First time! Crowds last week of Jan.?

We are very excited to visit WDW for our first time! By chance, has anyone ever visited during the end of January? The parks can’t be that empty during that time - - can they? I’ve heard it’s become so busy at WDW that there really isn’t an off season. I’m hoping that’s wrong.

Side story: Our last WDW trip, my wife and I planned was almost 14 years ago. We had been married for 2 years. We were so excited! However, we had to cancel the trip. We found out we were pregnant with our first child! Instead, we bought our first home with the money we had a saved up. Now, 14 years later, we are finally going but as a family of 6 (14,12,12 and 9). Time sure flies! :smiley:

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That’s awesome’ glad you’re finally getting to go.

Unfortunately, I can’t help with your question. It’ll be our first trip also.

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My DH and I spent a week at WDW that time of year in 2016. The crowds weren’t bad and we really enjoyed the food booths in Epcot at the Festival of the Arts. It was all very last minute (he was traveling for a conference in Orlando) and we booked only 2 weeks before our trip. I was still able to get FPP for everything we wanted. It was a great trip.

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We went the last week of January in 2017 and it was wonderful. Low crowds, especially the Sunday at MK. It was chilly most days, first time in all my trips I needed a sweatshirt at AK. I hear January 2018 was a different story though, much more crowded and also WDW cut back on staff and ride capacity, making for very crowded parks with long waits but short off-season hours. Not sure if the same will happen again in 2019, but I would be prepared for high crowds and be pleasantly surprised if lower. Regardless, you will have a wonderful first trip as long as you have a good plan!

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January will be our first trip as well. From the amount of high ticket ADRs that are still available for the week I’m there, I think it will be pretty low crowds. I’ve heard that last year was low crowd-high wait though so I’m hoping that doesn’t happen again!

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I went the last week of January this year and it was the most crowded I had personally ever experienced. I’m not sure what was going on, but it was not a slow time. It was difficult to navigate the parks due to the amount of people and lines were an hour or more for things like Pirate’s and Haunted Mansion - more for the big headliners. There were many, many South American tourists there as well as tour groups. I’m not sure if that was a one-time anomoly or if it’s indicative of what we can expect from that time of year. My advice: don’t assume low crowds, watch the crowds in the weeks leading up to your trip as an indication, and have a good touring plan in place.

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