Need advice..Anyone been there in the last 2 weeks?

[DISFANSHAN]

We have been to WDW 4 times in the last 2 1/2 years, twice in May, twice in December. I am expecting my second child in May, and was trying to plan our next trip. Although I love it there in December, it is really just too crazy for me with everything going on for Christmas. Now with a baby (and my DS5) it will be even crazier trying to get all the holiday stuff done, and going to Disney at the same time.
Any way, my question is, how is it in January? Crowd-wise and weather-wise? Are the weekends crowded? I usually go during the week to avoid the crowds, but I don't want to take my son out of school too many days next year.
Any input would be appreciated!

 

[pintrader]

Weekends at WDW are like weekends anywhere else really. January has lighter guest traffic, but on the weekends, many FL residents will takea Friday or Monday and make it a long weekend. Even considering thatm the lines are not long and the weather is not uncomfortable. Quite a good balance of trade-off in my opinion.

Look at where I live. I have a pretty good "finger-on-the-pulse" understanding.

 

[WDW Fun]

We were just there 1/10 - 1/15. Crowds were the lightest of any of the trips in our past (see below). We never used fastpass once and I am not one to wait in a line longer than 10 min. But, I was cold a bit more than I would have liked. I didn't expect to be since Orlando weather in January is much warmer than Wisconsin (and I am used to Wis weather). We were prepared though and dressed in layers. We had no rainy days, but if we had it would have really been cold since I've experienced WDW in the rain during hot seasons and it was chilly.

 

[mom-2greatkids]

We go every January. Other than MLK weekend the crowds are very light. We were just there 1/9 - 1/16 and our longest wait was about 15 minutes--and that was because they only had one side of BTMRR open. A lot of the rides didn't even offer fast passes.

The weather is unpredictable. Although we've never had much rain, temperature varies greatly. We've had days in the 80's and days in the 50's. I generally pack a little bit of everything so we're ready for any kind of weather.

 

[blanq]

We returned from a WDW trip within the past week, with our trip running from 1/18-1/25. We have been to WDW during this same period only one other time.

Our trip ran over the MLK holiday. We went to Epcot on MKL day, after originally planning to skip parks altogether on the holiday. The World Showcase was empty as could be, but M:S had an 80 min wait, standby, and Test Track was a 45 minute wait. We noticed that crowds dropped off after that Monday, but significantly dropped off on Wednesday. Most rides, the remainder of the week, were walk on or very small waits (10-15 min). We did utilize fastpass at times, which helped us make the most of our park time.

As far as the weather goes, on MLK day, the morning was partly sunny but clouds moved in and there were periods of light rain throughout the afternoon. The rest of the week was sun, sun, sun! Temps mainly reached the high 60's, with one day about 72, during the day. The evenings and mornings were quite cool, to cold! Layering your clothing is a good strategy this time of year.

We love January trips, but also love early December and early May.

 

[Jcricket Fan]

We just returned from the World 1/19 -1/28. We usually plan our trips for the week starting on MLK day. I will rethink that from now on as the crowds are much higher then they use to be several years ago.

I spoke to many families who said they now keep their kids out of school the full week of MLK holiday and it showed. We had 20 min. waits for many of the rides. I also spoke with several CM's about the amount of people at the parks for what should be a "slow time" of the year. They all mentioned that they are surprised at the amount of children and how long the lines are at what once was a quiet time of the year.

My mom has a walking problem and that is why I try to choose a slower time of the year to go but these last 2 trips the crowds just keep getting larger.

I think if we go again in Jan. we will aim for the last full week and that might be better.

 

[Rachael Q]

We just returned. We were there from 01/18 to 01/25.

We arrived late afternoon on the 18th and had a nap, we got to Epcot at 6.00pm. We rode Spaceship Earth with no wait, and went through Innoventions West with about 6 other people.

We then walked over to World Showcase, and rode Rio del Tiempo in Mexico with no wait, had dinner at the Cantina de San Angel and found a seat easily enough.

We then walked through the viking ship and Stave church with no wait and rode Maelstrom with a 10 minute wait. Found a seat for Illuminations at 8.45pm!

On Monday 19th we went to Animal Kingdom got there 8.30am- cold and rainy day. We rode the Safari, Tricera Tops, Primeval Whirl, the Train to Consevation station with no wait. We didn't ride Kali River Rapids because it was too cold. We had a 30 minute wait for Dinosaur but only because it was raining and everyone wanted to be on an inside ride. We walked through all the trails with a small crowd, but nothing too bad, this was our busiest day at the parks.

In the evening we went to epcot again - Canada and the UK and Illuminations, but not a huge crowd.

Tuesday we went to MGM, got there at 9am and there were no waits for anything.

Wednesday was Magic Kingdom got there around 10am - we went on buzz 4 times with no wait! The only two rides we grabbed fast passes for - Winnie the Pooh and Peter Pan. We had small waits 10-15 minutes on Snow White, Astro Orbitor, Pirates of the Caribbean, and we walked on to everything else!

Thursday was Future World got there around 2pm - we had a 10 minute wait for Mission:Space, and we walked on to test track twice with no wait.

Friday we hit the outlet stores, and downtown Disney, and Epcot around 7pm - Morroco and Japan and Illuminations

During the day we were shorts, t-shirts and a lightweight jacket. But the evening and nights were cold and we wore long pants and sweaters.

The crowds were no where as big as we had expected and we got alot more done than we had hoped!