Anyone planning for some Disney Magic in January????

[alaskanmommy]

Hi all! I am currently starting to plan a Disneyland vacation in January 2010!! I just thought it would be fun to have a forum for us January park-goers to share and discuss issues and ideas!! I know it's still a little early but I just can't help myself!!!!!

So currently I am planning to be in DL 1/18 - 1/23 or 24. We are arriving in CA. to visit my DH's family in central California and then doing 3 days in San Diego doing the zoo and Sea World before our final and most exciting destination DL!!!!!

We have only stayed on property before but it's so much cheaper off that we might do the HOJO or some other comparable good neighbor hotel. I think I will book a good neighbor package with Dreams (withTracy ) and hope for some good on property discounts to show up.

We have never been during this time but are very excited!! Although I'm a bit worried about what will be down for rehab and what the limited firework, parade and Fantasmic schedule will be.

So, anybody else planning for January and what are your plans??? When are you going?????? Where are you staying???? Etc., etc. Can't wait!!!!!


January Dis'ers So Far

alaskanmommy 1/18 - 1/23 Good Neighbor Tentative
3Minnies1Mickey late January Tentative
Gokstate 1/6 - 1/10
Casey's Mommie 1/9 - 1/12 HOJO
godalejunior 1/23 - 1/30
mamaofthree 1/6 - 1/9 HOJO
ebtbman 1/10 - 1/15 Camelot Inn
smiley face2 1/1 - 1-9 HOJO

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

We are!! Though I'm not sure which weekend. We are going for our 9th anniversary and hoping to stay at GCH. It may be pushed to the 1st weekend of Feb, depending on the kids school schedules?

 

[Gokstate]

My sister and I will be there from 1/6 through 1/10. We are WDW vets so this is a totally new experience for us. We can't wait!!

 

[Casey's Mommie]

We are!!!

We're going to be in the parks from Sat, 1/9 - Tues, 1/12.

We're going to stay at HOJO. It will be me, dh, dd (3) and dmil.

We can't wait to go again. Last year we were lucky enough to go in May 08, Sept 08, Jan 09 and May '09.

 

[godalejunior]

We are going to 1/23-1/30

 

[mamaofthree]

We have HoJo booked for 1/6-1/9! Hoping it works out, we aren't telling the kids until the last minute, just in case someone is super sick and we have to cancel. We were there in July, and it was so crowded and so hot. Hoping to have a more relaxed time in Jan, even though off season means shorter park hours, less shows, and refurbs.

 

[ebtbmom]

Everyone keeps saying this is early for January, but I've had my trip planned since April this year! I love the planning, keeps the mind entertained

Anyway, me, DS, and 13yr niece will be there 1/10-1/15 staying at Camelot Inn. We're doing 1 Legoland day too.

A couple of things I'm worried about, rain and conventions. There is a convention starting on the 14th which is near the end of our trip, but do people come in early to do the parks? Maybe they don't have time for Disney on business trips?

The other thing is weather, I don't mind cool temps but I do mind rain. I hear Jan is a rainy time, any thoughts? Of course, I'm from eastern NC so my experience with rain is probably way different from the the southern CA rain experience.

 

[smiley_face2]

Well our trip includes the dates of January 1 through January 9, but we will actually be arriving at HoJo's on Dec. 29 We are talking about possibly driving over to Vegas while we are there, just because it's a pretty short drive. Not too sure though, neither of us drink or smoke or gamble...so what else is there to do there We may go to Knotts this time, we have not been there for about 18 years!! We went to Universal our last trip this year, so won't do that again.... we are thinking about checking out the Labraya tar pits (spelling?) and there are a couple of gardens I would love to go visit....
If you check the HoJo's discussion board you will see the entertainment rate is available for pretty much every day in January. If you decide to go with them, I think you should go for the premium park view room, just because you have always stayed at the resort before, and we don't want you to be disapointed in Hojo's!

 

[asianbma]

No need to plan for Disneyland. Because I am currently an annual Passholder and I go there all the time without any planning at all. LOL.

You don't need to plan at all because Disneyland resort is small. Unlike Walt Disney world which is huge.

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

A couple of things I'm worried about, rain and conventions. There is a convention starting on the 14th which is near the end of our trip, but do people come in early to do the parks? Maybe they don't have time for Disney on business trips?
The other thing is weather, I don't mind cool temps but I do mind rain. I hear Jan is a rainy time, any thoughts? Of course, I'm from eastern NC so my experience with rain is probably way different from the the southern CA rain experience.

January is definitely more rainy than December. I went for years in December and never encountered rain, and almost every January that I have gone since then has rained. Sometimes it poured the entire trip, and other times it didn't really rain much but was really cold and foggy. So you never know...

Well our trip includes the dates of January 1 through January 9, but we will actually be arriving at HoJo's on Dec. 29 We are talking about possibly driving over to Vegas while we are there, just because it's a pretty short drive. Not too sure though, neither of us drink or smoke or gamble...so what else is there to do there We may go to Knotts this time, we have not been there for about 18 years!! We went to Universal our last trip this year, so won't do that again.... we are thinking about checking out the Labraya tar pits (spelling?) and there are a couple of gardens I would love to go visit....
If you check the HoJo's discussion board you will see the entertainment rate is available for pretty much every day in January. If you decide to go with them, I think you should go for the premium park view room, just because you have always stayed at the resort before, and we don't want you to be disapointed in Hojo's!

If you don't drink, smoke or gamble, there are shows to see in Vegas, although quite a few go dark during the holidays and through early January. You could make a show out of people watching! Lots of interesting things to see and do, but it's cold in January so one of the things you could do, like lay around and relax at the pool, is out the window. I don't think I would enjoy Vegas very much if I didn't gamble. I don't smoke or drink. I like to have my wits about me when I gamble so I don't do anything too stupid or make stupid mistakes. The casinos love people who drink and gamble for obvious reasons.
If you like thrill rides and Frontier type theming, go to Knotts! We had so much fun at Knotts in June! Almost every ride was a walk on and they strictly enforce no line cutting rules. We actually saw them pull people off of lines for cutting. They don't mess around with it. We really enjoyed Knotts for the ambiance and the change from DLR which was packed to the gills! We would totally go there again!

 

[alaskanmommy]

Well our trip includes the dates of January 1 through January 9, but we will actually be arriving at HoJo's on Dec. 29 We are talking about possibly driving over to Vegas while we are there, just because it's a pretty short drive. Not too sure though, neither of us drink or smoke or gamble...so what else is there to do there We may go to Knotts this time, we have not been there for about 18 years!! We went to Universal our last trip this year, so won't do that again.... we are thinking about checking out the Labraya tar pits (spelling?) and there are a couple of gardens I would love to go visit....
If you check the HoJo's discussion board you will see the entertainment rate is available for pretty much every day in January. If you decide to go with them, I think you should go for the premium park view room, just because you have always stayed at the resort before, and we don't want you to be disapointed in Hojo's!

Thanks smiley face2! I will check out the HoJo board. I have heard of the entertainment rate, can you tell me what rate you guys are booked at?? Is the price of the Entertainment book worth it, or will I get a better deal booking through Dreams for a Good Neighbor package???

 

[alaskanmommy]

So in the first post I put everybody's plans so we can look and see which Dis'ers will be there at the same time!!

I have a question? It looks like I am the only one planning to be there the week of 1/18 - 1/23 so far. Do you think this will be a good time or should I book earlier or later??? We can go at any time. Do you think the holiday on Monday will make the parks too busy??? Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Also, we're doing Sea World as well, but were planning to visit SW on the weekend before heading to Disney. Anybody have any weekend SW experience?? Is it really busy then, or will we be ok?? I just didn't want to do DL on the weekend and my DD7 REALLY wants to go to Sea World!!!

 

[akmomesq]

Hi Alaskanmommy - I'm another, AK mommy that is . We sound like the same person.... I have a DS7 who REALLY wants to go to Sea World so we're going to do that first and the Zoo, then head to DL. (It's a surprise trip though - my 2 will be getting the good news on Christmas) It's our first trip! We'll either miss you by one week or 3 depending on when we go - we're going first week of Feb or last week of Feb. I've been researching like a crazy person. I can't give you first hand experience, but I can share what I've learned

I've been told to book now (make sure you don't get locked into anything non-refundable), then keep an eye out for good rates. When something comes up, just call CS and get your rate adjusted.

I've read to steer clear of the holiday - that it's very busy. I don't know if that holds true for SW though.

Have you decided whether you're staying on or off site? I'm struggling with that decision right now, leaning towards on.

And are you anxiously awaiting the PFD sale to be announced like I am????

 

[alaskanmommy]

Hi fellow Alaska mom! This will be our 2nd DL trip, we went during Halloween week 2 years ago and stayed at PPH. What a blast!!! Our last 2 trips have been to WDW, but we are visiting relatives in CA this winter so it will have to be DL, Sea World and the Zoo. We love us some Disney!! Let me know if you have any ?'s.

As far as the PFD sale, they haven't been that great in recent years so this year I think we will use miles for 1 ticket and a companion fare for the other two in our fam! Not bad, right now we can all get to OC for around $830

I am still trying to decide if we will stay on or off property. I think I will book with Dreams again, they are awesome!!! We've used them 3 years in a row. Then my TA will look for discounts for me.

If the holiday week is really bad I might have to postpone our arrival for a week, that would make us in DL around 1/25. That might be better. Anybody have any info about this time of year. Would the week after MLK holiday be better?????

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

Also, we're doing Sea World as well, but were planning to visit SW on the weekend before heading to Disney. Anybody have any weekend SW experience?? Is it really busy then, or will we be ok?? I just didn't want to do DL on the weekend and my DD7 REALLY wants to go to Sea World!!!

I went to Seaworld on a Saturday in June and we had no problems with crowds. The park was open later though because it was Summer. I'm not sure what their hours are like in January, so the crowd levels may be different. In June, it was nothing like Disney is when it's crowded. (And it was crowded!) OTOH, I am a DAP holder and was blocked out on a Saturday from DL. Saturdays at DL are usually slower than Sundays now because many of the AP holders are blocked out on Saturdays. Sat is a MM day too, so you may want to consider going to DL on Sat and SW on Sun. Just a thought... I have SW photos in my TR if you're interested. The crowds were nothing like being in DL.

 

[alaskanmommy]

Thanks for the info DisneySuiteFreak. I figured that Sea World on the weekends can't be as bad as DL on the weekends. I'm checking out your pics on your trip report right now.