January Crowds

[Misch30]

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.

 

[Misch30]

We actually live in central New Jersey and got hard hit by the storm while we were in Disney, I respectfully disagree that people heard the weather report on Thursday and decided spur of the moment to head to Disney. As we know most trips to Disney require some planning. I do believe some people maybe had to stay longer because of a delay.Perhaps your mention of the MLK holiday could have been a bigger factor. Maybe some people took the whole week.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

We actually live in central New Jersey and got hard hit by the storm while we were in Disney, I respectfully disagree that people heard the weather report on Thursday and decided spur of the moment to head to Disney.

I didn't mean people from NJ spontaneously go to WDW for a week on the fly.

I've been in FL multiple times when big storms hit.

When a big storm is coming, airlines waive change fees. A few years ago I was supposed to fly to MCO the same day as a storm. The airline called me, and offered us the option of leaving a day early. We jumped!

Multiple times, we have been in FL when a storm hit. Twice we were stuck an extra three days! One trip we bought spontaneous Universal tickets! It was easy.

The Daytona year I mentioned, many people came to see the race, but couldn't get home. I have never seen longer lines at the TTC ticket window as I saw that morning!

Many people also go to the Orlando area for business and conferences. If their flight gets cancelled, then yeah, they add leisure activities.

Let us not forget the many folks who DRIVE to Florida.

Maybe my family is alone, but I doubt it. I'd much rather add a day to my vacations than forfeit all the trip expenses I've prepaid. It has happened to us enough times now, that we budget for it any time we travel in winter!

 

[anniemae]

For the storm, I thought many folks had flights from the Northeast to FL that were cancelled and once the airports reopened everyone who was supposed to fly out over the weekend, flew out Monday or Tues. Then everyone headed for MK as their first park, as most people do. There were reports of MK being crowded that Tues or Wed after the weekend storm. So many airports were effected by the storm, Boston, NY, NJ, PA, DC.

 

[redsbe]

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.

MY point was that in the short term (next few months) MK will continue to see an increase as many now view both Epcot and HS as half day parks only. Once the new attractions open there this spring, plus new evening show at AK, some more even distribution of crowds will start. WDW is getting more popular overall, so yes MK which many spend at least 2 days is also going to reflect that trend. But due to closures at Epcot and DS we are also seeing a crowd shift into MK that will not be the same by late this spring or early summer.

 

[anniemae]

MY point was that in the short term (next few months) MK will continue to see an increase as many now view both Epcot and HS as half day parks only. Once the new attractions open there this spring, plus new evening show at AK, some more even distribution of crowds will start. WDW is getting more popular overall, so yes MK which many spend at least 2 days is also going to reflect that trend. But due to closures at Epcot and DS we are also seeing a crowd shift into MK that will not be the same by late this spring or early summer.

I agree. especially since many do not purchase hoppers, so they are skipping these parks and heading to MK so they don't spend only a few hours at a park.

 

[DWillowBay]

IDK, I was there January 11 - 15 and did not find the crowds to be bad at all. I used FP+s, but easily walked on to other rides. Maybe I just timed it well, but no complaints here.

 

[kstand]

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

You're leaving out some very important facts!
1) the area was forecast to have 2 inches of rain
2) it did, actually, rain on and off throughout the day, and started POURING most of the afternoon

Touring Plans predicted a level 6 and actually saw a level 1, so of course you were walking on rides. Thursday was the same, because it poured ALL day. Friday, everyone who was scared away by the weather the last 2 days hit MK and it was PACKED.

 

[Wood Nymph]

January has the lowest resort room rates of the year which is one of the reasons we usually go in January. We've noticed that it has gotten more crowded over the years and I know that some of it comes from the huge increase in foreign tourists. I also agree that the MK is getting busier because the other three parks have a lot less to do.

 

[KTwiegs]

We just return yesterday. 23rd to the 29th. And I agree it was much busier then we had experienced during our other January trip.
And I agree too that it did seem to be more out of the country guests.
Manageable, but the longest lines we have ever waited in.
The rainy days of the week were the best actually haha.
We will probably try a different time of the year next trip.

 

[Jhondy210]

I agree. We just got back 1/24 - 1/31 and the crowds were way heavier than I expected and much heavier than my Nov. 2015 trip. We still got to ride everything we wanted with FP+ but at times just walking through parts of the park was a real hassle. It definitely felt like a lot more foreigners in the park but I remember it feeling like that in November too so Idk why the parks felt worse than I expected and I was going into the park expecting moderately busy crowds.

I'm wanting to try Sept. to see how crowds are then but after that I think the crowds have now made it that my trips to Disney will be more spread out than I originally anticipated.

 

[Cadaverous Pallor]

I've been on this board for a month, and this identical thread has been made at least 6 times.

 

[DrivenByDisney]

You're leaving out some very important facts!
1) the area was forecast to have 2 inches of rain
2) it did, actually, rain on and off throughout the day, and started POURING most of the afternoon

Touring Plans predicted a level 6 and actually saw a level 1, so of course you were walking on rides. Thursday was the same, because it poured ALL day. Friday, everyone who was scared away by the weather the last 2 days hit MK and it was PACKED.

Rain never seems to drive people away as it once did, to me. It never drives us away. It was not pouring by any stretch of the imagination while we were there and stopped for good periods time that day actually. The crowd levels during the week are not bad (to me) with nothing ever going over 30 minutes, minus Toy Story & Seven Dwarfs, but they're always long waits anyway.

But I do get what you are saying Many are scared away by rain, though not 100% sure why.

 

[3darlings]

January has the lowest resort room rates of the year which is one of the reasons we usually go in January. We've noticed that it has gotten more crowded over the years and I know that some of it comes from the huge increase in foreign tourists. I also agree that the MK is getting busier because the other three parks have a lot less to do.

We were there Jan 8th through the 14th and I agree it was more crowded than I hoped but it wasn't terrible. What I did notice was the very high number of South American tourists although I didn't think it was as bad as it was at Universal. It seemed like we were the only ones speaking English at Universal (an exaggeration I know!) Based on our January experience the last few years, it seems to me that this is just prime time for South American tourists. Add that to the increased number of visitors in general, and you have a time of year that is no longer slow.

 

[larissawbb]

Does anyone think that with the economic slow down of the South American economies, that next January will be quieter ?

 

[Trixie15]

Here now, definitely a high number of international visitors. I love to sit and listen to all of the different languages being spoken.

There were two days last week that the crowds were pretty light due to the rain. I think Thursday was the lightest - it poured off and on all day! The poor cast members in the afternoon parade were just soaked by the time the end of the parade rolled around.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

I've been on this board for a month, and this identical thread has been made at least 6 times.

Get used to it - folks don't tend to search the forum.

 

[blestmom]

We just return yesterday. 23rd to the 29th. And I agree it was much busier then we had experienced during our other January trip.
And I agree too that it did seem to be more out of the country guests.
Manageable, but the longest lines we have ever waited in.
The rainy days of the week were the best actually haha.
We will probably try a different time of the year next trip.

Ditto to all the above. Except, I'll hopefully be back next January on an annual pass

 

[Cadaverous Pallor]

The funny thing is the actual amount of people in Disney World compared to 2 years ago is only 4% higher.

So it's not that crowds have gotten crazy.

FP+ just makes wait times a lot higher than they used to be, so it feels more crowded.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

I suspect the limits of FP+ is also contributing to more guests in MK. Many guests think FP+ = a limit of 3FP.

Epcot only has one FP attraction right now. Why waste a full day of FP there? I suspect a number of folks are reserving/using 3 FP in MK, then hopping to Epcot for the rest of the day. MK has over 11 solid FP options.

I also suspect many folks have adapted the same way we did. If we stay onsite at US, we bypass ALL the hassle of WDW pre-booking. FOTLA and not being locked into meals means we can relax and roam as we please. FP+ is great for US!

Last visit, we had an ADR in MK and STILL waited 90minutes before we had any food! Ick! At US, we just relax and eat when we arrive with minimal wait. IMO, Disney TS just aren't worth the aggravation, especially when I consider how much hassle it is to arrive on time via WDW transportation, and the threat of no show fees. Ick!

Vacations, IMO, are all about freedom of choice. We used to think of fastpasses as bonuses, now they are OBLIGATIONS. Obligations just aren't much fun.