January/February crowds

Here are some pictures I took on Jan 20th, 2018. It was crowded during that trip. We go to WDW a lot, including Christmas week the past three years... and I was surprised at how crowded it was in January... these are 7PM in MK:

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The 20th is one of the days TP underestimated resort wide crowd levels by 2 levels. Looking at MK specifically, they underestimated by 3 levels on that day. If rides aren't holding all the people they could, some of those people that would normally be in the ride will be forced to wait in line in longer lines, wonder around - in other words take up space in the walkways, etc...
 
I've never been to WDW Christmas week, but I've been about every other time of the year and 1/28-2/05 this year was the most crowded I have ever personally experienced. TP can say it was staffing/ride capacity (which I can tell definitely played a role) but being there and experiencing it didn't feel like that was all that was going on. It was just really crowded. *Shrugs*

Hopefully, it was a fluke. But I'll be hesitant to try to go that time of year again.
 
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I've never been to WDW Christmas week, but I've been about every other time of the year and 1/28-2/05 this year was the most crowded I have ever personally experienced. TP can say it was staffing/ride capacity (which I can tell definitely played a role) but being there and experiencing, it didn't feel like that was all that was going on. It was just really crowded. *Shrugs*

Hopefully, it was a fluke. But I'll be hesitant to try to go that time of year again.


I totally agree with you & I don’t believe the staffing issue caused it all either. We were there the same time. I keep posting about the food court at POR. No matter what time we went for breakfast, anywhere from 8-10:30, it was packed. People were walking around with trays of food, looking for tables. I never saw it that crowded when we used to stay there in August. Disney staffing did not fill those tables. I feel like I’m wasting my time posting it tho. People who weren’t there will never believe us. I do know I am very leary of booking that week again for next year. Don’t know if I want to gamble on it being a fluke.
 


I totally agree with you & I don’t believe the staffing issue caused it all either. We were there the same time. I keep posting about the food court at POR. No matter what time we went for breakfast, anywhere from 8-10:30, it was packed. People were walking around with trays of food, looking for tables. I never saw it that crowded when we used to stay there in August. Disney staffing did not fill those tables. I feel like I’m wasting my time posting it tho. People who weren’t there will never believe us. I do know I am very leary of booking that week again for next year. Don’t know if I want to gamble on it being a fluke.
We were at POR too - it was crowded!!
 


For our last several trips, we've gone the last full week of January. And yes, last year was by far more crowded than we've seen before.

I booked this year like normal which turned out to be 1/19-1/26. I booked this sometime in the spring.

Anyway, I JUST realized a couple weeks ago that for the first time for us anyway, that Monday is MLK day. Always before, MLK day was on the Monday before the Monday of the last full week. I guess the calendar just falls differently this year. So I'm really starting to freak out about crowds now.
 
We're going 1/12-1/20 so this is making me nervous. I went in January about 2 years ago for a short weekend trip and I remember it being fine. I can't recall specifically the crowd levels, but I don't remember feeling like it was super crowded so I guess that means it wasn't bad. I've actually often wondered why January isn't really crowded considering it's one of the few times of the year college-aged students are not in class for the most part.
 
The 20th is one of the days TP underestimated resort wide crowd levels by 2 levels. Looking at MK specifically, they underestimated by 3 levels on that day. If rides aren't holding all the people they could, some of those people that would normally be in the ride will be forced to wait in line in longer lines, wonder around - in other words take up space in the walkways, etc...

It was crowded beyond understaffing. I have been enough to know when they are running fewer coaster trains or when they are loading slower. That definitely makes an impact. But last January was nuts... I took those pictures about because I couldn't believe the crowds. We had just been at WDW over Christmas/NYE and honestly I didn't think it seemed less crowded.

It taught me an important lesson... Don't plan trips **solely** because I think (and all the crowd calendars said) the parks will be non-crowded. That was the entire reason for our mid-Jan trip... we thought the parks would be empty. But, nope. We still had a great time... And we can deal with crowds just fine... we always enjoy our Christmas trips immensely. But we know what to plan for and what to expect crowd-wise. January caught me totally by surprise.

As everyone says... there is no longer a slow season at WDW. Always prepare for crazy crowds (and secretly hope for light crowds). And don't make trips just because you think it might be less crowded one month versus the next... That way you won't be disappointed.
 
Could the shorter hours also account for the crowds? Cooler weather and shorter hours may mean no afternoon breaks. I am going January 31 to Feb 14 so we will see. Side note -I booked at Shades of Green and it is full starting February 15.
 
To add to what others have said, my family and I were at WDW from 4-8 February this year. It was very crowded. Shockingly crowded. Easily the most crowded of our three most recent trips.

I did not observe a lot of cutbacks in ride capacity. The CMs seemed to keep things going as quick as they possibly could. They were running every "car" available. The only ride not running both "tracks" was the Dumbo ride when we got there at 9:15am, but they quickly opened it up when the single "track" had a 30 minute wait.

There were just A LOT of people there. Most of the people were speaking Portuguese or Spanish, probably from South America. There were also a lot of the South American Tour Groups there. I've been wondering if Disney Corp did a "pack the park" offer directed at South America? It was really hard to move around in the parks, especially MK and Epcot, since it was shoulder to shoulder at some of the choke points they have in the World Showcase, or the corridor between Peter Pan and Its a Small World. Just like in the picture posted above. We also had 30 minute FP waits and even a 30 minute waits for Guest Services! One CM at Guest Services even set up rope queue lines outside of guest services. And, there were full rope queue lines outside of Figment! When we got to Epcot on Monday morning 30 minutes early for RD, the crowd at the tap stiles was already extending back to the buildings that are directly opposite the tap stiles. I'd never seen Epcot like that 30 minutes prior to RD!

I don't see how Disney could add more staffing and make the crowds better next January and February.....
 
We go every Jan and it was insane! I understand it was MLK weekend when we went but the crowds never fell off. We are booked for 1/4 to 1/9 this year and I'm terrified. new year crowds will still be around and runners will start pouring in the following week...what did I get myself into.
 
We go every Jan and it was insane! I understand it was MLK weekend when we went but the crowds never fell off. We are booked for 1/4 to 1/9 this year and I'm terrified. new year crowds will still be around and runners will start pouring in the following week...what did I get myself into.

Also a bit terrified. Booked MLK weekend and the following week. We went the same time in 2016 and I thought it was bad then..... but the crowds last year sound insane. Hoping the opening of Star Wars will keep people from going until later in the year.
 
Also a bit terrified. Booked MLK weekend and the following week. We went the same time in 2016 and I thought it was bad then..... but the crowds last year sound insane. Hoping the opening of Star Wars will keep people from going until later in the year.

Fingers crossed last year was a fluke!
 

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