December or January Crowds?

TheHappiestJackieOnEarth

TheHappiestJackieOnEarth

New Member
Does anyone know what the Disney World crowds are like in December and January? I am planning a trip for my college break, and I would like some input on the better time to go. I was thinking about either December 16-23 or the first week of January?

I would appreciate any thoughts on this. I don't mind a little bit of a crowd, but it's always nice when the wait times are down and you don't have to fight through the crowd.
 
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Schneewittchen

Schneewittchen

Well-Known Member
I can speak for January about 8 years ago. Before having children, my husband and I would go to WDW in January usually a few days after New Years. It was usually deadly quiet. It was easy to get signature dinner reservations with no advanced planning and walk on rides until well after lunch. No waits to meet characters, etc. But things have maybe changed....
 
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G

Gravydeen

Active Member
We went that first week of January a few years ago and it was pretty bad. Anytime your week ends or begins with a major holiday like Christmas or New Years, expect big crowds. However, it may be that one is worse than the other. Don't expect "Deadly Quite".
 
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Kristamouse

Kristamouse

Well-Known Member
We arrived home on Saturday. It was beautiful weather and we had a magic filled trip. But the parks were not empty, We had a few quite days and many moderate to busy days. We saw waits of 30mins for Small World and about 10-15 for the People Mover. The walk ways felt crowded but the restroom and restaurants did not feel stuffed. MK is consistently busy every day and EPCOT had long waits because of the lack of attractions. World Showcase did not feel as crowded as Future World. In fact we were the only table in our section of Teppan Endo.
Others have said many times on these boards, there is no slow time, especially for Magic Kingdom.
 
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Tuvalu

Tuvalu

Premium Member
TheHappiestJackieOnEarth said:
Thank you for all the feedback! I saw a crowd calendar that said that mid December wasn't too bad, but I wasn't sure if it was accurate.
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I have visited in mid-December (from around the 14th to the 24th) for the past several years and the parks have been very busy. As families return home after New Year's Day so kids can return to school, the first week of January may have smaller crowds.
 
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IanDLBZF

IanDLBZF

Well-Known Member
December is a mixed bag, Christmas Day & New Year's Week is obviously the worst! At MK, non-party nights can be particularly crowded, with Saturdays being the worst. For December, for MK go to MVMCP, and for EC, HWS, and AK go on weekdays if you can. Pop Warner Week and South American Tour Groups come into play during December and it can be pretty chaotic. MVMCP on the other hand won't be as busy as a regular day at MK and I feel it is worth every dollar, so my tip to you is if you want to see the Christmas Entertainment at MK without the heavy New Year's crowds - go to MVMCP. Wait times at MK during MVMCP are almost walk-ons everywhere (except for Fantasyland) and best of all - zero tour groups during MVMCP!

January is a different story, the parks can tend to get busy during MLK & Marathon weekends. However, I've found that crowds tend to be calmer on weekdays in January than on weekends. For January, I would prefer weekdays over weekends because it is calmer. Tour groups are in full throttle by this time, and start to wind down come the start of February (I've seen less groups in February, mostly from Argentina and Paraguay) before going away altogether by March 1! The smaller "familia" groups are common year round.
 
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Flyersgirl17

Flyersgirl17

Well-Known Member
we went 2016 MLK week. The crowds weren't that different from october. Only difference was A LOT of south americans coming for their summer vacations. Also there was a cheerleading & soccer tornament which was overkill with all the screaming girls.
 
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BraveGirl

BraveGirl

Well-Known Member
December will be busy and the closer you get to Christmas, the worse it will be. January is the best month to go, as long as it's not MLK weekend. The least amount of crowds and prices are lower as well :) For my most recent trip, we literally called and said "tell us the cheapest weekend we can go" and it was the last weekend in January. 4 nights at Pop Century for $500 :)

Edited for clarity: I know the pro-bowl is the last weekend in January but it was still the cheapest weekend from January through April with the exception of the first weekend in March. We were there during the pro-bowl festivities and did not notice any additional crowds.
 
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mousehockey37

mousehockey37

Well-Known Member
BraveGirl said:
December will be busy and the closer you get to Christmas, the worse it will be. January is the best month to go, as long as it's not MLK weekend. The least amount of crowds and prices are lower as well :) For my most recent trip, we literally called and said "tell us the cheapest weekend we can go" and it was the last weekend in January. 4 nights at Pop Century for $500 :)
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That's changed.

We were just there last week and we had big crowds due to the Pro Bowl, Pro Bowl 5k, Epcot Arts Fest, South American Tour Groups, Harry Potter event at Uni? (a good amount of people came over to WDW as evidenced by kids dressed up like HP and such). So as long as the Pro Bowl is going to stay in Orlando, I'd scratch the last week in January off the "good time to go" list.
 
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BraveGirl

BraveGirl

Well-Known Member
mousehockey37 said:
That's changed.

We were just there last week and we had big crowds due to the Pro Bowl, Pro Bowl 5k, Epcot Arts Fest, South American Tour Groups, Harry Potter event at Uni? (a good amount of people came over to WDW as evidenced by kids dressed up like HP and such). So as long as the Pro Bowl is going to stay in Orlando, I'd scratch the last week in January off the "good time to go" list.
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We were there for pro-bowl weekend but it was really not crowded at all! We were even in MK the day of the pro-bowl parade (accidentally - we didn't know it was happening) and there was nothing out of the ordinary with the crowds. We did everything we wanted to do and waited on minimal lines.

**ETA: and I mean this pro-bowl weekend, as in last week**
 
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