First Time WDW Trip - MLK Weekend - Suggestions?

#1

I’m taking my family to WDW 1/14 - 1/20 as our Christmas present this year. We’ve never been before (lots of Disneyland trips, though). My kids are 16, 13, 9, and almost 2 and we are staying at Disney Caribbean Beach Resort. What suggestions or tips do you have for me?

Also, I was wanting to have kind of a low-key and relaxed day on Sunday (1/17) so we were thinking of walking around Epcot. But the crowd calendar for that day is a 7 where everywhere else is 2-4. That seems really weird to me. Should we choose a different park for that day?

Our flight back home departs MCO at 4:55 PM. Is it worth it to get a park ticket for that day if we are taking the Magical Express to the airport?

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#2

Epcot, especially during festivals, is much more crowded on weekends than weekdays as locals head into the park to enjoy the festivities. Your dates are during Festival of the Arts which, while it’s scaled back slightly this year, will still mean this rule applies. Heck, even outside of festival times, Epcot brings the locals in over the weekends iirc.

I’ve read that HS usually runs a little lighter than normal on Sundays, so that could be an option, although I’m not sure anything about HS is low-key or relaxed. Perhaps that could be a resort and Disney Springs day?

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#3

Yeah, I’m thinking that might be the way to go. Maybe it would be worth renting a car for the day and head to the ocean?

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#4

On the question of is it worth it to add another park day, that depends. If it’s relatively low cost, you should be able to get a few hours in at either MK or AK. What I’ve done (also a west coast DLR person) is book a TS meal that day as either a late breakfast or early lunch instead and have a relaxed morning. I have toyed with doing a partial park day though. DME would probably pick up around 2:00 so you’d need to plan on leaving the park by 1:00 to be safe.

We are frequent DLR visitors and had only been to WDW once in 2012. We went again in August and I did quick trip with a friend in October. I still miss DLR, but WDW is wonderful just in different ways. Enjoy!

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#6

Another thing my wife and I are now looking at: is the pull-down bed big enough for a 9-year-old? Is it worth the extra expense to get a family suite at AoA?

#7

Welcome to the forum! January is a great time to visit. We were there for MLK weekend this year (2020] and the crowds were definitely higher in Epcot on the weekend. Although I don’t think they’d be any worse than what people are seeing now actually. Yes, festival of the arts will be running, but there’s been non-stop festivals since reopening. Besides the blogger/vloggers creating content on opening weekend, I wouldn’t expect the increase in crowds to be prohibitive. My strongest piece of advice that I can’t emphasize enough is wear lots of layers and plan for a cold snap. At one point I was wearing 5 layers and I was still cold - and I live in the northeast. It’s just so unexpected plus you’ll be outside for a majority of the time. My DH was fine because he works outdoors, but it kicked my butt!

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