*** January 2019 Thread ***

[brewhome]

tentatively planning a Jan 4-10 trip. group of 4
hoping we can get a dining offer.

Welcome,@imprimouse! I'll add you to the roll call with a TBD for your resort.

 

[The10sPro]

I'm excited to be planning another trip to Disney World 9-14 January 2019. My mum and I will be there for marathon weekend and it's her birthday vacation/present from me to her. I'm pretty sure we are staying at Pop!

 

[brewhome]

I'm excited to be planning another trip to Disney World 9-14 January 2019. My mum and I will be there for marathon weekend and it's her birthday vacation/present from me to her. I'm pretty sure we are staying at Pop!

Welcome, @The10sPro! I will add you to the roll call! I'm excited to be there for marathon weekend, even though we are not running! It's something we haven't experienced in a previous trip. What a great birthday present for your Mum!

 

[lookame]

We’re booked at AOA jan 4-13 but might modify the reservation to Jan 4-12. We’ve been very torn on dates and rooms ect. Almost booked OKW but we like the way AOA looks better. We may do OKW for 2021 though. Looking forward to planning with everyone

Oh! My birthday is Christmas Day so this trip we will be celebrating one day as my birthday and we’re also celebrating my daughters very first trip!

 

[lookame]

We pushed back a week to avoid the post-New Year's crowds. I didn't realize that some schools are off the whole week of New Year's. I've read that the Marathon doesn't impact the parks too much, and the crowd calendars on Touring Plans were much better for the second weekend than the first.

We also pushed back from the beginning of the New Year. I was wondering what TP says in terms of crowds for the second weekend (marathon weekend)? We’ve been using undercover tourist and it was saying highest crowds that weekend. If the crowds are lighter we may try to add another park day.

 

[brewhome]

We’re booked at AOA jan 4-13 but might modify the reservation to Jan 4-12. We’ve been very torn on dates and rooms ect. Almost booked OKW but we like the way AOA looks better. We may do OKW for 2021 though. Looking forward to planning with everyone

Oh! My birthday is Christmas Day so this trip we will be celebrating one day as my birthday and we’re also celebrating my daughters very first trip!

Welcome, @lookame! I'll add you to the roll call for your current reservation, and if you change it we can update it. You've got two great things to celebrate!

 

[brewhome]

We also pushed back from the beginning of the New Year. I was wondering what TP says in terms of crowds for the second weekend (marathon weekend)? We’ve been using undercover tourist and it was saying highest crowds that weekend. If the crowds are lighter we may try to add another park day.

@lookame, I'll PM you about the Touring Plans info...

 

[lookame]

Ok so I'm running over what dining we want to try/do and would like input. Deets-we're driving and wont be doing the dining plan so please tell if something is wroth it or not. Also my 12 yr old is a pretty light eater (he just hasn't gotten his teen apatite yet) so chances are some of the QS meals will be split between him and his sister

Jan 4- arrive
late breakfast cracker barrel, grocery store run, dinner pizza
Jan 5th-hang out day
breakfast cereal or what we grabbed at the store, lunch Earl of Sandwich, Dinner Beaches and Cream (or fast food off site
Jan 6th-hang out day 2
Late breakfast Cape May, Lunch skip, Dinner either resort or Rainforest Cafe
Jan 7th- Universal
Breakfast cereal or whatever we grabbed at the store, lunch at Universal (undecided), Dinner fast food off site
Jan 8th- Magic Kingdom
Breakfast whatever we grabbed at the store, lunch cosmic rays (or skip), Dinner Be Our Guest
Jan 9th-Magic Kingdom
Breakfast IDK maybe an early one at Crystal Palace or something we bought from the grocery store???, Lunch Cosmic Rays or Pacos Bills, Dinner a different QS or fast food off site
Jan 10th-Hollywood Studios (rope drop planned)
Breakfast IDK, Lunch sci-fi cafe, dinner fast food off site
Jan 11th- Epcot
Breakfast- IDK, Lunch Sunshine Seasons, Dinner IDK Epcot tends to be a snack around the world day
Jan 12th- Leave day if we do 5 day parks then this is a kids choice if not then we'll hit up outlets or downtown Disney
If park day well do a QS lunch, if outlets/DTD I thought about Beaches and Cream ressie this day instead of day 2...

 

[brewhome]

Ok so I'm running over what dining we want to try/do and would like input. Deets-we're driving and wont be doing the dining plan so please tell if something is wroth it or not. Also my 12 yr old is a pretty light eater (he just hasn't gotten his teen apatite yet) so chances are some of the QS meals will be split between him and his sister

Jan 4- arrive
late breakfast cracker barrel, grocery store run, dinner pizza
Jan 5th-hang out day
breakfast cereal or what we grabbed at the store, lunch Earl of Sandwich, Dinner Beaches and Cream (or fast food off site
Jan 6th-hang out day 2
Late breakfast Cape May, Lunch skip, Dinner either resort or Rainforest Cafe
Jan 7th- Universal
Breakfast cereal or whatever we grabbed at the store, lunch at Universal (undecided), Dinner fast food off site
Jan 8th- Magic Kingdom
Breakfast whatever we grabbed at the store, lunch cosmic rays (or skip), Dinner Be Our Guest
Jan 9th-Magic Kingdom
Breakfast IDK maybe an early one at Crystal Palace or something we bought from the grocery store???, Lunch Cosmic Rays or Pacos Bills, Dinner a different QS or fast food off site
Jan 10th-Hollywood Studios (rope drop planned)
Breakfast IDK, Lunch sci-fi cafe, dinner fast food off site
Jan 11th- Epcot
Breakfast- IDK, Lunch Sunshine Seasons, Dinner IDK Epcot tends to be a snack around the world day
Jan 12th- Leave day if we do 5 day parks then this is a kids choice if not then we'll hit up outlets or downtown Disney
If park day well do a QS lunch, if outlets/DTD I thought about Beaches and Cream ressie this day instead of day 2...

We like having a light breakfast in the room several times, too - it leaves more room for snacks! I would say if you do Crystal Palace on the 9th, you may not be hungry enough for a QS lunch AND dinner... maybe just snacks for lunch? You could also instead do rope drop that morning, ride some stuff, and have a later breakfast reservation (like 10:30) so it's like brunch, get a good snack in the afternoon, and then do QS for dinner.

We don't have a car so we don't go offsite for dinner... That's just our personal preference. There are so many good choices onsite for us, but if you have picky eaters, go with what works best for you and your crew.

Also - do you plan on visiting Animal Kingdom? Flame Tree BBQ is great there, and everyone raves about Satu'li Canteen, although I haven't tried it. We also love brunch at Tusker House.

 

[lookame]

We like having a light breakfast in the room several times, too - it leaves more room for snacks! I would say if you do Crystal Palace on the 9th, you may not be hungry enough for a QS lunch AND dinner... maybe just snacks for lunch? You could also instead do rope drop that morning, ride some stuff, and have a later breakfast reservation (like 10:30) so it's like brunch, get a good snack in the afternoon, and then do QS for dinner.

We don't have a car so we don't go offsite for dinner... That's just our personal preference. There are so many good choices onsite for us, but if you have picky eaters, go with what works best for you and your crew.

Also - do you plan on visiting Animal Kingdom? Flame Tree BBQ is great there, and everyone raves about Satu'li Canteen, although I haven't tried it. We also love brunch at Tusker House.

I don't typically eat breakfast at home on a regular basis so I find that a lighter room breakfast or breakfast in general tides me over until well into noon or 1 pm. It also helps save money. We are all for saving money! I've been trying to figure out every way to save money for and on this trip. If it weren';t for my daughter telling me over and ver how much she loves the mermaid rooms we'd be staying either off site or a Pop. Even now there's a good possibility we'll change to Pop if a good discount becomes available. Bouncing back to food...we find we can stretch our dollar more at an offsite location eating fast food than we can in Disney. We also may grab a pizza at the QS area in the resort a couple of nights as well and eat it at our room. I'm just overwhlemed with this whole planning process right now so my thoughts are everywhere sorry.

 

[brewhome]

I don't typically eat breakfast at home on a regular basis so I find that a lighter room breakfast or breakfast in general tides me over until well into noon or 1 pm. It also helps save money. We are all for saving money! I've been trying to figure out every way to save money for and on this trip. If it weren';t for my daughter telling me over and ver how much she loves the mermaid rooms we'd be staying either off site or a Pop. Even now there's a good possibility we'll change to Pop if a good discount becomes available. Bouncing back to food...we find we can stretch our dollar more at an offsite location eating fast food than we can in Disney. We also may grab a pizza at the QS area in the resort a couple of nights as well and eat it at our room. I'm just overwhlemed with this whole planning process right now so my thoughts are everywhere sorry.

No need to be sorry, there is lots to plan! And there are a lot of people on these boards that are happy to help. I really try not to over plan, but I make sure I do some basics. I make an itinerary for which parks to go to each day and when we are hanging at the hotel or going to Disney Springs, and then I may adjust that a little when the park hours come out. Then I layer on our table service reservations. We typically don't do the dining plan so I might pick three TS over five nights, or sometimes more if someone really wants to try a specific place (this time I think we will have one for each day because my boys and hubby haven't been there since 2013). I try to stay flexible with my times on the reservations, and sometimes I end up adjusting them around FP if I need to. I get my three FP for each day, and then the rest of the time we wing it. I don't build daily touring plans because that's just too much to follow for us. Once we use our three FP, we just see what's available from there and go with the flow each day. Last time I did pre-order some stuff from Garden Grocer and that worked out great. I try not to over think it too much, but it is hard because I'm so excited to go!

 

[SuperNEMOfan]

Ok so I'm running over what dining we want to try/do and would like input. Deets-we're driving and wont be doing the dining plan so please tell if something is wroth it or not. Also my 12 yr old is a pretty light eater (he just hasn't gotten his teen apatite yet) so chances are some of the QS meals will be split between him and his sister

Jan 4- arrive
late breakfast cracker barrel, grocery store run, dinner pizza
Jan 5th-hang out day
breakfast cereal or what we grabbed at the store, lunch Earl of Sandwich, Dinner Beaches and Cream (or fast food off site
Jan 6th-hang out day 2
Late breakfast Cape May, Lunch skip, Dinner either resort or Rainforest Cafe
Jan 7th- Universal
Breakfast cereal or whatever we grabbed at the store, lunch at Universal (undecided), Dinner fast food off site
Jan 8th- Magic Kingdom
Breakfast whatever we grabbed at the store, lunch cosmic rays (or skip), Dinner Be Our Guest
Jan 9th-Magic Kingdom
Breakfast IDK maybe an early one at Crystal Palace or something we bought from the grocery store???, Lunch Cosmic Rays or Pacos Bills, Dinner a different QS or fast food off site
Jan 10th-Hollywood Studios (rope drop planned)
Breakfast IDK, Lunch sci-fi cafe, dinner fast food off site
Jan 11th- Epcot
Breakfast- IDK, Lunch Sunshine Seasons, Dinner IDK Epcot tends to be a snack around the world day
Jan 12th- Leave day if we do 5 day parks then this is a kids choice if not then we'll hit up outlets or downtown Disney
If park day well do a QS lunch, if outlets/DTD I thought about Beaches and Cream ressie this day instead of day 2...

Are you staying onsite?

I find that we will usually do a big breakfast, get a snack for lunch and then finish the night with a good meal.

 

[lookame]

Are you staying onsite?

I find that we will usually do a big breakfast, get a snack for lunch and then finish the night with a good meal.

Right now we're booked for AOA the little mermaid room because my daughter absolutely loves them. We are considering moving over to Pop though. When we've gone in the past we've either had a larger breakfast and then snacked or had lunch at the park and then dinner was fast food or something not in the park to save money. We don't mind going off site and eating fast food or whatever. Sure the Disney restaurants are good but they are also incredibly expensive comparatively. I also have a 12 yr old which is considered a Disney adult but certainly doesnt eat like an adult so dining in Dis is not really worth the price for us. We want a few special experiences (although I'm wondering if Be Our Guest would be worth is-my 12 yr I doubt wants to eat any of the appetizers and my husband can't eat any of them due to a shellfish allergy and octopus and escargot fall under shellfish territory...). We're still widdling down which restaurants we'd like to dine in so it's a work in progress lol

 

[lookame]

We modified our reservation. Jan 4-7 we’re at AOA then we go to Pop Jan 7-12. I feel good about this...less antsy lol

 

[brewhome]

We modified our reservation. Jan 4-7 we’re at AOA then we go to Pop Jan 7-12. I feel good about this...less antsy lol

I've never done a split stay... sounds like fun to stay at two places! I'll update the roll call.

 

[lookame]

I've never done a split stay... sounds like fun to stay at two places! I'll update the roll call.

I was questioning my decision on AOA. I wanted to stay at AOA but then I kept reading the walk was leaving something to be desired but I really wanted to stay at AOA for at least a little bit. Since I'm now doing a split stay I saved close to $300 and I think my son will be happy to be in a room that isn't all princess and "girly" and it's more mature. Plus...queen sized beds and that cool table/bed thing. Now I just hope a discount can be applied when they are released. *fingers crossed*

 

[Tall Todd]

I was questioning my decision on AOA. I wanted to stay at AOA but then I kept reading the walk was leaving something to be desired but I really wanted to stay at AOA for at least a little bit. Since I'm now doing a split stay I saved close to $300 and I think my son will be happy to be in a room that isn't all princess and "girly" and it's more mature. Plus...queen sized beds and that cool table/bed thing. Now I just hope a discount can be applied when they are released. *fingers crossed*

AOA's Little Mermaid rooms, if that's where you're staying, are rarely if ever discounted.

 

[lookame]

AOA's Little Mermaid rooms, if that's where you're staying, are rarely if ever discounted.

I know little mermaid rooms don’t get discounts it’s one of the main reasons why we are doing a split stay with pop. I’m hoping a discount for pop will be applicable. I mean it’d be cool if the mermaid rooms did get discounted but I know that’s like a 99% chance they won’t.

 

[lookame]

It's been awhile so I thought I'd pop in. 225 days to go...45 days till I start making ADR...well for the first few days then I have to wake up again 4 days later and schedule the rest.

 

[Sarah Harmon]

We will be there Jan 15-21. My husbands whole family will be there with us also (that's 13 total people ugh..). AOA so we all have seperate rooms. So far we're thinking that QS will be the best bet to accommodate us all for meals (for time also), but open to some TS too. So far I'm the only Type A planner of the family, so they all want me to plan what I/our little family want to do and they'll base their plans off that. oooookay.....
Any tips on getting the 8am BBB appointment time? We've got a disney travel agent, should I just cross my fingers that she'll be able to get it?