Ahhuuggg! 2nd guessing my touring plan!!! Jan 20. - Jan 28.

[sanilacjack]

I'm sure I don't have to explain myself to you guys. An incredible amount of time has gone into vacation planning. This is not our first trip, we are actually in the double digits, but it still can't be helped....I'm second guessing my vacation plan. I use a method of part tour guide mikes on-line crowd report and the unoffical guides reports as well. We always do one park in the morning, afternoon break (short, but enough to unwined) and a different park in the evening.

We will be at OKW from 1/20 - 1/28 and have been to WDW this time of year as well.

Do I:
A. Even though it is off season, follow the guides and stay away from emh parks.

or

B. Use emh to make the most of reduced hours due to low season.

I think it's just human nature to doubt yourself this close to a vacation. Either that or I'm lossing it!!!

-Kim

 

[SandrainNC]

Hi! We will be there about the same time as you are (1/21 - 30). I decided to avoid EMH altogether except for one day because we had already gotten CRT for 8:05 a.m. on a Thursday morning. Then the new EMH schedule came out and Thursday turned into an EMH day for MK, but there was no way to get that time another day by that point, so it will probably be packed that day. But this is a one time thing for us to eat in the castle (especially since the price increase) and we are going for it. We will just hop over to Epcot for a while that day if it gets too bad and then come back for Spectromagic and Wishes. That is the one and only day we will be at a park with the extra hours though.

Maybe someone who has been there in Jan. before can help you decide.

Sandra

 

[amylevan]

Do you have hopping? If so you could go to the non-emh park during regular hours and then hop to take advantage of emh.

 

[addicted2disney]

We will be there from Jan 21-Jan29 !! We always avoid the morning EMH's. The only Night time EMH we did last January was Epcot, and we were disappointed that the countries we not open. We thought we could just walk around them and enjoy the night time hours. Wrong.
January is an awesome time to go with such low crowds, why ruin it with going to the parks that are going to be crowded with EMH? LOL Thats how we look at it. Yes, there are shorter hours, but unless you are going to that EMH morning park before it opens and only staying for 2-3 hours, its not going to be worth it. You will be much better off avoiding EMH, and going to the parks with the least crowds and really low lines ( if any lines at all).

SandrainNC- Thursday is now a double whammy for crowds at MK!! First, its morning EMH, its also a Spectromagic night. Even though you have ressies for CRT, Id go eat, and get out. lol.Take the Monorail over to Epcot instead. If this is the only time you can see Spectro, hop back so you are there at LEAST a good hour before the parade starts.

 

[Mellie0119]

The countries in the WS aren't open during PM EMH?

Bummer! I was hoping they'd be open. Now I'm going to have to change my plans!

We only have short trip this time, so we will be part of the EMH crowd.

 

[f7prez]

I do not think the parks will be crowded enough this time of year to make a difference.

 

[afc104]

Hi
We are going to be there Jan 23-29 and have decided to give the EMH a try because the parks close earlier and am hoping based on the posts I have read on this board about that time of the year being slow. I hope this is the case because we are bummed that Test Track and Splash Mtn will be closed for all or part of the stay. I was hoping that they would open Everest to everyone on the EMH night for the AK but that does not seem to be what's going to happen and we are neither AP or DVC members. A co-worker said that he went to all the EMH's last March when they were there and he thought it was great and crowds were small. He said they never had more than 5-10 minute wait for any attraction and January is supposed to be a bit slower than March.

 

[SandrainNC]

SandrainNC- Thursday is now a double whammy for crowds at MK!! First, its morning EMH, its also a Spectromagic night. Even though you have ressies for CRT, Id go eat, and get out. lol.Take the Monorail over to Epcot instead. If this is the only time you can see Spectro, hop back so you are there at LEAST a good hour before the parade starts.

I know!! That is why the plan is to eat, do a few things in Fantasyland and then hop over to Epcot when it starts getting bad. We are going back to MK on Friday so no harm done. And we never see everything in Epcot anyway, so it might be nice to go back. Thanks!

Sandra

 

[sanilacjack]

Thank-you for confirming that I am DOING THE RIGHT THING by staying away from emh parks. I have no days planned that we would have to be in the same park as emh.
We have been to Disney every month of the year except May - Sept.
and have always loved nov - feb. the best.

I think when you invest so much time and money in a trip, you get cold feet the closer it gets to the due date.

If anyone is interested my touring plan is as follows:

Fri - Jan 20
Fly in,
Stops at outlet mall and grocery store
OKW

Sat - Jan 21.
AM - MK
PM - MK (we start every trip on this way)

Sun - Jan 22.
AM - Epcot
PM - MGM (DH will be making a side trip to ESPN for playoff game- go figure)

Mon - Jan 23.
AM - MGM
PM - AK til closing
DTD after hours

Tues - Jan 24
Kennedy space center day (for my budding 7yo astronut)

Wed - Jan 25
AM - AK
PM - Epcot

Thurs - Jan 26
AM - Kids Choice
PM - Parents Choice

Fri - Jan 27
Am - MK
PM - Mk (We end our stay the same way it started - with a castle and a mouse)

Sat - Jan 28
AM - DTD and DQ
PM - Flying home

I do have a method to my madness. I try to have equal park time for each park in the AM and PM. The feel of the Parks change so much from daylight to darkness. So as of now, I have 4 mk 1/2 days, 2 Epcot 1/2 days, 2 MGM 1/2 days, 2 AK 1/2 days, and 2 choice 1/2 days.

May not seem like a lot or to little to some, but this isn't our first trip either and it seem to fit our family just right.

Only 14 more days!

-Kim

 

[addicted2disney]

Even though its January and the crowds are probably close to the lowest all year, it does make a differnce when its EMH day or a Spectro night. Why have some crowds, when you could go a differnet day and have no crowds. Especially when the park hours are so short.

Mellie- Norway and Mexico are open. Thats it. We had no intention of staying for rides and attractions, but thought all the countries would be open and we could enjoy eating, drink and browsing thru them. This was before Soarin' opened, and the night we were there Test Track was broken, so the kids rode Mission Space a zillion times and played those games at the end of the ride.

afc- your co worker went to all of them? am and pm? The am HOUR will be great but you will need to be there when the gates open at 8. The parks that have morning EMH will end up being more crowded from 11-12 on. So if you can get up early, be at EMH early, and leave that park by noon, you would be ok. I know that in January, you can avoid the EMH parks, and get a lot accomplished because its low crowds all day. I can only comment on the Epcot night time EMH because thats the only one we did last January. We were going to try MK, but it ended up raining that day at MGM,so we just went back to the Boardwalk and let the kids swim in the rain.

 

[kelleigh1]

We will be at WDW the 15th-22nd and we have 10:30 ADR at Crystal Palace on Thursday, the 19th. We purposely planned it this way. We can tour the park during morning EMH and hit those rides that are open for EMH. Then off to breakfast at 10:30. After we eat, we'll take a look at the crowds and then decide if we're going to stay at Magic Kingdom or hop to another park.

 

[addicted2disney]

Sanilacjack- Our plans are this-
Saturday- Magic Kingdom and spectro at 8 - Im leary about doing M Kon Saturday, but
this is the best day for us to see Spetro. We are having dinner at the Plaza
Restaurant on Main Street at 5:45.
Sunday- MGM all day and night - Lunch at 3:40 at Sci Fi
Monday- Epcot all day and night- Late lunch at Teppanyaki in Japan
Tuesday- Magic Kingdom - Breakfast at Chef Mickey's @ 8:30
Wednesday- I dont know yet.. My DH and 2 other dads with us are doing the Richard
Petty Experience from 1-4. Which really is 12-5 once you leave to get
there and come back. I wanted to try Universal and have the guys meet
us at Citywalk at 6pm, but he wants us to watch him.. sigh..
Thursday- AK all day- AP sneek preview of Expedition Everest! WOOHOO Hop to
Epcot after AK.
Friday- MK 1/2 day & Epcot and pm EMH at night
Saturday- MGM most of the day, Lunch or dinner at Prime time ( first day its opened
back up) and over to Epcot for a while after MGM.

We might take one of those hops to EPcot and make it a DTD night.

 

[littleprissboutique]

Wow sanilacjack you are doing the same parks as us your first three days. We arrive on Jan 21 and stay until Jan 28. We are doing MK on the 21, Epcot on the 22, MGM on the 23, Mk on the 24, Mgm and MK on the 25, Mk (crt lunch) then Epcot on the 26, Mk on the 27, and MGM on the 28--then its back home boohoo.... No AK for me or dd this year... Except my hubby is going to AK one day to try and ride EE.

 

[sanilacjack]

addicted2disney and littleprissboutique,
It truly is a small world, isn't it?

We are going to try to fit in a viewing of EE on that Thursday morning.
We may over rule the kids for that first hour or two.

addicted2disney - We have adr at LLT at 5:10 that Sat. night. I too am a little leary about MK on a Sat, but We can't break tradition!!!!!!


Have a great trip.

-Kim

 

[bcvprincesses]

Sanilacjack it is a small world. We will be at MK on Sat night after my dd's gymnastics meet and MGM at the same time. We will also be at AK on the 26 for the dvc preview. We are avoiding the EMH and it seems to work well for us. Are you from Sanilac county? If so we are from Marysville. We are going the 19 and flying home the 28. Are you on Spirit Air by any chance???

 

[sanilacjack]

bcvprincesses-
Wow, we could be neighbors, sort of!
Yes, I live in Sanilac Co. in Sandusky.
We will be in Marysville on Saturday night. We are taking my DH's grandmother out to eat for her birthday.

As a matter of fact, no, we aren't flying Spirit. We have always flew with them in the past, but when I went to book they were really high. I ended up booking with NWA and now I'm hearing that the attendents might go on strike.

Lets hope not!!!

-Kim

 

[bcvprincesses]

I haven't heard about the possible stike. Lets hope not. There are a few of the gymnasts flying NWA. Have fun with grandma at dinner.

 

[MickeyFan2003]

We'll be there too! Arriving on the 21st and leaving on the 27th. This is our "relaxing" vacation. Hoping to take plenty of time to stop and smell the roses. We've been there 3 times in the last 2 1/2 years (it's just my husband and me), so we know what we want to see and what we don't. Our itinerary looks like this:

Sat. 1/21 - Arrive POR mid-afternoon. Dinner at resort or DD, watch Bob Jackson in the evening.

Sun. 1/22 - MK. ADR at LTT for 5:00, watch Wishes at 8:00, stay for EMH.

Mon. 1/23 - Epcot in the morning (just FutureWorld), MGM in afternoon, then Fantasmic.

Tues. 1/24 - No parks. Spa at Grand Floridian, California Grill for dinner, DD and Pleasure Island in the evening.

Wed. 1/25 - AK (just the highlights that we want to see), then Epcot's World Showcase. ADR at Rose and Crown at 6:40, Illuminations at 9:00.

Thurs. 1/26 - MGM in the morning, then MK for the evening. ADR at the castle for 5:05. Planning to see Spectro and Wishes.

What does everyone think? I know that Thursday at MK will probably be crowded, but it's our last night and we'd rather be at the MK in the crowds than anywhere else. And we're hoping for light late January crowds and great weather. Can't wait to start packing!

 

[sanilacjack]

Mickeyfan2003 - We will be in the same park on Wed.

Are you flying or driving?

 

[married@wdw]

We'll be there 1/26-2/3 at BWV and we've decided to hit EMH nights only just to enjoy the ambience of the parks at night, especially AK, but not so much to do rides. My "ride plans" are all for early in the day on non-EMH mornings.