DL in January

[OrthoDad]

We have a trip coming up in two weeks....we were HOPING that some of the new stuff would be open, but alas....looks like the rumors of some May openings were off a couple of weeks.

So.....with my family having other travel plans later in the summer, and lots of kid activities in the fall, it looks like we'll need a January trip to check out Star Tours, Little Mermaid, Goofy, etc.

Can anyone give us some ideas about what is typically closed in January? I know that HM & Small World will be taking down their holiday make-overs. Any ideas about how long that lasts? Any other "January down-time" things I need to know about?

Thanks!
W

 

[jdb in AZ]

What part of January? I hope you can avoid Jan 19-22 because there's a humongous convention in Anaheim then and the parks will be crowded.

Every time we go to DLR during the winter it seems like our favorite rides are closed for refurb, tho that isn't the case. I checked a recent list and several big attractions are closed now, or will be closed next month. go figure.

You've already mentioned Small World and HM being closed in Jan. but their official dates haven't been announced. Unless they're undergoing major refurb when the holiday overlays are removed, it usually doesn't take all that long.

 

[kim3339]

They've also added the Tinkerbell/Women/s 1/2 Marathon Weekend 1/27-1/29. Based on the past races you can expect around 10,000 runners give or take a few 1,000, plus families. It's not that bad during the DL 1/2 Labor Day weekend, but something to keep in mind.

 

[albumlady]

They've also added the Tinkerbell/Women/s 1/2 Marathon Weekend 1/27-1/29. Based on the past races you can expect around 10,000 runners give or take a few 1,000, plus families. It's not that bad during the DL 1/2 Labor Day weekend, but something to keep in mind.

I also wondered if they would leave the holiday overlays up until after this race or if they would try to have them down my then...

 

[kim3339]

I also wondered if they would leave the holiday overlays up until after this race or if they would try to have them down my then...

No, as much as I wish they would leave them up, I would think that everything would be down by then. However, they might have a few Valentine's Day stuff like red colored flowers and decorations up. I think HM and IASW start to go back over the 1st week of January.

 

[OrthoDad]

Thanks, everybody!

W

 

[DahliaRW]

We went this past January. Both HM and IASW were open the week prior to (I think HM opened on Wednesday or Thursday) MLK Day weekend. IASW closed the day after MLK day. We timed our trip to hit HM after the overlay was off and IASW before it came down so that we could ride both rides. We didn't find the park to be too crowded, even over MLK day weekend. Though we did take Sunday off as our down day. On the non-holiday week days everything was a very short wait or walk on. On the weekend there were waits, but we utilized FPs and did a lot of the less lengthy wait rides and shows. It worked out rather well.

 

[miss.potatohead]

I was at DLR 17-25 January this year. Absolutely bliss in terms of crowd levels, hardly anyone there and we had a walk on for most rides!

Small World was closed for the removal of the Christmas decorations but that was it - besides Splash (and Grizzly at DCA). From what I've gathered, they try to stagger the removal of the overlay so that no more than 1-2 of the main big rides are closed at one time. Haunted Mansion had it's overlay off by the time we arrived but as I said, its a small world closed just after HM opened.

They announced the dates I think in September/October last year for ride closures. It was a great time to go though, especially the weekdays!