one of the 10 worst weeks of 2024. Not quite up there with Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, or the peak of spring break, but still worse than any other week in January or February 2024. See Worst Week of Winter is Coming at Walt Disney World (from last year) or Avoid Ski Week at Disney in 2024 for further insight into how and why crowds spike to the surprise of many guests.
If you’re wondering why dates in February, of all months, would be so busy, it comes down to the aforementioned President’s Day holiday. On top of that, Mardi Gras is February 13, 2024. This will result in an influx of visitors from Louisiana and other areas of the South. Not only that, but it’s a break for many schools in the Northeast.
To compound matters, the following weekend is Princess Half Marathon Weekend, with official event dates of February 22-25, 2024. Most runners will show up early rather than staying late. There are also two major events–a soccer tournament and gymnastics competition–at the ESPN Wide World of Sports occurring in between. As a result, there’s a roughly two-week stretch in the second half of the month that’ll be varying degrees of bad.
Suffice to say, February 10 to February 25, 2024 should see above-average attendance and high wait times. Expect 7/10 to 10/10 crowd levels for that entire range, with most dates and parks on the higher end of that spectrum.
Within that range of dates, we anticipate the worst crowds being February 16-23, 2024. That’s when the weekly average could be 8/10 or 9/10. (It probably won’t hit 10/10–winter break is busy, but not that busy.)
Mardi Gras shouldn’t be quite as bad as Presidents’ Day, and runDisney events have lately been impacting crowd levels before the weekend races–meaning attendance typically peaks that Friday before decreasing Saturday and Sunday. We’d expect levels closer to 7/10 territory those dates, but keep in mind that “feels like” crowds could be worse–those levels measure posted wait times.
Consequently, we’d recommend avoiding these dates if at all possible. Unlike Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year’s, the popularity of these holidays catch a lot of guests by surprise. (Valentine’s Day, on the other hand, should not be as busy.) The good news is that since most people don’t expect colossal crowds, they don’t prepare for them. Get up early, stay out late and strategize to avoid long lines!
The other good news–or bad news, depending upon your perspective–is that these holidays and events are more staggered in 2024 than the last couple of years. When Presidents’ Day and Mardi Gras coincide, it’s one of the 5 worst weeks at Walt Disney World because the crowds from both breaks are consolidated into a single week, rather than two different weeks. As a result, both of those weeks will be elevated, but not insanely crowded.
In terms of dates that are good to visit in February, we’d recommend February 1-9, 2024 as the best dates to visit. Based on what we’ve seen in the last two years, our expectation is that the first half of February 2024 sees crowd levels in the 4/10 to 7/10 range most dates, with 5/10 being the norm and crowds gradually increasing over the course of the month.
That’s not great as compared to ~5 years ago, but literally no dates this year will compare favorably to then. Walt Disney World attendance has grown by millions of guests per year since then. You should also expect heavier “feels like” crowds at EPCOT due to the growing popularity of Festival of the Arts. That won’t be reflected in wait time data, but it’ll be apparent in terms of congestion while walking around.
Our favorite week on balance would be the first week of February 2024, which also makes the cut on our list of the 10 Best and 10 Worst Weeks to Visit Walt Disney World in 2024 & 2025. (On the good side, obviously.)
You also can’t go wrong with the dates at the very end of the month, either. Just as quickly as crowds spike leading into the worst of winter, so too will they fall fast at the end of the month. The last few days leading into March 2024 should likewise be blissful, a nice mix of low crowds, pleasant weather, and the parks coming into bloom.
With that said, we have heard from readers who are concerned about early February being really busy at Walt Disney World due to the NFL Pro Bowl in Orlando from February 1-4, 2024. That same weekend, there are also the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials. Both of these sporting events take place in Downtown Orlando, which is actually a decent distance from Walt Disney World.
While fairly unprecedented from a crowd calendar perspective, our view is that the Pro Bowl and Olympics Trials will have next-to-no impact on Walt Disney World attendance. The demographics for these events are simply too different, and attendees will likely be spending their time in the city when not at the events.
What we think is possible is that demand for the Pro Bowl spikes hotel and airfare prices enough that it discourages winter weekend warriors who might otherwise plan a quick getaway to Walt Disney World at a time when they’re otherwise fairly popular. Meaning that whatever low percentage of Pro Bowl attendees who do visit Walt Disney World will be offset by the Disney fans who can’t justify the higher cost of visiting that weekend, or even locals who opt for those sporting events over the theme parks that weekend.
Finally, you should be aware of the UDA National Dance Team Championship (February 2-4, 2024), 2024 UCA National High School Cheerleading Championship (February 9-12, 2024), and Disney Presidents Day Soccer Championship (February 17-19, 2024). These were briefly mentioned above, but deserve a bit more discussion since they have a unique dynamic.
In the days prior to the events and during them, you can expect elevated crowd levels to varying degrees in the different parks. There are several events like this at the ESPN Wide World of Sports on long weekends throughout the winter and spring months, which makes sense–the weather is conducive to it this time of year and prohibitive from roughly April through November. These can have a major impact on resort room availability, as there are tons of attendees and they take up huge blocks at the All Stars, Coronado Springs, and a few other hotels. That, in turn, reduces inventory there and pushes other people to different hotels.
Long story short, a lot of hotels can sell out completely, causing planners to freak out that the parks are going to be chaotic and crowded. Which can be true…sometimes. But there are two things to keep in mind. The first is that the majority of guests in the parks at any given moment always come from off-site. The second is that the youth groups are primarily participating in sporting events at the ESPN Wide World of Sports, not going to the parks. So to some extent, they are occupying rooms and displacing guests who would otherwise visit the parks. (See Why Are Walt Disney World Resorts Sold Out in 2024? for a more thorough explanation.)
To be sure, some of these youth events can increase overall crowd levels in the parks. The bigger ones especially can have a material impact on the parks, especially if you visit the same park as their entire (or large portions of) their group attends. For the most part, though, it’s more localized. Meaning that if you have the misfortune of getting in line for Haunted Mansion behind a huge group of cheerleaders, dancers, flag football players, etc., it can spike both the wait time for that particular attraction and feel unpleasant for various reasons (the same reason you probably wouldn’t want to be around hundreds of under-supervised pre-pubescent kids anywhere).
Another complicating factor is that winter is the ‘summer’ vacation season for South America, namely Brazil. In a normal year, you’d encounter large South American tour groups in Walt Disney World. These tour groups typically don’t have a significant impact on crowd calendars, but could impact on the “feels like” crowds if you encounter them frequently.
However, we have not noticed these groups to nearly the same degree in the last couple of years as we did in 2019 and earlier. This is not to say that you won’t encounter them at all–you absolutely will. You just probably won’t encounter them in the same numbers as before, when they meaningfully increased crowd levels. It’s a similar story as with the youth groups–sometimes they still can have an overall impact, but it’s mostly just if you get unlucky and are around them or behind them in line a lot.
It’s likely that international visitation numbers will rebound to some degree throughout the years to come. The extent to which that occurs really depends on whether the dollar weakens, and when that happens (thus far, it has not occurred). At present, international visitors are facing higher costs due to conversion rates–and that’s on top of all Walt Disney World’s price increases over the last three years.
February PRICING & DISCOUNTS
Another upside to a February Walt Disney World vacation is prices. This is typically the Cheapest Time of Year to Visit Walt Disney World when looking exclusively at resort rack rates and admission costs. On top of that, there are currently some great deals available for Annual Passholders, Florida residents, and even the general public. See All Current Walt Disney World Discounts for specifics.
Again, President’s Day week is an exception to the seasonal rates, as hotel prices spike for that week, too. In case it’s not already abundantly clear, unless you’re getting time off for President’s Day or Mardi Gras, you really should avoid that week. If you’re booking a February stay at a Disney resort-hotel, you can decide for yourself which hotel might be best by reading our Walt Disney World Hotel Reviews.
Overall, we have had some really great experiences at Walt Disney World in February. Low to moderate crowds for most of the month, temperate weather, the parks looking good, and cheaper prices all make it a winner in our book. February (again, minus the confluence of Presidents’ Day, Mardi Gras, and the runDisney race) feels like the early year sweet spot between the holiday hangover of January and the Spring Break season of March.
Think of early February as this time of year’s September (another of our favorite times to visit for similar reasons), except without quite as much humidity. Unlike September, there is a huge second half spike in February crowds, but the first half of the month–and final few days–should be fantastic. While we prefer the beginning of the month, February 2024 will be great at the very end of the month overlapping with the beginning of March, when the weather starts to improve and crowds remain low.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
Your Thoughts
Do you like Walt Disney World in February, or do you think it’s a dull month to visit? Do you like seeing the parks in their “normal” state, or would you rather have a special/seasonal event? Are you a fan of EPCOT’s Festival of the Arts? Ever experienced President’s Day crowds? Hearing from you is half the fun, so please share your thoughts on these questions, or anything else, in the comments!
Hi Tom, thanks for all the information. Unless I’ve missed it, I can’t find anything on refurbishments. Would you happen to know if there are generally a lot of closures during the second half of February?
I would suggest checking the ESPN events page if you’re planning to go in February – if it’s during the cheer competition, you may want to stay away from the all star resorts and Caribbean beach. The cheerleaders stay there and they practice – a lot! So noise level may be an issue. But if you have a little aspiring cheerleader, it could be a fun event for her to watch.
Since we’ll be booking our trip (February 1-6) soon, I was trying to figure out what resorts to avoid due to the possible noise levels from the competition crowd. One of the search results that popped up on Google was the package for the dance competition and the FAQ mentioned that they won’t be staying at Caribbean Beach (2018 only) due to the ongoing renovations. Just thought I’d share in case people were avoiding Caribbean Beach for this reason only.
With the half marathon going on are all the parks busy during that time or is it mostly Epcot where the marathon is? I’m going down to Florida the 23-28 and was hoping to make a 1 day trip to one of the Disney parks.
This was wonderful information! Very informative. Thank you!
My family is going during the Mardi Gras holidays 4/24-4/28/17. This will be our kids first visit, can you tell me if the water rides, like splash mountain, are usually open during those times?
We will be going the Wednesday Feb 15,2017 before MLK day and leaving on that Monday. I think the Wednesday and Thursday should be ok, but the weekend I’m not so sure about. Any trouble you think with the Studios on Wednesday and Epcot on Friday?
I love the idea of cooler weather and fewer people in February …. But what about ride closures? Is that a concern for Feb, or mainly January? Thanks!
We will be there February 16-22, for the disney princess half-marathon. Its our first trip to the magic kingdom. Is it busier the week before or after the half marathon?
I’m going February 12-15 for Valentine’s Day weekend. Do you think the crowds will be too bad?
We are making our first (and likely only for a long time) trip to Disney World with the kids (4 and 8 when we go) in early Feb/2016. We’re anxious, but also excited about it, and your blog has been really really helpful. We are staying at the Wilderness Lodge (through a DVC member) and from what we’ve read we will probably forgo the dining plan and park hopper and use that money for some extra eating surprises for the kids.
Planning a trip for 2016 to cover the end of Feb and beginning of March, am hoping it won’t be too busy, and that we can catch the start of the Flower and Garden stuff at Epcot. Does anyone have any experience with when in February they start setting up for Flower and Garden? I realise stuff probably wob”t be open (kiosks, butterfly house etc.) but would love to get a look at the displays and topiaries… Thanks!
we go the last week in february/first week in march every year and it’s been perfect for weather and crowds. The flower and garden festival at epcot starts the first wednesday in march and is awesome!
My wife & I were there for a split Universal/Disney World trip from 1/31 through 2/7. We ran into the cheerleader groups mostly at the end of the week, Friday and Saturday- at Magic Kingdom. At the other parks, crowds were minimal, with very little ride wait times and no huge crowds.
The Universal stay was made interesting due to the Harry Potter Celebration from 1/30-2/1. Crowds there were a bit heavier than expected, but by Monday they had mostly cleared out.
We did get to witness the Hat being removed from the Studios plaza, I got some neat photos of the Chinese Theater peeking out from behind the deconstruction.
Construction was all over the place at Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom’s hub- but growth is good, and you can’t complain too hard about that. What I will complain about is the obnoxiously omnipresent construction crane behind Cinderella Castle. I’m still not sure why it was there- should it take SIX WEEKS to remove the Christmas lights from the castle? And from what I’ve seen in current photos- IT’S STILL THERE a month later!
I had to be very creative in my photo angles of the castle this trip. Hopefully, they’ll be done with whatever it is they’re doing by our next trip. (whenever that will be)
I spend now two different vacations during the Halfmarathon and think compared to September/October (where we travel usually) it was extremely busy! Especially around the Marathon. Before and after 🙂 and it was very cold this time. Like we said, Disney does everything to get it right, so the 5k Frozen was really very Frozen 😮
So for me, February is not anymore a slow or moderate Month 🙂
Just returned from a quick trip to Disney/Universal (Universal Feb.7, Disney Feb 8-9). Disney was quite busy (for February) – there was this national cheerleading competition that I had NO idea about the whole weekend! TONS of teens and groups there, which was unexpected. We spoke to a few people in the park who said they came the exact same weekend in February 2014, and there were no crowds. But, a day in Disney is still better than a day up in snowy Toronto!
We were there last year in late February for one night before a cruise, and we also ran into that cheerleading group. They stayed at All Star Sports where we were staying–it was truly awful. I didn’t realize it was a *huge* event; maybe I should update the guide to make reference to it.
Presidents Day week requires a good Touring Plan. We’ve done it once with good success but the parks got busy as mid-morning rolled around. Rope Drop is a must. This year (next week!) should be nuts. Presidents Day Week (it is a full holiday week for all Massachusetts public schools) converging with Mardi Gras is a recipe for a cacophony of Boston accents and Who Dats. I suspect this year the Patriots hats may outnumber the Saints hats.
Didn’t know about it being a full week off for Mass schools. Thanks for the heads up on that!
For future reference, for Massachusetts public schools, Presidents Day week is always February school vacation week and Patriots Day week (a Massachusetts holiday that always falls on a Monday and is the day the Boston Marathon is run) is always the week of April school vacation. Mass. isn’t a huge state but that’s a whole bunch of school districts who all at once have the opportunity to fly somewhere warm!
Thanks for the heads up. Patriots Day Week…talk about an awesome holiday! 🙂
Its the same for Rhode Island and most of Connecticut
New York State also has February break the week of President’s day!
I’m going to Disney World with my wife and 2 year old daughter for the first time February 17th – 22nd. Our plan of attack is:
February 18th – Epcot
February 19th – Magic Kingdom
February 20th – Animal Kingdom
February 21st – Hollywood Studios
How do you think crowds will be? Any tips for first timers with a 2(almost 3) year old.
This site has been a tremendous help in planning. From Fast pass to food to must dos. I could read articles here all day.
Between this site amd the Disney App, It’s an OCD persons dream.
Thank you.
If you want to fulfill your OCD needs, get the Lines app.
You should expect pretty heavy crowds. WDW seems to have all but acknowledged this by extending park hours during your week. Have a good touring plan and get to the parks well before park open.
You’re going to have a ball!
I am going for the Pincess Half Marathon! It’s my 1st half marathon and my first WDW February visit. Since we are only staying on property for 1 night, we did not get park tix this time. However, we will be catching the Luau dinner show @Poly the night before the race & Ohana breakfast after the race. Then walking around Downtown Disney before heading home. Hope the weather will be good for running!
We are here now and have already booked the same week next year! Your post on winter packing was very helpful and kept everyone warm. Thank you! 🙂
Glad that post helped. If you’re there now, you need to get off this blog and enjoy your trip! 😉
great to see this right before our trip next week! We have not been in February before, do you think we will be ok Tuesday the 10th – Friday 13th, and leaving saturday morning? seems like it gets crazy saturday on..
thanks for the great post!
I think you’ll likely see slightly higher crowds on Friday than Thursday, but yeah, you should be fine.
Great advice…we went last year on the Sunday of the Princess Half Marathon. Sort of crazy people! They stayed through Monday, making crowd levels a little too much for us. By Tues was fine. Going again in a few weeks at the same time. (Disney Villas kind of lock you in to Sunday as arrival day if you want the rest of the week…otherwise we would have skipped Sunday/Monday.)
You are right about the weather. It was all over the place with a very warm day, 2 cold windy ones, and several perfect ones. Packing warm scarves for wrapping head and face helped on those cold days. Even with the cold potential, it’s so nice to see Disney greenery and flowers at this time of year.
The thing about the runDisney crowds versus other events, at least in my opinion, is that they are generally more respectful. I know that doesn’t make a difference when the increased crowds make the wait times spike a bit, but in navigating the parks, they aren’t nearly as bad as loud cheerleaders or tour groups of teens. At least, in my opinion.
True! I guess we have avoided those groups since, oh, about 1998. Once was enough!