Brace Yourself! This Weekend Will Be Packed at Disneyland & Disney World!

The Disney Parks are notoriously known for being crowded around the holidays, with the busiest times being around the end of the year. The highest crowds are usually seen from the time the parks start celebrating Halloween, throughout the Christmas season, and through New Years.

Many guests assume that once New Years passes, the crowd levels will drop down for a while. However, that’s not necessarily true.

There’s one holiday in January that guests tend to overlook when planning their Disney vacations. For the entire weekend surrounding this holiday, massive crowds flood both Disneyland and Walt Disney World. If you’re not prepared for these crowds, it can be quite a setback for your otherwise magical vacation.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Martin Luther King Jr. Day brings in a large number of Guests to the Disney Parks. As a bank holiday, and a day that children are off school, it provides the perfect opportunity for families to visit the parks and have an extended weekend getaway.

The rise in crowd levels not only stems from those traveling to Disney, but also from the locals. The time off of work and school makes it easy for those who live nearby to visit the parks and enjoy the holiday break.

As always, Martin Luther King Jr. Day is on the third Monday in January. This year that's January 20th. The parks will start to see an increase in crowd levels on Friday, January 17th. However, they will be the busiest on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday (January 18th-20th).

If you plan on visiting Disney in January, we would recommend avoiding this busy weekend, if possible. To view the crowd levels for the rest of the month, take a look at our Mickey Visit crowd calendars. We have a Disneyland crowd calendar and Walt Disney World crowd calendar. These calendars are updated monthly, giving the most up-to-date information on predicted crowd levels, and are available for both.

Tips on How to Manage Holiday Crowds

We understand that avoiding specific dates isn’t always an option. If your travel dates aren’t flexible, there are still things that you can do to help make your vacation as magical as possible. By following these simple steps, you’ll be able to avoid the crowds and long lines, giving you extra time to enjoy the parks.

Avoid Specific Parks

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Sometimes, you can avoid holiday crowds by steering clear of certain parks. Unfortunately, this is harder to do over Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, especially at Disneyland. If you take a look at the Disneyland Crowd Calendar, you’ll see that both Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park are expected to have the same crowd levels throughout the entire weekend.

The Walt Disney World Crowd Calendar shows a bit more flexibility on certain dates. On Friday, January 17th, when the crowds are expected to start picking up, Animal Kingdom and EPCOT are predicted to see normal crowd levels, making either one an ideal park to visit that day. The rest of the weekend, higher than average crowd levels are expected at all of the parks. However, Animal Kingdom is predicted to be the busiest of all the parks on Monday, January 20th. Because of this, it would be wise to visit one of the other three parks that day and plan on visiting Animal Kingdom a different day.

Plan Ahead

You can never go wrong by planning ahead for a Disney vacation. There are many activities that you can lock into your schedule ahead of time, which is extremely beneficial, no matter how crowded the parks are.

When visiting Disneyland or Walt Disney World, you can make advanced dining reservations for various experiences around the parks as well as meals at full-service restaurants. While we always recommend doing this if there is a specific activity or restaurant that you want to experience, we even more so encourage this for times when the parks are expected to be extremely busy. Walk-up availability is never guaranteed and even less probable during busy times.

Stay on Property

There are many benefits that come along with staying on property at a Disney. While these benefits vary slightly between Disneyland Resort hotels and Walt Disney World Resort hotels, they both share one big perk – Early Theme Park Entry.

By staying on property, Disney hotel Guests gain access to the parks 30 minutes before they open up to the general public. Hotel Guests can get a head start on their day by taking advantage of the minimal crowds that are present during this early access time. The extra time provides a perfect opportunity to get some of the more popular rides and attractions out of the way before longer lines start forming. This is an opportunity that you won’t want to miss out on, especially when visiting on a busy holiday weekend.

Utilize the App

Both Disneyland and Walt Disney World have mobile apps that include a variety of features that make managing crowds a breeze. The Walt Disney World My Experience App is a great resource along with the Disneyland app. 

Before arriving to your Disney vacation, the app provides opportunities to skip the line and save time. With online check-in, you can complete the process of checking into your hotel room in advance. Then, when you arrive at your hotel, you can take advantage of the Direct-To-Room Service. You will receive notifications with information such as when your room is ready, your room number, and general information about where your room is located.

While lines are generally a concern for rides and attractions, they can also be problematic at meal times. Guests commonly decide to eat around the same time and long lines naturally form. Luckily, the mobile app offers Mobile Food Ordering for quick-service restaurants and various snack locations. Rather than waiting in line, you can place your order on the app and then pick it up after it’s ready.

You can also skip the lines while you shop. With Merchandise Mobile Checkout, you can scan your items and pay directly on your phone. Once you’re finished, you simply head to the Mobile Checkout stand near the exit and show the Cast Member your receipt. If you need a bag for your items, they’ll be able to provide you with one.

Reservations can also be viewed and managed on the app. Whether you have a reservation for an experience or a meal, you can make any necessary changes right in the app. You can also check-in on the app for most reservations, rather than waiting in line to check in with a Cast Member. Then, when you arrive, you can simply wait for your name to be called.

Use Lightning Lane Passes

The most beneficial crowd conquering tools that you’ll find on the app are the Lightning Lane Passes for both Disneyland Lightning Lane Multi Pass and Walt Disney World Lightning Lane Multi Pass. These passes are a part of a paid service that allow you to skip the regular stand-by lines and get expedited access to rides and attractions.

You can choose to purchase the Lightning Lane Multi Pass, Lightning Lane Single Passes, or both. With the Lightning Lane Multi Pass, Guests pay a single price to have access to a variety of rides and attractions around the parks. Lightning Lane Single Passes, however, are passes that are purchased for individual rides. These passes are generally used for the newest and most popular rides within the parks.

If you don’t regularly prefer to pay to skip the lines, we find that it’s worth the cost to use these passes when the parks are extremely crowded. Lightning Lane Passes are going to be the best way to get as much done as possible during your time at the parks on Martin Luther King Jr. weekend.

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