Is January no longer a slow time?

[staceyeileen]

I was just in MK on Saturday (1/26) and didn't find the crowds to be that bad honestly. It was way less crowded than when we went in early December, that's for sure. I guess my expectations are that it will ALWAYS be crowded to some extent. We managed to get fast passes for Peter Pan, Dumbo, Winnie the Pooh, and Space Mountain and we walked into others with no wait like Haunted Mansion in the AM, Monsters Inc, Philharmagic. We were in the park from 9:30AM to 4PM and did everything we wanted to do in Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. Little mermaid did have a very long wait, like over 50 minutes I believe, so we just decided to skip it. We are FL residents though so we'll see it some other time.

As for dining, I will say that on Saturday night we decided to make an ADR for Sunday breakfast and it seemed like everything was available even O'hana and Chef Mickey's with decent times. I was surprised.

 

[toddinboston]

I've noticed Disney commercials have been on the tv every 10 minutes for the past month... Jan is no longer a slow time at the parks if the Disney marketing department has any say in it...

 

[BeerMe]

I'm actually on board with you with the general sentiment that the dining plan is bad, but let's not overstate it. .

Not for Disney it's not!

 

[GenevieveRaqs]

I dunno... I've been to Disney every January for the past three years. Granted, that's not as long as some of you have been going during that time. I haven't found it to be all that bad. Now, this year was the first time I've been there during the marathon, so it was a little more crowded. But while I'd love to have the parks to myself, my biggest concern is wait times. I've found that wait times have been consistently good through all three January trips, even considering marathon weekend crowds. I still say it's the best time to go!

 

[FortForever]

KILL THE DINING PLAN!

Goodness, I really need to stay off the internet after I take my Ambien.

 

[katepass72]

Beating a dead horse here, but we visited Jan 20-25th. MUCH, much busier than January 2011, which was the last time we visited that time of year. I knew MLK day would probably be busy, but the crowds really didn't let up at all with the exception of the World Showcase in Epcot. MK was absolutely the worst, crowd-wise. That being said, it sure beats crowds PLUS 90 degree weather

 

[jrtoastyman]

Fun fact: the TouringPlans Crowd Calendar for MLK weekend in 2014 is predicting the resort to be at a 10 on Sunday and Monday. Those days were both predicted to be @6 this year. Guessing they were surprised at the crowds, too, and are expecting that to be the new normal for that weekend.

 

[OchreHand]

Fun fact: the TouringPlans Crowd Calendar for MLK weekend in 2014 is predicting the resort to be at a 10 on Sunday and Monday. Those days were both predicted to be @6 this year. Guessing they were surprised at the crowds, too, and are expecting that to be the new normal for that weekend.

Oh my. I wonder if EasyWDW will do the same.

Speaking of TouringPlans, I am anxiously awaiting for them to update their "actual" crowd numbers for this January. I really want to see if there will be a huge difference between predicted and actual.

 

[KRFillion]

Fun fact: the TouringPlans Crowd Calendar for MLK weekend in 2014 is predicting the resort to be at a 10 on Sunday and Monday. Those days were both predicted to be @6 this year. Guessing they were surprised at the crowds, too, and are expecting that to be the new normal for that weekend.

Was it the Sunday and Monday that were the busiest day this year - or was it Saturday and Sunday?

 

[jrtoastyman]

Was it the Sunday and Monday that were the busiest day this year - or was it Saturday and Sunday?

The days kinda blur together, but I recall Sunday and Monday both being quite busy, with Monday being much busier at MK than I expected. Did not seem "10" busy, so I was a bit surprised to see TP rate them that way for next year, but definitely had larger crowds than I was anticipating.

 

[Angeejoe]

I think it's a combination of a few things:

1. Warmer Weather
2. Economy Rebounding
3. Great Deals at Disney
4. The New Fantasyland

 

[FortForever]

Fun fact: the TouringPlans Crowd Calendar for MLK weekend in 2014 is predicting the resort to be at a 10 on Sunday and Monday. Those days were both predicted to be @6 this year. Guessing they were surprised at the crowds, too, and are expecting that to be the new normal for that weekend.

Yikes! It seems like the entire year is inching up, but that's a huge jump. I dread the day when we don't have crowd calendars because every day is a 10.

At the current trends, we may see the day when you need reservations for parks and they are always at capacity. That's when I give up our APs.

 

[mjallemand]

It's not just January; we went in late October and it was definitely more crowded than we were expecting. Saw soooo many school-aged kids midweek as well.

Indeed. We went Oct 21-27 2012 and the crowds were easily three to four times larger than our Nov 11-17 trip in 2010.

It was frustrating, to say the least. I actually got kicked out of a Facebook group because I was being too grumpy over it.

 

[mommyrants]

We leave in a week and a half, and every Moderate is booked for our trip, and are most of the other resorts. I'm worried it will be shoulder to shoulder all week.

 

[Missytara]

I have gone the week after Thanksgiving almost every year since 2000 and it has gotten much busier. I honestly don't think there is very little "low" crowds with walk-ons to attractions anymore.

Disney has figured out how to get them in there...

 

[Missytara]

We leave in a week and a half, and every Moderate is booked for our trip, and are most of the other resorts. I'm worried it will be shoulder to shoulder all week.

I can tell you from one of my experiences. A few years ago, I was on a solo trip the week after Thanksgiving. At the last minute, they extended free dining almost to Christmas.

I didn't think about the change, because as a solo person, my room discount far outweighed the free dining.

Suddenly people were posting on the boards that almost all the resorts were filled for that week. But if you went online to the hotels on International Drive, they had tons of vacancies and were suddenly offering deep, deep room discounts - up to 45%.

It was pretty obvious that with free dining, all off-site people went to values; values went up to moderates; and moderates went up to deluxe.

While, yes, check-in that Saturday was about 45 minutes (the line at POR was almost to the exit door), I didn't notice any difference in the parks as far as being any busier than the few previous years.

 

[JDUCKY]

Just got back from a morning trip. Got to the park about 9:20. ETWB was a 50min wait so we bailed on Belle. FP'd Peter Pan and rode the Carousel then headed over to the other side and rode BTMRR (2min wait) and headed back to FL to meet and greet the evil stepmother and the stepsisters. Rode IASW on the way over (walk on). Then we rode Peter Pan (standby was up to 35min) then Haunted Mansion (walk on...literally). Then we rode Jungle Cruise (<10min wait). Then I took my DW onto Stitch. Was in a really good mood and I'd kept her from riding it since she moved here 3 years ago but figured it was time. lol.

IOW, decent crowds but only the major e-ticket rides have anything over 30min waits.

 

[shademan]

There are a couple reasons for heavy crowds.

The first is the New Fantasyland. I think many have been holding out to see that. Now that much of it is here, crowds will be high.

This is still only a couple months old, so there are a lot of Florida residents still coming out on weekends for the first time.

Then you throw in a rebounding economy, and I think 2013 is going to be a VERY busy year at Disney, and it won't get any better once Fantasyland is complete.

Having a good touring plan is essential, as is getting there early and using sources like easywdw for crowd control.

 

[iluveeyore]

We were there Jan 1-9 after going on and on to my sister about how dead it would be after the holidays - boy, was she not happy with me! Thank goodness they extended EMH a few nights so my nephews could actually ride the bigger rides! DH and I stood in line for 55 min for the new Test Track because everytime we'd go there, the fastpasses would either be gone or not usable for about six hours. We were so ecstatic to get away from the snow though, it didn't matter how busy things were, we just went with it - used fastpasses, used lots of patience, and just enjoyed being there. We are going again in October, and I honestly don't care what the numbers will be, we are just going to enjoy every minute we can!

 

[cuteduck223]

we took a last minute trip over new years (gotta make that AP worth it..but thats another tale) and even with capacity crowds and MK closing 1/2 to capacity we didn't feel the crowds as much as we did at the end of Sept. I was actually pretty irritated in September with the crowds. We had chosen that week because historically there was a week between free dining and food/wine. Nope. Not this year. Anyway, I think it's all in how you handle it. Our new years trip was awesome, we were a little more dilligent about being up on time, and relaxed a lot more in the evening, but overall, crowds felt better managed during that time.

Perhaps its all in the attitude. When we expected a smaller crowd, we were upset. When we expected a capacity crowd, we didn't feel so cramped