February 2026 Disney World Breakdown with Crowds and Lightning Lane Lessons

February 2026 Disney World Trip Report

My family and I recently spent a few days at Walt Disney World Resort and I’m here to share the fun times we had along with the lessons learned! We visited the resort during a holiday weekend, which normally I wouldn’t recommend doing. But, alas, it was the only time we had so we made the most of it!

First off, if you only have a few days to experience the Disney World theme parks, stay on-site! We stayed in a Family Suite at Disney’s All-Star Music Resort which was perfect for our family of 5. The room has two sleeping areas, two bathrooms, and a small kitchen area. Having a place to sleep separate from our kids was great for me and my husband and having two bathrooms for getting ready is a game changer!

Staying at an on-site hotel also gives guests early entry to the parks. That’s an extra 30 minutes to experience attractions before the parks officially open. While that might not seem like a lot of time, it’s super helpful during a holiday weekend. Staying on-site also allows you to book Lightning Lanes 7 days in advance if you decide to purchase that offering. Definitely book them as soon as your booking window opens because the more popular rides fill up fast.

We only had three days for experiencing Walt Disney World but we wanted to visit all four theme parks. Park Hopper tickets were a must for us this trip. We also planned ahead of time what rides were “must-do’s” for us and which ones we were fine with skipping. That really helped our kids realize we weren’t going to be able to do everything so they weren’t blindsided if we ran out of time or a ride closed down unexpectedly.

Our first day was split between Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Epcot. There are only a handful of rides in either park that we wanted to experience so we did not purchase Lightning Lane for our first day. We visited on a Thursday and managed to experience Avatar: Flight of Passage, Kilimanjaro Safari, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, Frozen Ever After, and Journey of Water. There was a break in our day between visiting those parks due to a work convention we were attending, but we enjoyed our time by managing our expectations.

Day two was a Friday and mostly spent at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. There were multiple rides we wanted to experience in that park so we purchased the Lightning Lane Multi-Pass and took advantage of Early Entry. Our plan, like most guests, was to head directly to Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance when we got to the park. Sadly, as soon as we entered, Cast Members were announcing that the ride was delayed in opening that morning. We got lucky, however, and as we got to the ride entrance, on our way to Smugglers Run, Rise was open!

We were able to ride Rise and Smugglers Run before our first Lightning Lane redemption. The rides we were able to experience at Hollywood Studios were: all three Star Wars rides, all three Toy Story Land rides, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster (RIP soon), and Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway. We also enjoyed the Frozen Sing-along Celebration and Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular.

That afternoon we spent a few hours back at Disney’s Animal Kingdom to experience a few things we missed on the first day. Having Lightning Lane Multi-Pass and Park Hopper tickets made it easier to do that. I was able to book us a Lightning Lane time for Expedition Everest while we were still having fun at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Over at Animal Kingdom we rode Expedition Everest, Kilimanjaro Safari again, watched the Feathered Friends in Flight show, and saw the new Better Zoogether show before closing out our day back at Hollywood Studios.

For our final day, we had to spend a majority of our time at Magic Kingdom. It’s the Most Magical Place on Earth and we couldn’t miss out on our favorite rides and attractions there! The only problem was it was a Saturday, it was Valentine’s Day, AND it was a holiday weekend. Lightning Lane Multi-Pass was a MUST for that day as was Early Entry.

We started the morning off with a spin on the Tea Cups followed by a ride through a mine on Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Pirates of the Caribbean, Peter Pan’s Flight, Haunted Mansion, Mickey’s Philharmagic, Under the Sea-Journey of the Little Mermaid, and TRON were all able to be done before mid-afternoon. Once again, we took advantage of our park hoppers and went back to Epcot to experience a couple of attractions and try some of the tasty foods from the Festival of the Arts. We were able to ride Soarin’ Around the World, The Seas with Nemo & Friends, check out SeaBase, and eat some delicious food.

I absolutely had to end my night with the Happily Ever After fireworks at Magic Kingdom. After taking the monorail back to the park, we rode the PeopleMover, Jungle Cruise, and enjoyed the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor. Then we got a prime spot for watching the fireworks over Cinderella Castle. The perfect way to close out the Walt Disney World portion of our vacation!

While the parks were fairly crowded, we were able to manage our time and expectations which made our trip great. Choosing to wait in long lines when we didn’t have a Lightning Lane was fine because we planned ahead and played games to help the time pass quicker. Getting to the parks early and booking those must-do Lightning Lane rides ahead of time is also super helpful! Even if you don’t have a whole lot of time to experience the parks, or the crowds are higher than you’d like, you can still have an enjoyable time at Disney World. I know we did!

Let our friends at Get Away Today help you book your next Disney Vacation. They are the preferred Travel Agency of Chip and Company and Disney Addicts, and who we use ourselves.