January 2018 question

[Gotta Love Eeyore]

Hoping to plan a trip Jan 1-6, 2018. Just realized that Jan 3-7 will be Marathon Weekend. Historically, how bad are crowds this week? Any chance for any discounts?

Thanks!

 

[Robo]

Don't worry about the marathon, in particular.
The famous "Tour Groups" will be also be there.

Another major factor in larger crowds that week is that many schools are still on Christmas break, and when schools are out, WDW is busy.

 

[mshanson3121]

What Robo said - a lot of schools will still be out for Christmas break, so that is definitely going to increase crowds. And as for a chance for discounts, I would say none. Again, that's still their busy Christmas break season.

 

[revdon64]

I'll be there with my son the 3rd - 5th and then the 8th - 14th with a Disney Dream cruise in the middle. If you go by some crowd calendars (they've been less accurate recently but can still be a good guide), those days are very manageable. Josh at easyWDW listed many of those weekdays this year as 1s, 2s, and 3s. The weekend with the marathon will be a bit tougher, but weekends always are.

 

[rteetz]

Hoping to plan a trip Jan 1-6, 2018. Just realized that Jan 3-7 will be Marathon Weekend. Historically, how bad are crowds this week? Any chance for any discounts?

Thanks!

Well I wouldn't worry about the runners at all but the calendar is not good in terms of schools being off. This year for marathon weekend had increased crowds not from the marathon but from other people being there because they are still out of school. 2018 will suffer from the same problem.

 

[ministrychick77]

So even during the week the crowds will be bad? I'm planning a 1 day trip before our cruise on the 5th and we'll be there on the 4th (going to MK)..

 

[Anal Annie]

Last year we went Jan 2-8 and it was busy but tolerable. This year we went Jan 3-9 and found it a lot busier than last year. Like by a LOT. But that said I already booked our SSR for next Jan 3-9 again bcuz this is DS's winter break from college and our days of trips with him are numbered. But I'm dreading the crowds if they are as big as this year...

 

[Anal Annie]

I'll be there with my son the 3rd - 5th and then the 8th - 14th with a Disney Dream cruise in the middle. If you go by some crowd calendars (they've been less accurate recently but can still be a good guide), those days are very manageable. Josh at easyWDW listed many of those weekdays this year as 1s, 2s, and 3s. The weekend with the marathon will be a bit tougher, but weekends always are.

Josh was WRONG. Those days the first week that he called for 2s and 3s were packed. I was there and it wasn't our first rodeo. POC, JC and HM hit 60-70 minutes. Space had a few times that hit over 120! Seriously, the standby line at Space literally was coming all the way outside. We even had a 30 minute wait for the People Mover one night!! And that was THE shortest wait time in the entire park at the time!!

 

[gillep]

Josh was WRONG. Those days the first week that he called for 2s and 3s were packed. I was there and it wasn't our first rodeo. POC, JC and HM hit 60-70 minutes. Space had a few times that hit over 120! Seriously, the standby line at Space literally was coming all the way outside. We even had a 30 minute wait for the People Mover one night!! And that was THE shortest wait time in the entire park at the time!!

THIS!!! DH and I go for the marathon every year, and the years that it is closest to New Years are always the most crowded. This year we went the 4th-11th and it was very crowded from the 4th-8th, especially MK. It was tolerable but certainly crowded for what we are used to in January, and much more crowded than when the marathon is a week later. This coming year the marathon is also very early and close to New Years. We will be there January 3-10 and we expect the 3rd-7th to be very very busy.

 

[revdon64]

Josh was WRONG. Those days the first week that he called for 2s and 3s were packed. I was there and it wasn't our first rodeo. POC, JC and HM hit 60-70 minutes. Space had a few times that hit over 120! Seriously, the standby line at Space literally was coming all the way outside. We even had a 30 minute wait for the People Mover one night!! And that was THE shortest wait time in the entire park at the time!!

THIS!!! DH and I go for the marathon every year, and the years that it is closest to New Years are always the most crowded. This year we went the 4th-11th and it was very crowded from the 4th-8th, especially MK. It was tolerable but certainly crowded for what we are used to in January, and much more crowded than when the marathon is a week later. This coming year the marathon is also very early and close to New Years. We will be there January 3-10 and we expect the 3rd-7th to be very very busy.

Stop, you folks are killing me. I'm not prepared for big crowds that week.

And BTW about Josh being wrong, his numbers are relative to other parks and other days of the week - not year to year. Year to year the parks are more crowded than ever. I went in mid January of 2006 and almost everything we rode was a walk-on. Those low levels don't exist anymore. So yes, it was more crowded this year than last, but that's not a reflection on whether any particular crowd calendar prediction is right or wrong. They are projections after all. Let me know when Touring Plans gets a time machine.

 

[Simba's Girl]

THIS!!! DH and I go for the marathon every year, and the years that it is closest to New Years are always the most crowded. This year we went the 4th-11th and it was very crowded from the 4th-8th, especially MK. It was tolerable but certainly crowded for what we are used to in January, and much more crowded than when the marathon is a week later. This coming year the marathon is also very early and close to New Years. We will be there January 3-10 and we expect the 3rd-7th to be very very busy.

We will also be there the 3-10th next year. I expect it to be busy through the 7th as well, but not anything like middle of the summer hot and busy. FWIW our schools go back from Christmas break the 2nd in 2018. So perhaps a bit better than this year?

 

[Anal Annie]

Stop, you folks are killing me. I'm not prepared for big crowds that week.

And BTW about Josh being wrong, his numbers are relative to other parks and other days of the week - not year to year. Year to year the parks are more crowded than ever. I went in mid January of 2006 and almost everything we rode was a walk-on. Those low levels don't exist anymore. So yes, it was more crowded this year than last, but that's not a reflection on whether any particular crowd calendar prediction is right or wrong. They are projections after all. Let me know when Touring Plans gets a time machine.

We were there the same week in 2016 and it was NOT as busy as this year.

I can tell you that as DVC members we already have a res booked at SSR for a std. studio for 6 nights in January 2018. Our 11 month booking window opened just a little over a month ago and even as large as SSR is, the night of Jan 5th is already gone (in a std. studio - preferred is still open tho but to me that says a lot). I can see with our Resort Availability Tool that several DVC resorts already have limited to sketchy availability that week for studios and 1 bedrooms (as in not more than 1 or 2 consecutive nights open). That's why I booked at 11 months tho. And FWIW SSR is usually one of the last DVC resorts to have availability when the 7 month booking window opens for us to switch resorts. That's not until June. Last year there was nowhere left to switch to at the 7 month window and I am expecting it to look the same this year from what I can see going on so far. Anybody within DVC who got shut out last year by not booking early learned a lesson and is booking their home resorts early this year. I can see that happening already. I would expect it to be busy again...JM2C.

 

[gillep]

We will also be there the 3-10th next year. I expect it to be busy through the 7th as well, but not anything like middle of the summer hot and busy. FWIW our schools go back from Christmas break the 2nd in 2018. So perhaps a bit better than this year?

We have never gone during the summer so I can't compare, but there were a couple times in MK that were much worse than we have experienced previously, even worse than the one time we went during the spring break season. We had friends get stuck at the MK bag check/entrance for an hour one morning at about 11:00am (we were walking from BLT so thankfully we had a separate entrance and got in very quickly). I hope 2018 will be better, but if anything I think it may be worse, based on the dates alone, and what I have seen for DVC availability (I know not a great predictor but this is the worst I have seen in 8-9 years for availability). Personally I am planning on a lot of resort time until at least the 6th or maybe at least avoiding MK.

 

[Anal Annie]

We have never gone during the summer so I can't compare, but there were a couple times in MK that were much worse than we have experienced previously, even worse than the one time we went during the spring break season. We had friends get stuck at the MK bag check/entrance for an hour one morning at about 11:00am (we were walking from BLT so thankfully we had a separate entrance and got in very quickly). I hope 2018 will be better, but if anything I think it may be worse, based on the dates alone, and what I have seen for DVC availability (I know not a great predictor but this is the worst I have seen in 8-9 years for availability). Personally I am planning on a lot of resort time until at least the 6th or maybe at least avoiding MK.

I agree. At 10 months out the DVC availability is already getting sketchy. It was busy last year too but I think not as much until more like 8 or 9 months...

 

[rteetz]

Last year we went Jan 2-8 and it was busy but tolerable. This year we went Jan 3-9 and found it a lot busier than last year. Like by a LOT. But that said I already booked our SSR for next Jan 3-9 again bcuz this is DS's winter break from college and our days of trips with him are numbered. But I'm dreading the crowds if they are as big as this year...

They will be because of how New Years falls.

 

[rteetz]

We will also be there the 3-10th next year. I expect it to be busy through the 7th as well, but not anything like middle of the summer hot and busy. FWIW our schools go back from Christmas break the 2nd in 2018. So perhaps a bit better than this year?

Not all schools will though. The holidays fell similarly this year as they will next year and many schools didn't go back until that following Monday. I noticed earlier in the week it was busier than it was say Friday-Monday.

 

[ShellieMimi]

I was there that weekend this year. Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday were packed way beyond what any crowd calendar predicted. It didn't just "feel crowded" - it was! It tapered off on Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday were indeed less crowded & the crowds came right back on Friday.

I hated it so much that I'm going back at the same time next year. But seriously, the crowds that weekend were very similar to what we experienced in October for MNSSHP/F&W, if not higher.

 

[HopperFan]

We are not far and WDW is a popular destination.
We used to travel that week to WDW before the crowds were just no fun.
Last year and this year hundreds of thousands in our area are out that first week.
We go back the 8th.
Crowds will be there.
Especially when it works with the Marathon for full families to come,
not just the runners for the weekend.

 

[rteetz]

We are not far and WDW is a popular destination.
We used to travel that week to WDW before the crowds were just no fun.
Last year and this year hundreds of thousands in our area are out that first week.
We go back the 8th.
Crowds will be there.
Especially when it works with the Marathon for full families to come,
not just the runners for the weekend.

Even when it was mainly runners I never found crowds to be bad that weekend. The way the holidays fell this year and next year means crowds were and will be higher.

 

[amypdo]

My daughter is a New Years baby.... so we will be there dec 30th through jan 6th for her 16th bday ! We KNOW it will be bad on NEW YEARS EVE but we don't care we have been several times at different times of the year and I will take extremely packed any day than when we went during the summer