cygnusx1jg
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Apr 5, 2013
Like Walt Disney World, are there any other known or specified vacation destinations that people from Louisiana go to get out of town for Mardi Gras week? Just wondering.
Why do I torture myself?
- Thread starter DWFamilyof6
- Start date
LSUmiss
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2014
Ppl go all over, but I’d say wdw is the most concentrated area ppl go b/c it’s relatively close & it’s too early in the year for something like the beach. I don’t think it’s b/c ppl are trying to get out of town as much as it’s a free week off of school, most workplaces have off Mardi Gras day so less work missed for adults, & better weather than going to wdw in the summer. We usually leave after the big weekend of parades so we essentially get to enjoy Mardi Gras & then go to wdw b/c we’re off of school & work.
DWFamilyof6
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- May 18, 2016
Everyone I know leaves the weekend before Mardi Gras. Some schools go back on Wednesday and some are out all week.
The New Orleans airport will be pretty busy, so the sooner we get out the better
We are from the Mobile area. Just moved here 6 months ago. I had heard Mardi Gras at Disney was crazy. We only had two options this year for Disney, Mardi Gras break or Spring Break. So we decided to take the kids out of school the Th/F before Mardi Gras week. Plus, we have Mon - Wed off school already. I expected Mardi Gras to be crazy but not 10s. So we'll see....
Still excited and counting down the days! Starting our trip out with DAH at MK, first time for us!
hereforthechurros
Here for the spring rolls too
- Joined
- Dec 26, 2017
Twice during our stay I saw people from Louisiana run into other people they knew unexpectedly. Like how does that happen at WDW? It was madness!
jaysmom4285
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 19, 2002
I just re-read the post, and I think you're right. My mistake.
MonaMN
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 21, 2014
Oh, I am hopeful that many depart on Wednesday! We arrive Monday, so maybe only the first couple days will be crazy?? *crossing fingers*We are from the Mobile area. Just moved here 6 months ago. I had heard Mardi Gras at Disney was crazy. We only had two options this year for Disney, Mardi Gras break or Spring Break. So we decided to take the kids out of school the Th/F before Mardi Gras week. Plus, we have Mon - Wed off school already. I expected Mardi Gras to be crazy but not 10s. So we'll see....
LSUmiss
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2014
Lol! We’ve done that almost every trip we were there for Mardi Gras!
PollyannaMom
I was a click-clack champ!!
- Joined
- May 16, 2006
We're from MA and it's happened to us too! DS had a school friend that used to go the same week, and we randomly ran into them more than once. It made for a cute scrapbook page.
Jetta8300
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2010
We were there during Jersey week 2017, which also fell on veterans day week. If Mardi Gras week is similar then I'd be happy. Because to me it was like a 6-8. (And a 1 on our MK day, we walked on every ride for 6 hours during a Christmas party day) We had no problem doing anything, while other people were complaining of huge crowds. It was no busier to us than our trips in early May and October. Also fastpass availability for our trip/Mardi Gras week is great. Got everything including SDMT and SDD, and all dining reservations I wanted. For all 8 of us. There is still wide open fastpass availability for all of the headliners even a week after our booking window opened. So i'm not sure how it will be. I'm definitely expecting it to be busy but we'll see if it's actually a 10/10.
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LSUmiss
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2014
I was mostly just commenting that Jersey week dates don’t change as much as Mardi Gras. I went during Jersey week in 2011 & it wasn’t too bad. Mardi Gras def more crowded imo. Mardi Gras is 2nd only to nye week in my experience. I don’t know about a 10 b/c I don’t get into crowd calendars b/c I never find them accurate. But, if nye is a 10, I’d say Mardi Gras week is an 8. But, I had better luck nye week with the 4th & on FPs than I did Mardi Gras.
TheFloatingBear
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2016
I'm from MA and usually come in April for spring break (always 3rd Monday of the month). We've randomly run into people from our hometown on at least 4 separate occasions. Last year my son ran into his teacher in the BWI lobby! Poor teacher, that's why she left town!
hereforthechurros
Here for the spring rolls too
- Joined
- Dec 26, 2017
Why is this such a crazy thing to me?!? Haha guess I just don’t know enough people that go to WDW!
OP - Just letting you know I tortured myself after reading your post, even though I only have one day at Disney. We're visiting relatives in both Tampa and Orlando and doing Busch Gardens and SeaWorld too on a short trip that week. I'm a bit anal on trip planning and made extra work for myself, and in the end am just keeping my current plans and am really fine with that. I'll let you know my story, though. You are not alone in second guessing and might be one of only a few people out there who can appreciate this.
I'm there the same week and if anything I am disappointed that I didn't use my own judgement knowing that first week in March was Mardi Gras and pick the week before or week after instead. I first was looking at the third week in March in case anyone in my family was going to take a class for fun at the community college, etc. but as that was a popular spring break week in my city, airfare was out of site and not in my budget for this trip. I then thought of the first week in March, but wasn't so sure because of Mardi Gras, but I looked at airfares that were good, Disney hours and prices were lower than other weeks in March, hotel prices were slightly lower than other weeks in March, and the TP calendar had lower crowd predictions than other March weeks too. I looked at the undercover tourist crowd calendar too and saw lower numbers than other weeks in March. I thought all these were signs better than my own judgement that Mardi Gras wouldn't affect crowds too much this year and thought maybe that was because Mardi Gras was later than usual, so I booked things for this week. This I believe was my mistake, and if I would do it again, I would avoid Mardi Gras.
I'm disappointed that TP didn't anticipate Mardi Gras ahead of time, given that I hear they look at spring break schedules and things like that too. I guess I should maybe instead of being disappointed say wow --at least they went back and did the update after 60 day FP numbers came out. With my MK day now being a 10 (I've done Christmas week five times and really don't care for 10s - I don't go that week anymore.), I looked at changing to a different week. I am flying Southwest so can change without penalty, but I have to pay the fare differences. At this later date, though, cheaper airfares are gone for the week before and after, and I don't want to pay the extra (doesn't seem worth it to try to up my budget that much). I redid my custom plan too with TP and that gave me some comfort, and even on that 10 day it's not that bad with our skipping Peter Pan and 7DMT. I'm anticipating that I'll still be able to get fastpasses at the 30 day mark for three other popular rides. DS 23 and I both took at the updated plan (longer waits predicted than before for sure), but thought it still looked fine.
But did I stop there -- no I didn't (anal trip planning personality). I then asked DS if maybe we should move onsite for EMHs (We were still 60 days before our MK day and our day has evening extra magic hours that we can't participate in). He said let's check what our options would be in our budget. So we looked at Disney onsite options for our date. I looked at the Swan and Dolphin too and all the Disney Springs hotels. The POP and All Star Movies would be options. The POP was the same price as my current hotel, Marriott Residence Inn SeaWorld. All Star movies was cheaper. Art of Animation was not available for my dates, and all moderates, the Swan, and the Dolphin were well above budget. Disney Springs hotels all ended up being above budget with resort fees, etc. but I pulled one to show DS in case we wanted to up the budget for that, as the Hilton had ok reviews and wasn't that far above budget, so I considered this to be on the table. DS looked at photos of all star movie, the POP, and the Disney Springs place. In the end, he thought just stay with our current accommodations that he thought looked better than all of these. The place we are staying was recently remodeled, includes breakfast, has a kitchen, a nicer looking more tropical pool area, and a nice large hot tub area. We get a freebie quick queue at SeaWorld too, but really and truly you don't need that at that park. He thought if we were doing a Disney day each day of our trip instead of just our one day at the MK that it would be tempting to move to the POP for EMH and earlier fastpasses given the busy week. Most of our stuff this trip is non Disney though.
I'm guessing / hoping that a Mardi Gras 10 is not as bad as a Christmas week 10. Christmas week really and truly is crazy/insane. At least DH isn't going. He hates crowds. DS and I both love Disney and can have fun even if it's insane/crazy. But less insane and crazy would sure be nice.
Sorry for the long rant. I figure though there are probably some other Disney loving compulsive planners on this forum who maybe can relate to this.
I'm there the same week and if anything I am disappointed that I didn't use my own judgement knowing that first week in March was Mardi Gras and pick the week before or week after instead. I first was looking at the third week in March in case anyone in my family was going to take a class for fun at the community college, etc. but as that was a popular spring break week in my city, airfare was out of site and not in my budget for this trip. I then thought of the first week in March, but wasn't so sure because of Mardi Gras, but I looked at airfares that were good, Disney hours and prices were lower than other weeks in March, hotel prices were slightly lower than other weeks in March, and the TP calendar had lower crowd predictions than other March weeks too. I looked at the undercover tourist crowd calendar too and saw lower numbers than other weeks in March. I thought all these were signs better than my own judgement that Mardi Gras wouldn't affect crowds too much this year and thought maybe that was because Mardi Gras was later than usual, so I booked things for this week. This I believe was my mistake, and if I would do it again, I would avoid Mardi Gras.
I'm disappointed that TP didn't anticipate Mardi Gras ahead of time, given that I hear they look at spring break schedules and things like that too. I guess I should maybe instead of being disappointed say wow --at least they went back and did the update after 60 day FP numbers came out. With my MK day now being a 10 (I've done Christmas week five times and really don't care for 10s - I don't go that week anymore.), I looked at changing to a different week. I am flying Southwest so can change without penalty, but I have to pay the fare differences. At this later date, though, cheaper airfares are gone for the week before and after, and I don't want to pay the extra (doesn't seem worth it to try to up my budget that much). I redid my custom plan too with TP and that gave me some comfort, and even on that 10 day it's not that bad with our skipping Peter Pan and 7DMT. I'm anticipating that I'll still be able to get fastpasses at the 30 day mark for three other popular rides. DS 23 and I both took at the updated plan (longer waits predicted than before for sure), but thought it still looked fine.
But did I stop there -- no I didn't (anal trip planning personality). I then asked DS if maybe we should move onsite for EMHs (We were still 60 days before our MK day and our day has evening extra magic hours that we can't participate in). He said let's check what our options would be in our budget. So we looked at Disney onsite options for our date. I looked at the Swan and Dolphin too and all the Disney Springs hotels. The POP and All Star Movies would be options. The POP was the same price as my current hotel, Marriott Residence Inn SeaWorld. All Star movies was cheaper. Art of Animation was not available for my dates, and all moderates, the Swan, and the Dolphin were well above budget. Disney Springs hotels all ended up being above budget with resort fees, etc. but I pulled one to show DS in case we wanted to up the budget for that, as the Hilton had ok reviews and wasn't that far above budget, so I considered this to be on the table. DS looked at photos of all star movie, the POP, and the Disney Springs place. In the end, he thought just stay with our current accommodations that he thought looked better than all of these. The place we are staying was recently remodeled, includes breakfast, has a kitchen, a nicer looking more tropical pool area, and a nice large hot tub area. We get a freebie quick queue at SeaWorld too, but really and truly you don't need that at that park. He thought if we were doing a Disney day each day of our trip instead of just our one day at the MK that it would be tempting to move to the POP for EMH and earlier fastpasses given the busy week. Most of our stuff this trip is non Disney though.
I'm guessing / hoping that a Mardi Gras 10 is not as bad as a Christmas week 10. Christmas week really and truly is crazy/insane. At least DH isn't going. He hates crowds. DS and I both love Disney and can have fun even if it's insane/crazy. But less insane and crazy would sure be nice.
Sorry for the long rant. I figure though there are probably some other Disney loving compulsive planners on this forum who maybe can relate to this.
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