One of many busiest weeks of the yr will quickly arrive at Disney, to the shock of many vacationers who’ve by no means even heard of “ski week” and count on winter to be low season within the parks. This submit covers dates to keep away from, why it’ll be so busy, what the heck ski week even is and who’s celebrating this vacation.
Let’s begin with the excellent news. Statistically talking, January and February include a few of the slowest weeks of the yr at each Walt Disney World and Disneyland. That is significantly pronounced in California, the place the 4-5 week window between mid-January and mid-February has been among the many slowest stretches of the yr for every of the previous 2 years.
The unhealthy information is that longtime followers anticipating low attendance ranges throughout the board throughout January or February are setting themselves up for disappointment. These two months will not be what they have been a decade in the past, when the ‘sleepy low season’ began after Christmas and continued till spring break. In Winter Is Not Off-Season at Walt Disney World, we clarify how January and February crowds have grown since ~2017, and what’s the brand new regular for this time of yr.
February 14, 2025 Replace: After a magnificently malevolent Villaintine’s Day, it’s now Valentine’s Day. Or, because it’s identified in some circles, the beginning of Ski Week. No, I’m not simply making up random new holidays (as can be my proper). Ski Week is a factor, and it begins right now.
We’ve already coated what to anticipate throughout this yr’s break in Excessive Crowds & Wait Instances Warning: Worst Week of Winter 2025 Coming to Walt Disney World! Nevertheless, we additionally wished to revisit the subject as a result of we’ve heard from a handful of readers confused concerning the time period “Ski Week.”
I’m going to be completely sincere with you–I hadn’t even heard of this till final yr. You understand how there are some belongings you by no means hear about, however when you do, you begin listening to about them over and over? To the purpose that you just surprise, how did I’m going so a few years of my life with out ever listening to about this earlier than?!
Anyway, that’s the story of me and Ski Week. It’s a kind of issues to which I used to be completely oblivious for ages, and now I hear about it on a regular basis. (I wish to joke to Sarah one of these factor is proof there’s a glitch in The Simulation. Talking of which, ask Sarah how a lot she loves to listen to me discuss The Simulation!)
For these of you who haven’t heard about Ski Week, it’s just about what the identify suggests: per week when folks going snowboarding. Extra particularly, it’s per week when numerous faculties are out of session for a break that’s primarily used to going snowboarding.
It’s our understanding that Ski Week is a West Coast factor, which is smart given that the majority of America’s vacation spot ski resorts are out west. Suffice to say, there most likely aren’t numerous faculties in Alabama which are celebrating Ski Week. Clearly, college students will not be required to go snowboarding throughout this time–even the seaside celebrates Ski Week!
This coming winter, faculty districts that supply Ski Week will likely be on recess February 17-21, 2025.
I received’t fake to be a sudden authority on Ski Week, however what we’ve heard from buddies is that Ski Week began as a protracted weekend for Presidents’ Day and have become “a factor” as a result of so many households have been pulling their children out of faculty for your complete week that districts adjusted accordingly and began giving your complete week off.
Once more, I’ve no clue if this origin story is true, but it surely actually checks out in reviewing faculty district calendars. A 1998 story from the San Francisco Chronicle, referring to the time as “hooky week,” would appear to corroborate.
In line with that article, the pattern began in Marin County’s 19 faculty districts about 20 years in the past (from 1998) and elevated to not less than 33 of 154 Bay Space faculty districts giving college students a nine-day vacation (once more, as of 1998). Since then, it’s reportedly turn into extra frequent and unfold past California’s Bay Space.
It’s additionally my understanding that “Ski Week” is the colloquial or legacy identify for this break. That the dad and mom name it Ski Week as a result of that’s what it was once they have been children and that’s the aim of the break, however the faculty districts themselves sometimes confer with it as Mid-Winter Break.
A full week of Mid-Winter Break is certainly a factor outdoors of the West Coast. In previous analysis for crowd calendars, I’ve discovered a number of main districts within the Northeast and some within the higher Midwest that additionally provide this. I can’t discover any connection to these weeks and snowboarding, however the consequence is similar.
In researching Ski Week, I stumbled upon a number of articles arguing that the time period is “elitist,” together with that aforementioned article from 1998 within the San Francisco Chronicle. If one thing was controversial 25 years in the past, you higher consider it’s solely gotten extra contentious! (I may have wasted a number of hours happening a web-based rabbit gap studying about Ski Week in newspaper archives. It actually captured my curiosity, for some cause.)
The time period Ski Week being one thing of a relic of the previous would additionally assist clarify why I’m simply beginning to hear about it. For one factor, I’ve but to discover a single faculty district calendar that really lists it as Ski Week. Even on the West Coast, each district that has the total week off calls it Mid-Winter Break/Recess or Presidents’ Break/Recess.
For one more factor, though I’ve reviewed faculty district calendars from Northern and Southern California for years, I’ve centered on the most important public faculties. If all of those articles are to be believed, these will not be those which have Ski Week off. It’s the smaller and extra prosperous or personal faculties that do.
Lastly, our circumstances at the moment are totally different as we’ve turn into dad and mom and began doing mum or dad issues. Particularly, we’re speaking to much more folks. (I suppose that’s how this works? Abruptly I’m going to be in a bunch of mum or dad teams and turn into friends-by-default with the opposite dads? Right here’s hoping they like soccer.) So maybe it’s much less a glitch in The Simulation and extra a blind spot/data hole.
Towards that backdrop, you’ll be able to most likely surmise that Ski Week has extra of an outsized influence on Disneyland than it does Walt Disney World. At the very least, that’s our guess. Ski Week is primarily a West Coast break, and disproportionately a California factor. That doesn’t imply it doesn’t have a big influence on Walt Disney World, although.
For the final two years, crowd ranges have truly been greater at Walt Disney World than Disneyland throughout Ski Week. Nevertheless, that is virtually actually a matter of correlation somewhat than causation. As intimated above, Presidents’ Day falls throughout Ski Week. It’s typically the case that Mardi Gras falls across the week of Presidents’ Day.
As Walt Disney World followers undoubtedly know, Mardi Gras is a giant deal for varsity districts within the Southeast. On our extremely scientific scale of LSU and Saints shirts noticed within the parks, mainly half the state of Louisiana visits Walt Disney World that week. Mardi Gras is mainly Ski Week for jesters!
Not solely that, however the Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend normally encompasses the weekend after Presidents’ Day. It is a fashionable runDisney occasion that folks journey to attend. On prime of that, there are normally a few main youth sporting tournaments on the ESPN Extensive World of Sports activities round Presidents’ Day.
This implies there are two fashionable lengthy weekends for Walt Disney World guests back-to-back plus the week of Mardi Gras, all on prime of each other. We’ve written concerning the crowds round this time of yr at Walt Disney World on a number of events, and for years we’ve warned about each that and Presidents’ Day in our February Crowd Calendar for Walt Disney World. Actually the one factor new right here is the Ski Week angle.
It’s additionally unimaginable to evaluate the influence of Ski Week on Walt Disney World as a result of you’ll be able to’t separate it out from all the things else on that checklist. It’s little question contributing to crowds. That is very true in an period when limitations to journey are decrease and the Disney fandom is growing bicoastal. (There’s a cause Breeze Airways presents nonstop Orange County to Orange County flights!)
There’s additionally the sensible actuality that not everybody likes to ski, and that California is colder than Florida within the winter–making Walt Disney World a pleasant reprieve from the climate. Anecdotally, we all know Californians who will likely be visiting Walt Disney World for his or her not-so-Ski Week.
However, it’s a close to certainty that Ski Week has an even bigger influence on Disneyland. Though the general crowd degree has been decrease within the California parks that week throughout the previous few years, there additionally aren’t the opposite contributing elements. Mardi Gras isn’t actually a factor in California. There’s runDisney race nor do the parks host youth sporting occasions. It’s just about simply Presidents’ Day and Ski Week that trigger greater crowd ranges at Disneyland.
With that mentioned, there are different elements that may additional exacerbate the Ski Week crowds at Disneyland. The primary is Magic Key blockouts, or lack thereof. There isn’t a single tier of Annual Go that’s blocked out your complete week. Solely the bottom tier is blocked out on Presidents’ Day and the next Friday. The subsequent highest tier has extra blockouts the weekends earlier than and after. The Consider Secret is solely blocked out February 17, and the Think about Secret is legitimate for all dates.
To make issues worse, reductions will not be blocked out for these journey dates. This isn’t actually such a giant deal for room reductions, as there are solely three on-site inns at Disneyland and really restricted room stock on the offers, particularly as in comparison with Anaheim as an entire. I’d hazard a guess that lodge reductions have zero influence on crowd ranges at Disneyland.
It’s a completely totally different story with ticket offers, although. Throughout that timeframe, there’s each the Southern California Resident Disneyland Ticket Deal and a particular provide on theme park tickets for youths. There’s one model of the SoCal ticket that’s solely legitimate Mondays by Thursdays, however except for that, there’s no extra blockout throughout Ski Week for both of those reductions.
Finally, we’re placing Ski Week on the radar of Disney followers as one more reason why February 14-23, 2025 and February 13-22, 2026 will likely be very busy at each Walt Disney World and Disneyland. This shouldn’t be as essential for Florida followers, as these dates already made our checklist of the Finest & Worst Weeks to Go to Walt Disney World in 2025 & 2026 (on the ‘worst’ aspect of the ledger) and we’ve been warning of crowds round this timeframe for years.
Nevertheless, we haven’t prolonged that warning for Disneyland to almost the identical diploma, past declaring that Presidents’ Day is a vacation weekend. (See our checklist of the Finest & Worst Weeks to Go to Disneyland & Disney California Journey in 2025 & 2026.) What we’ve discovered up to now is that crowds in the course of the center of the winter “low season” have caught even longtime Disney followers without warning, so we figured you can use all of the warning you can get.
Not many individuals have Presidents’ Break day work, so except you’ve children who’ve a faculty recess, it won’t register as a vacation that might meaningfully influence attendance. It’s not precisely like Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Yr’s Eve–weeks that everybody (or so it appears) has off. It’s a kind of decrease profile holidays that doesn’t appeal to numerous consideration, however nonetheless has an outsized influence on crowds–lots like Veterans Day in November.
The diploma to which a few states or a area having a faculty break can influence crowd ranges is definitely fairly important. As talked about above, Mardi Gras is a major instance of this–a well-liked journey interval for the Southeast that has a huge impact on crowds. (That is most evident when separated from Presidents’ Day, as it is going to be this yr.)
The identical factor occurs with Jersey Week, which is a giant break for New Jersey faculties that has a surprisingly important influence on crowd ranges at Walt Disney World. For those who don’t dwell within the areas the place these breaks are frequent, they’re comprehensible blind spots. Provided that and the fascinating (I feel) background about Ski Week, I assumed this was price highlighting.
The open query is simply how unhealthy February 14-23, 2025 will find yourself being at each Walt Disney World and Disneyland (if in any respect potential, you may additionally need to keep away from February 24, as Mondays are all the time the busiest day of the week on each coasts–but it surely’s not a part of this break). This previous yr, the Florida parks have been 9/10 for the week as an entire and California parks have been 8/10 for the week. In each instances, that was earlier than pent-up demand actually began exhausting itself.
For 2025, we’d count on decrease wait occasions year-over-year at each Walt Disney World and Disneyland because of “revenge journey” burning out. Within the case of each, there’s additionally to be folks suspending journeys for varied causes. In California, that’ll be because of Disneyland’s seventieth Anniversary. In Florida, it’ll be Common’s Epic Universe opening. Each of these happen in Might 2025, which means numerous households will drop winter and spring break journeys in favor of summer time trip. Extra households may decide to really go snowboarding as a substitute of taking theme park journeys.
Accordingly, Ski Week crowds within the 6/10 to eight/10 vary are extra seemingly, which isn’t horrible relative to actual peak weeks. Nevertheless, as contrasted with the remainder of the winter “low season” it’s fairly the leap. Suffice to say, we suggest planning your January and February visits accordingly to keep away from the “shock” spike in attendance. If it’s too late for that, do what you’ll be able to to place your self to beat the potential crowds!
Planning a Southern California trip? For park admission offers, learn Suggestions for Saving Cash on Disneyland Tickets. Find out about on-site and off-site inns in our Anaheim Lodge Opinions & Rankings. For the place to eat, take a look at our Disneyland Restaurant Opinions. For distinctive concepts of issues that’ll enhance your journey, take a look at What to Pack for Disney. For complete recommendation, seek the advice of our Disneyland Trip Planning Information. Lastly, for guides past Disney, take a look at our Southern California Itineraries for day journeys to Los Angeles, Laguna Seaside, and plenty of different SoCal cities!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Are you in class district that has Ski Week off? Is it truly referred to as Ski Week on the calendar, or is it known as Mid-Winter Break/Recess? Have you ever visited the parks throughout this week up to now? Any parks, occasions of day, or days of the week noticeably worse than the others? Do you agree or disagree with our evaluation? Any questions we might help you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even while you disagree with us–is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas under within the feedback!
