HS crowd in January?

We are leaving for WDW on 1/16. Overall park crowd is relatively low (3/4) but HS is showing 6 and 7 for the entire week we are there. Even EPCOT is a 2 on one of the days we are there! What am I missing? Is there a Star Wars something? :astonished:

Watching replies because we will be visiting HS on 1/8/18 and calendar says 8! Our arrival will be around 1. And stay into evening. I am guessing Star Wars movie is adding to popularity. Anyone have ideas?

Ahā€¦the movie. I bet youā€™re right. Welpā€¦opens up the other parks nicely! Hello 2s and 3s! :clap:t3::clap:t3::clap:t3::clap:t3::clap:t3::clap:t3::clap:t3::clap:t3:

Your dates fall on marathon weekend, and in the past miles 22 to 24 run right through the middle of HS. Iā€™m guessing the marathon route will close off part of the park (if not some attractions) on marathon day, and the fact that many runners and their families are going to be there the entire weekend is going to make the parks (particularly a small one like HS) feel much more congested.

Ohhh! Well that makes sense! Idk how I missed that when planning :thinking:. Guess now I need to prepare myself to be surrounded by fit people! :joy::joy::joy:
Thanks for that info!

Having done the marathon 4 times, they do not close off sections of the park. They will have a lane roped off with certain points for crossing. CMs will be stationed at the crossing points to tell you when itā€™s safe to go. Iā€™ll just say be ready when they say go, and PLEASE stick to the crossing points, because by that point in a marathon, the last thing runners are thinking of or paying attention to is people (especially small children) walking in their path.

The wdw calendar i saw has marathon January 3 to 7. Has that changed? We will arrive on the 13. Planned it this week because there was no extra events scheduled

I stand corrected on route closures at HS.

January 15 is MLK Day. Dawn, you are arriving at the start of a 3 day weekend for most travelers. Things appear to be getting back to off season norms by Tuesday the 16th, though.

Weā€™ll be at HS Monday 1/29, and crowd level went up to 7. Highest level anywhere for our 4 park days. Canā€™t figure out why- anyone have insight on that?

Thatā€™s what Iā€™m seeing as well. MK, EPCOT, AK are all ranging from 2-5, HS is 7 most days of our stay. Itā€™s very odd and I canā€™t think ofreasons why except for the first response to my original post being Star Wars frenzy. Seems to be no other reason.

Probably right. Just glad its only one day of crowd level 7. And the park with our easiest/shortest TP. Will really miss Great Movie Ride

Iā€™m in the same boat but I have to think that it is because there are so few rides left at HSā€¦ even with a mostly empty park, the remaining 7 rides can only hold so many people. Since TP crowds are only based on ride wait times, this is my best guess and I am not too worried about it. Make your FPs for your top few rides and you will be good :slight_smile:

The way touring plans establishes crowd # is not based on how many people are in the park but, by how long you wait in line for attractions. Because of all the changes happening at DHS there are very few rides, therefor more people waiting in line for them because there are less places for people to go:) So even though itā€™s a high number for the time youā€™re going, it may not feel as crowed as you may think! This is what i read in my research and Iā€™m hoping itā€™s true because we are going the same time-ish as youšŸ˜‰

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That makes sense! I was looking at the Attractions list last night and told my husband ā€œThereā€™s really not a lot for us to do there.ā€ We pretty much just ride RRC and ToT, eat a Carrot Cake Cookie, walk around a bit, then leave. I guess there is a chance the majority of people may be on the Star Wars side of the park. I am so excited about the 2s and 3s!! Thanks, yā€™all for the replies! Enjoy the low crowds and moderate temps! :clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap:

Oh, my gosh! I had no idea and my travel agent did not mention this when we booked. Thanks so much for the info and I may change our plan of attack for Monday.