Crowds on Jan 19 & 20, 2003

[Elysiannn]

Hi - I'm less than two weeks before I go to "heaven on earth". Just wondering if anyone could tell me what kind of crowds I might encounter on Jan 19 & 20 that being Martin Luther King weekend?

Thanks in advance for any clue!!

 

[wilderness01]

I have read that MLK weekend can be very crowded. Go early and use fastpass. You will be fine. Have fun.

 

[AimeeM]

We will be here over MLK weekend as well. We were unfortunate enough to be in Magic Kingdom one other year on Saturday of MLK weekend.. it was insane. It was really really crowded at MK. We couldnt move. We kept trying to find a ride with a wait of less than 45-60 minutes. No luck. I think we rode 4 rides the whole day. This also may have been the trip that MK was mobbed with south american tour groups... not a good weekend!! What Im planning this time is to steer clear of MK Saturday and SUnday. Hopefully by Monday afternoon everyone starts leaving. Then we will have the next 6 days of low crowds!! Have fun

 

[kylesmom2001]

Oh..... Shoooey!! This is when I am going too. Arriving on the 18th!!!! Didn't even think about this when we planned the trip! Will the crowds be long gone by Tues?

 

[AimeeM]

Hi Kyles Mom, We arrive the 17th in the afternoon, but wont be hitting any parks until the 18th as well. Thats Saturday. Just stay away from Magic Kingdom if at all possible. Saturdays are more crowded at MK without the holiday, and Sundays are now the Extra Magic Hour ( early entry) at Mk. I think both of those days will be very crowded!! My Monday, Im assuming everyone will be heading back home for work and school on Tuesday. They are showing Spectro twice that Saturday AND they are , according to the disney.com site, showing it on WEDNESDAY after MLK weekend too. In the past 5 years of going to WDW in Jan, I cant ever remember them showing it on a weekday. Hmmmm... I dont know if thats correct or a mistake. We are going with friends who have never been there and we really want them to see spectro. Do we chance it and hope there is a showing on Wed, or fight the crowds and hop over to MK at night and hit one of the showings that night. They have to leave Fri to drive back to Pa, and we are flying out SUnday. We will have the next Saturday to see it if all else fails. So if we hit MK at all from Sat-Mon, it will be no earlier than 6 pm on Saturday and just to see Spectro.

Where are you staying and how long will you be there? We will be at Sports from the 17th-26th.

 

[DisneyJade]

Darn! our last day in Disney is that Saturday. We really want to end the trip with fireworks over the MK (plus, it's the only time we'll be able to see the mk fireworks at all during our super short trip).
We have three full days for the trip (thurs-sat)
Right now, we are slated to go to MK on thursday morning, epcot in the afternoon... then epcot on saturday morning and mk in the afternoon. should I adjust that to do MK ALL DAY on thursday, epcot ALL DAY on Saturday and then just bolt over to the MK for the fireworks sat. night?
advice? my boyfriend won't be patient about the crowds and I'd rather avoid them myself. crowds can be a crumby way to end a trip... especially after a couple days of empty parks. HELP!

 

[The LK 4]

I'm glad I saw this thread. We are in the same boat as all of you. AimeeM - I wonder if we might be on the same flight? We are flying USAir on Friday afternoon, leaving around 1 pm. I was also going to go to MK Saturday in order to see Spectromagic that night. I was debating whether or not to do another park that day and then fight the crowds that night to get into MK. Thanks to the heads up on your post, I just doublechecked Disney's website. They are having Spectromagic 2x on Saturday the 18th and also on Wednesday the 22nd! I am so relieved. I have been really stressing out about my itinerary lately. I wonder when they added these shows? I am going to have to go back to the site when I get home from work and look over everything a little bit closer.