Going in late January, has anyone ever been?

[the horned king]

I have never been during that time of year. I’m curious about crowds, park hours, and if there will be a lot of attractions closed for refurbishments. I haven’t been to WDW in 4 years just trying to figure what to expect. Thanks for any info

 

[ToTBellHop]

I have never been during that time of year. I’m curious about crowds, park hours, and if there will be a lot of attractions closed for refurbishments. I haven’t been to WDW in 4 years just trying to figure what to expect. Thanks for any info

Crowds are low. Park hours are typically the shortest of the year. Refurbishments are widespread. Weather is extremely variable.

 

[the horned king]

I’m going with wife, my daughter (will be 2) and my parents so not worried about hours. We all get up early so being there at or near opening shouldn’t be a problem and we’re staying on property so will have EMH, I was concerned about refurbs tho. ThankS for the reply

 

[Minnie Mum]

PP nailed it. Crowds tend to be low (except for the long weekend). And because crowds are low, Disney takes this time to do a fair amount of refurbs. One of the water parks will be closed. And because of the extreme variability of temps in Jan, the remaining water park may close due to low temps. We've been there in shorts and tees some years. And we've been there in parkas, gloves, and hats other years.

 

[Jedi Stitch]

Went in late Jan '16. Crowds are very manageable for my crowdaphobic wife. That was the year it dipped to freezing middle of a week stay. First day it dumped in the morning and the rest of the days were nice semi clouding mostly sunny days.
Refurbishment is right. Nothing in MK was closed, but all the other parks had down attractions. DAK, had the trails around the tree closed, the Kali ride and the entire walking area of Asia was closed off. A few of the rides were down for parts of the day.
EPCOT there was no Sorin, they were refurbishing for Frozen. DHS, was mostly open, they did start to wall off around the Muppet theater to refurbish the pizza place.

 

[courtneylynnx3]

I went in late January a few year ago. The weather varies. I remember one day it was hot and the next day it was really cold we had to wear sweats and we were still cold at night! There were a few refurbishments but the crowds were pretty low!

 

[Bill in Atlanta]

Went late Jan/early Feb 2018. Crowds were higher than forecast, which, coupled with the early closing times & lower staffing levels, made for a little tougher week than expected. It was WDW so of course we still had a blast!

 

[mbroschak]

I agree with Bill in Atlanta. We’ve been going in late January for the last 5 years and historically it was very quiet, the lowest crowds in the year I’d argue, but this past January was literally unbelievable how much the crowds had jumped and not just the wait times, but the number of people just walking around. One of the reasons we love going that time of year is simply that there are just less bodies to navigate around all day which just made for a really pleasant and enjoyable trip.
Don’t get me wrong we still had a lot of fun, but it is true when they say there really aren’t any quiet times at the parks anymore, just a little less busy...

 

[graphite1326]

Pretty much agree with what everyone here has said, low crowds, lots of refurbs, extreme temperature variations. Froze the first day we went and ended up buying a jacket at one of the parks. The rest of the week was t-shirts during the day and maybe a jacket a night.