Hello,
We are considering visiting for the week of January 19th, Martin Luther King Day. What do you think? Does anyone have experience? Crowds? Weather? I see on the crowd calendar that last year it was 10/10 on MLK day., which would be our first park day. Crowd calendar says 6 this year (8 USF, 5 IOA, 7 Epic) We went in early February last year and so we don’t really know what it’s like on a crowded day. In February the temp was around 80 with no rain - perfect, really. We can save quite a bit of money by moving our trip to MLK day week as well as not having to take the kids out of school for as many days.
My concerns:
Crowds: We have smaller kids and strollers. I’m not concerned about lines at thrill rides, but we don’t want to be jammed into the busses or struggling to navigate with the strollers. We will get express passes at all parks.
Weather: We don’t need to swim, but we don’t want to wear coats and hats either. I remember that last year I kept reading about how cold it was one January week. Maybe it’s just unpredictable and worth the risk? Rain would be our biggest nightmare. We are from the Midwest and 60’s is our ideal temperature.
I’m also slightly concerned that APs will start to include Epic and more people will visit in January than during previous years. I know this is speculation. What do you think?
I welcome your feedback! The alternative would be early February.
We are doing early January and that weekend will be the end of our trip. We did go one year staring that weekend. It was pretty busy. As in I think Sunday we just bailed mid-Afternoon. We do long trips though. We enjoyed wearing our HP robes that time of year. They provided just enough extra warmth, and that could be adjusted by how open the robe was. But, then our ideal is high-70’s and we’re from Texas.
I’ve been wondering the same thing on AP’s. It seems that multi-day tickets for 2026 include Epic as an unlimited option. That is our ticket. No one knows on the AP’s yet. I have read speculation that since the AP verbiage have 12/31/2025 as the end date for the current benefits, that maybe Epic can be added to the AP’s as of 1/1/26. I am hoping for a more staggered rollout.
We were there last January for the miserable week. Temperatures barely go out of the 40s most days, and it rained all day everyday for all but the last two days we were there. We were wet and cold the whole time. Made the best of it, but some of the worst continuous weather we have ever had there. It was definitely a fluke…but you have to be prepared for wild weather swings in January. The week after we left it was back into the 80s and sunny most days.
I remember being glad we didn’t go that week. (Yet here I am) We had a similar experience, minus the cold, at Disney a few years ago. It was mid November and it poured all day for our last two days. Everyone kept remarking about how hurricane season should be over and November is the least rainy month. From that perspective I feel like it’s worth the risk because even when I pick a great time, it might not be a great time.
This was toward the middle of the trip. Disney Springs. It was pouring, more or less, but we found shelter outside of Chicken Guy and enjoyed our time together.
