We are in the midst of planning a family trip to WDW in January 2025. And, as a family that is fairly crowd-averse, we have traditionally always picked times of the year when crowds are lower (no longer necessarily LOW, I understand). Anyhow, second half of January has traditionally been a bit lower crowds (after the DisneyRun weekend).
BUT, I was a little surprised, when looking at this year, and last year, that the week following the week of MLK Day is actually quite busy! But the week of MLK day itself seems to have lower crowds. That made me think we should plan that particular week.
Here’s the trouble, though. Next year, MLK day is later than usual. I’m not sure what that might mean for crowds. Would it be wiser to move up one week, BEFORE MLK day…or keep planning for the week of MLK day?
Looking at TP’s predictions for then, it is pretty much a wash…but I’m not sure how accurate the TP crowd predictions are these days, since they were off by quite a bit for some of the last couple weeks this year.
Personally, the later into January / early February you can wait to go the better. MLK is the last holiday until Spring Break. If you can go after that, like this exact time next year, you’ll see pretty low crowds.
@bebe80 is at both WDW and UOR this week. Maybe he’ll have time to chime in!
IME - I have found the week leading into the MLK weekend to be less crowded until Saturday. MLK is one of those holidays where people do long weekends and stay until midweek…
Looking at historical data, that doesn’t appear to be the case. I think because it also is right after kids go back to school and parents don’t want to immediately take them back out.
This year and last year, MLK Day itself was actually quite low crowds. It is the week following that they climb.
I didn’t express myself well. I was trying to say the week after MLK is busy while the week before isn’t … I don’t know why MLK day itself is less busy though…
Is that “window” the only time you have in January? Is later in the month an option?
We can go later…but next year, there is really only one week left in January after the week of MLK, because MLK falls so late (the 20th).
So, if current patterns hold, waiting until the week following MLK would mean higher crowds. BUT…does the pattern hold when MLK is so late? Maybe moving up to the week of the 12th would be better.
FYI marathon weekend is a bit later than it was this year (when it was on the heels of new years) so chances are good that by moving it up you’ll run smack into that. Check the runDisney site for specifics