WDW first week of January?

[dancingirl21]

My kids are still on holiday break the first week of January (they go back Jan 10). We are wanting to get away. I posted on ML last night and said we won't do WDW, but now we are considering it. 

I know marathon weekend is Jan 4-8. We could go any number of days from Dec 31-Jan 8. There is a local mom/travel agent that I know that said they went last year during this week and had a blast. She said it was busy but not too bad. 

We have only ever gone the last week of Sept/first week of Oct and found those crowds to be great. Is it wildly busy the first week of January? Am I going to hate my life? I don't want to stand in lines for hours and spend one million dollars and hate the whole thing. 

[mrsslocombe]

I've been there twice Marathon weekend. It will be a little different this year because crowd levels have been higher the entire year for the 50th. But generally speaking, the crowds are not too bad that week. Saturday/Sunday were definitely more crowded than Thursday/Friday but it was nowhere near peak crowds. Things to keep in mind:

-There are races Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. There are road closures for each of those races, so traveling to the parks can be disrupted/take longer. Sunday is definitely the worst because the marathon isn't over until around 1/2pm. So getting to the parks in the morning by bus or car will be a little more complicated (Skyliner and Monorail should be fine).

The races finish just outside Epcot, so that is the most affected park (again Sunday morning will be the most disrupted). But they keep everything open and have a method to funnel park guests around so you can do everything, it just might take a little bit longer. Magic Kingdom is the first park in the race, so everyone should be cleared out before it opens for guests. The upshot is that because people are doing the race or spectating, wait times are usually fairly low Sunday morning.

New Years Eve/Day are insanely crowded (and usually MK is full and cuts off entrances). So I would go later during your time frame.

Weather is a crapshoot. One year it was literally 85 degrees. Another year the roads were icy for the races and it was 35 at the start. It will mostly likely be in the 50s/60s but be prepared for anything.

The TL,DR: crowds are not too bad once you get beyond Jan 1 or 2nd, the races will make things a little more complicated in the morning but over all I think it's a good time of year to go. Happy to answer any other questions!

[jaycee]

There are always ways to manage crowds. Go super early at rope drop or be there later after the crowds go home. Buy genie+!! Know your way around the park so you're not zig zagging across it. Purchase the individual lightning lanes. Have low expectations (don't try to get every single thing in, but instead try to do one big thing for each person each day). Spend time on shows/shopping/treats and enjoy the parades, street performers when the lines for rides get long.

We went to Disneyland over spring break and I was super nervous about it considering we've only ever traveled to Disney during traditionally low crowd times, but we loved every minute of it. Rope dropping and genie+ allowed us to live it up! Go!

[daisyduck]

Don't go on December 31, it is quite possibly the busiest day of the year. If you plan to get there on Jan 2 you might be ok.

[dancingirl21]

Thanks, all. We decided not to do WDW, but we are going to the west coast instead. We will do a few days in San Diego, a day at Legoland, and end our trip at Disneyland.