January crowds/events

[nbrandt]

I am trying to find out if there are any big events in January at Disney World. The reason that I ask has to do with when we went down to Disney in December of last year. We had multiple run ins with the Pop Warner Cheerleaders and Football players, who were staying at the Value Resorts. We are going in 2012 for my son's 6th birthday, and are wondering if there are any weekends that we should avoid.

Thanks

 

[stacy~**]

We were there the last week of January 2009. The parks were packed with student groups (from South America??). It was a nightmare....tons of mid to upper teen kids unsupervised! They actually added a second Fantasmic performance (which a cm told me was rare?) because of the crowd levels. Definately worse than our previous Aug and March trips.

Not sure if this is typical or how to research it but I was very surprised and disappointed and wish someone would have warned me. Good luck!

 

[nbrandt]

Thanks for the info. We are planning to go for my son's birthday at the end of January. I'm just trying to avoid my kids and nephews hearing all of the cuss words and getting run over, both of which happened while we were there with the Pop Warner kids.

 

[traveljunkie2]

We were there the last week of January 2009. The parks were packed with student groups (from South America??). It was a nightmare....tons of mid to upper teen kids unsupervised! They actually added a second Fantasmic performance (which a cm told me was rare?) because of the crowd levels. Definately worse than our previous Aug and March trips.

Not sure if this is typical or how to research it but I was very surprised and disappointed and wish someone would have warned me. Good luck!

Oh no! We are going Jan. 22 - Feb. 1 because I thought this would be a calm period! We were there last year Jan 9-19. Our last weekend was over MLK holiday and the crowds were considerably worse that weekend. I wanted to avoid that weekend, so we're going a little later. Hopefully the tour groups won't be a big issue.

 

[The Hendies]

MLK Weekend is the Marathon. We did the 23rd to 31st this year and we had a great time. Yes, we did see one large (300-350 ppl) group of Blue People (some foreign tour group) but we just headed in another direction.

 

[minniebeth]

MLK Weekend is the Marathon. We did the 23rd to 31st this year and we had a great time. Yes, we did see one large (300-350 ppl) group of Blue People (some foreign tour group) but we just headed in another direction.

??
Martin Luther King Day in 2011 is Jan. 17.
The Marathon Weekend is Thurs. Jan 6 thru Sun. Jan 9, 2011

OP, We started going the end of January about 7 years ago, and at that time the crowds in January were so low it was so great. We have noticed that each year, the crowds have gotten progressively larger. The last time we went in January, we were really surprised how crowded it actually got! Our lines at AK were the worst we've seen for that time.
Now, crowded is relative...you will still have lower crowds than at other peak times of year, but don't expect the parks to be empty.