When do crowds die down in January?

[woodlandsparty]

Sorry....I'm sure that this is a recurrent question, but the search is out right now.

I want to avoid the New Year's crowds this year. How long after New Year's Day do the crowds start getting thin?

I made the mistake of going between Christmas and New Years last year, and, yikes....I don't want to make that mistake again.

 

[GalDisney]

The week after new years week things slow down until you reach Martin Luther King weekend.

 

[DisneyChristmas]

Even by January 2 and 3 there's a huge dropoff in crowds.

 

[kstinw19]

January 1st is packed...January 2nd is like a ghost town...it's unbelievable!!

 

[reefnut]

nice to hear, i will be there on the 6th

 

[PCFriar80]

nice to hear, i will be there on the 6th

So will 30,000 runners!! Marathon weekend! I'm one of them, don't worry...the biggest impact is on the resorts and traffic. The parks are pretty easy to navigate, except for parking at EC! Fire away if you have any questions?!

 

[glawgirl]

When is Martin Luther King Day - does anyone know? Thanks.

 

[woodlandsparty]

When is Martin Luther King Day - does anyone know? Thanks.

3rd Monday in January

 

[adhelove]

We have stayed the first week after New Years and it was great. Just a little nippy in the morning and at night. Bring a sweatshirt that you can take off and tie around you or put in a backpack. We have also been after Martin Luther and into February. We loved that time but hated the cheerleaders everywhere. Nothing against them but the language was a little not what I wanted to hear and they all stay at the All-Star all of them because they are cheaper. There are kids every where and they cheer early and late at night. Then they will close down certain things like Indiana JOnes and you won't know until you go to the show or ride. Disney won't tell you when they are there either. They overtake everything from the second week in January until late February.

 

[marconat]

I'll be at Disney the first and second week of Jan... hope it will be a blast... but on the 6th I'll be at discovery cove and the 7th at Sea World... I was told to stay away from Disney on that Week-end ha! But I wish all you runners good luck and be safe...

 

[jann1033]

I'll be at Disney the first and second week of Jan... hope it will be a blast... but on the 6th I'll be at discovery cove and the 7th at Sea World... I was told to stay away from Disney on that Week-end ha! But I wish all you runners good luck and be safe...

if that is your plan fine but the race is over pretty early( before noon i think) and has very little impact...i would steer clear of what ever park has emh am if the racers would still be there at that time and we used dis tranportation like we always do so don't know what roads would be closed off which might hamper going somewhere off property...but other than that....you probably won't even know it's going on

 

[Tickla]

I thought the cheerleaders were there in Feb & March?? Now I'm worries since we are coming for Jan. 18-26. PLEASE tell me there won't be cheerleaders during that time!!!! Last December we had to deal with the cheerleaders from Pop Warner--I didn't want to deal with THAT again!!

 

[oxfordcircus]

to the OP, check out touringplans.com crowd calendar. January is filling up with crowds because of special events. It's still very nice.

MLK day is Jan. 15, but it isn't that big of an impact.

 

[adhelove]

I thought the cheerleaders were there in Feb & March?? Now I'm worries since we are coming for Jan. 18-26. PLEASE tell me there won't be cheerleaders during that time!!!! Last December we had to deal with the cheerleaders from Pop Warner--I didn't want to deal with THAT again!!

We stopped going in January and February because of the cheerleaders. The younger ones are in January and by the time March hits it is the college age ones. If you stay at a moderate you won't have to deal with them except at the parks. It seemed every park we picked there were hundreds of cheerleaders. I don't like now knowing if a show or ride is going to be closed down due to cheering. If we knew ahead of time then it is okay, but they won't tell you. If I remember the first part of January was better than the other weekends. During the week it isn't so bad but the weekends are just busy with them everywhere. I don't dislike cheerleaders but when they travel with each other in a group of 100 or so it does make the ride wait last longer. We did have a better time when we stayed at Port Orleans. If you go online to the cheerleader sites you could find some info. I don't remember which one we went to. We now go during October. Hope you get a good weekend. Good luck.

 

[Al and Kate's Mom]

Last year, DH and I went - we stayed off-site New Year's Eve and went over to WDW the afternoon of New Year's Day - it was a little crowded, but by the time we got to the parks (late afternoon), crowds weren't so bad. The rest of the week was okay until the Saturday of race weekend - we went over to EPCOT early to watch the runners, and then went to "tour the nations" - no crowds at all. But by the afternoon, we gave up and went back to the resort!

 

[QT Pooh]

We went through the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday last year and also when the Nat'l Collegiate Cheerleaders were there. The only impact we saw on the crowds was the Saturday before MLK day. Otherwise, the place was a ghost town and we rode everything easily and often.

Please don't be afraid of the cheering groups. They are there for a competition and have limited time in the parks. I saw evidence of one group of cheerleaders in the park the entire time we were there and only because they were posing in front of the fountain in Epcot. There was no Pop Warner during that time.

You can check out the schedule at the Wide World of Sports to see what's going on for sporting events, but really, I don't think anything other than New Year's Day makes much of an impact in January. It's still way better than going during the summer, spring break and holiday weeks!