~~**The Official January 2014 Group**~~

[KimberCar]

DIS newbie here. I have never been to Disney in January. We are going 1/27-2/1. I know the weather should be be good and we will be bringing jackets of course for chilly morning and evenings. I am worried about crowds. I have found lots of information about how Jan is good month because crowds are low, but from what I have seen on some DIS TRs it seems that crowds were a lot higher then people expected. Was this because New Fantasy Land opened? What kind of wait times should we expect? Sorry if this already been discussed. I am still learning my way around the DISboards.

 

[misundersteph]

Hey! My family of 5 and my parents in law are going Jan 4-11! So excited. Will be my family's 3rd trip, and my inlaws 1st. Put in a FB request (Stephanie Wood) and I'm excited to count down with y'all!

 

[gray52]

DIS newbie here. I have never been to Disney in January. We are going 1/27-2/1. I know the weather should be be good and we will be bringing jackets of course for chilly morning and evenings. I am worried about crowds. I have found lots of information about how Jan is good month because crowds are low, but from what I have seen on some DIS TRs it seems that crowds were a lot higher then people expected. Was this because New Fantasy Land opened? What kind of wait times should we expect? Sorry if this already been discussed. I am still learning my way around the DISboards.

There is the Disney Marathon that increases the crowd size in early Jan... And MLK Day does as well later in the month. However, looks like you will be avoiding those two times so you should have low(er) crowds.

I will do all I can to avoid the marathon in the future... Busing is an absolute nightmare.

 

[Cumbley]

There is the Disney Marathon that increases the crowd size in early Jan... And MLK Day does as well later in the month. However, looks like you will be avoiding those two times so you should have low(er) crowds.

I will do all I can to avoid the marathon in the future... Busing is an absolute nightmare.

Hi - we are booked from 2-11 January are the buses a nightmare in the build up to the marathon?

 

[steves1019]

Hi - we are booked from 2-11 January are the buses a nightmare in the build up to the marathon?

Marathon weekend activities start Thursday the 9th with a 5k run, a 10k run on Friday, Half Marathon on Saturday, and the full marathon on Sunday. So each day it will likely get more crowded. Especially Sat and Sun mornings from 4:30AM till sometime after lunch as runner complete their runs and head back to their resorts.

 

[SingingMom]

There is the Disney Marathon that increases the crowd size in early Jan... And MLK Day does as well later in the month. However, looks like you will be avoiding those two times so you should have low(er) crowds.

I will do all I can to avoid the marathon in the future... Busing is an absolute nightmare.

And we loved being there for Marathon! We honestly didn't notice many crowds last year. Started the day watching runners over the Boardwalk bridge from our balcony at the Dolphin, then went to Studios by Friendship Boat, stood outside the entrance cheering on the runners - which proved to be so much fun, we stayed there for 2 hours! - and then went into the park.

We were at WDW before, during, and after the marathon weekend and enjoyed it very much!

"SingingMom" ....Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[KimberCar]

There is the Disney Marathon that increases the crowd size in early Jan... And MLK Day does as well later in the month. However, looks like you will be avoiding those two times so you should have low(er) crowds.

I will do all I can to avoid the marathon in the future... Busing is an absolute nightmare.

Thanks so much for the information. I was lucky to find some post on the DIS about the marathon's in January so we went for the last week of the month. I was just surprised by some of the comments I found regarding crowds in January. Some saying crowds were no where near the low end. Just going to hope for the best. Waiting 30+ mins in nice weather will beat a 30+ min wait in the summer heat every time.

 

[gracer9977]

You have a great line up, just be careful of trying to park hop into MK on MLK day. I thought I read last year on easywdw.com that they park reached capacity.

Yeah we planned to do Epcot cause everything I see says that MK will be crazy busy on MLK day. We are not planning to go anywhere near MK on Monday. I am sure it will be busy on Sunday too but we will just try and see what we can see and not stress out about it.

 

[vacation_junkie]

Thanks so much for the information. I was lucky to find some post on the DIS about the marathon's in January so we went for the last week of the month. I was just surprised by some of the comments I found regarding crowds in January. Some saying crowds were no where near the low end. Just going to hope for the best. Waiting 30+ mins in nice weather will beat a 30+ min wait in the summer heat every time.

We got over the last week/start of February every year. We always check in the Saturday after MLK weekend.
The crowds are always very low.

We haven't used a fast pass for any rides the past few January trips. We went on test track 3 times before noon the one day.

Perfect weather.

Can't beat that week in the World
The crowds are VERY low

 

[KimberCar]

Can't beat that week in the World
The crowds are VERY low

Oh that is awesome news! This will be my BFF and God Daughter's first trip and I am so excited to be going with them! I am a MAJOR planner so the not knowing how crowd levels will be since I have not been in January has been driving me CRAZY . This makes me feel A LOT better. Thanks so much for putting my mind at ease. So glad I found DIS!

 

[HeatherLassell]

Oh that is awesome news! This will be my BFF and God Daughter's first trip and I am so excited to be going with them! I am a MAJOR planner so the not knowing how crowd levels will be since I have not been in January has been driving me CRAZY . This makes me feel A LOT better. Thanks so much for putting my mind at ease. So glad I found DIS!

Historical Crowds (touring plans)
Jan 2010 - marathon wknd crowd levels were 5
Jan 2011 - marathon wknd crowd levels were 4/3s
Jan 2012 - marathon wknd crowd levels were 6
Jan 2013 - marathon wknd crowd levels were avg 4.5

Jan 2010 - last wknd in Jan - avg 3
Jan 2011 - " - avg 3
Jan 2012 - " - avg 3
Jan 2013 - " - 4/3s

Jan 2010 - MLK WEEKEND - avg 6
Jan 2011 - " - avg 6
Jan 2012 - " - avg 8
Jan 2013 - " - avg 6

 

[HeatherLassell]

And we loved being there for Marathon! We honestly didn't notice many crowds last year. Started the day watching runners over the Boardwalk bridge from our balcony at the Dolphin, then went to Studios by Friendship Boat, stood outside the entrance cheering on the runners - which proved to be so much fun, we stayed there for 2 hours! - and then went into the park.

We were at WDW before, during, and after the marathon weekend and enjoyed it very much!

"SingingMom" ....Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

We were in Disney this past October during a marathon weekend. Didn't affect us in the least. All our days were like 6's or higher. So I think January is going to be a lot better for us!

 

[Cumbley]

Thanks for the info - we've been 3 times over Christmas (and once in November & May) so hopefully we'll notice lower crowds than in Christmas week.

 

[vacation_junkie]

Oh that is awesome news! This will be my BFF and God Daughter's first trip and I am so excited to be going with them! I am a MAJOR planner so the not knowing how crowd levels will be since I have not been in January has been driving me CRAZY . This makes me feel A LOT better. Thanks so much for putting my mind at ease. So glad I found DIS!

This was how busy the crowds were at peak time. Including the lunch rush! You can see by the restaurant line that its not busy at all!

TEST TRACK at its busiest point in the day..

This was the coldest day last trip!

This is how busy Animal Kingdom was. This was about lunch time. When we go in January we sleep in and head the parks about 10. No need to rush.

 

[MrsJessica]

This is how busy Animal Kingdom was. This was about lunch time. When we go in January we sleep in and head the parks about 10. No need to rush.

Thanks for posting these! I'm an RD type, but unfortunately I'm out-numbered by a lot of sleepyheads Knowing this helps me relax a bit about a later start

 

[vacation_junkie]

Thanks for posting these! I'm an RD type, but unfortunately I'm out-numbered by a lot of sleepyheads Knowing this helps me relax a bit about a later start

The rule is... no alarm clocks..we're on vacation
Its not like going over a holiday weekend where you need to be there early.
whether you arrive at 8am , 9am, 10am...you'll be fine.

 

[gray52]

Historical Crowds (touring plans)
Jan 2010 - marathon wknd crowd levels were 5
Jan 2011 - marathon wknd crowd levels were 4/3s
Jan 2012 - marathon wknd crowd levels were 6
Jan 2013 - marathon wknd crowd levels were avg 4.5

Jan 2010 - last wknd in Jan - avg 3
Jan 2011 - " - avg 3
Jan 2012 - " - avg 3
Jan 2013 - " - 4/3s

Jan 2010 - MLK WEEKEND - avg 6
Jan 2011 - " - avg 6
Jan 2012 - " - avg 8
Jan 2013 - " - avg 6

According to Touring Plans (which I believe to be more accurate), Marathon Weekend was 6/10 on Sat, Sun & Mon. I think that's closer to the actual. Friday was noticeably slower, so I'd agree there.

Maybe it was just OKW that weekend... But the busses seemed like chaos... a few times our bus had to go to SSR to pick up and drop off Marathoners... Yuck.

I'll also say that a 6/10 is busy for us.... We don't do fast pass except for Buzz and Soar'n... And we don't like any wait times beyond 20-minutes. Maybe my perspective of "busy" is a little different than some.

 

[HeatherLassell]

According to Touring Plans (which I believe to be more accurate), Marathon Weekend was 6/10 on Sat, Sun & Mon. I think that's closer to the actual. Friday was noticeably slower, so I'd agree there.

Maybe it was just OKW that weekend... But the busses seemed like chaos... a few times our bus had to go to SSR to pick up and drop off Marathoners... Yuck.

I'll also say that a 6/10 is busy for us.... We don't do fast pass except for Buzz and Soar'n... And we don't like any wait times beyond 20-minutes. Maybe my perspective of "busy" is a little different than some.

I was taking my information from Touring Plans. I put that at the top. I averaged the numbers over the 3-4 days of the marathon weekend.

It was just the Saturday and Sunday that were 6's. I'm going for 10 days so 2 days that are a little busy are no big deal. Our entire October trip was that busy so we can deal with it no problem.

 

[gray52]

I was taking my information from Touring Plans. I put that at the top. I averaged the numbers over the 3-4 days of the marathon weekend.

It was just the Saturday and Sunday that were 6's. I'm going for 10 days so 2 days that are a little busy are no big deal. Our entire October trip was that busy so we can deal with it no problem.

My apologies... I see your (touring plans) upon reading again. A nice resource.

 

[KimberCar]

This was how busy the crowds were at peak time. Including the lunch rush! You can see by the restaurant line that its not busy at all!


This is how busy Animal Kingdom was. This was about lunch time. When we go in January we sleep in and head the parks about 10. No need to rush.

Thanks for posting photos!! WOW I can't believe how short the lines are during lunch rush! Going to stress a lot less about crowds!