Lines in January

[disney144]

visiting the last week of January/early February. What can we expect in minutes for lines? Headliners vs other lines? Any estimates are much appreciated.

 

[Robo]

That changes by the park, the day, the attraction, and the hour.

 

[Shanti]

visiting the last week of January/early February. What can we expect in minutes for lines? Headliners vs other lines? Any estimates are much appreciated.

Expect waits, just not insane waits like you get on holidays like Christmas. The only time I've experienced almost everything being a walk-on was in late January 2009 (depths of the recession & before the WDW attendance spike of recent years). I've since stayed in early February 2014, and late January 2016 (as well as a lot of other times of year), and found lines in late Jan/early Feb to be no shorter than the lines we had in late July last year.

So it will be better than fall, better than spring break, better than Christmas, Easter and the 4th of July (those are WDW's current peak periods). But beyond that, you'll still be at WDW and there is no true "low" season any more. You'll still need to do some planning and use FastPasses to make the most out of your trip.

Check the My Disney Experience App or Touring Plans wait time app right now to get estimates for wait times for specific rides, and keep monitoring over a week or so to learn the patterns. Wait times likely won't be extremely different in late Jan/early Feb from what they are in mid-August.

 

[Simba's Mom]

All I can tell you is that for the last two years we've gone Marathon weekend, then stayed a couple days later. Wow. what a drop to almost what used to be "Low crowds" right after Marathon weekend! DH commented that if he weren't running, the week afterwards would be the week to go.

 

[rwdavis2]

Although overall crowd levels may be lower WDW tends not to run rides all full capacity at those times. For example you may only have 1 of the 2 tracks running for Space Mtn. So, there will still be long lines at some popular attractions.

 

[Jack & Monica]

Here is what I have been using for my plans. We are going in the same time frame.
https://www.undercovertourist.com/orlando/crowd-calendar/January-2018/

 

[tobikaye]

I was there that week last year. There is no set timeframe for waits I can give you as we chose not to get in line for anything with a line over 20 minutes. That said, with good use of FP+ and flexibility, we rode all headliners. Some things we did multiple times.

We park hopped frequently and took lots of breaks from the parks to shop, eat, or nap over 7 days.

 

[bookgirl]

I was there same week this year and it was moderate waits (15-30) with just a few that were in the 60+ range. (Soarin', FEA, coasters and Fantasyland during the peak hours) For the most part it was very manageable between maximizing non peak hours and FP+.

 

[disney144]

I was there same week this year and it was moderate waits (15-30) with just a few that were in the 60+ range. (Soarin', FEA, coasters and Fantasyland during the peak hours) For the most part it was very manageable between maximizing non peak hours and FP+.

ThNk you. This is exactly what I was looking for.