January 2012

[cathymailme]

My family was in the pool when it was 50 during our last January trip. They had fun but I am hoping for a little higher temps!

 

[Colleen27]

Hi all! I'm jumping into the January planning. We just rescheduled our trip and will be traveling Jan 21 to 29, staying at POR (hopefully in a newly refurbed room!). Hoping for low crowds, good weather, and smooth sailing getting out of the frozen north.

 

[sparks19]

We haven't booked yet but we are hoping to do a trip January 22nd to the 27th. We are on our way home from our trip that just ended and can't wait to go back. we want to book a studio at either OKW or BW. I haven't been in January so I don't know what to expect for crowds but I assume the weather will be similar to what it is in mid December? We like the cooler temps. September was nice but WAY too hot for us.

 

[sparks19]

We are officially booked at OKW Jan 22nd to the 27th

 

[janabananas]

We were POFQ jan 20-22, now we are WL courtyard view (thank you AP rate for the upgrade!!!)

 

[oeshpdog2]

Add us to the countdown excitement! We'll be at Beach Club January 21 to January 28. I will be celebrating eight years as a breast cancer survivor. I've always wanted to stay at Beach Club so I can't wait. Also hoping for nice weather so we can make the most of Stormalong Bay!

 

[Kazooie01]

Add us to the countdown excitement! We'll be at Beach Club January 21 to January 28. I will be celebrating eight years as a breast cancer survivor. I've always wanted to stay at Beach Club so I can't wait. Also hoping for nice weather so we can make the most of Stormalong Bay!

Congratulations on eight years, hope you have a great time! We'll be at WDW around the same time 1/21-1/29/12, it’s a great time of year to be at Disney!

 

[danimaroo]

We'll be staying at Beach Club Villas from January 19th-29th! I am soooo excited to be back in Disney celebrating our one-year wedding anniversary. No kids, and we have a blast by ourselves in Disney... We kind of act like big kids while we're there anyway... In a few years when we do have kids though, I'm looking forward to surprising them with trips to WDW.

January is my favorite time to go to Disney!

 

[brobrosmom]

We're going Jan. 28th-Feb 4th, staying at POP with upgraded DDP for free dining! First time for the guys in the family staying onsite and first time with free dining! We're so excited, we've been trying to get back to WDW for so long and are so excited about this trip!

I'm scared about the weather and have no clue what to pack! Any vets have suggestions?!?!?

I layer my boys. In the morning they wear a plain white long sleeve shirt under a t-shirt and shorts under a pair of long pants like sweat pants or windbreaker pants. As it warms up we remove the pants and long sleeve shirt. We have a stroller so having the extra clothes to carry around is not a big deal for us.

For the adults, I usually wear capris or lightweight pants, a short sleeve shirt, and jacket/sweatshirt.

We love January because of the low crowds and weather. I would much prefer the cold weather to the heat!

 

[MikeSF]

Just pulled the trigger and booked New Orleans Riverside resort w/ King Bed from Jan 11 through 15th. Only had two options at the time King & Garden view, but its just my wife and I and I always dislike having two beds when only one is necessary, regardless of size, although I hope that doesn't mean that the resort is crowded.

Wife has never been to Disney World, we're going to be in Orlando starting the 4th, but staying at a timeshare off site, she really wants to go swim with manatees and is a big fan of Harry Potter (guess where else we're going!) and really didn't want to rush things by having everything crammed together. She's super duper excited about going.

I've been exactly one time, way back in 2000 (when they had that on the Epcot ball), had an absolutely horrible time, within a day of getting off the plane I got a really horrible sinus headache and felt like flu symptoms that lasted all but the last 2 days I was here. Not sure if it's the humidity that did it to me, or I was just unlucky and happened to be coming down with a cold/flu, this time I'll be prepared with the appropriate medications. Also it was late June, so super mucho crowded! I'm hoping the time we're going is going to be quite light, it is "value season" and the parks do close quite a bit earlier, so hopefully that's a sign it won't be terribly crowded. Finally the last time I went I just graduated college, so I was pretty darn broke, it's a whole lot less fun when you need to count every penny spent!

Never actually stayed on Disney property, so splurged quite a bit this time, plus the free meal plan was really hard to pass up once I realized the price difference wasn't much by not having to buy those meals vs staying at a cheaper off site place, just running the numbers I really wouldn't have saved terribly much, plus we're doing it as an anniversary present, and now I don't need to feel cheap by not going to a restaurant because the prices are too high, no more trying to find a Subway for dinner!!!!!

There's lots of talk about places you should get reservations for talking about how to get them way in advanced, I'm hoping due to the season, and there are only 2 of us, that we can squeeze by without reservations or make reservations a day or two in advanced at most. I mean its hard to say "hmmm I'll want dinner at 6pm on Thursday the 12th of January" especially if we're in the midst of having fun. We haven't looked at menus yet to see which places are "must do" restaurants, but does anyone have any recommendations or which ones are must do restaurants?

Going to probably get the tickets 3 days early (max amount apparently), and simply pay for parking just to get in a day or two before our check in, and if necessary we can always upgraded our passes later, I mean it's like $9 a day for extra days, almost disgusting at how much cheaper it is for additional days (but I guess they get you with room/food prices).

Oh and we've never seen the electrical parade, and are really jazzed about seeing that. A shame Fantasmic is not going to be up when we're here, but I can always catch it at Disneyland sometime in the future I'm sure, since we're on the west coast... Although people start reserving spaces 5 hours before the show starts *sigh*

Oh and I'm super duper excited too if you couldn't tell

 

[danimaroo]

There's lots of talk about places you should get reservations for talking about how to get them way in advanced, I'm hoping due to the season, and there are only 2 of us, that we can squeeze by without reservations or make reservations a day or two in advanced at most. I mean its hard to say "hmmm I'll want dinner at 6pm on Thursday the 12th of January" especially if we're in the midst of having fun. We haven't looked at menus yet to see which places are "must do" restaurants, but does anyone have any recommendations or which ones are must do restaurants?

Honestly, I would grab reservations anyway. What's the worst that happens? You cancel a reservation if you decide you don't want to go anymore... Last time we went, my husband insisted we didn't need reservations because it was so slow. Unfortunately, that was not necessarily true so when we arrived and tried to make last-minute reservations, at some places that didn't work out. On the other hand, it forced us to try to and random restaurants that had openings.

Us personally, we made reservations for all days we are there. I'd say make reservations at the more popular places. Yachtsman was a must for us and I want to guarantee I get to eat there, along with a few others that are popular. If we decide not to go with some of our reservations, no big deal, we just cancel. At least we have the comfort of knowing that all nights we have actual reservations for a place to sit down and eat vs. having to wait to be seated.

Out of the places we've eaten, we both loved Crystal Palace (I'm a sucker for Eeyore and they have a great breakfast and dinner buffet), Via Napoli (best chicken parm I've ever had, and their gelato is delicious!), and Raglan Road... Their fish and chips and bread pudding are to die for. We are going to all of those places again this trip, along with Yachtsman, Coral Reef (the food is good but the atmosphere is more of a reason we are going), Teppan Edo, Whispering Canyon (decent BBQ and a really fun dinner for everyone!), and Cape May Cafe, as we've heard the seafood buffet is tasty.. And I love crab legs!

We are staying at Beach Club and are planning on hitting up Beaches and Cream at least once, as I've heard it is fun and they've got great ice cream!

IMHO, it can't hurt to make reservations ahead of time, but that's just me. I think you'd be okay without, but don't be surprised if you do have to wait at times.

 

[MikeSF]

Thanks for the heads up on some places. Looking at the 2011 list of places (mostly because the 2012 list isn't finalized) there are quite a lot of options, I mean who thought that of this trip I'd need to plan which places to hit up for food. We only have 4 sit down dinners, so need to make them count! Although the prices aren't horribly expensive (a tad pricy... but if its a great food/atmosphere then chalk it up to a vacation experience).

Not sure we're going to do "signature" places since that takes 2 sit-down spots, and probably won't due buffets either, although who knows.

The Coral Reef is a place I remember eating the only time I've been there, although not sure if it was called that, this was pre-Nemo days I do remember the atmosphere was quite nice though.

My biggest worry isn't having to wait, I mean I'm from a big city, I'm used to waiting 15-45 minutes for a table, especially with a group of people. My big concern is absolutely missing a place because it's booked solid for the past month type of place. I know you say I can just not show up, and I guess there are no repercussions to that, but I'm one of those people who doesn't like to flake on something like that. But who knows, if we see a couple must-eat places we'll call for reservations now.

 

[janabananas]

Just my 2 cents MikeSF, but I would suggest making the reservations now, instead of doing a walk up once you get there. We will be going in the middle of the free dining promo (which you said you got ), and a lot of TS book up fast. So if you really want a certain place, book it asap.

If you decide you do not want to go, you can always call Disney dining that day and cancel. In the hotel room, there is a button on the phone that goes directly to the Disney Dining. So no flaking out on your part.

Edit:
We didn't want to be slaves to our ADR's so we made our ADR's for later in the evening around 8pm or so, most places have availability then. Also by then, some of the parks are closed or closing early so this won't cut into your park time. Sadly, you can't just "wing it" anymore.

 

[MikeSF]

Hmm, forgot that many people there might also have free dining plans.

Here's a question, can you call to see if there are reservations available an hour or two before hand (even if they're not available)? I ask because most resorts have one sit down place at most, so it might be more useful that trying to drive from resort to resort finding a place.

I ask for the non-critical places that still accept reservations, but perhaps I won't know how hungry I'll be. Booking for 8pm sounds good, but I might not be hungry then, or I might want to go back to the resort clean up a bit before going out. Being as I live in a place with very little humidity in comparison to Florida, not exactly sure how I'm going to feel after a day

Also, and this is the most honest answer, looking at all the menus it might be really hard to choose just 4 restaurants for the days we'll be there. I guess since we'll actually be in the parks some days earlier we can always browse them then, and then maybe make decisions.

I'm sorry I only have experience with Disneyland, where at most you need need to get reservations as soon as the park opens (or shortly after), not a month or more in advance.

 

[janabananas]

Hmm, forgot that many people there might also have free dining plans.

Here's a question, can you call to see if there are reservations available an hour or two before hand (even if they're not available)? I ask because most resorts have one sit down place at most, so it might be more useful that trying to drive from resort to resort finding a place.

I ask for the non-critical places that still accept reservations, but perhaps I won't know how hungry I'll be. Booking for 8pm sounds good, but I might not be hungry then, or I might want to go back to the resort clean up a bit before going out. Being as I live in a place with very little humidity in comparison to Florida, not exactly sure how I'm going to feel after a day

Also, and this is the most honest answer, looking at all the menus it might be really hard to choose just 4 restaurants for the days we'll be there. I guess since we'll actually be in the parks some days earlier we can always browse them then, and then maybe make decisions.

I'm sorry I only have experience with Disneyland, where at most you need need to get reservations as soon as the park opens (or shortly after), not a month or more in advance.

From my understanding, the Disney Dining button on the room phones will get you to the ADR line and they can check to see what is available that day. Some people cancel at the last minute or no show, also.

I went to the Hollywood Brown Derby for lunch one day, and saw the ADR list with about 6 no shows marked on it, and the restaurant was almost empty. However as I was waiting to be seated, I heard the guy who was checking people in, tell a couple who walked in without an ADR that they were completely booked up for lunch and nothing was available for walk up. Now I don't know if that is policy not accept walk ups there, or maybe a Disney wide policy?? But the guy was very unfriendly to me and I had an ADR so who knows, it might have been that guy just being a turd?

I totally understand about not knowing what you might want to eat or times when you will or won't be hungry. It stinks... unfortunately that is how the reservation process works at WDW. Dbf and I are minor foodies, so we look at dining as a part of our vacation, and after looking at the some of the menu's we "have" to go to certain places. I wish we could be more spontaneous but if you really want to get in, you have to plan in advance, or call the ADR line and see what you can get. Another thing to consider is that most (not certain hot spots like Ohana or California Grill) of the resort restaurants often have pretty open availability. So if you are ok with eating outside of the parks or at DTD, something will be available.

Our plan for our trips are: pick a park a day, get there at rope drop and get most of the stuff done we wanted, if not all. Then leave the park in the mid afternoon, get a nap, change and make our way to our ADR. Fortunately we have 1 ADR at our resort so that is only an elevator away. I read you are staying at POR. Boatwrights is supposed to be a nice TS. That might be an option for you, at least one night. As well as some TS at Old Key West and Saratoga Springs. I wish you luck, you will not go hungry at WDW!

 

[danimaroo]

When I said cancel in my post, I meant calling and cancelling vs. not showing up. Like PP said, it takes pressing the dining button on your phone and you're all set to cancel.

We actually made use of that same line for making ADRs while we were staying there. Like I said, we had skipped a few days of ADRs last January and ended up calling around, seeing what would be available. The CM I spoke with was really awesome. If something wasn't open that I was shooting for, they'd make a suggestion on another restaurant that was nearby/in the park that had an opening, or suggest a different time/day, etc. So you can definitely call day of and see what's available with no issue, and they usually are willing to help you find something.

I think the biggest thing is, if there are any "must" places for you, make the reservation now. If there aren't any musts and you're opening to trying new things, then don't sweat it. We were able to find a reservation for every night we were there, even on the nights we had to kind of scramble for. In a way I'm glad we had a few openings because those led to us trying Via Napoli and Raglan Road, which was so good we ended up going to twice.

I just wanted to make sure we had a place to eat every night this time due to the Free Dining promo that people are getting (we are DVC members so we don't get that perk), and I have a feeling restaurants will be busier. We also wanted to get into places like Crystal Palace, which can be busier due to it being a character breakfast/dinner.

I think you'll have flexibility in your dinner plans, but just also be prepared that some spots will be hard to get into. I remember last trip we could not get a single reservation at Le Cellier, for lunch or dinner, as it was booked solid.

 

[MikeSF]

Thanks to both of you for the kind advice. Like I said this is all new to me, I've been there once over 11 years ago, and I ate a places like Coral Reef (or whatever it was called back then) without any issues, I don't remember where else I ate but I do know I didn't go hungry

I recall to my trips to Disneyland if you try to get lunch at 12-1pm you might be stuck, but if you're willing to eat at 2-3 then you can usually get seating anywhere.

 

[brea]

Just want to jump in here. We're booked from Jan28-Feb4th at the poly. Looking forward to it and planning a PTR sometime in the future.

 

[danimaroo]

Oh yeah, since this IS the January 2012 thread, I should probably just mention that I've started a PTR for our trip! I should have another update today talking about our day one plans, but feel free to comment or just read about who we are, our trip, the when, the where, the how, etc.

Woohoo for January and the low crowds! Check out my PTR so far (I'm lacking readers, hopefully just because I'm a newbie!)

Newly Married Seattle Goobers Are Back For One Epic Anniversary Trip! Jan 2012

 

[MikeSF]

Just wanted to add, thanks for the heads up on the reservations. I am usually a little apprehensive about talking to people on the phone (ok mostly I dislike being on hold and listing to muzak) but I got a pre-trip email from the Disney guys, and they had a nice online link to make reservations, so no talking to anyone! My wife and I looked through all the participating 2011 restaurants and after spending a couple hours doing that, decided that just about any place would be good. Although she really got interested in 'Ohanas since it sounded like a fun place, there was exactly 1 reservation during dinner time, luckily it's on a Friday at 5pm, which is fine, so at least we'll be eating at one place

Now to see if there are a couple more "musts", we really like to play it by year, since we don't know what park we'll be in, etc.. and won't have park hopper passes too! It'd stink to have to choose the park you're going to based upon where you're going to eat dinner :frown: