Just got back today....some thoughts...

[NotUrsula]

It's not only the post-9/11 tourism recovery that has the crowds building, it is the weak dollar.

The number of foreign tourists, especially Europeans, is now 3X what it was in 2000; visiting the US from abroad is cheaper right now than it has been in 20 years.

 

[MrsJ Henry]

I will say that we had very good luck the week before Thanksgiving.Tue at MK was Great!!! We were walking on to most rides. ( and this was the day that the stich ride opened and the press was there.) We also did good that Wed at Epcot . Friday it started to pick up and the Saturday before Thanksgiving was CROWDED. We had been spoiled in the beginning of our trip so I'm sure it seemed worse than it was but still.....
We were planning on going this time again next year but it is no longer value season so we may wait until the week after Thanksgiving. ( Although I hear this time is getting crowded also)
Until then we are going in April and I'm sure that will be crowded... but we can't wait a whole year!!!!

 

[Tiffany]

Whoever said that the parks clear out after January 2 needs to return there to see that theory go out the window. Not only hadn't people left, every park was mobbed. My husband and I flew down on Jan. 2 and returned today. Granted, the crowds were not like they are at Christmas, but they were big. I have come to the conclusion that the Magic Kingdom will never, ever, be "not crowded" - unless it's 4:00am...Not complaining - we had a great time, weather high 70's - low 80's, friendly people, but no ride was really a "walk-on" that people claim at this time of year. 50 minutes for Peter Pan, at one point....oh well!!

The Jan. crowds depend on what is going on. The WDW marathon is tomorrow I believe so you had people arriving all this past week for that. You also had the holiday crowds extending their vacations. The next crowded time is the MLK holiday weekend. We have found that after the holiday through the Wednesday before the president's day holiday in Feb. is the least crowded time. We walk on things in all of the parks.

We also find Sept to be very slow.

 

[PatriciaH]

We have been going to the parks pretty much every day since we got here at the end of October Early November was good, early December was also good (pretty much walk ons.) This week has been pretty crowded but MK yesterday was not too bad. The walkways/parade viewing was a lot lighter but there were waits for the all rides.

 

[opal]

We arrived on 1/1/5 and returned home last night. The Magic Kingdom was crowded most of the time except Sunday morning. Even the late opening evening was pretty busy. A CM in Toontown told us that even Disney was caught a little off guard by the crowds. It did get better later in the week. The other parks were not so bad, but all in all it was still busier than we had ever seen it other January trips. We did notice that there were quite a few foreign visitors from South America, etc.

The extra hours in the evening were nice. We did them all with the exception of the Animal Kingdom late evening.

The weather was outstanding and we had a wonderful time.

 

[Buzz's Buddy]

We were at WDW from 12/28 until 1/5.

We found the crowds to be extremely heavy at all 4 parks through New Year's Eve. As already mentioned, MK crowds were very large.

We found that the crowds at Epcot, MGM and AK started to thin out on New Year's Day and were very managable by the time we left. The only exception of course was MK which stayed pretty crowded for our entire stay.

 

[berly1657]

We enjoy going late Jan early Feb. One year our vacation came to an end during Presidents week. WOW - we couldn't believe how busy MK became in 1 day - tomorrowland was breathing room only. We didn't realize that some schools give their kids a winter break and they have that whole week off - so avoid Presidents week if you can. Luckily we left 2 days later

 

[sanibelover]

Yup, the week before Thanksgiving was great. There were lots fo people around, but the lines for most rides were very short. We did MK on Thursday and that was the only time all week that we used fastpass. (The wait for BTM was probably close to 30 minutes, but we cruised in with FP) They didn't even have the FP machines working at MGM.

A CM told me that POFQ was at 50% capacity during that week , but would be about 90% on that Saturday before Thanksgiving. (When we left!!!)

We are thinking about the week after Labor Day for our next trip.

 

[tinyrip]

when i was there in december i had heard from a cm that crowds were a bit up even though it was supposed to be low level crowds, because of the hurricanes that had gone through. maybe these are still crowds of people who had put the trip off.

 

[TammiMcMan]

Last year we stayed in Disney right after New Years and it was amazing to see the crowd levels steadily go down each day. This year we did a Disney cruise at the same time, 1/4-1/8. Because of a winter storm warning on the day we were due to fly home, I thought we would just alter our plans and stay in Disney. When we called CRO, they had exactly 1 room available and that was a 2 bedroom suite at the BW. I think it was because of the marathon that they were so packed. Wasn't it a week later last year? Oh well, needless to say, we passed on the room and did end up making it home safely, just a little late.

 

[26555]

I didn't think early Jan would be light when FL schools (and maybe others?) did not resume until Jan 10th.

 

[Jaynerita]

Airline fares were pretty cheap in December.(except of course Christmas week) and the same is true for January. I live in Massachusetts and I've flown to Orlando 4 times this year. You can get a hotel room cheaply and a car rental is pretty cheap with coupons etc. It's cheaper to go to Orlando for a few days than to New york!!!! When I was there in early December, crowds were much larger than I expected. I'm going in April (daughter playing softball in tournament) and I don't know what to expect for crowds. All I know is that it costs an arm and a leg for airfare to go that week as it is school vacation for Mass.