January 2011!!

[ocean134]

We were at WDW the 13th through the 19th. The only time we had any crowds at all were the Saturday and Sunday of Martin Luther King Weekend. There were lots of Brazilian tour groups, but the only time it was a pain was when their entire group had a fast pass for a ride at the same time that we did, but if we saw that we just left and went back to use our fast passes a little bit later. We thought the parks were empty!

EPCOT on Jan. 15th was pretty empty, a Brazilian tour group here and there. Magic Kingdom on the 16th was a dang nightmare!!! It was so packed it wasn't even enjoyable. Although, after the Electrical Parade the crowd did thin out. It took alot of humor out of us and we're used to the crowds. UGH

 

[*sarah*]

I am at Pop right now waiting out the storms and am a nervous wreck. The crowds are much bigger then I expected. There have been Brazaillian Tour Groups everywhere. They are eveyrwhere and there was one that had well over 100 people in it so anytime you run into them its a mess.

The Brazilian tour groups are a nightmare!!! When we were at MK on 1/16 it was so crowded and the groups were so rude! I will never go back in January again. I'll stick with the cheerleaders in Feb. Ugh

I thought the Brazilians were supposed to be in WDW in July. I always read July. I was at WDW last January and didn't have a single problem. No lines, small waits and super small crowds. What happened?????

Good luck!

Those tour groups were terrible. We had a lot of them at ASMovies. The worst thing we experienced with them was late one night when we got picked up at DTD Marketplace, the bus went over to the Pleasure Island spot I think, and there were a ton of the people from the groups there, they'd just seen La Nouba and as soon as the bus stopped they started beating on the side of it and were just plain wild. When the driver opened the door a few ran on the bus before the people getting off the bus could get off, and even though the driver tried to make them get off and wait, they wouldn't. It was almost scary how they acted.

 

[Jaimie1911]

We just got back from our trip, Jan 21-29. I was shocked how busy the parks were! We went Jan 21-26 last year and the parks were empty, a couple tour groups but not too bad. This year for example, there was a wait for the Peoplemover I have never seen a wait like that in all of my trips, I usually go in October and walk on most of the rides. Never again will we go in January, the weather is not nice enough to justify these crowds. The Brazilian tour groups were horrendous, I got pushed and shoved around a lot since I am so short. We made the most of our trip, glad I planned a lot of EMH, I think the tour groups mostly stay off property because that was the only time we could move! I think next trip we're going to try early May, or mid November to see the Christmas party. The plus side is it got us away from the snow for a week

 

[Coconuts]

EPCOT on Jan. 15th was pretty empty, a Brazilian tour group here and there. Magic Kingdom on the 16th was a dang nightmare!!! It was so packed it wasn't even enjoyable. Although, after the Electrical Parade the crowd did thin out. It took alot of humor out of us and we're used to the crowds. UGH

Those tour groups were terrible. We had a lot of them at ASMovies. The worst thing we experienced with them was late one night when we got picked up at DTD Marketplace, the bus went over to the Pleasure Island spot I think, and there were a ton of the people from the groups there, they'd just seen La Nouba and as soon as the bus stopped they started beating on the side of it and were just plain wild. When the driver opened the door a few ran on the bus before the people getting off the bus could get off, and even though the driver tried to make them get off and wait, they wouldn't. It was almost scary how they acted.

We just got back from our trip, Jan 21-29. I was shocked how busy the parks were! We went Jan 21-26 last year and the parks were empty, a couple tour groups but not too bad. This year for example, there was a wait for the Peoplemover I have never seen a wait like that in all of my trips, I usually go in October and walk on most of the rides. Never again will we go in January, the weather is not nice enough to justify these crowds. The Brazilian tour groups were horrendous, I got pushed and shoved around a lot since I am so short. We made the most of our trip, glad I planned a lot of EMH, I think the tour groups mostly stay off property because that was the only time we could move! I think next trip we're going to try early May, or mid November to see the Christmas party. The plus side is it got us away from the snow for a week

I agree with all of the above. I thought January would be empty. Oh well, back to trying another time out.

 

[ocean134]

Those tour groups were terrible. We had a lot of them at ASMovies. The worst thing we experienced with them was late one night when we got picked up at DTD Marketplace, the bus went over to the Pleasure Island spot I think, and there were a ton of the people from the groups there, they'd just seen La Nouba and as soon as the bus stopped they started beating on the side of it and were just plain wild. When the driver opened the door a few ran on the bus before the people getting off the bus could get off, and even though the driver tried to make them get off and wait, they wouldn't. It was almost scary how they acted.

It's absolutely unacceptable! Why in the world do they behave like that? They act like wild animals with no upbringing. I am sure the good groups are embarrassed by that behavior. I would be if the tables were turned.

 

[ocean134]

We just got back from our trip, Jan 21-29. I was shocked how busy the parks were! We went Jan 21-26 last year and the parks were empty, a couple tour groups but not too bad. This year for example, there was a wait for the Peoplemover I have never seen a wait like that in all of my trips, I usually go in October and walk on most of the rides. Never again will we go in January, the weather is not nice enough to justify these crowds. The Brazilian tour groups were horrendous, I got pushed and shoved around a lot since I am so short. We made the most of our trip, glad I planned a lot of EMH, I think the tour groups mostly stay off property because that was the only time we could move! I think next trip we're going to try early May, or mid November to see the Christmas party. The plus side is it got us away from the snow for a week

Agreed! I have never had this type of experience. I have read about the Brazilian tours groups attacking the Parks in July, never January. They were a nightmare and we too had trouble getting around MK because of them. And yes, I have to wonder if they were staying off property too since the MK was less busy when the sun went down. AMEN! We didn't even make it to Fantasyland because it was so crowded. That was the first trip we didn't ride any rides in that area of the Park. Another thing that shocked me was the wait for the train in Frontierland. We usually walk right up and get on the very next train. There was a huge wait and the line went all the way down the stairs outside of the train station. We gave up and walked.

I prefer Oct., EARLY Dec. and early Feb. Never have problems with those time frames.

 

[sophie832]

We just got back from our trip (1/25-2/1), and we did see a lot of the tour groups. We also saw a lot of South Americans in general. However, we didn't feel the crowds were nearly as bad as when we went in December (12/2-12/12). We planned carefully, though. I looked at the crowd predictions on all of the various websites, and we stayed away from the parks that were predicted to be bad. That meant no EMH, no Fantasmic, and no Electrical Parade, but we were totally fine with that.

I will agree about the tour groups having no manners...they are pretty bad.

 

[JaxsonsMom]

Just back as well 1/22-29

I avoided EMH and such, only braved it for Fantasmic.

I didn't think the parks were that crowded, but I am used to Disneyland crowds. The longest line I waited in was 20 minutes, and that was to see Lotso!

The tour groups were out of control and I believe most of them stayed at the All Stars because I always noticed them in the bus lines.

Speaking of buses, I can't say more about how great they were! We stayed at Pop and I never waited more that 10 minutes! Maybe it was luck, but even after Wishes on 1/28, they have a guy directing people on the buses, there were 4 buses there within 10 minutes!

 

[Coconuts]

Just back as well 1/22-29

I avoided EMH and such, only braved it for Fantasmic.

I didn't think the parks were that crowded, but I am used to Disneyland crowds. The longest line I waited in was 20 minutes, and that was to see Lotso!

The tour groups were out of control and I believe most of them stayed at the All Stars because I always noticed them in the bus lines.

Speaking of buses, I can't say more about how great they were! We stayed at Pop and I never waited more that 10 minutes! Maybe it was luck, but even after Wishes on 1/28, they have a guy directing people on the buses, there were 4 buses there within 10 minutes!

Hey, I knew I recognized the name "Jaxson"! I think we were in the connecting room next to you at POP. I saw your names in the window. Hope we weren't too loud.

 

[jojo05]

I couldn't believe the tour groups at ASMovies. The perfume was just awful from them in the lobby. and they were so loud! so rude. I couldn't believe it!

 

[JaxsonsMom]

Hey, I knew I recognized the name "Jaxson"! I think we were in the connecting room next to you at POP. I saw your names in the window. Hope we weren't too loud.

Aw! I wish I would of known!

Nope, only heard probably your little one once and it didn't bother me a bit! I feel bad for the people below me! Jaxson does not understand walk!


Hope you had a great trip!

 

[ocean134]

Just back as well 1/22-29

I avoided EMH and such, only braved it for Fantasmic.

I didn't think the parks were that crowded, but I am used to Disneyland crowds. The longest line I waited in was 20 minutes, and that was to see Lotso!

The tour groups were out of control and I believe most of them stayed at the All Stars because I always noticed them in the bus lines.

Speaking of buses, I can't say more about how great they were! We stayed at Pop and I never waited more that 10 minutes! Maybe it was luck, but even after Wishes on 1/28, they have a guy directing people on the buses, there were 4 buses there within 10 minutes!

I agree! The buses at POP are amazing! When we left MK around 9pm there were two buses at the POP stop waiting. Those two filled up and a third pulled in right behind them and we all boarded and the line was gone. I constantly write emails to Guest Services to please make all resorts bus stops like the Values. They are the best systems to/from the parks. I have stayed in Values, Moderates and Deluxe and still choose POP due to the easy buses. YAY for POP!

 

[Coconuts]

Aw! I wish I would of known!

Nope, only heard probably your little one once and it didn't bother me a bit! I feel bad for the people below me! Jaxson does not understand walk!


Hope you had a great trip!

We did have a great trip and hope you did too!

You probably heard her on Saturday morning when we had to wash her face painting off. You would have thought we were using acid instead of soap and water.

My kids don't know how to walk on the floor either--they only walk on the beds/furniture!

 

[*sarah*]

I think the tour groups mostly stay off property

There were several of the groups at ASMovies with us. And I know when we dropped some off sometimes they were at the other ones too.

The longest line I waited in was 20 minutes, and that was to see Lotso!

Wow! We really lucked out on that one. We walked into the animation building, found Lotso and got in line. There was one family in front of us!

 

[Maleficent1974]

Hi!

I don't know if anybody can start these threads, but I just did, lol!!!

It will be myself, my husband, and our two boys, at time of travel they will be almost 4 and 5 1/2.

We are going January 23rd, (but I'm pushing for the 22nd) to January 30th, 2011. Sooooo excited I don't know how I am possibly going to wait that long.

Staying at the CR, hopefully TPV, depending on finances, but I think it's going to be doable.

I have a 1st draft of my daily plan that I want to post when it gets more detailed, I think this may be a good spot to do it.

Who else is with us in January?

We normally go in September. Nice weather and GREAT crowds. We went Jan 22 - the 26th. I took my sister (who is 32) along with us for her first time. We have been lots. I hope you had a better time than we did. I was so disapointed. We have been in January before (like the 2nd week) and the weather was so beautiful, and lines and crowds were wonderful. This time I was shocked at how crowded it was. I think that the entire country of Brazil was there. Yes it was freezing also, but that was manageable. I am not sure now if I will ever go back in January if I am going to have to deal with crowds like that, we will probably stick with September.

 

[bytheblood]

I agree with all of the above. I thought January would be empty. Oh well, back to trying another time out.

We were there from the 12th through the 16th and walked onto everything. We ran into a little bit of crowds on Friday in Magic Kingdom for about 3 hours - but the rest of the time was quiet.

 

[bytheblood]

Those tour groups were terrible. We had a lot of them at ASMovies. The worst thing we experienced with them was late one night when we got picked up at DTD Marketplace, the bus went over to the Pleasure Island spot I think, and there were a ton of the people from the groups there, they'd just seen La Nouba and as soon as the bus stopped they started beating on the side of it and were just plain wild. When the driver opened the door a few ran on the bus before the people getting off the bus could get off, and even though the driver tried to make them get off and wait, they wouldn't. It was almost scary how they acted.

We had such an opposite experience. We saw several groups of 50 to literally about 200 during our stay. Aside from them taking ALL of the fastpasses in one shot, we had no issues with the. If we saw them, we skirted around them and got to the attractions before they did. We honestly experienced no poor behaviour. They were quite loud, but that was it.

 

[MickeyReeds]

We are back after a wonderful trip 1-28 through 2-4. We had fabulous weather--no rain except a light mist on our last day. I felt like the parks were more crowded than our trip 3 years ago during the same time, but the lines weren't bad at all. There just seemed to be a lot of people wandering around! We did encounter some large groups--one was a group of girls celebrating there 15/16th birthdays I think. Some of the groups were quite loud--chanting and singing their way through the parks. We tried to avoid all of them--my kids called them the "backpacks".

One time, my niece (who is 12) was in line for a snack and a few girls pushed in front of her to join up with their friends, but that was the only real incident we encountered.

Our last 2 days there, groups were arriving for a dance competition, at CBR, where we stayed. We didn't experience any problems with that either.

We did experience some long waits for busses at CBR--I swear, busses would come for every park, except the one we were waiting for! One driver told the riders to always allow 1 hour to get anywhere--20 minutes for the bus to come, 20 minutes to ride and 20 minutes to walk wherever you are going--that was true for us most days!

We had long waits for other resort busses as well--for example, leaving AK to go to AKL to eat at Boma, we waited over 25 minutes for a bus and were almost late for our ressie--we ran though and made it on time!

We had a great vacation, but learned that it is difficult to tour the parks with 11 people. Our family has a commando style of touring and my brother's family is more laid back. It all worked out well in the end and my parents had a wonderful time celebrating their 50th anniversary!

 

[ocean134]

I too noticed the line jumping abilities of some of those groups. My family and I were in line at the turnstiles at Universal and there was a Brazilian man in front of us, well, our line moved up and his wife came over and joined him and then waved to the rest of her family in other lines. We ended up with a family of 5 in front of us. What in the world? That had be seriously annoyed. The lines at those turnstiles weren't even long. Clearly these people have never seen a rush hour line at MK.

 

[DisneyFirstTimer10]

Sorry to Hijack-

Just returned from our Feb trip and experienced tour groups and some spotty weather- but the crowd levels seemed low compared to May.

We want to return next year and were thinking January was a good time to go. We picked the third week- Jan 21, 2012- Jan 28, 2012 and just wanted to hear from those of you who went in January 2011.

What did you think?

Would you recommend mid-late January as a time to go?

Thanks!