How are crowds in January?

[mitros]

January used to be one of the lowest attendance times at WDW. No longer. Even with the supposed downturn in the economy, Disney is seeing unprecedented growth in the crowds on property. It's getting to be that it's no longer "fun" to visit the parks. Can't get dining reservations, wall to wall bodies, etc, etc.
We go less and less these days. Who needs the crowds........
Oh yea, also with the huge amounts of time shares being sold by Disney {DVC} this puts even more bodies on site.

 

[DisneyFans4]

January used to be one of the lowest attendance times at WDW. No longer. Even with the supposed downturn in the economy, Disney is seeing unprecedented growth in the crowds on property. It's getting to be that it's no longer "fun" to visit the parks. Can't get dining reservations, wall to wall bodies, etc, etc.
We go less and less these days. Who needs the crowds........
Oh yea, also with the huge amounts of time shares being sold by Disney {DVC} this puts even more bodies on site.

That's because our dollar is so weak that it's guests from other countries that are coming because it's so cheap for them. We had our first visit to Disneyland in August and it was wonderful but there were more europeans than americans and I had gotten friendly with alot of them in seeing them at our hotel and they told me it was so cheap for them to come and that is why they were there.

 

[mitros]

That's because our dollar is so weak that it's guests from other countries that are coming because it's so cheap for them. We had our first visit to Disneyland in August and it was wonderful but there were more europeans than americans and I had gotten friendly with alot of them in seeing them at our hotel and they told me it was so cheap for them to come and that is why they were there.

Yes, that is another reason. Forgot about that. And they are apparentley selling a lot of DVC shares overseas as well.

 

[kroberts]

If it's between January and May I would definitely stick with January. Throughout May you get large graduating crowds (highschool and college), and then the summer season is starting so it's nuts and it can get pretty warm.

 

[RMulieri]

Jan is hit or miss.My usual concern being in the North is flight delays due to bad weather up here. I have seen wild variations in park crowds.Though the weather is better than say Sept, I will stick with Sept.or early Dec. Jan has shorter park hours, and a lot more Rehabs going on.

 

[DisneyFans4]

JMulieri-That was my concern as well being I'm from the northeast is the weather for flying.

Sounds like I have alot to think about because I'm hearing all different times of the year but all of you are right...it's really a hit or miss and it's really hard to plan a specific time if your trying to base it on crowd size so I guess it's just go when you can and hope for the best.

 

[RMulieri]

JMulieri-That was my concern as well being I'm from the northeast is the weather for flying.

Sounds like I have alot to think about because I'm hearing all different times of the year but all of you are right...it's really a hit or miss and it's really hard to plan a specific time if your trying to base it on crowd size so I guess it's just go when you can and hope for the best.

Or you can do what some people do, and that is utilize the Unofficial guides crowd calendar ( the 2009 edition is out now) and it will give you the estimated crowds each day for the year at the themeparks( they have been pretty accurate in the past), and select yourtrip dates around the lower numbers.I kind of did that this past trip.I knew I wanted to go in Sept so I looked at the time that had a relatively low crowd number and booked a trip that way.It doesn't hurt that I had a good discount for that time frame either.

 

[DisneyFans4]

Thanks for that tip...think I'll look into that.

 

[Dizzytime]

Don't let marathon weekend scare you off, it's a great time to be there. I believe it's another example of adding to the hotels more than the parks because, especially around marathon weekend, those guys are pretty much occupied with either resting, running or recovering. Last ,they are the best group of people you'd ever want to 'have' to be around!

We've been there for the 10 days or so around marathon weekend three times, including last January and can't imagine there's a better time to go.

Have fun!!

 

[ols386]

We love going in January. We've not found it to be real crowded during that time period. It's still very busy, but not crowded. The parks do have shorter hours, but we didn't find that to be a problem. The weather can be iffy, but when we've been there in January, it's been in the 60s, 70s, or low 80s, on various different days. (However, there were some days just prior to when we were there this year, when it was down in the 30s, but that didn't last long.) If I had a choice of what time of year to go, I'd always choose January over August, but I'm not a fan of hot, hot, hot, weather.

 

[GrammyJudy]

We have always gone in Jan. It is cool in the evenings and early amso you need sweatshirt and/or a light jacket. Pools are heated so we always swim. There is no rain, no hurricanes and no snow. One year we left VT at minus 30 and arrived in Orlando at 70....100 degree difference!!!And it is a great pick-me-up after the holidays.

 

[DrmWvr1299]

This will be our first time in Jan. Most times we have gone down the first weeks of Feb. and the weather was really, really hit and miss. I am looking forward to trying Jan. (after MLK to the first weeks of Feb). Thanks for all the info so far.

 

[Begiensgirl]

I was told there were two sporting events going on 17-20 - a soccer tourney and a volleyball thingy at the WWOS. And when I tried to book the AllStar Resort a couple of weeks ago I was told it was full. Maybe due to the kids participating in the sporting events? Think it will beef up the crowd situation?