Where are the crowds?

gchiker

Can't get enough of the Mouse
Joined
Mar 11, 2004
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127
I have been on the waiting list for a one bedroom for 5 months and called almost daily during the last 7 days prior to my arrival at WDW. Every time I was told that it was Martin Luther King WEEK and that everything was booked up. In the last three days I have been to MGM, Epcot and the Magic Kingdom. I'd say that the crowd level was moderate at most. The longest lines were posted as 20 minutes at the Haunted Mansion and Pirates. Star Tours took 10 minutes and there was no waiting at others. So where is everyone? Is this really a holiday week at WDW? It really did not seem so bad.
 
***************** (website for Unofficial Guide) lists MLK day as a 3 on their scale. That would make it one of the lowest capacities of the year. There are only a handful of "3" days on the list. Who knows just how accurate they are but they usually seem to come pretty close.

We thought that MLK would be a busy time so we did not plan a trip during the long weekend. We may try it next year b/c it is a good time for us to be out of town.
 
Busy seasons at WDW often have little bearing on DVC availability. Some of the slowest times of the year (October & November, early December) are the most difficult to get a room at a DVC resort. By the same token, the typical peak seasons of Spring Break and summer months are among the easiest to get a DVC room.
 
Busy seasons at WDW often have little bearing on DVC availability. Some of the slowest times of the year (October & November, early December) are the most difficult to get a room at a DVC resort. By the same token, the typical peak seasons of Spring Break and summer months are among the easiest to get a DVC room.

I absolutely agree! Busy at DVC does not necessarily mean busy at the parks, and that is why many of us like those January and December times!
 

I absolutely agree! Busy at DVC does not necessarily mean busy at the parks, and that is why many of us like those January and December times!

Somehow, I've gotten the impression that December and January are particularly popular with empty nesters or singles who don't have kids, tend to be a little older, and might not need to ever ride Space Mountain again, but are likely to visit less thrilling favorites like Pirates and Haunted Mansion.
 
My Family & I got back from our vacation during MLK week, we were there from 1/17 to 1/22 and it was very busy except for the the 18th. Line on average were during the week were 40 to 60 min per ride. It seemed to be as busy as a July would be with crowds .
 
Somehow, I've gotten the impression that December and January are particularly popular with empty nesters or singles who don't have kids, tend to be a little older, and might not need to ever ride Space Mountain again, but are likely to visit less thrilling favorites like Pirates and Haunted Mansion.

Hey, That's us - DINKS!! :rotfl:
 
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i just returned from a stay of 01/20-01/26.

most days i was shocked :scared1: at the crowd levels, i thought i was there the middle of the summer.
there were 60 min waits on snow white/haunted mansion/space mt etc.
some days were better than others but overall it was pretty crowed
even the buses to the parks were full most times
 
My Family & I got back from our vacation during MLK week, we were there from 1/17 to 1/22 and it was very busy except for the the 18th. Line on average were during the week were 40 to 60 min per ride. It seemed to be as busy as a July would be with crowds .

I didn't realize people are taking a one day break and stretching it into a five day long weekend. Schools don't have a problem with that?!??!
 
I didn't realize people are taking a one day break and stretching it into a five day long weekend. Schools don't have a problem with that?!??!

i had to split a two week stay into two different weeks, orginally had July
and had to cancel. booked a week in sept and jan.
no way was i gonna get winter recess week.

there were also quite a few south american tour groups and what seemed
like alot of europeans
 
there were also quite a few south american tour groups and what seemed like alot of europeans

I've been hearing that the weak dollar is attracting larger than normal numbers of foreigners to Orlando. The South Americans are somewhat of a surprise, given it's currently summer down there (they normally flock to WDW in our summer, to get a break from their winter).
 
I didn't realize people are taking a one day break and stretching it into a five day long weekend. Schools don't have a problem with that?!??!

We lucked out and had a 4 day weekend for MLK this year. The stars alligned just right and the end of the semester teacher work day happened to fall on Friday before MLK. Flew down Thursday pm, after leaving school early(and we weren't the only ones doing it, 10 other moms waiting.)

Sometimes we end up with 2 - 4 day weeks, or last year the teachers favorite school Tues-Thurs.


We decided to avoid MK, but did manage to ride Soarin twice with smart FF usuage. My favorite was AK on Sunday, I've been there on Thanksgiving day and it wasn't as crowded as that. Rode EE twice, as youngest son wanted to go back to BCV and DH took him. Elder son wanted to give the extra FF's away until he realized we wouldn't get in trouble for using them.:rotfl:

Yes, there were alot of South American tour groups(remember it's summer for them). Also a lot of families with toddlers, preschoolers and grandparents. Then add in the LotusSphere convention that started sometime that weekend at the Swolphin.
 
I didn't realize people are taking a one day break and stretching it into a five day long weekend. Schools don't have a problem with that?!??!

Depends on the state, the district, in some cases right down to the teacher. But lots of people homeschool, too. And spend any three days on the family board and you'll be exposed to plenty of people who will pull their kids out of school for a lot longer than four days and not worry about working a holiday in there. Our kids get two days in October - we pull them for three and get a week vacation - and that isn't at all uncommon in our district - so common that if the kids WERE in school, they don't schedule anything critical that week.
 
Somehow, I've gotten the impression that December and January are particularly popular with empty nesters or singles who don't have kids, tend to be a little older, and might not need to ever ride Space Mountain again, but are likely to visit less thrilling favorites like Pirates and Haunted Mansion.

That's us, we're a pair of TANKS!
 
I didn't realize people are taking a one day break and stretching it into a five day long weekend. Schools don't have a problem with that?!??!

my DS had a total of 4 days off for MLK weekend, it varies from year to year; depending on the current school board

sometimes they get a total of 3 or 4 days for President's day weekend; sometimes the whole week:confused3

also 4 days for memorial day, with exception of no excused additional absences from school in May.

only problem is they evidently don't "speak DVC"; never release the attendance calender until early August...too late for us to switch plans around to capitalize on it.
 
I didn't realize people are taking a one day break and stretching it into a five day long weekend. Schools don't have a problem with that?!??!


My daughter had a teachers day and also at her school they give the students one day off of their choosing after they reach a certain amount of fund raising money for the school(privative school in Illinois) and since she was done with finals at that time we let her miss one extra day from school as well.
 











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