We are looking at visiting for about 6 days surrounding MLK weekend in January 2025. How are crowds for that holiday compared to other times of year? We have been to
Disneyland once (May 2023) but had to cut the trip short due to illness - so we kind of have the lay of the land, and figured with 5 park days we can take plenty of breaks as needed, leverage early entry, etc.
But I’m mostly concerned about the weather, especially at night. Are the pools heated? Any other considerations for this time of year? We’d be staying in the new DVC rooms at Disneyland Resort, if that matters. What’s the walk like from there to the park? I know we got spoiled staying at VGC. Thanks!!
I went MLK weekend 2023. It rained every day we were there. We still had a great trip, but if you travel in January then rain and cooler weather are a legitimate possibility. DL is much more outside focused than WDW, so rain is more impactful. For example, small world is inside but the queue and loading are outside - this is common at DL (inside ride, outside line). Certain things also close in the rain like Alice in Wonderland, Tea Cups, Radiator Springs Racers, among others. You could get lucky and it might not rain at all while you're there and be in the 70's. It could also rain several days and be in the 50's. No way to know until a few days out.
MLK weekend crowds were great and not too bad. In 2024 they did a marathon on MLK weekend, but next year it is not a marathon weekend. Several of the lowest Magic Key's are blocked most of the weekend.
I personally wouldn't want to swim there during the winter, heated pool or not. I frankly find it a bit too cool for swimming even during the summer (we live in TX and it's over 100 a lot during the summer with lows often in the 80's). In Jan 2023 we stayed at the Grand and I don't think anyone was in the pool the entire trip.
In terms of entertainment, the Fri, Sat and Sun of MLK weekend will likely have 8-Midnight hours at DL and 8-10 at DCA. Fireworks on Fri-Sun, but they typically do not do fireworks on MLK day Monday and DL park will likely close at 10 or 11. The fireworks show is also likely to be Mickey's Mix Magic or another "in between" fireworks show, not one of the main ones.
WOC should be nightly, including weeknights, unless it goes down for a long refurb.
Fantasmic often goes down for a break in January after the holidays, so I would not expect to see that over MLK weekend.
As the PP noted, lots of refurbs happen in January. You can count on either HM or small world being closed to remove its holiday overlay. At least one other major ride will also likely be closed. Also, Grizzly River Run is almost always closed Jan-Feb for an annual refurb. HM typically goes down first, then small world, but the last two years it's been flipped because of Toontown construction (2023) and the major HM queue refurb (2024). I would expect HM to be closed MLK 2025 and small world holiday to still be running. When we were there in January 2023 the following was closed: Small World, Indiana Jones, Grizzly Run, Runaway Railway (it opened 3 weeks later), Roger Rabbit, Gadget's coaster, and the Toontown houses.
That said, we had a great time MLK weekend even with the rain. Our family personally prefers summer because of the rain-free weather, max hours, max ride uptime, and max entertainment schedule.
