19 responses

  1. Alli
    September 28, 2017

    I have seen elsewhere that the first Sat and Sun of Feb might be more crowded because of a dance competition? Can you give me your thoughts on this? Thanks so much! Appreciate all of your information on your site.

    Reply

    • Dave
      September 28, 2017

      Alli, this is a common myth. The pragmatics are that on average day there’s 150,000 people in the four Disney parks. An extra 10,000 (or 20,000) people, spread across a. their actual competition-related activities, b. the four parks, c. the minor parks d. off-days at their hotels and e. Universal, Sea World and Legoland etc., just simply don’t make much difference.

      Reply

  2. Jason
    January 25, 2017

    Hi Dave my wife and I planned to take our 3 & 6 yr old daughters to Disney well over a yr ago and our trip falls Jan 25th- Feb 2nd. Pro bowl was not on our radar nor the agents whom helped us plan this. My question to you is with our girls being young should we go about our vacation as planned and hope for reasonable crowds or should we devise new plans based on avoiding pro bowl events/crowds? Any advice would be much appreciated as this is our family’s first trip to the park (for all of us). Thanks!

    Reply

    • Dave
      January 25, 2017

      Jason, you’ll want to avoid Main Street in MK mid-afternoon Friday (the pro bowl parade is at 2.30p) but otherwise I think you will be fine.

      Reply

  3. Carrie
    January 5, 2017

    Hi Dave,
    I will be visiting the Disney parks 1/29 through 2/2, hoping not to be affected by the Pro Bowl. I am planning on MK on 1/31 but just saw there is Early Morning Magic that day. Will that raise the crowd level? Thank you.

    Reply

    • Dave
      January 6, 2017

      Carrie, the high cost and small number of rides means few attend these, so they have no impact on crowds.

      Reply

  4. Kelly B – Agent with Destinations in Florida
    November 4, 2016

    Hi Carolyn – Remember that a monorail resort is only going to get you to MK. You’ll need to change to the Epcot Monorail, or take a bus to each of the other parks. If you think about changing, you might want to look at some of the Epcot resorts. (Usually lower prices than monorail resorts). Plus you can take the boat (or walk) to Epcot or Hollywood Studios. It really depends where you’ll spend most of your time.

    Reply

  5. Carolyn
    November 3, 2016

    Hi Dave, love your site and have sent many others to it! We have booked at PO Riverside during Pro Bowl (did not know about it at time of booking). The issue is getting around at that time. Considering changing to a monorail hotel-what is your opinion?

    Reply

    • Dave
      November 7, 2016

      Carolyn, the Pro Bowl traffic should be centered on Victory Way and Osceola Parkway, and secondarily on Buena Vista. From Riverside, if driving, follow the signs to the theme parks and you’ll avoid all these except perhaps a bit of Buena Vista for HS.

      As Kelly noted, you won’t be any better off at a monorail resort.

      Reply

  6. Old Key Jeff
    October 26, 2016

    Hello Dave,

    We will be at WDW 1/26-1/30 for a quick getaway from the cold northeast. Is the date for the pro bowl parade at MK confirmed yet? We want to avoid it.

    Thanks,
    Old Key Jeff :-

    Reply

    • Dave
      October 26, 2016

      Hey Jeff, no word yet.

      Reply

  7. Rae Gene Greenough
    August 1, 2016

    I know this seems far away, but I am planning a 21st birthday party in February 2018. There will be 2, over 21 adults and 4, 20-21 year olds. What do you think is the best place to stay. I think we will go the last week of February and stay a Sunday-Saturday.

    Reply

    • Dave
      August 2, 2016

      Rae, are you looking to fit everyone into one space? And budget matters–4 person rooms range from around $125 to over $800/night

      Reply

  8. Emily
    July 27, 2016

    Hi Dave- First of all, I love your site. I have used it to plan all of our family Disney vacations – three and counting!
    For our upcoming trip, we booked January 25-29, mainly because of the low crowds. Like everyone else, I am now hearing about the Pro Bowl and freaking out. Changing our dates would be very difficult to do.
    I know there’s really no way to know beforehand, but how do you think the pro bowl crowds will compare to marathon crowds? We’ve been during the marathon before and thought it was fine.
    How bad do you think it will be?
    Thanks!

    Reply

    • Dave
      July 28, 2016

      Emily, I suspect more of an impact than the marathon, which has little impact on the parks, but rather mostly affects the roads.

      Reply

  9. Lara
    July 5, 2016

    About Mardi Gras, we went in the week befoe Valentines Day and it was like the whole state of New Orleans came up for a visit. I spoke with some of these visitors and they said that they get 4 days off for this holiday and leave to escape the crowds in New Orleans. Plus there was a Cheer competition that week.

    Reply

    • Dave
      July 6, 2016

      Lara, visitors from Louisiana make up less than 3% of WDW visitors. So they just don’t make a difference, which is why no one that measures crowds has ever been able to show a material uptick from Mardi Gras. Cheer competitions happen all the time, with the same results.

      Reply

  10. LR
    July 1, 2016

    I’ve noticed that crowds seem to be down year over year. I’m thinking that with the severe economic downturn in South America, especially Brazil, that winter tour group attendance will be even lower. What I’m hoping it’s that whatever effect the probowl has, it will only be to bring crowds to where they have been in 2015 or 2014, and not too much higher. Of course, I’ll be there last week in jan/first in Feb so I’m making things up to suit myself

    Reply

    • Dave
      July 3, 2016

      LR, there’s been just one quarter of crowds down year over year, so I would hold my optimism for a bit. That said, I don;t see SA coming out of its funk soon, and that should reduce the quantity of visitors from there in January…

      Reply

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