January 2009. . . Calling all Snowbirds ~ Part I !!!

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Thank you for the welcomes! :wave2:

I'm going the week of January 12. Leaving before MLK weekend. I'm hoping for cool weather and minimal crowds.

Somehow I wind up with super-human energy when I'm at WDW. I constantly park-hop, often visiting several parks in one day. I'm crazy, I know. LOL :banana:
 
Hello all! DH and I are booked for Orlando from Jan 25th to Feb 3rd. The first 2 nights will be at Universal Studios (the horror!) and for now we are booked at POP. If a great deal comes out we would like to try for CS or AKL.

We've never been before in January either! We won't be getting the water parks and more option (especially since pleasure island will be non existant) but would like park hoppers.

We want the deluxe dining plan (if offered) and since this trip is a reschedule (we were supposed to go in Sept) I already know where we want to eat!

1. mama melrose lunch
2. CA Grill dinner
3. Liberty Tree lunch
4. Jikos dinner
5. Tutto Italia Lunch
6. Hoope De Doo Review dinner
7. Yak/Yeti lunch
8. raglan rd dinner
9. brown derby lunch
10. la cellier dinner
11. o'hana breakfast
12. narcoosees dinner
13. chefs de france lunch
14. artist point dinner
 
That's a good question. On our first trip we took advantage of a lot of EMH's and it was so crowded that we've never done it again. We avoid whichever park has them now. But I'm not sure how that plays out in January. I think whatever park has them will still be the busiest park that day, I just don't know how busy. :confused3


Good morning Snowbirds!!! Our first night last year, we had to alter our plans due to our plane being delayed from icy Illinois, so we ended up going to MK late for evening EMH's that were starting at 7pm. We got bracelets and ended up surpirsingly having a great night (open till 11pm that night). We grabbed some counter service at Cosmic Rays (dining plan), which was good amount of food, and our first stop was to Dumbo , and amazingly we waited 20 min, so we got that out of the way first thing:goodvibes It was my MIL's first trip, so we headed to Small World, since that seems to be the icon of MK. They have updated, but you have had enough of the song by the time you get out. We rode a few more rides and then watched the amazing fireworks:wizard: My girls were going crazy over Tinkerbell!! And we were all wearing T-shirts still, such a great change from winter in Illinois. We then headed to bus stop to Pop. It was the only downfall of night, it is the farthest stop, and we had a 18 month old and 3 year old to carry:headache: , and we waited nearly an hour. Our plan was to use strollers in park and avoid lugging our stroller on and off the busses, but that really wore my husband and I out. Needless to say we all slept very well that night and could not wait for our next magical day:yay:

We used EMH at AK (my fav park:lovestruc ) one morning, and waited for opening at Epcot one morning which was cool and took advantage of evening hours at Epcot. The kids got to ride Test Track 3 X's!! Be prepared to go and get your fast pass for Soarin right away, by afternoon they are sold out even in slow months due to popularity. We only got to ride once, but I can't wait to go back. It is incredible!!

Sorry, I wrote so much, it got me excited again reliving the memories!!!:wizard:

Can anyone tell me how to post a picture? I would love to show you some pictures from last winter. It seems difficult to do.

Time to go work, Have a great day snowbirds
 

Thanks for sharing your story Six! :goodvibes

I agree about Soarin! That has to be the most awesome ride ever!! We always head straight there when we open Epcot! Then run the whole way across Future World to Test Track! :car:

To post pictures you need to open an account on a photo website ( I use photobucket - it's free!) and then upload your pics to there. Then you can copy and paste the link for the picture you want to post to your post here. Can't wait to see your pics!
 
Hello all! DH and I are booked for Orlando from Jan 25th to Feb 3rd. The first 2 nights will be at Universal Studios (the horror!) and for now we are booked at POP. If a great deal comes out we would like to try for CS or AKL.

We've never been before in January either! We won't be getting the water parks and more option (especially since pleasure island will be non existant) but would like park hoppers.

We want the deluxe dining plan (if offered) and since this trip is a reschedule (we were supposed to go in Sept) I already know where we want to eat!

1. mama melrose lunch
2. CA Grill dinner
3. Liberty Tree lunch
4. Jikos dinner
5. Tutto Italia Lunch
6. Hoope De Doo Review dinner
7. Yak/Yeti lunch
8. raglan rd dinner
9. brown derby lunch
10. la cellier dinner
11. o'hana breakfast
12. narcoosees dinner
13. chefs de france lunch
14. artist point dinner

Welcome Meggybear17!! :goodvibes WOW that's a lot of great restaurants on your list! Out of those we have only been to Mama Melrose, LeCellier, and Ohana. They were all very good. We are planning to do Mama's and LeCellier again in January!
 
January Snowbirds! :cool1:

Towers5 ~ Dec 28-Jan 9 ???
Ccfmioa ~ Dec 30-Jan 8 ASMo
Maplemouse ~ Jan 1-5 ???
Tink1978 ~ Jan 1-7 POFQ
Laumau ~ Jan 1-7 WL
4girls2sets ~ Jan 2-9 SOG
Miabellarose ~ Jan 3-11 ASMu
Snykymom ~ Jan 4-11 CSR
Ehm1129 ~ Jan 5-16 ASMo
Kaos928 ~ Jan 6-12 POP/POR
Aussieangel ~ Jan 8-20 WL
Ginaluvsdisney ~ Jan 10-18 POFQ
Eve700 ~ Jan 12-???
Kiteri ~ Jan 16-24 FW
Mommy2emmamaddie ~ Jan 16-25 ???
Drakes ~ Jan 16-26 ASMo
Sixisenough ~ Jan 17-24 AKL
Hrsmom ~ Jan 17-24 BWV
Jenkh ~ Jan 17-31 BWV/AKV
Splashmtncrew ~ Jan 18-24 WL
GPA1015 ~ Jan 18-30 POP
Momof2disneyboys ~ Jan 21-27 ASMo
Trixiequilts ~ Jan 21-28 AKL
MickeyNicki ~ Jan 22-26 Poly
Petuniamilz ~ Jan 23-30 Offsite
Jnykly ~ Jan 24-30 ???
Billysmommy ~ Jan 24-31 BWV
Remmy ~ Jan 25-Feb 7 POP
Cinderellamom123 ~ Jan ???
Tinkerbelluk ~ Jan ???
Ppan77 ~ Jan ???
Lovemy2boys ~ Jan ??? AKL
Lukenick1 ~ Jan ???
Echo29 ~ Jan ??? CSR
 
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So I finally finished planning our schedule today! Here's what it looks like:
Tue- Arrive 3pm, Check-in @ POP, pick up tickets, Trail's End Buffeteria for dinner and maybe catch fireworks from the beach.
Wed- Magic Kingdom Day!! Dinner at Big River Grille & Brewing Works at the BoardWalk... anyone been?
Thurs- DHS in the AM, lunch at Sci-Fi, EPCOT Future World in the afternoon
Fri- Animal Kingdom in the morning, lunch at Tusker House. Back to Magic Kingdom for the evening
Sat- Move to POR, Park to be determined, dinner at Boatwrights
Sun- late start EPCOT World Showcase (Drink Around the World!!), dinner at LeCellier

I haven't been to Big River, Tusker House?, Boatwright OR LeCellier!! My family usually ate CS besides Crystal Palace and Chef Mickey's since we don't have kids we won't be doing character dining.

Looks like a great trip you have planned!

Nope, haven't been to Big River or Tusker House yet. We are thinking about doing the Donald's breakfast at Tusker in January!

I see you have Sci-Fi scheduled for lunch one day. Have you been there before? We went to lunch there in May and it was great! A very cool place. Make sure you get a milkshake there, they are the best! (and they are included as your drink on the DDP!)
 
Okay, so I just sent an email to the itinerary planning office for WL and I will wait to hear back from them.:rolleyes1

The DH seems to think that IPO will still make ADR's at 180 days for cl guests, I think it's just wishful thinking on his part! BTW what guidebook(s) if any do all of you Snowbirds use? I used the passporter this year, I really liked it, I wonder when the new edition will be out? We are not commandos at WDW anymore. We were the first couple of times, but now we love wandering around, going on our favorite rides and of course, eating :banana: We just take our time, sleep in, and stroll around. What about all of you? Commandos or wanderers?
 
Oh, Commandos! :rotfl: The first trip we didn't have much of a plan and we didn't know what to do or where to go. Now we plan out almost everything! But we also plan out time for eating, resting, and sleeping in!
 
We'll be at out favorite resort in Jan! We love CSR!! Can't wait to return.
 
We'll be at out favorite resort in Jan! We love CSR!! Can't wait to return.
Have a great time!! It's our favorite too! We'll be there in Sept! Can't wait to get back to the Pepper Market for some great meals! I love this place!!
 
This will be our first time doing the DDP and I know I can't book that until Aug right? But can I book any ADR's before I book a package or do I wait and do it all at once? My 180 days hits very shortly here and I want to get into a couple of places I have never been before, how should I do things? I never plan very much, we are play it by ear kind of people!:confused3
 
This will be our first time doing the DDP and I know I can't book that until Aug right? But can I book any ADR's before I book a package or do I wait and do it all at once? My 180 days hits very shortly here and I want to get into a couple of places I have never been before, how should I do things? I never plan very much, we are play it by ear kind of people!:confused3


Normally you can book ADR's 180 days in advance, which for January would be this month. But word is now that anyone travelling Jan 16 or after can only book ADR's 90 days in advance, which would then be October. Looks like your trip falls right in the middle of all that. You might want to call and find out.

You can book your ADR's without a package. You just have to be past the 180 days (or 90 now) for each day you are booking. If you have a package you can call and make all of your ADR's exactly 180 (90) days from the first day of your package. Make sense?
 
Okay, so I just sent an email to the itinerary planning office for WL and I will wait to hear back from them.:rolleyes1

The DH seems to think that IPO will still make ADR's at 180 days for cl guests, I think it's just wishful thinking on his part! BTW what guidebook(s) if any do all of you Snowbirds use? I used the passporter this year, I really liked it, I wonder when the new edition will be out? We are not commandos at WDW anymore. We were the first couple of times, but now we love wandering around, going on our favorite rides and of course, eating :banana: We just take our time, sleep in, and stroll around. What about all of you? Commandos or wanderers?

I've never been to Disney world before, but my neighbor gave me the Unofficial Guide 2007 and that's what we're using. Updates are posted on their website, so even tho the book is outdated it's still sufficient. I think we'll be more commando-like this time because it's our first- we'll see!
 
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