1st Wk of Dec or last week of Jan???

[NicholeB630]

Hi my family is planning our second Disney World trip for 2015. We went last Feb and the weather was cold and the lines awful. We also had a 9th month old then. This year my daughter will be either 5 or 6 (Bday is Jan 7th) and my son will be a little over 2 and a half. I have done so much research on when to go and cannot decide if it makes a huge difference between these two weeks. Either the first week of Dec which will have all the Christmas stuff up, I've read its a good time but not as low of crowds as it used to be or the last week of January which seems to be one of the lowest of the year. Crowds are our biggest concern. We want absolute lowest possible. I did read that on a tracker once you're under 5 crowd level it really doesn't matter. So if its a 1 or a 4 it makes not much of a difference. Is this true? Which week would be better for us to go? Thanks!!!!

 

[famgel]

Hi we always arrive the Monday after New Years weekend this way you still see all Xmas decorations. Then we stay till that Sat even though the marathon people start coming in heavy fri it's still not a crowed place. My son just got back from WDW, a shirt trip, 3rd week in February. Because of the fast pass plus and reserving only 3 popular rides a day he said the wait times were minimal. So I'm thinking maybe this solved the problem of massive wait times, not including the holiday or summer crowds. So I hope this info helps. Yes u r always taking chances with the weather but we had such a bad winter I'm feeling this winter won't be so bad, that's why we r all going back in Jan 2015.

 

[Pumbaa_]

January hands down

the first week in December is no longer a slow periord. Very popular with internet groups, DVC annual meeting/get together and the Christmas parade taping all occur and make MK very very busy

Last week in Jan is after the MLK holiday weekend and before hte Feb break people. That would be my choice hands down.

 

[NicholeB630]

I am really torn this website (yourfirstvist.net) ranks the 1st week in Dec as the #1 week to go and the last week in Jan as like #48 I think BC of weather and rides being down. Than easywdw site says that its still a low week but not as much as in the past. You all really think that the last week in Jan would be a big enough difference in crowd level? That really my main concern is crowd level. I know that it wont ever be empty but I just cannot deal with crowds where you cannot walk.


We also have small children so I am not sure if rides that would be down would even be ones that we care about. Obviously we dont care about the water like parks or if the water type rides are down. But hopefully nothing we'd want to see is down that time.

 

[Nena2007]

We chose the first week in Dec because we wanted the Christmas decorations without the crazy crazy crowds. I don't think Disney is ever not busy anymore. Plus, after Christmas I'm usually dying to pack everything up so going after Christmas with the decorations wouldn't be as fun for us Good luck with your decision!

 

[mm1971]

Hi my family is planning our second Disney World trip for 2015. We went last Feb and the weather was cold and the lines awful. We also had a 9th month old then. This year my daughter will be either 5 or 6 (Bday is Jan 7th) and my son will be a little over 2 and a half. I have done so much research on when to go and cannot decide if it makes a huge difference between these two weeks. Either the first week of Dec which will have all the Christmas stuff up, I've read its a good time but not as low of crowds as it used to be or the last week of January which seems to be one of the lowest of the year. Crowds are our biggest concern. We want absolute lowest possible. I did read that on a tracker once you're under 5 crowd level it really doesn't matter. So if its a 1 or a 4 it makes not much of a difference. Is this true? Which week would be better for us to go? Thanks!!!!

Based on crowds alone, January would be the lower crowd week.

I would go the first week of December and deal with the increased crowds and enjoy the holiday atmosphere and decorations. When we went a coupe of years ago the crowds were not bad. Lines were pretty quick, most under 20 minutes. The ones that are always longer were as you would expect. Just my opinion, but swimming is a maybe in December (my kids went in every day, but it was warm enough 4 of the 7 for everyone), the decorations and extra events would be enough that the slightly larger crowds would not matter.

 

[MandiC]

We went first week of February and the crowds really weren't bad HOWEVER, we lucked out as far as weather was concerned, 4 of the 8 days were beautiful. People there the weeks before us and another family 2 weeks after us all had very cold, wet weather.
Also, there are lots of ride closures due to refurbishments at that time of year. We are hoping to go back again October-December next time, leaning more towards the first/second week in December due to the Christmas celebrations

 

[MIGrandma]

Oh no, you don't want to go the last week of January, you really don't.

I'm just teasing you! That is the week we are planning to go as well. There will be 8 of us. My DH and myself, our DD and her DH and their two children (ages 6 and 9) and her DH's parents.

I've been to WDW 10-12 times during my lifetime and every trip but 2 were in January. It is our favorite month to go, as the crows have always been minimal to actually non-existant. Our last January trip was 3 years ago though, so not sure if that has changed or not.

Yes, you're taking a chance on having chilly temperatures but we live in Michigan, so even 50's and 60's during the day would be "balmy" to us. Most times we can wear t-shirts and shorts during the day, and it's sunny, then at night it sometimes gets cool enough that we want jeans on. I do remember one year it was cold enough at night that we could see our breath and I was wishing I had my gloves, but we were able to ride a lot of rides because there were so few people. We normally either do not wait at all for a ride or attraction, or maybe 5-10 minutes is all.

I went once in March and once in September, both busy, busy (and September was still hot and humid) so don't care to go again during those months. We love January, and if you want to avoid crowds I would suggest going then.

 

[NicholeB630]

Oh no, you don't want to go the last week of January, you really don't.

I'm just teasing you! That is the week we are planning to go as well. There will be 8 of us. My DH and myself, our DD and her DH and their two children (ages 6 and 9) and her DH's parents.

I've been to WDW 10-12 times during my lifetime and every trip but 2 were in January. It is our favorite month to go, as the crows have always been minimal to actually non-existant. Our last January trip was 3 years ago though, so not sure if that has changed or not.

Yes, you're taking a chance on having chilly temperatures but we live in Michigan, so even 50's and 60's during the day would be "balmy" to us. Most times we can wear t-shirts and shorts during the day, and it's sunny, then at night it sometimes gets cool enough that we want jeans on. I do remember one year it was cold enough at night that we could see our breath and I was wishing I had my gloves, but we were able to ride a lot of rides because there were so few people. We normally either do not wait at all for a ride or attraction, or maybe 5-10 minutes is all.

I went once in March and once in September, both busy, busy (and September was still hot and humid) so don't care to go again during those months. We love January, and if you want to avoid crowds I would suggest going then.

Did you find that a lot of rides were down though? I think that's my main concern. But we also have little kids and it seems the bigger more grown up rides shut down more often than ones we would be doing. Plus I think the Christmas stuff would be awesome.

 

[MIGrandma]

Did you find that a lot of rides were down though? I think that's my main concern. But we also have little kids and it seems the bigger more grown up rides shut down more often than ones we would be doing. Plus I think the Christmas stuff would be awesome.

I honestly don't remember any of our favorite rides being down when we have been there in January. I do remember going to Carousel of Progress and it was closed, but running on a limited schedule so we just went back when we knew it would be open.

I remember one attraction, gosh I can't even remember the name of it...Harrison Ford was in the movie...but it was closed while we were there, due to a cheerleading convention.

The parks do close earlier in January, since there is not much of a "wait time" for the rides.

But it's still our favorite time to go since there are so few people.

 

[famgel]

Usually Splash mountain was closed first and maybe second week of Jan that's the only one I remember. Just google now usually they stick with the same times each year.