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September 1, 2022

In this post, we discuss visiting Disney World in January. We cover weather, crowds, holidays, events, refurbishments, and anything else you’d like to know if you were planning a visit to Walt Disney World Resort to start the new year! Read on to learn all about visiting Walt Disney World in January!

Quick Thoughts on January 2023

We’ll start with quick thoughts on January 2023 before we dive into details like pricing, holidays, events, weather, and so on.

• Lowest prices of the year. Disney hotel prices for the calendar year tend to bottom in January / early February before spiking in the lead up to Presidents’ Day. Ticket prices are around their lowest during this time, too.

• 50th Anniversary Celebrations ongoing! The 50th Anniversary Celebrations will be in full swing.

• TRON won’t be open. TRON has now been confirmed for Spring 2023

2023 January NOTABLE DATES IN DISNEY WORLD

We’ll talk more specifically about crowds and events below, but we like to start with some dates to flag. If you’re thinking about these dates for your visit, keep in mind that normal rules might not apply.

December 29 - January 3. This is New Year’s weekend. It’s essentially an extension of Christmas Season, as far as crowds and strategies go, though holiday celebrations will typically end before the weekend. You should also skim our December post if you’re visiting during this time.

January 4 - January 8. This is the Walt Disney World Marathon weekend. There are pros and cons to visiting (as a non-runner) this weekend.

January 13 - January 17. This is the weekend of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, with the holiday itself being Monday, January 16 in 2023. It’s usually a holiday worth avoiding.

Disney World Crowds In January

Our position on Walt Disney World crowd calendars is that people often put too much weight into them, but that it’s still good to know general trends as well as specific events that impact crowds.

After a weird 2021, January 2022 was our first normal January in two years, and it came with moderate to heavy crowds. It wasn’t anything that would deter us from visiting during this time, but you shouldn’t expect things to be a walk in the park these days either.

January starts fresh off the biggest holiday season of the year, so crowds always linger for a few days (typically through the first weekend of the year). The Walt Disney World marathon actually typically brings a drop in crowds, presumably because locals don’t care to deal with the rerouted traffic.

Then Martin Luther King Jr. Day brings a bump in crowds at the end of the month. Like most months, if you avoid the holidays you can expect to avoid huge crowds.

The short of it is that if you can avoid the New Year’s crowds and the MLK Jr. Day crowds, you should encounter closer-to-but-still-above average crowds. The crowds around marathon weekend may be low, but that weekend will have a few other challenges, which we’ll discuss below.

Disney World Events In January

For the sake of this post, we’re going to overlook New Year’s Day. You can read more about Christmas season, New Year’s Eve, and the attendant issues in the December post. Christmas decorations at Magic Kingdom tend to stay up through marathon weekend, though you might see the other parks take down decorations earlier.

Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend (January 4 - January 8, 2023) is shortly after the end of the holiday season and brings operational changes to the resort (discussed below), but also typically comes with a dip in crowd levels.

At Epcot, mid-January typically marks the start of the Epcot International Festival of the Arts. This is a newer festival, but a tremendously fun one with a variety of artistic activities available. The 2022 festival was held January 14, 2022 - February 21, 2022. We expect 2023 dates to be announced in October 2022.

In the second half of the month is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, this Monday holiday will bring increased crowds Friday through Tuesday (but mostly Saturday through Monday). These crowds can get quite significant, so in general we advise avoiding this weekend if you can.

The other big event of the month is the Walt Disney World marathon, which we move to next.

The Walt Disney World Marathon

Walt Disney World Marathon weekend consists of an expo and four races, a 5K on Thursday, a 10K on Friday, a half marathon on Saturday, and a marathon on Sunday.

Marathon weekend as a participant (or as a willing spectator, for that matter) is totally unlike the weekend as another guest. Even if your only race is the 5K, chances are you have a deep appreciation for the rest of the races that will take away from any frustration that will come with rerouted traffic in and outside of the parks.

We’ve run the marathon (and the rest of the races, for the Dopey Challenge) three times and had a great time each trip. You can read about our last visit for the race, in 2019, in our Disney World Marathon recap post (that post links to posts recapping the other races, too).

As a non-participant guest, there are pros and cons to visiting during this time. First, contrary to what we expected, crowds are actually below average during this time. This isn’t surprising, particularly on marathon Sunday.

While the marathon has, say, 30,000 participants, some share of these are locals just here for the race. And on each race day, and increasing as the races get longer, many participants are going to be too tired to spend much time at the parks. Runners are often awake by 3AM this week, so they won’t be out late, they’ll be tired, and they’ll be more tired after running a race.

Finally, non-participant locals don’t want to be around the resort this weekend because traffic is messed up in an outside the parks. The result is that crowds tend to be some of the lowest of the month during marathon weekend.

(Note: Courses change year by year, so a radical change could impact the following significantly). The races on Thursday and Friday shouldn’t impact your trip at all, as they’re wrapped up before the impacted parks open.

Depending on the exact course, guests at Epcot may be impacted Saturday morning, as the half marathon finishes through Epcot.

On Sunday morning, guests at Hollywood Studios, Epcot, and Animal Kingdom will typically see significant impact from runners. Magic Kingdom is typically cleared by the time the park opens, but early arrivers may encounter some rerouted traffic.

We’ve never visited the parks as a non-participant during the marathon, so we can’t say for sure how much trouble the races cause, but honestly I’d imagine that, given that the races are not an all-day thing, the inconvenience is worth the low crowds.

Disney World Prices In January

Disney World’s hotel and ticket prices vary throughout the year. You can see the 2022 hotel rate table at MouseSavers. Let’s look at two tables with rates from All Star Movies, Port Orleans Riverside, Wilderness Club, and Yacht Club. First, the median January rate vs. the minimum, median, and maximum nightly rates for 2022:

And the table with medians for the entire year:

You can see January prices at our sample hotels are substantially lower than the rest of the year, making it the cheapest time of the calendar year to visit Walt Disney World. Part of this is simply inflation—Disney raises prices annually, but they also raise prices throughout the year, so January is always less expensive than December.

Within the month, prices are pretty steady, with prices slowly dropping as the New Year’s Eve, Marathon Weekend, and MLK Jr. Day pass.

• January 9 to January 27, 2023 - Frozen Sing-Along Refurbishment

• TRON (confirmed for spring 2023) will likely not be open during January

Not announced yet, but we also expect Splash Mountain to close in January (as it historically has for refurbishment). Unlike previous closures this one may be permanent, as the ride is slated to reopen as Tiana’s Bayou Adventure in late 2024.

Water Park Operations

In 2022, Blizzard Beach closed for refurbishment on January 2, 2022, with Typhoon Lagoon reopening that same date. Unlike recent years, Blizzard Beach remained closed throughout the summer.

If Disney resumes its typical scheduling in 2023, we’d expect Blizzard Beach to reopen in March, both water parks to remain open through the summer, Typhoon Lagoon to closure for refurbishment in September / October, and the cycle to repeat itself in 2024.

Depending on your exact January date, one water park or the other will be open, but it is common for them to close due to cold temperatures. Altogether, there’s no reason to rely on a visit to the water park during January. You should at least have a backup plan (read about things to do at Disney World outside the parks).

Disney World Weather In January

December through February is the colder season at Walt Disney World. The average January high is 72F (22C) and the average low is 50F (10C).

Cold, Heat, and Rain

January is one of the few months you’ll encounter actual cold in Florida. And we think (and we’ve heard agreement from others) that Florida cold is a different type of cold.

We’re from Chicago and routinely (and happily) spend bulks of our winters in sub-zero temperatures. But something about the cold in Florida just bites a different way. Maybe it’s because we’re used to warmer temps during the day, so night feels colder. Maybe it’s the humidity. Maybe it’s just that you’ll be standing around so much (in lines, watching shows, waiting for fireworks).

In any case, if the forecast looks “cool” for your trip, pack an extra layer or two in case it gets “cold.” I can’t tell you how often I’ve been in Walt Disney World in November through February and been so glad I flew from Chicago and had some hardcore warming layers available.

Heat isn’t much of a risk in January, but if you’d like to prepare for it just in case you can hop back to October and read about our heat tips.

We don’t let rain forecasts bother us at Disney World anymore. We prepare for rain—bringing the right shoes and maybe a poncho—but we don’t plan trips around it. Even in months with less rain, you’ll see short spurts of it, and the occasional downpour.

We were at Fort Wilderness during a severe thunderstorm that kept us inside all day (though people who braved the parks got tremendously short waits). This was the relatively dry month of February.

And in November 2019, we also were on hand for the first Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, which had almost every show rained out.

December / January / February

As a closing note, let’s compare January to its neighboring months.

Should I visit Walt Disney World in December or January?

Except for weather, which is mostly the same, these two months are very different experiences. Holiday celebrations are done with the start of January, and while you might find some decorations still up and merchandise still for sale, it’s not something to plan around.

Historically, January has seen a bit of a drop in crowds from December, but that’s changing (at least when you’re talking about dates outside Christmas week). Early December crowds are slightly more appealing than mid-January crowds, in our opinion, so if you’re able to visit those first few weeks of December, we recommend experiencing the holiday season.

Should I Visit Walt Disney World In January or February?

There isn’t a huge difference between these months. Late February has higher crowds and higher prices, so you’re best to try and avoid that time.

Otherwise, this choice just comes down to which month you can time better. Look at these two months as a whole with the combined major events—New Year’s, Marathon, MLK Jr. Day, Presidents’ Day—and visit whenever you can put yourself most clear of any obstacles.

Should I visit Walt Disney World In January?

“Well, when in January?” If you can completely avoid the crowds of New Year’s and MLK Jr. Day, and if you can avoid or don’t mind the obstacles of marathon weekend, January is an okay month to visit.

The problem with January is that for all its downsides—a messy calendar, water ride refurbishments, and downright cold weather sometimes—it offers little upside. It is still one of the busier months of the year, despite all this.

The crowds in January (once New Year’s week passes) aren’t awful by any means. Except for MLK Jr. Day, you probably won’t encounter “heavy” crowds.

That said, you also won’t see the lowest crowds that you’d get in August / September, the height of hurricane season and heat. So do you prefer hot weather with a risk of hurricanes, but lower crowds? Or do you prefer a cool-to-cold month with higher crowds?

Have you visiting Walt Disney World in January? What did you think?

All Your Other Disney World Planning Questions Answered

Don't be overwhelmed by Disney World planning! Take a second to check out our most important content and you'll not only be an expert, but you'll save big $$$ along the way.

Just starting out? Check out our Walt Disney World planning guide! If you're still picking dates, we've got everything you need to know about Disney World crowd calendars. For picking your hotel, check out our Walt Disney World hotels guide.

When it comes time to book we’ll help you find discount Disney World tickets. Decide whether you need a dining plan in our Complete Guide to Disney World Dining Plans! And don't forget to book those Disney World Advance Dining Reservations!

Don't forget to master your Disney World Genie+ and Lightning Lane strategy a few months in advance. We'll keep you out of long lines so you can maximize the magical time in the parks! We've got park-specific guides as well: Magic Kingdom Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, Epcot Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, Animal Kingdom Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, and Hollywood Studios Genie+ and Lightning Lanes.

Know what to ride with our guides to: Magic Kingdom rides, Hollywood Studios rides, Epcot rides, and Animal Kingdom rides! Plus learn about the water parks with our guide to Blizzard Beach and our guide to Typhoon Lagoon! And for some some fun prep, check out our Ranking of Every Ride at Walt Disney World.

Finally, before you head out, be sure to check out our to-the-point packing list, 10 essentials you forget to pack for every Disney trip. And if you're interested in saving, there's no better list than our 53 Ways to Save on your Disney trip from start to finish.