Traveling in January

[disnutnat]

Hello fellow Dis-nuts! My family will be traveling to WDW in January - our first time going in the winter. For anyone who has gone during this time, what suggestions would you have? I know it will be cooler and am wondering if we will be able to take our little ones swimming. What are the best parts of traveling to Disney at this time? I've never been when it hasn't been sweltering hot before, so I'm not sure how to plan differently. Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[snowman]

January, 2017 will be my fourth trip at that time of year. We have always found it plenty warm from swimming....but maybe that it just the result of living in Maine. Lol. If it's a sunny day I found it generally warm enough to be comfortable in shorts. But man, if it's raining....brrr. We like the lower crowds and cooler temperatures of January.

 

[Shanti]

Hello fellow Dis-nuts! My family will be traveling to WDW in January - our first time going in the winter. For anyone who has gone during this time, what suggestions would you have? I know it will be cooler and am wondering if we will be able to take our little ones swimming. What are the best parts of traveling to Disney at this time? I've never been when it hasn't been sweltering hot before, so I'm not sure how to plan differently. Thanks for any suggestions!

Pack layers. You won't know until a few days before the trip if weather will be pleasantly mild (like our trip in Jan '09) or bitterly cold (like our trip in Jan '16). And it could easily be both, in the time-span of a week-long trip.

 

[perkinsrose]

Yes like others said, layers and a range of things for a week-long trip. One Jan or Feb trip we saw near 32 degrees and windy as well as 70s. Many days may start out shivery and sunny and warm by mid afternoon. Being from the north and traveling from snow and frigid winter, we ALWAYS swim since traveling to a nice climate in winter. Likely odds are you will find a warm enough day to do so.

PS: We often have packed a winter hat (!) for the mornings and used them and easily pack them away bag/back pack /fanny pack by afternoon. One year we bought gloves for my daughter. Yikes ! Yes it really was that cold. We still have them but it is so much cheaper to bring dollar store little gloves and hopefully you'll hit a warm-snap!

 

[Thing 1]

We have many January trips under our belts. We have had trips in the 80's and wore shorts and swam. We have had more trips when it is cold...not cool , but 27 degrees in the morning cold. Layers are your friend. Heavy coats do not work well, take fleece and hoodies and hats and gloves. I like many pairs of the super cheap gloves for kids as they tend to loose them during the day as it warms up. We rarely swim, but we have a few times. Pools are heated, but it can be cold getting out. Choose a sunny afternoon if that is important to you. Avoid the first week of January. We went that week one year and very under-estimated the crowds. Second or third week, avoiding MLK week if you can, has lower crowds. Last week in January is great. We have done MLK week and it really is not too bad. Some attractions are down for rehab during January and the park hours are shorter but we find it works just fine for us. We also like early December. We are doing May for first time ever next year and Im a bit anxious. We like our January.

 

[ssmurphy28]

We went Jan 21-31, 2015 and enjoyed it. Although still busy, I found the pace to be better for little kids. We had a 10mo and 2yo. Since the parks close earlier during that time of year, we were still able to enjoy fireworks and parades without getting the kids to bed to much after their usual bed time. We stuck with the park recommendations from EasyWDW and always hit the recommended park, and it worked really well for us. We were able to get a lot done, despite shorter park hours.

It may have just been the week we were there, but I remember it being really windy, which can make it feel cooler than it actually is. There were a couple days that were fine for swimming though!

Enjoy your trip!

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

The last time we went to WDW was the third week of January in 2005! Anyways, it was cool in the mornings, but we were in t-shirts/shorts/capris by lunch time. The day we went to MK, we had to buy $6 stretchy gloves it was so chilly! But I have also been during August, and let me tell ya, never again! I will always take January over the summer months!

Edit: I'd like to add that we also swam at night in the heated pools, being that we are from Canada