Chilly nights = shorter waits?

[Stephy811]

So we will be arriving this Wednesday, which as of now is expected to be the coldest day of our stay. I had originally planned to have an easy evening at Epcot and turn in early for RD the next morning at MK (8am open -also a party day so hopping to AK). Now I'm wondering if we should hit up EMH at MK that first night instead if cooler temps may keep crowds down? Then we could sleep in or visit another park until our fps at AK on Thursday. Advice? How much does weather affect crowds? We are two adults so no issue staying out late on travel day or bundling up if necessary.

 

[clippers6]

I’ve found evening EMH at MK to always have fairly short wait times, even in the summer.

 

[asuburbanman]

We did this on Saturday. Most rides were walk on from 8:30-9:30. Then waits went up after the fireworks (20-30 min). At 10:30 or so they started to decrease again. Have fun!

 

[Happy_2_B]

How much does weather affect crowds?

It will be very cold that night- then it slowly gets warmer after that. We have the heater on down here this morning (a rare occurrence...)- it is cold for sure. I like the plan- and would guess it will work. For us, they are predicting 44 degrees that night (same on Tuesday)- don't know what the weather is going to be over in Orlando but probably even colder. I doubt there will be that many people participating in a late EMH that day. Only potential wrench in the plan is that it warms up sooner- but our extended forecast hasn't changed much at all in the past few days (which doesn't mean a lot down here). The weather pattern seems pretty fixed at the moment- IMHO you should run with it.

 

[AnneK]

Magic Kingdom this past Saturday was CROWDED, but after the fireworks it really thinned out. Nothing was really a walk on except the People Mover and Splash Mountain, but it was still SO much better than what it was before the fireworks. Bring LOTS of warm clothes, we were at Epcot last night and it was 39 degrees during Illuminations.

 

[NH-to-FL]

I have not seen temperature impact crowds that much. DW and I made many trips to the world in December and experienced a range of temperatures. Our plans didn't change, just how many layers of clothes we wore. Bundle up and enjoy!

 

[Colleen27]

I don't think temps have a lot of impact on vacationers. We've seen much higher than expected crowds on winter weekends when it was unseasonably warm, I'm guessing because locals with APs decided it would be a nice day for an impromptu visit to the parks, but haven't noticed any significant thinning of crowds when we've been at late-night EMH on cold days. I don't think most vacationers, having spent months planning their trips and thousands of dollars to make it happen, are likely to let cool weather change their plans in any significant way.