January Crowds

[Misch30]

First time post here. Let me start by saying that I know Magic Kingdom is always going to be a busy place with lots of people. That being said, we just returned from a trip to Disney from Jan.20th- 27th staying at Art of Animation. Had a fun time but very surprised at the high crowd levels,especially MK. Everyone and everything says the end of Jan. is one of the slowest times in Disney World. Does anyone know why it would have been so busy? When you deliberately choose a quiet time and pull your children out of school you expect it to be sort of what you expected. We have visited in October 2010, November 2012, September 2014 and this last trip January 2016. This last trip was by far the most crowded. By all accounts Oct and Nov. should have been busier.So why do you think this is? My husband thinks everybody looks at the same info and is now going at the times that were supposedly quiet, I think it is the stronger economy and just more people are going or is it simply luck of the draw as to what park you pick on what day?

 

[a742246]

With HS in reinvention mode, EPCOT's soaring down, MK is probably getting the overflow!

 

[monkyby87]

I think the short answer is there are no slow times anymore. I think the "slow" times are still the best times to go, but there just won't be a dead time really. Because of that the slow times now seem like busy times.

EDIT: To add to this, I think crowd calendars are becoming pretty outdated and inaccurate, so people that are used to them are shocked when their supposed "2" day is actually a "5" day. I've never used them personally. And expectations are from what they experienced 3 years ago. I'm not talking about the OP specifically, just people in general.

 

[OchreHand]

This seems to be a popular subject as of late. I can sympathize, though -- from my trip earlier this month I was surprised by the crowds as well. MK seems to be getting most of the crowds because of its cross generation appeal, combined with other parks that are in construction mode. When you factor in tour groups, more people checking crowd calendars, well, that's where we are now.

I do think sites like Touring Plans should take this into consideration if they haven't already. For instance, I went to MK on a Tues which they predicted a "3." I was disappointed to find the park packed with people and nothing was a walk on. When I came back from my vaca, Touring Plans updated their numbers and said it was really a "7." That's a pretty big jump, imho.

One thing that does seem to keep the crowds low is weather.

 

[mrsdaly]

Yes, I would agree that MK is probably getting overloaded because HS and Epcot don't have as much draw right now (too many closures), and AK has always been the least popular park. I'm glad that we didn't plan on going until September this year (last two years in January), because between Soarin' down and all the closures at HS.... I'd rather wait. By Sept, at least Soarin' and Frozen Ever After will be open.

 

[HopperFan]

Here now. Regular January visitors, and sometimes February too. Have never seen crowds this large in all my January visits. Noticeably more.

What we notice is the large numbers of international families. Normally we only see the teen groups but they have been fewer, families in large numbers. Our guessing was with the terrible exchange rate and it bound to get worse, that possibly these families scheduled trips before it became even more costly. This is their summer vacation.

 

[TommyJK]

I've changed my strategy/touring plan for a couple of weeks from now to essentially prepare for an 8 or higher crowd day, to accurately set our expectations.

Gonna do rope drop and head to Adventure & Frontier Land in the morning when the crowds are lowest there (since it seems most Rope Droppers go straight to Fantasy Land or Tomorrow Land). Have my FP's booked for the afternoon between 1:00-5:00, then hoping to get some additional FPs after that.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[monkyby87]

I've changed my strategy/touring plan for a couple of weeks from now to essentially prepare for an 8 or higher crowd day, to accurately set our expectations.

Gonna do rope drop and head to Adventure & Frontier Land in the morning when the crowds are lowest there (since it seems most Rope Droppers go straight to Fantasy Land or Tomorrow Land). Have my FP's booked for the afternoon between 1:00-5:00, then hoping to get some additional FPs after that.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

Sounds like a good plan. As long as people aren't expecting low crowds they should have a good time. Then if it does happen to be a low crowd, all the better.

 

[TommyJK]

Sounds like a good plan. As long as people aren't expecting low crowds they should have a good time. Then if it does happen to be a low crowd, all the better.

I've essentially made my Touring Plan with contingencies to drop an attraction here and there if it's not lining up while actually there, but I think it's pretty rock solid as I've aligned it against what the wait times were during particular hours/attraction noted here from Jan 16th (which was an 8 day)

http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/wait_times.php?a=history

I love that site. So much info for a data junkie like me. My saving grace is that I have 2 boys so we're skipping any and all "princess" stuff.

 

[han22735]

I've changed my strategy/touring plan for a couple of weeks from now to essentially prepare for an 8 or higher crowd day, to accurately set our expectations.

Gonna do rope drop and head to Adventure & Frontier Land in the morning when the crowds are lowest there (since it seems most Rope Droppers go straight to Fantasy Land or Tomorrow Land). Have my FP's booked for the afternoon between 1:00-5:00, then hoping to get some additional FPs after that.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

We were there 1/11-20 and this was our exact plan. We hit rope drop 2 days at MK and essential did the adventure land one morning and Tomorrow the next and the crowds were non-existent. No lines at all till about 11. Then our FP's started from about 11-2. Most of the time we were able to get multiple FP's from kiosks the rest of the afternoon.

A good plan is way more important than the crowd level.

 

[TommyJK]

Most of the time we were able to get multiple FP's from kiosks the rest of the afternoon.

Good to know. In my plan, after our last FP is done I'm hoping to get another for Buzz Lightyear @~6:30, and after that one is done hoping to get an additional for BTMRR @~7:30.

 

[monkyby87]

A good plan is way more important than the crowd level.

Thank you for saying this, I don't know if it can be stressed enough. Regardless of crowd, even during the holiday months, a good plan will always make a difference.

 

[DrivenByDisney]

Funny. The last few visits this month we found the crowds to be nothing, relatively speaking as compared to "peak times". In the last two weeks we have visited Animal, Studios & Magic with smaller crowds than most times we visit the parks.

Two days ago we went to Magic with our first FP used at 3:05 PM. We rode the following rides listed below in order of riding, ate and were out of the park before 7:00 PM.

Space (FP)
Thunder (FP)
Splash (FP)
Splash Again (Walk on)
Pirates (Walk on)
Ate at Casey's Corner
Mansion (5 minutes)
Buzz (5 minutes)
Space again (10 minutes)

So we were able to ride eight attractions in less than four hours, plus breaking for a few hot dogs at Casey's for about 20 minutes or so. This is how dead Magic was. The only long wait we saw was at Seven Dwarfs and it was under an hour at one point. Everything else was under 20 minutes or at a walk on.

After leaving Magic, went to EPCOT and rode Mission:Space (Walk on), Spaceship Earth (near walk on) and watched Illuminations. EPCOT was a bit more crowded than Magic, however I'm sure it was due to people waiting to watch Illuminations. So it may have "seemed" more crowded in World Showcase than the park actually was.

Friends are at the Studios today and text that no ride, other than Toy Story, was longer than 30 minutes. Which is not bad even if you don't have any FP's booked. May meet them out there later

 

[anniemae]

I also think some are avoiding HS since it is in transition mode, so MK is picking up the slack. If you don't have hoppers, which many don't, I think they are shying away from HS. I also think Disney is just becoming more busy in general and what was a 8 or 9 about say ten years ago is now a 4 or 5 now, and that is throwing people off. A "5" today is not the same as a "5" ten years ago.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

My husband thinks everybody looks at the same info

We noticed this trend long ago in regards to EMH. Originally EMH was crowded. As soon as popular guides stated telling folks EMH was crowded, it wasn't.


First, the 18th was holiday. Holiday weeks always = more crowds.

Second, perhaps you missed it, but the entire east coast of the US was stuck in place due to a blizzard. Folks in FL got stuck. Folks on their way to FL scrambled to go early.

I speak from the experience of many winter trips to WDW and getting suck a number of times. One year we were offered an early flight. Another year, we watched droves of Daytona 500 fans swarm MK the day after a blizzard trapped people in FL. Last week's blizzard was a record storm. I have no doubt it extended many vacations.


Given a choice between extra vacation in FL or being snowbound at home, many folks choose FL.

 

[Accident]

between the marathons, some other events, mk day, presidents day, some south american holidays about to come up. there isn't much low crowd in jan or feb anymore.

My concern with all this change is there is a renewed and a never would have gone before interest in WDW suddenly. MK is the park that is most disney and everyone will go there and go there more than once in their trip. I can't see it getting anything but worse unless there is some major expansion to that park as well. Even then, it'll have to impact in front of the castle and the parade route to fit everyone trying to squish in to see those. Maybe a 5th gate that is very disney as well might spread it out.

 

[redsbe]

between the marathons, some other events, mk day, presidents day, some south american holidays about to come up. there isn't much low crowd in jan or feb anymore.

My concern with all this change is there is a renewed and a never would have gone before interest in WDW suddenly. MK is the park that is most disney and everyone will go there and go there more than once in their trip. I can't see it getting anything but worse unless there is some major expansion to that park as well. Even then, it'll have to impact in front of the castle and the parade route to fit everyone trying to squish in to see those. Maybe a 5th gate that is very disney as well might spread it out.

By the late spring/early summer when Soarin is reopened at Epcot (and Frozen Ever After) crowds should start to flood back into that park taking pressure off MK. With expansion just completed at MK, and major current/future work underway at EPCOT, DS and AK, I doubt we will see much in the way of major work at the MK for at least 10 years.

 

[Accident]

By the late spring/early summer when Soarin is reopened at Epcot (and Frozen Ever After) crowds should start to flood back into that park taking pressure off MK. With expansion just completed at MK, and major current/future work underway at EPCOT, DS and AK, I doubt we will see much in the way of major work at the MK for at least 10 years.

I don't think so unless a 5th gate is announced. 50th anniversary in 5 years + john lasseter spotted in tomorrowland a few months ago with blueprints walking around. somethings coming, hollywood studios was similar in 2014 just before things started to close and eventually the new lands announced.

I do think the AK show and later hours is going to shift a lot of people those. Soarin, maybe. The land formerally known as norway will probably get a rush when that opens to. Now that I type this, I guess there is a lot of non-mk stuff going on this year, I can see it really helping to some degree but it doesn't really change that almost every guest does 2 days in mk and it's not counting people coming in that wouldn't because new thigns are happening that also have to fit somewhere. I really think MK is not going to see less crowds for a long long time.

 

[JenMac10]

It could be that when other families are planning there vacation now that they are starting to hear and see the crowd calendar's and notice January as the best/lowest time to go. That's how I have went about planning my trips the last 2 years.. I know of a certain number of weeks that are best for us then I look at the crowd calendar and picked the lowest rank!

 

[Misch30]

This seems to be a popular subject as of latine. I can sympathize, though -- from my trip earlier this month I was surprised by the crowds as well. MK seems to be getting most of the crowds because of its cross generation appeal, combined with other parks that are in construction mode. When you factor in tour groups, more people checking crowd calendars, well, that's where we are now.

I do think sites like Touring Plans should take this into consideration if they haven't already. For instance, I went to MK on a Tues which they predicted a "3." I was disappointed to find the park packed with people and nothing was a walk on. When I came back from my vaca, Touring Plans updated their numbers and said it was really a "7." That's a pretty big jump, imho.

One thing that does seem to keep the crowds low is weather.

We were there 1/11-20 and this was our exact plan. We hit rope drop 2 days at MK and essential did the adventure land one morning and Tomorrow the next and the crowds were non-existent. No lines at all till about 11. Then our FP's started from about 11-2. Most of the time we were able to get multiple FP's from kiosks the rest of the afternoon.

A good plan is way more important than the crowd level.