Arriving ON MLK Day and staying for 6 nights

[Suze10860]

This is a basic question, but every time I search, most of the information seems to be about MLK weekend itself, not so much the days following it.

We are arriving and checking in (Yacht Club) on Monday, January 19, 2026, Martin Luther King Day. We're staying 6 nights, and I've purchased 5-day Park Hopper Passes.

The plan is to use those 5 days from Tuesday through Saturday, not going to the parks on arrival or departure day.

Our party consists of my husband and me, our daughter, SIL, and 2 littles (2 and 4 at the time of travel). This trip is all about Nonna and Granddad providing a great vacation for everyone. What that means is that Mom & Dad probably wouldn't pick WDW as their first choice, but they're totally up for it because they're sure the kids will love it, especially their 4-year-old. And we want desperately to bring them all!

Thrill Data crowd calendars for WDW in general show "average" for every single day in January, starting with January 7, including MLK weekend. The MK shows as "average" all our week except on Saturday, 1/24, which is "higher." Epcot is "higher" on 1/19 and 1/24. Hollywood Studios is "average" all days with "lower" on 1/29, and AK is "higher" on 1/20 and "lower" on 1/21 and 1/22. Whew - that's a lot of info.

But, with all that being said, I know that crowd calendars are a strange animal.

I don't think the dates of the Festival of the Arts for 2026 have been announced, so that can't be factored in yet, and I'm pretty sure there are NOT any competitions scheduled for that week. The College National Cheer competition is 1/16-18.

Anyone out there want to speak from personal knowledge or experience about the week starting on MLK Day itself? Thanks in advance.

NOTE: Our original trip was going to be in September of 2026 for the better price and lower crowds, but after much conversation, we decided that avoiding heat and humidity was by far the most important issue for our daughter and family. They are from Colorado, and dealing with bigger crowds and/or cold weather in January is more appealing than dealing with the possible Florida heat and humidity to get the lower crowds of September.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

I think you'll find you've selected a pretty decent time to visit. We've often arrived on or just after MLK Monday to avoid the entire weekend. I expect the Festival of the Arts will begin that week while you're there - it's without a doubt, our favorite (and most expensive!!) of the festivals. We have found the crowds ease up a tad as the week goes on, so using MLK Monday as a travel/arrival day has worked well for us.

I wouldn't get too crazy reading projected crowd levels!! Sounds like a memorable trip - enjoy!

 

[Suze10860]

Thank you so much for the reply.

We were there in February 2025 and were lucky enough to experience the Festival of the Arts for the first time. We loved it! I'm hoping it does start that weekend so that our family can experience the wonderful food and other special offerings.

 

[Suze10860]

Maybe this isn't the correct place to ask this, but is there an "Official January 2026 Thread" started yet? I couldn't find one...

 

[disneydreamer1980]

We were there for 2 weeks starting the week before and for the week after MLK day this year. The crowds the week before were much lighter than the week after but the crowds the week after MLK day weren’t horrible. It was however the worst weather we’ve ever experienced at Disney, with highs in the low 40s and constant rain. Hopefully it’ll be better next year because we’ll be there the same two weeks again. Epcot was crowded due to FEstival of arts and DHS is always crowded but the other two parks were good for the most part.