A few observations from my January trip.

[pjlla]

Sorry I have been unable to get a full trip report out, but I have been mulling over a few observations I thought I would share.

#1. There were LOADS of characters out, compared to our 1/2002 trip. We got pictures with Mickey Mouse in three different parks! Which is great, as he is wearing a different outfit in each! And we saw several characters we didn't expect to, including Pocahontas, Piglet, Gov. Radcliffe, Meeko, and a few others. While we felt like we saw plenty of characters in 1/02, we saw loads more this time. And we took the time to do pictures, even if we had already done them on a previous day. Each one is different and special!

#2. There were many more street performances than we had seen during 01/2002. Maybe we just missed them last time, but as I recall, the only street performance we saw previous was the Jammitors as Epcot. We saw them this time, as well as the Dapper Dans on Main Street at MK, a band playing Dixieland-type music on Main Street, later in the day, turn-of-the-century costumed dancers/singers on Main Street early in the day. There was also a band playing in that stadium near Carousel of Progress one day.

There was a group of acrobats performing in the Dawa Bar at Animal Kingdom.

These are all I can recall at the moment, but they were all great and really added to the "magic".

#3. Crowds were definitely higher, even though it was almost the same week of the year as our previous trip. Perhaps MLK weekend contributed to this, but the crowds were still there the Friday after that weekend. I guess there will never be another "low" season like the one post 9/11.

Just my observations.....................P

 

[wilderness01]

 

[Jynohn]

I completely agree. We visited 1/1-11 and we also noticed how many characters were out. They were EVERYWHERE!

The entertainment was great too, especially the little surprise one morning on Main St. They had a few singers/dancers performing to "The Trolley Song" and another song about walking down Main St. It was very cute and unexpected.

I also agree about the crowds. We expected some post-holiday crowds, but they never really thinned out as much as we thought they would. It seems like they were thinner on my last March trip, which was surprising. Next time I think we'll go later in the month. I think the holiday crowds lingered much longer this time around, and the marathon also contributed a little...

 

[kessieann]

I totally agree with your first two statements and as far as crowds we went at the end of Jan. so I thought they were fairly low.

We saw characters everywhere. MK was just filled with them when we first got there as well as throughout the day. We even saw Brother Bear characters in Canada at Epcot which I was not expecting at all. It sure beat when we went on our honeymoon 8 years ago and the only characters we saw were on that stage at Epcot.

We also thought there were a lot of shows. We saw the street performers at Epcot United Kingdom who were just hilarious. Then we saw some performers in France and boy do they have a neat suprise I wasn't expecting. We saw the drum players in Japan as well as the Chinese acrobats in. The shows took up a lot of time but were very worth it.

Our crowds were just perfect. We took the ferry over to MK and my dd pretty much had Chip & Dale & Pluto (who went along for the ride) all to herself. She danced most of the way over with Chip (or was it Dale?) At AK they were actually waiting for people so they could get the Safari under way. MK was the "busiest" but it was still pretty much less then 10 minute waits for anything. One exception was the Peter Pan ride. We just did fast pass though and we got right on.

I LOVE January and will always plan for this time until school becomes a big issue.

 

[Jcricket Fan]

I must agree pjlla that the crowds stayed after the MLK holiday. This is the week we usually go but no more. There were many families so I asked some of them how long they were staying and they said they decided to keep the kids out for the whole week of MLK week.

I also spoke to a lot of the CMs who said they too were surprised by how many families were still there after the holiday.

So the slow season is being pushed out another week...looks like the last week of the month is the one to try for if you like to go in Jan. with lower crowds.

Colleen

 

[meeko_33785]

Glad to hear you had a great character-filled trip. I like Meeko too.