January 4-7: Should I be spooked?

[NewbieMouse]

We are currently scheduled to go on our annual holiday trip this year from January 4-7. We do a holiday trip every year, in combination with a conference my husband always attends, and over the years we have come to move it around to avoid crowds as much as is feasible. Last year we put Disney at the beginning to avoid the last couple weeks in December, but by the time we were done the rest of the vacation, we were ready to hit up Disney again so this year we thought we'd put it at the end of the trip, and go the first week of January.

I didn't realize when I planned all of this that the LA schools were still out at this time, so now I am very spooked by what awaits us, crowd-wise. Does anyone have any idea what they think this will be like? I am considering splurging to stay onsite to get the Extra Morning Hours, and and just weighing whether to do that, and how much I should brace myself for busyness. The only option would be to move it to December 20-24, but by now most of the hotels I like are booked, and I think that would be worse. I hate big crowds. HATE them!

Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated.

 

[jammyjam25]

I think the Christmas week crowds would be MUCH worse than January 4-7. Sure the LA schools still may be out, but everyone else who was on vacation has gone home!

 

[figment_jii]

I think there will be crowds in the park because the Deluxe, SoCal, and SoCal Select AP holiday blockouts end on January 2 and 3, which means that for some guests this is the first chance they'll have to go to the parks since mid-December and it's the last chance to see the holiday offerings (assuming they're still up and running at that point). I don't think it's going to be as bad as the week between Christmas and New Year (e.g., capacity level crowds), but it's not going to be quiet/empty either.

 

[NewbieMouse]

Sigh.... should I spring for on site or just do BWPPI? This may be the only year I can justify with DH, although it will have to be GCH as the reason he likes BWPPI so much is due to proximity.

 

[Sherry E]

No -- don't be spooked. Why be spooked? Just go when you can go and have a good time! : The holiday season is never going to be a slow time with low crowds, but there will be times when it is more crowded than others and a bit less crowded than others.

As I mentioned in the other person's January thread (where you said that you didn't know about the schools being out), there are other factors contributing to extra people in the parks -- Three Kings Day, Haunted Mansion Holiday possibly running through January 10th (it stayed open a bit later this past January than usual, so it could happen again), maybe a return of the full array of Frozen Fun, etc. Because those January dates will be the ending days of the holiday season, people whose AP block outs have been lifted will come to the parks. It happens every year. And other non-AP people will just be enjoying the last vestiges of holiday merriment.

It's not going to be on par with the crowds between Christmas and New Year's, so anything will be better than that.

If it rains -- and we are supposedly going to get hit with a lot of rain this winter -- that will keep the crowds away.

 

[NewbieMouse]

Thank you, Sherry - the one who got me hooked on the holidays to begin with - I am going to start praying for rain. The year we were closest to the holidays was the year of epic storms and it was a dream, as far as I was concerned!