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!
I’m feeling like a total fool. We are going January 17th through Jan 23rd. I had no idea MLK day was the Monday we were there. It’s this typically busier than Christmas week?
It will be busy but not even CLOSE to the crowds that you would normally experience when the Disney Sporting events bring 15-20% more traffic to the parks. Not to mention that there is this virus going around that will discourage a few people! You and your family should enjoy your vacation but do expect at least 30 minute waits for the marquee attractions at all the parks. Without fast passes you must be patient on the rides but getting through the parks should be pleasurable and the weather should be ideal. Enjoy!
You are absolutely right about Mardi Gras 2021- we still don’t have school that week and there is absolutely NOTHING for people to do since Mardi Gras is cancelled/all the parades and events are cancelled- everyone from New Orleans with kids will be in Disney. Not us- we would never go Presidents’ Day week it’s going to be slammed!
Any ideas on when they will begin selling annual passes again? I know they are allowing some to renew who expired after the pandemic, but ours expired October 2019 and our scheduled trip to buy new ones in April 2020 was cancelled. My whole family is missing our Disney trips but I keep waiting in hopes they will begin those annual pass sales again…
Please add after hours events to this post as I consider them “events” as well.
I will be there with the Girlfriend from the 11th to the 18th of february , well be leaving just after President’s day . we’ll see how it goes and if there is a big difference from one week to the other.
Does Magic Kingdon (or any of the parks) do anything special on Valentine’s Day?
This is one of the worst experiences ever. Space mountain just closed down after waiting 2 and a half hours and $750.00. Robbers without a gun.
2/18/20 and it is ridiculous at the Magic Kingdom. It almost resembles xmas time.
This link mentioned a crowd calendar, and forgive me if I missed it, but I didn’t see one in this…
From the article:
“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.”
Heading down for a quick trip Feb. 10 thru 13, just for Festival of the Arts. Well that and a break from the nasty West Michigan winter. Can’t wait!!!
Mardi Gras in 2020 is Tuesday, February 25th. Many people from the New Orleans/South Louisiana region will take advantage of schools being closed that week to vacation at WDW. This isn’t really that much of an additional burden for crowds, but it will explain the propensity to see purple, green and gold being worn that week. Expect people to start arriving Friday, with the bulk of the arrivals being Saturday and Sunday, with most clearing out by Saturday. I’ve known people who do this in a variety of ways: Fly out Friday evening before Mardi Gras and fly home the Sunday after, drive/fly over Saturday then drive/fly home Wednesday, people who arrive on Monday, even people who spend Mardi Gras morning and afternoon in New Orleans and fly in Tuesday evening.
In trying to score Disney hotel reservations in February, some of the pricing is astronomical. Very few options for moderate resorts and no value resort options. Hard to believe so much is booked!
We always go in February and made the mistake of going when it was Mardi Gras and Marathon Weekend. It seemed like EVERYONE from Louisiana came to Disney World because we enjoyed talking to everyone with their purple, green, and gold colors on LOL. We don’t make that mistake anymore and always look at the calendar to make sure 2 different crowds do not fall on the same week.
Well, with the increasing number of Russian visitors, I am hoping that Disney parks will in the future prolong their Christmas season to include at least the 7.of January as its Christmas as well (for hundreds of millions of people). At DLP they already had some soecial offerings. That would also allow others to still enjoy the Christmassy feeling during a quieter time.
We enjoy going the first week of February to get a break from the harsh New Hampshire winter. However, there’s always hundreds of cheerleaders at the parks. They stay in very large groups, and because they are staying on park I suspect they are monopolizing a lot at fastpasses. And some of them loudly “cheer” everywhere they go, which is annoying.
I’ve gone over ‘Presidents Day Break’ (NY calls it February Break) and the crowds seem pretty chill. Going back again this year The longest lines during that time are normally the popular ones; Peter Pan’s Flight has a long line but about 30-45 mins.
Thanks for a very useful post; Understanding the crowd dynamics is so important.
We did a couples only trip feb-march week of 2018 and LOVED it! Weather was creeping up nicely – with warm enough nights to hot tub. Crowds were perfect! The longest waits we had was for food at certain popular QS locations. We even did one day (never gone before and didn’t plan to go back again) at Universal and we completely lucked out that their crowds were SO low, we walked on to everything! Only Hulk had a line and it was no more than 5mins while we waited. Our longest wait there was for Lunch at Three Broomsticks… which was poorly organized causing the slow service. Aside from that – we did the mummy several times in a row and the train had zero wait. So, we are taking the kids back this year end of feb into march again! Can’t wait! (no universal this time)
Hello, I am from Chile and One thing you guys never mentione is that the whole southern hemisphere is on their summer vacation during january and february â€â™€ï¸. So, with so many people travelling from south America and airlines’ deals, no wonder why everytime it is more crowed during this time of the year .
We are going the last week of February 2018 will it be very busy
We were there last week of Feb into March and it was PERFECT! Amazing weather, very low crowds. We loved it so much, we are going back the same week in 2019. We even hit up Universal for one day (feb 28) and every ride was a walk on! we waited for nothing more than 5mins! it was a fluke, I’m sure. But I’ll take those odds again this year!
Did you have the same experience in 2019?
My question exactly. I work in hospitality in Gulf Shores, AL – the kids get off two days for Mardi Gras. I can’t go during any of the other times they have off because those happen to be our peak season at work, so I have to take it when I can get it 🙁 I’m trying to minimize missed school days, but I don’t want it to be so crowded we can’t enjoy ourselves.
I was so excited reading all of this until I read the part that its too late to book with the 30% off room discount 🙁 Any chance it will come back for February (2018)?
When you say President’s day week you mean the week after that day or before it? Cause I’m going on Feb 13th and I’d like to have an idea.
Schools have winter break the week starting on President’s Day, so I’m assuming Tom is referring to that week. Unfortunately, if you have kids in school and don’t want to take them out of school (or go in the summer), you’re pretty much stuck with President’s week or Easter week!
Hi whats worse….Feb 2018.. im stuck with 12th-16th thats Mardi Gras week…? is that awfully busy or is it just a day thing? id like and additional week..the week before is super bowl, the week after is Presidents day..(is that just a day people have off?)
what is the leat busy of those two events do u think…I have no Idea what either are really.
=)