WDW just after New Year's?

[FaithTrustPixieDust]

I've heard about how busy the parks are at New Year's . . .but what about just after New Year's. Depending on what day of the week it falls on, there are often 4-5 more days before most schools start back. Are the parks pretty packed the whole time, or do the crowds calm down after Jan 1st? :mickey:

[tigger_ttfn]

:party: We were there from 1/1-1/6/08. It was very crowded, but not ridiculous. It was also the first freeze in 5 years, but that didn't seem to keep the crowds away.

To give you an idea, I was at DHS at rope drop. Usually I am able to ride RNR at least twice before the line gets to be 30 minutes wait. I came off at riding it the first time and the wait was over 60 minutes. :( (This was before TSM.)

Getting there early and using FP helped alot. Then in the afternoons we took in other things that we had never done. The crowds in the walkways, etc. weren't terrible. It was just the waits could get to be at least 60 minutes (which I won't do).

[Jasper]

One other thing you have to take into account when looking at the days right after New Year, or any other holiday that floats, is travel time. For example, with January 1 being on a Thursday this year I predict that Thursday and Friday, Jan 1-2 will still be VERY busy. But then, I would think that on Saturday and Sunday, Jan 3-4, you should start to see a definite improvement with things finally stabilizing at their "post holiday" levels on Monday Jan 5.

Of course, there are always special events like my birthday on Jan 3:D:D:D, the marathon on the weekend of Jan 10, free dining, etc. that can always change what you would normally expect to see. But all in all, I do think that this year, things ought to start settling down on Saturday, Jan 3.

[tyandskyesmom]

Now, we were there Jan 1 - 13, 2008 and after the 1st we thought the crowds dropped dramatically...evident around ASMo. Then gradually throughout that week it got less and less crowded until the second week when it was great. We thought it was the least crowded we have seen (and we usually like late Nov and early Dec...and we were there this year at that time for 14 days and it was really packed!) in a very long time. After our last thanksgiving trip and after (2008) I am thinking my favorite time (crowd wise) to go will be early January from now on!