Early January crowds??

[RebYork]

How are crowds been since the 1st and how crowed does it get the first couple weeks of January?

 

[CaptainJack4077913]

Crowds on the 1st and 2nd were terrible. On the 1st we were at EPCOT and Hollywood Studios and on the 2nd we were at Magic Kingdom. It was very very crowded expecially at Magic Kingdom, worse than the couple of days before Christmas. There were a lot of people checking out of the hotel on Friday though.

 

[2bliss]

We are here now and it is very crowded. The wait times for rides are the longest I’ve ever experienced. I thought it would've been less busy in January. Hopefully the crowds lessen this week.

 

[1lilspark]

We are here now and it is very crowded. The wait times for rides are the longest I’ve ever experienced. I thought it would've been less busy in January. Hopefully the crowds lessen this week.

Marathon is 8th-12th plus some Pop Warner/Cheer stuff might be going on this month

 

[snappy]

Followed by MLK day on The 20th.

 

[rpb718]

If I remember correctly, it was like this last year as well. Crowds really didn't lessen for a few weeks according to all the folks posting how crowded it was last year.

Exactly 10 years ago next week, DW and I went to WDW in January and there truly were no crowds at all. I remember sitting on the street curb in town square between Tony's and Main Street Confectionery watching the parade with absolutely no one around me.

Since WDW is now super crowded during popular times, many folks assume that after New Years Day the crowds will disappear and they all make plans to go to WDW then. Sure the crowds lessen somewhat from the prior weeks, but it's still very crowded.

 

[avincent]

We were there from December 30th to January 6th and the crowds were just as busy after the 1st as they were before. Definitely the busiest I have ever seen it with long waits for all rides not just headliners.

 

[mialovesart]

Here now & it’s very crowded. Lots of families here from Brazil. We were here at this time last year & I feel like the crowds are worse this year.

 

[NoTime42]

from the Rise thread, it seems the current crowds are quite a bit larger than Disney anticipated this week:

I just texted my DD, she says that mfsr is running at full capacity, it's just that there are about 8k more than what they were expecting for today

 

[pens4821]

Last year we went MLK week and it was much more crowded than we experienced that week in the past. In the past the weekend and Monday would be crowded, but the next few days wouldn't be bad. Last year it was packed all week.

 

[holden]

We just watched an old VHS tape of our January 1997 trip. All parks were empty. I mean there’s barely another person there. Those were the days...

 

[WEDWDW]

Lots of families here from Brazil.

LOL-we always say Portuguese is the dominant language at WDW in January!

With it being Summer Break from school in Brazil,MANY families take their WDW trip then;Disney brings in around 800 Brazilian College Students to work as CMs in December/January and The 15s from Brazil should begin appearing any day now,if they have not already.

We always say there are more Brazilians in WDW in January than are left in Brazil!lol

 

[JackOfAllTrades]

We went last year the 3rd week of January and crowds were “light”. Unfortunately any time of year is fairly busy now a days however the crowds after the new year rush tend to be on the lighter side

 

[Zargo79]

Going January 18-19 weekend and the anticipated crowd calendar looks very high

 

[Mango7100]

We were there Dec 29-Jan 5. We did not attempt parks on NYE. Jan 2 was by far the most crowded I have ever seen MK(and we have done Spring Break, July 4, etc). The wait for the freaking People Mover was 45 min...that’s a sign to head home

 

[avincent]

We were there Dec 29-Jan 5. We did not attempt parks on NYE. Jan 2 was by far the most crowded I have ever seen MK(and we have done Spring Break, July 4, etc). The wait for the freaking People Mover was 45 min...that’s a sign to head home

We were there Dec 30th-January 5th and went to MK on NYE. I felt like MK on January 5th as bad as NYE but without the party vibe. I know there probably wasn’t quite as many people but it was close,

 

[Remy is Up]

Reality...there is no offseason at WDW any longer. Between Parties, Holidays, Festivals, Runs, Special events, there is no "slow" time . Plan accordingly

 

[Zargo79]

I found the undercovertourist calendar website pretty interesting in terms of recommending which parks will be busy. I wonder how accurate it is

 

[Remy is Up]

I wouldnt trust any crowd calendar to plan a trip. Plan as if it is going to be busy and set expectations as such. Trusting crowd calendars to predict a park attendance is like playing the lottery

 

[RNTeacher]

Still busy today. Lots of Brazilians. Met several folks from Montreal too. I also have a video from January late 1990’s and park was empty! Would love to be able to walk without being run over by a stroller or ECV. Both happened today.