Hey Howdy Hey Nathalie and welcome to planDisney!
Crowds are inevitable when visiting the Walt Disney World Resort and navigating them can be tricky. Not to worry because I've got some tips for you to help guide your planning for your trip in January!
While you will see a bump in attendance a few days before and after RunDisney events, these crowds typically will not show up in each park. One of the big tools you can use to manage your park day decisions is a crowd calendar. If you do an internet search for "Disney World Crowd Calendar" you will find several that you can check out. These will take historical data and events and give you recommendations on which parks to visit on which days and what to expect with crowd levels. There are a couple that I have used in the past and just looking over the recommendations, on the 8th and 9th of January, they do recommend visiting either EPCOT or Magic Kingdom as they expect those parks to be less busy.
Another huge benefit that will be available starting later this month is the change to
Lightning Lane Multi Pass and Single Pass. On July 24th, Guests will be able to purchase these products 7 days before their date of arrival and make 3 Lightning Lane selections if staying at a Disney Resort hotel or other qualifying hotel. All other Guests can purchase and book their selections 3 days before the date of their park visits. After you redeem all 3 Lightning Lanes, you will have a rolling one to use throughout your day. This will be a huge benefit to planning your day in the parks even before you arrive!
I hope you now have some tools to consider to better manage expected crowd levels and navigate your way through the parks. If you have any further questions, please let us know, we are always happy to help!
To Infinity and Beyond,
Nick