How busy are the parks early January?

disneytime · 3 Dec 17, 08:22 PM

Hi,

We are going on the 3rd of January and just seen some information about the Disney marathon. Have we picked a really bad time to start our trip?

We were hoping for really quiet crowd times.

Thanks

loldis · 3 Dec 17, 08:37 PM

January has a really quiet reputation, and the overall average is pretty low for Disney, but it definitely has its busy moments. Which unfortunately, are usually clustered in the first half of the month.

Specifically for 2018... with New Years Day being a Monday, they're predicting that entire week to be busy (the day you arrive is rated as a 10 crowd level!) as there's the extra day off work which always peaks crowds. Then running into the marathon crowds for the following weekend. I'd expect it to drop off quite sharply after that though, but will go back up to moderate in the middle of the month due to MLK weekend (13-15). And back down again for pretty much the rest of the month.

ETA: There's no truly low season now - Disney work hard to add events and festivals to ensure this. Which is great for their business, but not great for low crowd seekers like myself. I just gave up and am going moderate.

disneytime · 3 Dec 17, 09:11 PM

Hi,

Can you please tell me where to find those predictions to help me plan our trip.

Thanks

loldis · 3 Dec 17, 09:23 PM

There's a few different sites - don't think I can link to them though, so just search Disney Crowd Calendar. I use Touring Plans and am a member, but I think the calendars are free to view up to a point.

The Dibb has the Busy Day Guide which will tell you which parks to go to/avoid, but doesn't provide level predictions. But you can look back at this year to see how the crowds fared as they do provide historic data.

https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/bus...?hours=01+2017

robby-99 · 13 Dec 17, 09:29 AM

We go January every year. Flying out 3rd in 2018. I'm expecting it to be very busy until Monday 8th due to Marathon weekend. TBH is there a quiet time anymore? We go 3 times a year over all months (except school hols) and it just seems busy all the time over the last 3-4 years.

Nimbus · 13 Dec 17, 11:17 AM

Originally Posted by loldis

There's a few different sites - don't think I can link to them though, so just search Disney Crowd Calendar. I use Touring Plans and am a member, but I think the calendars are free to view up to a point.

The Dibb has the Busy Day Guide which will tell you which parks to go to/avoid, but doesn't provide level predictions. But you can look back at this year to see how the crowds fared as they do provide historic data.

https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/bus...?hours=01+2017

In addition to the above historic data, there's also a graphical representation here:

https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/wai... php?a=history

Select the month / date you want. You'll even be able to see what the wait times for specific attractions were back in January this year.

Here's an example of crowd levels at Magic Kingdom during January earlier this year:

As you can see, it's busier during the first week and then gets a bit quieter during the latter 3 weeks. Crowds do increase at the weekend though (there are peaks on Sat 14th/Sun 15th and also on the next two Saturdays). Otherwise, from the 7th Jan onwards waits were below average (around 3 to 4 out of 10) during the week.

Note that this does not mean the rides were all walk-ons. There are still queues - Peter Pan still has it's usual 60 minute waits during most of the day, for example.

Gryff · 13 Dec 17, 11:19 AM

And don't forget it's snow bird season and they do have an impact as well

3 Dec 17, 08:37 PM	#2
	3 Dec 17, 08:37 PM loldis Imagineer
loldis Imagineer Join Date: May 17 Location: Sussex	January has a really quiet reputation, and the overall average is pretty low for Disney, but it definitely has its busy moments. Which unfortunately, are usually clustered in the first half of the month. Specifically for 2018... with New Years Day being a Monday, they're predicting that entire week to be busy (the day you arrive is rated as a 10 crowd level!) as there's the extra day off work which always peaks crowds. Then running into the marathon crowds for the following weekend. I'd expect it to drop off quite sharply after that though, but will go back up to moderate in the middle of the month due to MLK weekend (13-15). And back down again for pretty much the rest of the month. ETA: There's no truly low season now - Disney work hard to add events and festivals to ensure this. Which is great for their business, but not great for low crowd seekers like myself. I just gave up and am going moderate. Edited at 08:41 PM.

3 Dec 17, 09:23 PM	#4
	3 Dec 17, 09:23 PM loldis Imagineer
loldis Imagineer Join Date: May 17 Location: Sussex	There's a few different sites - don't think I can link to them though, so just search Disney Crowd Calendar. I use Touring Plans and am a member, but I think the calendars are free to view up to a point. The Dibb has the Busy Day Guide which will tell you which parks to go to/avoid, but doesn't provide level predictions. But you can look back at this year to see how the crowds fared as they do provide historic data. https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/bus...?hours=01+2017 Edited at 09:24 PM.