Crowds after the holidays have passed

[kid-at-heart]

I know Disney is beyond crowded for the winter holidays but how is it after the holidays? I am trying to make plans now for our 2012 vacation and January is our preferred month to travel to Disney, after the crowds have dispersed. When does the holiday crowd typically leave? January 1st, 2nd,
3rd,...?

 

[TisBit]

Best to look at school calenders....they will tell the real tale of when people will truly leave. It looks like NYE will be on a Saturday, so I suspect that you might still have crowds on the following Sun and Mon...might really see it dying off around the 3rd, but that is my guess.

 

[3 Hobbits 2 Disney]

Another is the Disney Marathon...I don't know when they post the date but that brings in a dedicated crowd. We've gone the week of MLK's birthday and had luck then. The crowds were only heavy on the weekend and the Monday, and light afterward.

 

[horselover]

Lots of tour groups in Jan. so be prepared for that.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Right now there isn't a DVC villa to be found for next weekend with the marathon. It's a busy weekend for DVC, but not so much for the WDW themeparks.

 

[Raptorfan]

I take it this marathon is an anual event. I was hoping to try to book OKW for Dec31 to about Jan 4. 2012. Am I correct in asuming that these dates are going to be difficult to secure?

 

[Deb & Bill]

I take it this marathon is an anual event. I was hoping to try to book OKW for Dec31 to about Jan 4. 2012. Am I correct in asuming that these dates are going to be difficult to secure?

NYE is always hard.

 

[Raptorfan]

NYE is always hard.

I've read a number of your posts and I'm curious about your tagline. Can you explain the meaning?

 

[Deb & Bill]

I've read a number of your posts and I'm curious about your tagline. Can you explain the meaning?

I'm a long time member since 1997. I hate seeing all the construction because it means the members who already have purchased are pretty much ignored. Wasn't that way in the past. The total refurbishment at OKW was a poorly managed repaint, destroy the theme operation. You can hardly call it a total refurbishment when they didn't repair the damaged tiles in the bathrooms, take care of electrical outlets that need repair, etc.

Vacation Magic was almost totally DVC news each quarter. Disney Files only has two or three pages about DVC news. The rest is all old Disney news. Not really what you would expect for a DVC member publication.

 

[dianeschlicht]

I'm a long time member since 1997. I hate seeing all the construction because it means the members who already have purchased are pretty much ignored. Wasn't that way in the past. The total refurbishment at OKW was a poorly managed repaint, destroy the theme operation. You can hardly call it a total refurbishment when they didn't repair the damaged tiles in the bathrooms, take care of electrical outlets that need repair, etc.

Vacation Magic was almost totally DVC news each quarter. Disney Files only has two or three pages about DVC news. The rest is all old Disney news. Not really what you would expect for a DVC member publication.

I totally agree with you Deb & Bill!

 

[staceymay00]

I think it somewhat depends on where NYE falls within the week. We went a few years ago shortly after New Year's. I think our first park day was Jan 3rd. It was still fairly crowded during our short visit. That year I think NYE was on a Sunday. Our friends in Orlando went back to school later that week, but we had the whole week off and I bet a lot of other school districts did as well, or people pulled their kids out of school for a couple of days since it was a partial week.

This year, with NYE on a Friday, we return to school on Jan 5th. Next year we go back even earlier, Jan 3rd, but the year after we don't go back until Jan 7th because NYE is on a Monday (we already have proposed school calendars for the next two years).

I'm sure every day after the NYD gets better, but I think the days right after NYE can still be crowded. I have no idea how the marathon affects crowds in the parks.

 

[Raptorfan]

I'm a long time member since 1997. I hate seeing all the construction because it means the members who already have purchased are pretty much ignored. Wasn't that way in the past. The total refurbishment at OKW was a poorly managed repaint, destroy the theme operation. You can hardly call it a total refurbishment when they didn't repair the damaged tiles in the bathrooms, take care of electrical outlets that need repair, etc.

Vacation Magic was almost totally DVC news each quarter. Disney Files only has two or three pages about DVC news. The rest is all old Disney news. Not really what you would expect for a DVC member publication.

Ahhh...yes. Makes perfect sense. My wife was just saying that she thought the refurbished villas we've seen pictures of, didn't have the same feel. Has anybody organized a group complaint re this?
Also, i could be wrong, but when I bought my ownership back in 2000, I am sure I was assured that while the cost for points would of course go up over time, the actual points needed to rent for specific time periods would not change. In reviewing points charts recently, I am noticing that each year I seem to need more points for a stay at the same point in the year.

 

[photobob]

New Year's eve this year is on a Sunday, I would imagine crowds will diminish significantly by probably Thursday, Jan 4. This is just an educated guess on my part, but each day you go past NY crowds should drop more. This is the last year we will be tied to times when school is out of session, so we are exploring different times of the year to go ourselves.

 

[Sammie]

Ahhh...yes. Makes perfect sense. My wife was just saying that she thought the refurbished villas we've seen pictures of, didn't have the same feel. Has anybody organized a group complaint re this?
Also, i could be wrong, but when I bought my ownership back in 2000, I am sure I was assured that while the cost for points would of course go up over time, the actual points needed to rent for specific time periods would not change. In reviewing points charts recently, I am noticing that each year I seem to need more points for a stay at the same point in the year.

The total number of points for the resort, won't change but the points needed for a stay at a certain time can change and has. They lowered the weekends and raised the points for most stays Sunday through Thursday.

 

[Audray]

We were there from 1/3/10 - 1/10/10, and it was very light until Thursday when it felt like the marathon folks had begun arriving. Even after that it wasn't really busy - but the marathon did have an effect on the transportation. You also have to take into account the cold temperatures - which may have had a dramatic effect on day trips (I swear that I saw snow falling at around 6AM). We did 4 days at the MK, and most of the rides had little or no wait, same for our 1 day at AK. Saturday the 9th at Epcot was a little more busy and raining. I recall the line at Soarin that was pretty long.

This year we are going 1/23/11 - 1/30/11 and are hoping for light crowds and warm weather.

 

[kid-at-heart]

We were there from 1/3/10 - 1/10/10, and it was very light until Thursday when it felt like the marathon folks had begun arriving. Even after that it wasn't really busy - but the marathon did have an effect on the transportation. You also have to take into account the cold temperatures - which may have had a dramatic effect on day trips (I swear that I saw snow falling at around 6AM). We did 4 days at the MK, and most of the rides had little or no wait, same for our 1 day at AK. Saturday the 9th at Epcot was a little more busy and raining. I recall the line at Soarin that was pretty long.

This year we are going 1/23/11 - 1/30/11 and are hoping for light crowds and warm weather.

Snow
Actually once when I was a child we were visiting relatives in the Gainesville area and it did snow. It did not stick but it was snow.

Please report back on the crowds and temps during your upcoming visit.

And thanks all for your input. I will try to schedule around the marathon but I think it might be the tour groups which will be of more of a crowd problem. Not sure of any way to schedule around them.

kate