Is MLK weekend much more crowded in January?

[kamik86]

My husband and I are planning to go to WDW for my husbands birthday (Jan 20th). We have planned on Jan 15th - 22nd but then I realized that will take us over MLK weekend will that make things much more crowded? Would we be better off coming in on Tuesday or Wed and staying for a week that way?

We went last year in Sept and are going this year in Oct. so that is the crowd level we will be used to.

 

[kamik86]

bump - Just in case anyone that knows the answer hasn't seen this yet.

 

[RatherBeWithMickey]

I haven't personally been down there at that time, but I have been there earlier in January (for Marathon weekend), and when I was making my reservations the CM told me it is very busy for MLK weekend. Avoid Marathon Weekend as well, if you aren't planning to participate (again, that's before MLK weekend). Hope this helps

 

[kwdancer26]

Do NOT go over MLK weekend (Friday before to MLK day). All ride wait times exceed an hour and it's hard to get into any decent restaurants, even with ADRs. I learned this the hard way. Go any other weekend in January.

Sept and Oct crowd levels are some of the lowest you'll see at WDW. I think you would be really disappointed with MLK weekend especially when you've only gone at great times during the year.

 

[traveljunkie2]

We were there this year Jan. 8-18th. We were at HS on the Friday of MLK weekend and the crowds were very low. At Epcot on Saturday we didn't notice a significant increase over midweek. BUT we were at HS on Sunday (a Fantasmic night) and the crowds were AWFUL. We were walking shoulder to shoulder with people, when two days prior there were only 10 other people on the whole block! Magic Kingdom on MLK was crowded, also. I remember seeing posts from others commenting on how very crowded it was, too. All of the other days aside form MLK weekend there were basically no crowds at all. We are planning to go next year starting Jan. 22 to avoid MLK weekend and hopefully still have no crowds.

 

[MorenaSangre]

You're going to have higher crowds that weekend - and the crowd levels are particularly noticeable in January when the crowds are usually gloriously low. My birthday is Jan 15, DH's is on Jan 11. He and I usually go to Disney on/around that time to celebrate. The parks are busier that weekend; it's still not like summer, but it can be crowded. I would recommend using a crowd calendar if you're going to dodge the worst of it, but there will be a swell over the long weekend.

 

[Sweetpeamd]

I would absolutely change plans to start the Tues. after MLK wkend. We have travelled to the world in January for yrs and our trip one yr included MLK wkend. The crowds were VERY heavy through Monday but dropped off drastically on Tuesday. We decided to NEVER go back during that time. Our trip last yr was from Jan 23 - 31st and the crowds were very light.