Is there ANY definitive answer for lowest crowds at WDW?!

[sethschroeder]

The only attraction of note that was closed in January was Splash Mountain. FOTLK is closed for 6 months, and only this year (so that's going to affect roughly 1/2 of this year's guests anyway, including the Easter crowd and part of the summer crowd). The Backlot Tour is closed, but many (most?) don't think it's that great of an attraction anyway. It is true that Blizzard Beach is closed.

Unless you HAVE to visit both water parks, the only thing you really miss by going in January is Splash Mountain. And chances are, if you go when crowds are low, SOMETHING is going to be closed. If you go when crowds are high, most likely everything will be open, but there will be a lot more people trying to get on all of the rides as well.

If you plan a January trip, you have to weigh which is more important, riding Splash Mountain or lower crowds & temperatures.

This year thats all that was closed but what if they decide to do a refresh of one of the other main rides? They will likely choose this time of year for that thus missing your chance on a once in a lifetime trip.

Also as far as low crowds from what I have read people claim the week after labor day is the lowest crowds you will find all year.

 

[KrazeeK120]

This year thats all that was closed but what if they decide to do a refresh of one of the other main rides? They will likely choose this time of year for that thus missing your chance on a once in a lifetime trip.

Also as far as low crowds from what I have read people claim the week after labor day is the lowest crowds you will find all year.

Most of the time, when a headliner goes down for a refurb, it's a lengthy process that overlaps both low and high crowd periods. Space Mountain was closed for several months when it was refurbed, however, they left Splash Mountain open that year so as not to have 2 headliners in MK down at once. When Test Track was redone, it was closed for a very long time. I don't remember how many months it was closed for, but a whole lot of people missed out on it if that was their "once and only" trip, and not just people who went during low crowd times. They don't take the headliners down all that often, aside from Splash's yearly refurb. And when a headliner is down, you have just as good of a chance of missing it at Easter as you do in January because they're usually long refurbs. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I've never heard of Disney doing refurb on 2 headliners at the same time.

I don't think it's fair to put in big, bold, capital letters not to go in January. There are a lot of great reasons to go in January. I never said that January had the lowest crowds, but it does have lower crowds than most of the rest of the year. The cooler temperatures is what really wins it for me, though. I find my stamina to be much higher when I go in January than at other times of the year.

I just don't want people to get the impression that going in January is awful. It's not. I've been the last 2 Januaries and aside from Splash being down, it was great.

 

[BrittyRo]

We went 9/24-10/1 about two years ago, and most wait times were 20 minutes or less with the exception of headliners in the middle of the day. We never found anything to get crazy, and found it to be very tolerable. We also did MNSSHP and caught the very beginning of F&W, and were glad to get out of there once F&W started up - noticeably busier for us. But we are big Epcot people so we noticed.

Thank you! That was very helpful information!! I have NEVER been during that "off peak time". I've only ever been around March (Spring Break) and Summer. So 20 minutes and less for everything sounds heavenly!
I think that Epcot is my least favorite park :X sorry! So we'll probably only spend a day or so there and then be there for F&W.

I really appreciate the info!!!