Another Jan. post - how bad wil MLK week be

[sdteacher]

We are there from the 14th - 21st (the 19th is MLK day). How bad do you think crowds will be then?

 

[lucigo]

We are there from the 14th - 21st (the 19th is MLK day). How bad do you think crowds will be then?

The secret is definitely out about MLK weekend. It used to be an awesome time to go. I would have to say its probably going to be about like March or April, but not as bad as June/July. Thats just my guess though! We are going because my kids have a 4 day weekend, can't pass that up!

 

[mattsmom2000]

We went earlier this year in January and the crowds were not bad at all. The most we waited in a line was 20 mins (other than the BIG rides that we got Fastpass for). It was a great time to go and we are going back again this January and can't wait.

 

[SplashMtnCrew]

We've gone in January for the past two years, and we always arrive the day before MLK day. This year we only noticed a lot more people than we expected on MLK day. By the mid afternoon of MLK day the crowds started to lessen and it only improved throughout the week while we were there. And that's what we are hoping for in January 2009

 

[DisneyObsessive]

do the crowds effect just that 4 day weekend or the entire week? im trying to decide which dates in jan to book.

 

[dunbarfamily]

We were there accidently during MLK week this year and it was terrible! (We didn't even know it was MLK week until we were at WDW) We had the exact opposite experience of Mattsmom. Just a little example, wait times for its a small world were about 45 minutes to 1hour at 11am, Pirates was about a half hour, etc. We will NEVER go back during this time of year. A week before or a week after, but not that week.

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Lots of great January info here: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1963686

Come join the January Snowbirds!

 

[n2mm]

We'll be there. All of our ADRs are made and air and rooms booked. We expect the weekend to be busy, but are hoping that Tues-Friday to be a little better.

 

[Colleen27]

We were there from the Wed before until the Sunday after MLK weekend and didn't find the crowds to be bad at all. There was a noticable uptick from Friday to Monday of the holiday weekend, but still not bad using Fastpass. And we're the family that knowingly does everything wrong when it comes to touring plans - we're not morning people, so we didn't do a single rope drop, and we tour to minimize mileage rather than to cut wait times.

The weekday crowds were lower than our week before free dining trip in August 07, and much lower than our opening week of Food & Wine 05 trip. The weekend crowds were about on par with Aug 07 and still lower than F&W 05.

One piece of advice that doesn't apply for other times we've visited (Aug & Oct) - take advantage of the late EMHs and the late closings over the holiday weekend. All the thin-blooded southerners on weekend holiday take shelter from the "cold", which isn't cold at all to those of us who leave behind snow and ice to be at Disney. We had the parks practically to ourselves for evening EMHs, the Pirate & Princess party, and even on Saturday night over the holiday weekend.

All in all, I wouldn't hesitate to plan another MLK trip, and probably will at some point in the future since DS's birthday is that week and Disney birthdays are a favorite of both my kids.

 

[Begiensgirl]

I'm going from the 14th to the 20th. I understand that the WDW Marathon weekend is the 8-11th. and there might be some leftover people from the Marathon and heading into MLK weekend. However, with the economy in the state it is, and not being sure how businesses will fare over the holidays, it may be that this MLK is not as crowded?
On the other hand, as my travel agent pointed out. Lots of people have booked this vacation way out, and if they hadn't cancelled by now, they probably wouldn't. So... I guess we'll see.

I personally don't mind it as long as it's not as busy as it is over the Thanksgiving, and Xmas holidays...

 

[Eeyore's My Favorite]

We checked in on MLK Day this year = staying at ASMU. The resort wasn't full & neither were the parks. It was great! The only crowd we found was at DHS during Fantasmic. Pretty much everything else was walk ons or very little wait time. Weather was great except for one night when there was a Florida cold snap. For us it was a great time to go.

 

[farmfresh]

We're arriving 21 January - but we couldn't get acommodation at POR or FQ for the first night - maybe a hang over from MLK?

Anyway, we've decided to split our stay, so wil ltake a couple of nights at Wl to start!

 

[Pakey]

We were there in 2008 arriving the Monday before MLK weekend. There were no crowds at all. We were supposed to leave the Saturday morning of MLK weekend and our flights were cancelled and we were unable to leave for 2 additional days. We could not stay in our DVC room so we asked Disney what they had available at any hotel and all that was available was BC Club Level at $650/night. We took it and decided to head to the parks for that extra day as we had AP's anyway. Since ToT is my favorite ride, we went there first and the standy was 2 hrs. We could barely move at DHS so left and went to Epcot and found it was just as bad. We ended up spending the day at the hotel pool and thankfully we were able to grab some food at Club Level as there wasn't an opening anywhere to eat that night.

I've done Easter week before and thought that week was easier than MLK weekend was. I'll make sure not to do that again.