Best Week In Jan. To Visit

[mma]

To All The People That Have Gone In Jan., When Is The Best Week To Visit? Is There A Week That Has No Conventions Or No Special Events Or No School Holidays Going On? We Went The Last Week In Sept. This Year And I Want To Duplicate That Experience Of Absolutely No Crowds But Also No Heat. Thanks For Any Advice.

 

[bicker]

That would be tough this year. New Years is on a Sunday, so that's obviously going to be a busy weekend. The weekend after that is the marathon. Then the weekend after that is MLK Day. Then the weekend after that Lotusphere takes over the Epcot resorts.

 

[mma]

WHAT IS THE LOTUSPHERE CONVENTION? DO THEY HAVE IT AT DISNEY EVERY YEAR? dO THEY COME IN ON JAN. 21ST? HOW LONG DOES IT LAST? THANKS, MELISSA

 

[C.Hjorth]

what is MLK day and when is it ????

 

[daisyduck123]

what is MLK day and when is it ????

Martin Luther King Jr.'s Birthday....celebrated the 3rd Monday in January.

 

[JRJohn]

Does MLK Jr. Day bring big crowds for the week? Or is it mostly locals on that 3 day weekend? Our kids don't get that Monday off anyways.

 

[mtdevine615]

I would say that it is mostly locals, but we are going down at the time so DD will miss one less day of school. I expect it to be busy over the weekend but not crazy like July or Christmas week.

 

[bicker]

WHAT IS THE LOTUSPHERE CONVENTION? DO THEY HAVE IT AT DISNEY EVERY YEAR? dO THEY COME IN ON JAN. 21ST? HOW LONG DOES IT LAST? THANKS, MELISSA

Lotusphere is IBM's annual conference for its Lotus Notes, Lotus Domino and IBM WebSphere product lines. In its heyday, it attracted 10,000 customers an few thousand staffers, and practically took over all the Epcot resorts. The convention is a little smaller now, in the 6,000 - 7,000 range.

Lotus signed a long-term contract with the Dolphin and Swan to have the convention there in late January every year; I'm not sure how much longer is in the contract, nor do I know if IBM is inclined to sign a new contract.

The convention starts Sunday morning, with seminars and classes. It really gets going with a large welcome reception Sunday night, and then is in full-force Monday through Thursday. The convention is typically over by 5PM on Thursday.

 

[Lucky4me]

We went in 2003, third week of Jan.
Every ride was a walk on all week. The only problem is some rides were down for refurbishment.

 

[MareSINY]

I'm sort of bummed to hear about this IBM thing. I specifically picked January 20 - 23rd to take my niece because I figured it would be quieter. Hopefully attendees to this convention don't show up early, and if they do I hope they stick to Epcot, we'll be spending most of our time (if not all of our time) at MK. ::Keeping fingers crossed for light crowds and a happy 4 year old::

 

[bcvprincesses]

We are usually there when they have the Lotusphere and you hardly even notice they are there. I really don't think they effect the parks much. Don't worry it is a great time to go.