Is January not the quiet month it used to be?

[kilarney]

We have always loved to go to Disney World in January. However, we haven't done so in a couple of years.

What do people think about the crowds in January now? It seems that between the marathon and MLK weekend, January is much more crowded than it used to be.

Can you still avoid the crowds in January? If so, when?

 

[Robo]

Can you still avoid the crowds in January? If so, when?

No time is as "empty" as it once may have been.
I'd say starting Jan. 5, 2009 on up till President's Day Weekend (Feb. 14-16) will be a good time to go.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday holiday is on, Monday, January 19, 2009, so that will give a sudden rise that weekend.

 

[rwdavis]

Based on my experience over MLK weekend this year and others' reports, January is no longer near as "slow" as it used to be. You can do more popular rides pretty easily with no waits as long as you get there early and use Fastpass. We were very successful at the MK and DHS doing that this year.

IMHO, park hopping can be problematic in that the second park may have long waits and no fast passes left for the popular rides.
Bob

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

We've been around the time of MLK weekend twice and found the parks to be pretty clear, at least compared to other times of year. Last month the only crowded day was on the Friday before MLK Day -at AK of all places!

 

[abish19]

We just returned from WDW - our trip ran from Feb. 3 - 9, and it was CROWDED. Much more than I'd thought. We didn't realize that many people from Louisiana had vacation time from school given for Mardi Gras; additionally, there were huge cheerleading groups in attendance from the US and South America.

We'd like to try to come again in the winter, probably Jan., but I had the same concern about crowd size. Crowds are my biggest challenge with WDW: when you don't get to visit every year and you've paid a lot of money, it's frustrating to have long waits for many attractions.

 

[ntsammy5]

It's spotty. There are a lot of things going on like the WDW Marathon and there are also the holidays. You can run into some crowds but all-in-all it is still comparatively quiet.

 

[aquaticmom]

We have gone several times before in January and had what I always condsidered low crowed levels. But after experiencing the crowd levels this past MLK weekend, I can say we will NEVER be at WDW during that time again. The tour groups were out in massive numbers. Our trip dates were Jan 15-22. The two days before MLK weekend were okay, but every day after that was unbelievably crowded. And don't suggest we do rope drops, relax in the afternoon and go back in the evening, because we did rope drop every day and it was still packed. One night there was a severe thunderstorm with lightning and heavy downpours and that didn't even clear out the MK.

 

[grinningghost]

We always go in the summer, and I can definitely say that our January trip was MUCH quieter than in the summer months. Still pretty busy, but not nearly as busy as July. The empty spaces in the parking lots really spoke volumes - you don't see that in the summer.

 

[okiegirl]

We were there Jan 12-20th, and crowds from the 12th to the 17th awesome!! The 18th the cheerleaders and MLK Weekend people started coming in. We had the tour groups with us all week and had no problems with them. Only time we seemed to be swarmed by them was Fri. at the Commissary for lunch. Spent Sat. at Kennedy Space Center and the beach, and Sun at MK We have been the week after Christmas and these crowds definately rivaled that. Only time we used fastpass the whole visit, but didn't mind as we were heading to the airport that afternoon. (Can't say I was sorry leaving the crowds behind) This was probably my husband's and my favorite visit. Weather was not the best, but hey throw on the ponchos and give me no lines anytime.

 

[Eeyore's Pal]

We had a fantastic 10 day trip spanning marathon and MLK weekends. It was a little crowded on MLK weekend, but the rest of the time was fantastic! We are late risers, arriving at the parks around Noon, and staying through evening EMH. We could do any and every attraction, either as walk-on, brief (less than 10 minutes) wait, or with a few fast passes. ADRs were easy to arrange and restaurants were rarely full. Even the CS lines weren't bad.

We went the same time frame last year and had a similar experience. Planning the same time for next year too.

 

[eeyorefan74]

We were there Jan.12-17 and thought the crowd levels were great. There were the Brazilian tour groups to contend with, but we never had any real issues with them. We stayed onsite and used Disney transportation, so no issues with traffic from the marathon, either. We've been twice in January and both times had good luck with crowds. I do think you still need to get to the parks early and make good use of FastPass no matter when you go.

 

[Jessfrogger88]

i have seen the parks in January the last two years only a few days. Never on MLK weekend and I have found them to be relatively quiet. Granted this year fantasmic's one showing was almost full and I think there were a few more people there than last year, but I don't think the majority of January is crowded at all especially compared to summer.

 

[heaven2dc]

We were there 01/31-02/03/08 and it was more crowded than I expected. However, there was a big cheerleading competition going on at Hollywood Studios that Saturday so maybe that added to the mayhem.

We got on the rides mostly with a 10 min wait until about 10:30 then it was at least 30-40 min (of course, we used Fastpasses).

 

[pepe of ohio]

We made it back down to WDW January 6-16, we caught the marathon but were out before MLK weekend. When we arrived the crowds were non existent, in the am we would breeze right in the MK, like no one was in Adventureland, through Frontierland and Fantasyland. We road things we never would have waited for with any kind of line, Magic Carpets, Jungle Cruise. All walk ons. The aprks would start filling up around noon but not too bad in the beginning of our stay. EPCOT and Studios were about the same, really a lack of guests and told wife, we're all alone in all this Disney Magic. As the days moved on, the guests must have sensed the emptiness and started to fill up the parks sooner. Evening we quite crowded, EMH at the MK , was packed but doable for strolling. Marathon came and went with alittle increase in guests, we were at the WL, our perspective, and closer to MLK it was getting quite full, glad we were leaving too as the temp took a big drop too, left in the low 60's.

This was our first time in January, it was okay, temp wise, crowd wise but leaving Ohio and returning to the cold, really sucks. We actually prefer the October, November months during valve season better.