Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend

[JJ's Laughing Place]

We are wondering if this weekend is very crowded.(compared to the summer crowd) We were at Disney in June, it was so crowded and hot that we really could not do a lot. We were going to try to go back at this time because of the break from school.
We would appreicate any info that we can get.

 

[NCRedding]

We were at WDW over the MLK holiday this year. I was very surprised at how crowded MK was on the Saturday of the holiday--it seemed more crowded than when we went in June. The rest of the parks were manageable. We did notice people having a difficult time getting into restaurants without PSs, so I would definitely make those arrangements.

 

[bavaria]

In 2005 MLK weekend Orlando hosted it's largest convention ever. While the attendees weren't often in the parks, most restaurants were completely booked all weekend for dinners.... much busier than in past years, but I understand that the same convention (Homebuilders) will be back. Check out the convention centre calendar. (Apparently attendance was so high due to the 2004 hurricane season, and the rebuilding, so 2006 may be similar)

 

[QT Pooh]

We're also going around MLK weekend. The convention center has the National Homebuilders conference (attendance 110,000!) the week prior to MLK weekend. This will have an effect on hotels (most likely outside Disney) and rental cars.

 

[mel63]

We were there this past MLK week. I do not know how the parks were for the weekend, we were there at the Sports Complex for a soccer tournament. But the M-TH following MLK day was not crowded. It could have been the weather. There were freeze warnings some nights in nearby counties, and it was cold. We got there the Thurs, before, 80 dregrees. Friday, about 60 and raining off and on. Sat & Sun about 40 and raining. The temperature crept up during the week, to about 65 the day we left.

Soccer tournament is there every year, during that weekend. So that may affect the crowds.

Just take warm clthes if you go.

 

[JJ's Laughing Place]

Thanks for all of the inputs on MLK weekend. I think we may change the trip to the next week. I believe I would rather take our children out of school for a couple of days. We are wanting to go during a low(lower) attendence time. Because the kids were really disappointed after the summer trip. We had to stand in long and hot lines for a lot of the rides. Splash mountain, space mountain and thunder mountain were having a lot of problems throughout the week and were closed many times. It was just one of those trips were you feel like you missed a lot of things. Thanks again!

 

[antmaril]

I'm worried about this too - not MLK weekend, but the Builders' Convention. We have reservations for January 9-12 at Boardwalk Inn and January 12-14 at Portofino Bay. I was so hoping that we had chosen a great time for our trip, but, alas, I'm quite concerned about these 110,000 conventioners descending on Orlando while we're there. The airport alone could be a nightmare. I'm not as worried about the parks during the day because the convention folks will most likely be at the convention. However, evenings could be bad - think Downtown Disney - oy! Also, there could be private events at any one of the parks - either WDW or Universal. I'm thinking about canceling our trip. We've been to WDW and Universal many, many times, so the world won't end. We'd be disappointed, but I'm not sure I want to spend all that money and fight those crowds.