YOu know whats bugging me?

[glo]

If you go in January it is supposed to be a quieter time of the year to go, though it might not be the case this year with all the discounts (only time will tell). What is bothering me is that It seems to me that going in January means we miss out on a lot. The new parades will not be running yet. Neither will the fireworks or new shows I guess. There are shorter park hours, no PP&P party this year, rides closed for re-furbishment, and..... If you booked your trip early you and your birthday is in Jan....you probably miss out on the new promotion. I know I did by 6 days!!! It seems like going in January is loosing its appeal. I love Disney and I will have a blast, but this year I feel like my vacation is getting short changed by Disney. I miss the promotion cuz I booked my travel early. They aren't having the PP&P parties. Hours have been cut and I have had to change my ADR's numerous times. A few times because of their changes, we have not gotten the ADR we wanted. Fantasmic is only one night out of the 6 days I am there, so it will be jammed packed! Spectro is limited, and only 1 night at MK and 1 at HS will be EMH. I know it sounds like whining and I guess it is a bit...but Disney is getting my hard earned money in a bad economy, and I feel I am getting less than ever...

 

[Guest-expert]

January is slower, and to be honest, I like it that way. I go all year, so I see the peak times, and the slow times, and I'll take a fewer rides and fewer parades, for a more enjoyable experience.

I guess what I'm saying, is...it's only as enjoyable as you let it be. Disney does 65% of the magic....you have to let yourself do the rest.

 

[RMulieri]

I am sorry you feel slighted.Jan has always had shorter hours and more rehabs because it is off season.Nothing new there, As for the P&P parties and the condensed Fantasmic and Spectro schedule, Disney is a buisness trying to make money in a bad economy., it is inevitable that things we love will get cut. look at it this way, at least you get to go on a vacation to WDW even though the economy is bad.It could be worse.

 

[dburg30]

LOL, I was just looking at all the closures and refurbs and such also. While it's a bummer, I'll still have a great time.

 

[EnnEss]

As for the shorter hours, you generally wait so much less for everything that its easily offset.

The no new shows thing isn't strictly true in that if you don't go all the time it does not matter because this may be the first time you see them, and if you do go all the time, you will see them next time anyways. They are on for a period of time, seeing them at any point during that time is the same as the other really.

The big thing is definately lack of shows and lots of refurbs. Generally the overall cost of the vacation is less and the overall stress is significantly decreased at that time of year though.

I have to say I generally dislike EMH and the hours in general though at WDW when compared to DLR at any time of year I feel Orlando's are worse. I wish they could clone the management and move them to WDW.

The promotion is annoying one for other people too. My birthday is during the christmas break, very close to christmas, busiest and most expensive week of the year. Its of no use to me. My gfs is in the busiest most expensive part of the summer, so its no use there either. A blog reported Orlando's WDW not meeting its registration numbers for the promo while DLR is at 300 percent of their target for february and its only december. Its probably for the reasons I mentioned and you experienced, people often can't travel for this promotion, those in SoCal who live close to DLR will take advantage though and won't have to travel. This promotion will probably be bad from a marketing stand point when its over.

 

[disnut8]

There's no true perfect time to visit Disney World. You just have to decide for yourself what is important to you and then plan your trip around that. Live with the shortcomings and enjoy what is there at the time.

The current promotion is not going to be for everyone. For people who can take advantage of it, great. I can't. My birthday is in February and it's never a good time to take off. The husband's is in March and we always have plans for that weekend. It won't work for us. But that's OK. We still get to go to Disney World anyway.

I guess I could really paraphrase John Kennedy. Ask not what Disney World can do for you but what you can do to have a good time while there.

 

[tink_n_pooh]

Not everyone is going to love going in January, and that is a good thing for me, shorter lines

Seriously though, I love going in January. I love being able to go for swim and then call home to see how much snow we got that day I love the short lines and lesser crowds. I love going early in January and see all of the Christmas decorations. Oh and I love not sweating my you know what off while waiting on super long lines for the same rides I could walk right up to in January

 

[PirateFairy8]

my birthday is the 4th of january, and since i'm a local i'm only going for that one day with my friends. i really hope that things for the celebration are up and running, because even though i am local and can comeback, i am also very ill and it is a major thing for me to push just to go on my birthday. i won't complain if things aren't ready, i always go to disney onmy birthday. i would just love something a little different and new.

 

[NewmanFam6]

We are going in January and I am so excited Refurbs and less shows are ok with us because we will be in Disney We haven't been since 2006 because we went on DCL last so we can not wait!

 

[marsrunner]

Well, they have to do refurbs at some point, so I would imagine they do it when there is impact to the least number of guests. They can't very well close down Splash Mountain in the middle of the summer.
To the OP, I'm a little confused about you missing the promotion. You say you missed it because you booked early...do you mean you will be arriving at Disney World early as in before 1/4 (which is the first date eligible for the promotion)? Or do you mean you booked it early as in you booked it before they started the promotion? You know you can call and have your reservation changed, right? That's what we did. We booked in early October for 1/20-1/27 and had already paid. The promotion was released and we called back and changed our reservation and they refunded my debit card about $1200. You just have to call before 12/20.

 

[Fredd's Girl]

If you go in January it is supposed to be a quieter time of the year to go, though it might not be the case this year with all the discounts (only time will tell). What is bothering me is that It seems to me that going in January means we miss out on a lot. The new parades will not be running yet. Neither will the fireworks or new shows I guess. There are shorter park hours, no PP&P party this year, rides closed for re-furbishment, and..... If you booked your trip early you and your birthday is in Jan....you probably miss out on the new promotion. I know I did by 6 days!!! It seems like going in January is loosing its appeal. I love Disney and I will have a blast, but this year I feel like my vacation is getting short changed by Disney. I miss the promotion cuz I booked my travel early. They aren't having the PP&P parties. Hours have been cut and I have had to change my ADR's numerous times. A few times because of their changes, we have not gotten the ADR we wanted. Fantasmic is only one night out of the 6 days I am there, so it will be jammed packed! Spectro is limited, and only 1 night at MK and 1 at HS will be EMH. I know it sounds like whining and I guess it is a bit...but Disney is getting my hard earned money in a bad economy, and I feel I am getting less than ever...

I actually very much agree with you. I think we all know when we plan for January there are going to be rehabs and shorter hours, but I think it's getting a bit extreme this year. I feel like everytime I check the rehab list something new is going down during our trip.

MK- First was Hall of Presidents, OK, I get that-new pres, new animatronic...then it was Splash Moutain...OK, disappointed but then I found out that Splash usually goes down in January, my bad...then Philharmagic...Are you kidding me? Do they not want me in the MK for my trip...

Epcot so far has rehab scheduled for Ellen's UoE...now the park is closing early on Fridays...I'm waiting for the others to start following.

I am very disappointed about Fantasmic only being 2 times during our trip. One of which is the night we get there.

I understand Disney is having financial difficulty like every other business in the country...but every other business isn't luring me down there with "great" deals and then start making it not so great. We also planned far in advance, and have watched the rehab list grow and the park hours and special events dwindle down, but my park hopper pass still cost the same.

JMO.

 

[eliza61]

Disney is getting my hard earned money in a bad economy, and I feel I am getting less than ever...

Not sure I know how to side with this one.

1) Disney has pretty much always had shorter hours and done all the rehabs in the winter months. This isn't new, Why did you pick January?

2) The crowds are lighter so you may not be jammed packed, only time will tell on that one.

3) Promotions are run for one reason, to get people to visit when the might not normally vacation so it's always difficult to tell whether or not one will be coming. Some people will actually wait and see if one comes out (like free dining) but if you have to book airfare, etc etc then it's a little harder. Have you tried calling and seeing if the promotions can be applied to your trip?

All in all, there are pros and cons for every season. I love August because the parks are open until 11:00 pm and generally there are 2 showings of every thing but the trade off is the heat and heavier crowds.

 

[Camno's Mama]

I have to say that I am surprised that they won't be running the new parades and all that. Are they still doing the "Year of a Million Dreams" theme, then?

Oh, well! Still going to Disney. We have planned a lot of our stuff around Spectro and Fantasmic since we haven't seen them yet, so I do understand the frustration of only showing them once or twice a week!

 

[marsrunner]

They may only be showing Fantasmic! once or twice while you are there, but you more than likely won't have to show up an hour beforehand to see it. And do you need to see it more than twice? Only possible downside is that everybody who's there will go on those one or two nights, but I don't know how likely that is.
We seem to be lucking out. We are going Jan. 20-27 and the only thing in all of WDW that's down that I will miss is Philharmagic.

 

[princesswendy720]

I've been in January and it was a great trip. You probably won't even need to stay in the parks for very long, as it was not crowded when I went.

I know what you mean about the birthday promotion. My birthday is in July and I'd never want to go during that time. But Dbf has it really bad, his birthday is July 4th! Actually his whole family would have it bad had he been younger (2 of his siblings are 6/30 and his other sister is 7/5). Talk about a crowded week!

 

[Camno's Mama]

For me, it's not that I want to see it twice, but more that I had to be very strategic in my planning. We don't have park hoppers and all that, so I had to forego EMH at other places in order to keep us from doing two parks two days in a row or missing things we want to see, etc. But, honestly, it's part of the fun...working it all out.

I can understand the frustration though. Yes, it is cheaper, but not that much cheaper! We had a really great trip at the end of April/early May this year though, so if it's not perfect in January, that's okay by me. Not every trip is going to be the same...and it really would lose it's magic if everything was always perfect, anyway!

I'll take what I can get!

 

[marsrunner]

Price wasn't so much a deciding factor for us as was lack of crowds and cooler temps. If I have to sacrifice a few hours of the park being open, that's not that big a deal. Hopefully it'll be less crowded so we can do more with the time we have.
And Epcot may close earlier on Friday (8pm) but they have EMH that night, so they'll be open till 11pm.

 

[dyna]

We love Jan visits an more than willing to put up with shorter hours, lighter crowds, an rehabs to visit in Jan.

In fact we have a visit planned for June to celebrate DD's graduation of high school her choice not ours and I'm DREADING going the middle of June because of the heat an crowds. We will use our adult only visit in Jan to do things DD does not like an be ready to do some of favorites which are closed in Jan while we there in June.

Guess I'm one of the lucky ones able to take advantage of my Bday in Jan as well. The 200.00 gift card plus the 75.00 I'll get for being in park on my bday was a seller for us that is for sure. The gift card will go a long ways towards feeding the 2 of us that week an the 75.00 will cover most of the souvineers we buy. So really a good deal for us even tho hours are shorter,an a few attractions are closed.

 

[Mr. & Mrs. Smith]

I really don't know why you are complaining. You chose to go in January. January has always been known as a time of transition from one theme to the next, a time when many attractions are down for refurb, a time with shorter park hours, a time when one of the water parks is usually closed. You could have figured all of this out with a half an hour of planning before you booked.

We are going from January 10 - 17 and the rehab schedule looks lighter than the last time we were there in August/September 2007. Last time we were there, there were severeal major attractions down including HM and SE. Not to mention that new attractions like TSM and AI weren't even opened. So, I really don't see the problem.

Also, what fireworks shows won't be playing in January? Wishes? IllumiNations? I haven't heard about this.

As someone else mentioned, it doesn't matter how early you booked your trip, you can always call and have promotions applied assuming there is avalability.

It's termed off-season for a reason. Resort rooms are cheaper in January for a reason. To me, though, the perks much outway the flaws. That's why we decided on January. I'm not really sure why you did.

 

[MickeyNicki]

We are going in January, the first time for us in that month, and I am really hoping for low crowds...that is the most inportant thing to us!