Is Jan really slow??

[princessamy1]

I was told that about the 2nd week of Jan until about Valentines day was slow and a good time to go. I called Disney a little while ago and talked to someone that said this is a very busy time and expect to pay a minimum of $215.00 a night at a moderate. Is this correct?

 

[Parkerpooh]

Usually the WDW marathon is during this time frame.

 

[sherry8253]

It was slow in Jan '08. We checked into the WL on Jan '03 and were there for 10 nights. Buzz Lightyear, Pirates, Haunted Mansion, TOT as well as many other rides were all walk ons. I think we did Buzz about 10 times in a row. We were even able to change some of our dining plans. Only a few restaurants (such as LeCellier) did not have any openings. We always go in early early Jan or Dec and crowds are always very manageable.

 

[princessamy1]

I think I will call later and see If I can speak to another person later. This man was nice, but he seemed a little scattered!

 

[cindyfan]

It was slow in Jan '08. We checked into the WL on Jan '03 and were there for 10 nights. Buzz Lightyear, Pirates, Haunted Mansion, TOT as well as many other rides were all walk ons. I think we did Buzz about 10 times in a row. We were even able to change some of our dining plans. Only a few restaurants (such as LeCellier) did not have any openings. We always go in early early Jan or Dec and crowds are always very manageable.

Sorry, but myself and many others would disagree with you on that!
We checked in on Jan 2, 2008 and I have NEVER in 10 years seen such crowds!!!!! It stayed crowded until like the 7th. Then it was "doable".
By Jan 7th it had thinned out to what we are used to in June.
Maybe it was a fluke...... because New Years was a Wed and lots of people took the entire week off work.
But it was horrble.
Now.... I hear that after we left.... by the 12th it started to really thin out and was not crowded. But then you run into MLK weekend which is also horribly crowded. If you go the couple weeks after MLK and before Presidents weekends you should have very low crowds.

 

[Bobo912]

We are regular January visitors. We usually try to go mid to late Jan, but this year we went from 3 - 7. It was very crowded until the afternoon of the 6th then the crowds thinned out considerably. Our experience with mid to late January is that it is wonderful! Most of the time you can ride with no wait. Sometimes there is no line at all and you can ride multiple times without getting off. They don't run out of fastpasses. EMHs are not crowded at all. We've been lucky and always had great weather too. I don't think we've ever been there on Marathon weekend, so that may adversely affect crowds. We're going again in May this year so we can finally try the waterparks (maybe Sept too ) but we will definitely go back to mid January trips next year.

 

[Luv2Roam]

Compared to December, January is slow.
However, there are peak times during January, such as the marathon, and MLK weekend.
That time is a breeze compared to December though -- esp the last part of December.

 

[TikiGoddess]

We were there Jan 20-28 of 07 and it was very slow...we pretty much walked on to everything. I think we only used FP at Epcot for Soarin and Test Track. It was a wonderful trip, however, I have heard that the beginning of January can be very crowded. I loved the cooler weather!

 

[aquaticmom]

We were there January 15 - 22 this past year. The crowds were much worse than we had the past 2 years in mid-June. We went to rope drops almost everyday. Fast passes for EE were gone before 10am one day. We waited 120 minutes to ride RNR. Having been to WDW in January in past years I would have said yes January is a great time to go. BUT, after being there January 2008, I am not sure I will ever go the week between the race and MLK again, it was way tooooo crowded for us.

 

[Native NYer]

We were just there January 16-20 and it was pretty crowded. It was also MLK weekend. I was surprised at the number of tour groups that were there.