Will be a while before we go back

[detroitdad]

Got back from a quick father-son trip on Monday January 25th. My son is 14. We had never been in January and other than how cold it was some mornings (38 starting out but warmed up to around 55) we still had fun.

I was really looking forward to lighter January crowds which we pretty much had Friday and Saturday. But Sunday, Jan 24th at Magic Kingdom was crazy crowded. We are talking summer in June crowded. It was so weird. Wait times were insane and we got to the park for opening and luckily had fast passes for the afternoon but the standby times were unbelievable...105 for Peter Pan, 45 for Small World, 35 for Little Mermaid, 55 for Haunted Mansion. Did I miss something---was Sunday starting a busy week at WDW? We considered park hopping but times were similar at all parks so we just stayed at MK. We were so over the crowds we didn't even stay for Wishes. We were done.

We still had a great time being there just the two of us but I really don't think we will be back until at least 2020 when some new lands are hopefully complete. We are DVC members and come about once every 2 years but the last couple trips have been a bit ho-hum with not much new. We still enjoy ourselves, but too much of a "been here, done that" feel. We will use our points towards DCL for a while.

 

[disneygolfer1985]

I kind of have the same feeling. We are also DVC members who usually go over the holidays; however, it seems they are always removing things without adding anything new. This past year for Christmas may have been the most crowded I can remember. I feel like Disney runs too many specials to try to fill up all the parks and hotels without adding anything new; thus, it makes for a much less enjoyable experience. I wonder how much money they are making with the risk of losing future money by following this path. For example, free dining was offered up to December 23rd last year.

 

[caroline1851]

there are so many amazing other things to do and see in our country and other countries......

 

[DebbieB]

Got back from a quick father-son trip on Monday January 25th. My son is 14. We had never been in January and other than how cold it was some mornings (38 starting out but warmed up to around 55) we still had fun.

I was really looking forward to lighter January crowds which we pretty much had Friday and Saturday. But Sunday, Jan 24th at Magic Kingdom was crazy crowded. We are talking summer in June crowded. It was so weird. Wait times were insane and we got to the park for opening and luckily had fast passes for the afternoon but the standby times were unbelievable...105 for Peter Pan, 45 for Small World, 35 for Little Mermaid, 55 for Haunted Mansion. Did I miss something---was Sunday starting a busy week at WDW? We considered park hopping but times were similar at all parks so we just stayed at MK. We were so over the crowds we didn't even stay for Wishes. We were done.

We still had a great time being there just the two of us but I really don't think we will be back until at least 2020 when some new lands are hopefully complete. We are DVC members and come about once every 2 years but the last couple trips have been a bit ho-hum with not much new. We still enjoy ourselves, but too much of a "been here, done that" feel. We will use our points towards DCL for a while.

From what I read, people got stuck due to the northeast snow storm that weekend and extended their stays.

 

[budamacdvcr]

From what I read, people got stuck due to the northeast snow storm that weekend and extended their stays.

Yep, folks could not get home that weekend and when they saw what was coming extended stays in advance.

 

[Nancyg56]

Yep, folks could not get home that weekend and when they saw what was coming extended stays in advance.

Not only did they extend their stays, but folks came in early to avoid delays. A perfect storm in a manner of speaking.

 

[Hammill9508]

Not only did they extend their stays, but folks came in early to avoid delays. A perfect storm in a manner of speaking.

I see what you did there

 

[Dashzap]

Got back from a quick father-son trip on Monday January 25th. My son is 14.

Give Universal a try. My teen son loved it. Especially good for a Harry Potter fan.

 

[ols386]

I used to go to WDW in January because I thought the crowds were lower, but I don't think that's really the case anymore.

 

[North of Mouse]

We feel about the same as the OP - here now, and with construction everywhere, things closed, cold and very blustery winds, we're ready to leave - cutting two nights off our 10 night trip.

Very crowded now - Mardi Gras. Last week until front with rain moved in very nice - was low 80's a few days - plus the crowds were low also.

Wanted to go once more on current AP's, but will wait now a couple years at least.

 

[Neesy228]

Here now too, and tonite MK is a madhouse. People were camping out in their spots for the 9pm parade at 6:30. (Someone needs to tell me why you would spend so much money to visit a park and sit on a curb for almost three hours.) And it's been freezing or raining or both for the past three days.

The past several years I've come down in late February for the Princess Half weekend and it's been fun, warm and manageable....decided to try earlier this year due to an ankle injury that prevented me from running. What a mistake. Hit bad weather, the national cheerleading championship and high crowds.

I feel a lot of the same "ho hum-ness" - and it makes me a little sad. My problem is always that I so fondly remember and dearly love the Disney from days gone by, that I keep coming back to look for it.

 

[MickeyWaffles]

We went this year after a 4 year hiatus because we used lots of our DVC points at Aulani a couple years ago. We normally go to WDW every year or every other.

Over the years we have gone in low times and peak times and had great trips all around. Crowds don't really bother us ... Except for when we don't expect them.

I totally understand expecting lower crowds and then having much heavier crowds and it messing up your game plan. That did happen to us on one day of our trip this year and we had to adjust but still did everything we wanted to. The crowds were bonkers that day though, unexpectedly.

We still had a perfectly magical time and it won't stop us from taking or regular trips. What I've learned is WDW crowds are ever so much more unpredictable now. From now on, I'm just going to expect high crowds and if they're low, I'll celebrate

 

[webcreatrix]

I don't know what it was with that week, but I had FOUR friends go to Disney that week of January, which was a first. I do know one was there for some type of gymnastics competition.

 

[soniam]

I have never been in a low crowd time. We have always gone in the summer and Spring Break. The crowds don't bother me. However, capacity days could be difficult if I hadn't planned for it. I am glad that my expectations have always been worse than what we have seen. At home, we go to a lot of events with big crowds, ie music festivals, auto races, so I am just used to it I guess. What would put me off though is a bathroom line so long that it makes the standby wait at Peter Pan look like a walk-on When I gotta go, I expect to be able to go in a reasonable time. Thank goodness the bathroom capacity seems to be keeping up with the crowds, except at the bathrooms inside BOG

 

[hisgal2]

We were there during that same time...January 20-29. I had chosen our park days based on crowd calendars and they were fairly accurate. I will say that when we got home, I looked at predicted crowds vs actual crowds and most days had actual crowds 1 number higher than predicted. I'm going to agree that alot of people either stayed longer or got there earlier because of the snow storm. We ended up talking to alot of people from PA (which we were surprised about) and many of them were either staying an extra 2 days or there a day or two early because of it.

We actually had planned a "free" day for the Sunday that the OP is talking about because the predicted crowd levels were a little higher than what we were willing to deal with. BUT, I will say the day we went to HS, was a 6 and we thought the crowd was extremely light. Maybe our expectations were of more people? But this was our first trip and we didn't really know what to expect.

 

[Accident]

I'm crossing my fingers we're getting to the "announced too early" phase and crowds are going to thin out (and disney probably use that as an excuse to jack up the price). For those that don't come all that often and like toy story or star wars, they've basically been told to wait until it opens... It's getting close to that year mark since the announcement which is when I think most people book ahead of time. price + things coming in a couple years = "lets wait and go big when it's out"

 

[Squidgyness]

This is what happened to us. We just got a bit bored of nothing new being added. I guess we've been spoiled by going 96, 98, 03, 06 and 09, having seen a lot of MAJOR developments. Just all seems a bit stagnant at WDW right now. Which is sad since I want to go back to Orlando next year if possible, but it will be an onsite Universal Studios trip, with maybe a couple of days at EPCOT, AK and DHS if they aren't full of refurb or construction atm.

 

[hookedonears]

there are so many amazing other things to do and see in our country and other countries......

After 12 years of going to WDW every year, sometimes multiple times per year, we've spent the past 7 going other places (National Parks, Foreign Countries etc.) and it's been great. We are making our first trip back to WDW as an entire family in the first part of December of this year and I'm really getting worried about the crowds. The only saving grace that I can see is that the Expanded Toy Story Mania track, Frozen, Soarin and the River of Lights will be open, which should alleviate some of the overcrowding at the MK. Hopefully, there will be some unexpected additional openings in the new expanded area of AK, that will also help.

 

[2Pirates2Princesses]

After our upcoming trip we won't be back for awhile either, probably 3-4 years which is probably how long it will take for the new lands at HS to open. We have never been in the "go every year" camp as we also like to do other vacations. I think our WDW vacations would lose their luster if we went every year; plus my kids wouldn't really appreciate it or see it as a special trip. I have been getting cold feet about taking this trip this year and questioning the value with all the closures, construction, and increased crowds; especially considering how much it cost us to go three and five years ago vs. the costs this year. Our true motivation for going this year is that this is the last year our youngest child will be "free" since she is 2 yrs old, and our middle daughter is 9 now. So after this year, two of our kids will be at "child" prices and our oldest three kids will be at "adult" prices -- couple that with guaranteed ticket price increases (and possibly even tiered ticket prices) and the total price of *just* the tickets alone for our family to step foot in each WDW park could equate to close to half a year's worth of payments on our minivan!

 

[brinkley07]

We did a weekend in January and it was much more crowded than we have seen previously. We did find out there was a cheerleading competition there that weekend which had hotels sold out, but the waits were crazy.