How will crowds be January 21-30?

[jfranklyn]

We are going to be in WDW from Jan 21-30. I purposely avoided the Marathon and MLK weekend. Is there anything else going on that I should know about?

 

[Bob P]

Crowds will be quite manageable. Even Marathon weekend is empty.

 

[bicker]

Lotusphere, IBM's annual convention for its web application development platforms, will be going on during that time. It will monopolize the conference facilities at the Dolphin and Swan, and the Epcot resorts. It won't affect that parks much, if at all.

 

[nala542]

I think that you will be quit happy with the lack of crowds during the time that you are there, you will more than likely be able to walk on most rides!

 

[MareSINY]

I'll be there from the 20th - 23rd. I can't wait!!! I'm really looking forward to light crowds. My last trip was in September, which wasn't bad, but I think it will be even lighter in January.

Maybe we'll run into each other while we're there!

 

[Disneycrazymom]

Oh no! DH is an IT consultant with IBM connections and we are going to be at the Dolphin! Maybe he won't notice?

 

[Camping Griswalds]

We ar e going 1/27- 2/7 and really are hoping for little crowds as well!

 

[MareQ]

Crowds will be very light. We only ever go towards the end of Jan/beginning of Feb because of the low crowd level. We'll be there 2/3 - 2/11 this year Enjoy....

 

[LizAgna]

We will be there Jan 21-29 so we are hoping for very light crowds too.

 

[norestneeded]

We'll be in the World for the weekend of January 27th-29th. We're planning only one day in the parks and were thinking of doing Animal Kingdom and Disney Studios on Saturday. My concern is that Studios is an early entry day and that the crowds would be prohibitive. In other times of year I would avoid the early morning park at all costs but I'm wondering if it's all relative given the time of year.

So, in short, I guess I'm looking for crowd predictions for the Studios on January 28th and advice on whether we should attempt to switch our parks day to Sunday the 29th. Thanks in advance for the assistance.

Phil

 

[HANDYMOM]

We will be there Jan 20-24 and are really hoping for low,low,low attendance. Last trip was Mothers Day week 2004 and was pretty busy,....and hot.

Anybody got any info on what to expect weather wise. I've been looking at weather.com for historical monthly info, but they use such a long range for their data, I think more recent years info is more reliable with the rapidly changing weather we are experiencing....

Thanks if you can help!

 

[bicker]

I've been looking at weather.com for historical monthly info, but they use such a long range for their data, I think more recent years info is more reliable with the rapidly changing weather we are experiencing....

I disagree. The weather has varied so much, from year to year, over the past few years, that recent historical information is of very little use with regard to knowing what to expect. I'd rely more on the longer-range historical information available at weather.com, but be prepared for both extremes.

 

[addicted2disney]

LizAgna... OMG!! We are also staying at POP from the 21st-29th!!!! We will SO see you there!! WOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

This will be our 8th January trip. Its our favorite time of year to go. The crowds are so low that its really hard to go back at any other time of year. The weather can be iffy. but honestly, we had one really cold trip. ( it was -10 back home and -30 with the wind chill) but the rest have been really great. I dont mind wearing jeans and a sweat shirt sometimes if I can have extremely low crowds! You can get so much done, even with the shorter park hours. There are exceptions.. MK is usually pretty crowded on Saturdays. The day of the EMH's, those parks will be more crowded ( so we always avoid those parks) and MK tends to be more crowded on the days Spectro is being shown. What we do is just hop over for the parade to avoid the crowds. Now.. I say crowds.. but Im talking crowds for JANUARY... not your normal holiday crowds, or summer crowds. You will love January!! We do.. January trip #8 in 3.5 weeks!!!! woooohoooooooooooooooooo

 

[addicted2disney]

Your weather in January can vary so much. Your best bet is to check the forecast right before you leave. In 7 January trips, we had one really cold week ( Jan 03) . The whole east coast was under a cold snap ( it was -10 back home in Pittsburgh and that wasnt counting the wind chill) So it was low 50's for the high, 30's for the low. One morning we woke up on that trip and it was 28. It was a state of emergency for Orlando and the schools were closed. My kids got a kick out of that. Our school dist. was delayed 2 hours for -30 wind chills.. and Orlando was shut down at 28. haha. Now the good thing was.. when we stayed for the 2nd showing of SPectromagic. There were only 3 other families we could see in Frontierland!!! It was freezing, but we had the attention of every single character in the parade, so it was awesome!

Most of our other trips have been warmer, rather than colder. We have lucked out where the lows were in the 60's and we stayed in shorts the entire day and night. Sometimes its cooler in the morning, but by afternoon its really warm. SO we wore shorts/capris and light jackets, and brought jeans and sweatshirts for the night and stuck them in the locker ( we did this over thanksgiving too... ) WHen the sun went down, we all changed. We have also had very little rain in January. In 7 trips, its rained maybe 4 times total. Our first trip, it was beautiful and sunny, we came out of Star TOurs and it was pouring!!! we were like what?? rain ?? We all bought our yellow mickey ponchos and decided to go eat lunch since it was raining. By the time we finished up with lunch, the skies were blue and the sun was blazing. I dont think it rained on us again until January 04. January 04 it rained the entire day we were at MGM. We even had a rain poncho for the stroller. It rained one day ( starting around 3 or 4) this past January 05 and rained the whole night. It was still warm out, so the kids swam at the BWV in the rain. It did kill our plans for EMH night at MK. The next day it wasnt raining, but it was blustery... cloudy.. windy.. colder.. Other than that, the weather has been warm, or cooler and comfortable. The weather changes so fast in Floriday that time of year, that you really will have to wait until a day or so before you leave to get a better picture of what the weather will be. Chances are you will need something for warmer day weather, and something for cooler evening weather. We always bring our rain ponchos incase, and I always throw in some of those $1 stretch gloves. Coming from Pittsburgh, we have our heavy coats with us, but pack lighter ones. One the one trip ( 03 ) was it cold enough for our winter coats.

Enjoy January at Disney.. we love it!!