***January 2022 Thread*** - Kicking Off 2022 with WDW!

[GamGam]

Three generations going 1/23-29. Dickens of a time trying for ADR's, even dividing into two parties of 4. Staying at AOA but no skyliner to Epcot our wk...MK closes early Wed., no Fireworks parties past 1/21...what next!?

 

[Faithful Raider]

Day 4 of early rising, awoke to my times being open prior to 6am EST. Was able to grab a perfectly timed Homecomin' for 9am Sunday brunch (which was honestly my biggest worry since we are only there for one Sunday). Also had a Teppen Edo rezzie fall into my lap right after for dinner, which was DD15s request (she's big into Japanese culture and anime currently), so another crossed off the list. Even saw some Oga's, but we aren't interested in going so we passed. Certainly felt like last 24 hrs have had some pixie dust flying my way with these ADRs. Topolino's is my last difficult one to try to get, and CTR if I can find one (but again, not stressing out on that one).

Tomorrow will be scheduling our HS day. Honestly we don't have any ADR's planned that day. I want to try the Brown Derby for the burger, but my wife isn't too interested in eating there. It's the day I'm dreading most of our trip. Rope dropping, LL$, long lines, no Fantasmic, no Great Movie Ride (never got to do it), no table service planned..... I already don't want to go lol!! I'm actually hoping to finish HS in 1 day and not come back. Though I should say I'm at Disneyland veteran (used to live just a few minutes away) and there's very little there that disneyland doesn't already have, or do better.

Need to talk with the wifey about what other ADR's she wants. Never thought we would be doing so well by this point. Time to watch more Disney parks food vlogs!

 

[EmilyGahr]

I already don't want to go lol!! I'm actually hoping to finish HS in 1 day and not come back.

I'm so glad someone else feels this way about HS!! I'm also dreading going, hoping to hit all the major rides, go to our Oga's reservation at 4, and then get the heck out of there!

 

[DaniellePoppins]

I'm so glad someone else feels this way about HS!! I'm also dreading going, hoping to hit all the major rides, go to our Oga's reservation at 4, and then get the heck out of there!

I'm excited to go since the last time I was there I didn't bother with almost the whole park shut down for construction, but I'm dreading the lines. I have touring plans and I have an idea of how to do what I want that day, but they don't support Genie/LL functionality yet so its really hard to even estimate timing. I'm hoping to be out by 4 -5 and hop to MK. 5:30 would be my absolute last point to leave since that's the night of my fireworks party and I want to have at least an hour of travel time between HS and MK and of course time to go through security.

 

[EmilyGahr]

For anyone that couldn't get a Space 220 ADR - ADRs now available for lounge!

 

[mouschievous]

For anyone that couldn't get a Space 220 ADR - ADRs now available for lounge!

Thank you for this!!

 

[scrappinginontario]

For anyone that couldn't get a Space 220 ADR - ADRs now available for lounge!

Thanks so much for this! Looking to make one in early Feb at the end of our trip and it appears they still need to load the Feb dates but I'll keep watching.

 

[disney-inspired]

For anyone that couldn't get a Space 220 ADR - ADRs now available for lounge!

Those were gone quick for my date.

 

[Griffin11]

Sad to say, but I officially cancelled our late January trip this morning. We are traveling from Canada, and my youngest is too young to be vaccinated, so it doesn't make sense for us to travel for a number of reasons.

I'll keep lurking to live vicariously through all of your trips. I guess my next step is to start thinking of January 2023, but we have had to cancel so many trips I am not sure my heart is up for planning another trip unless we have more certainty that we can go.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Sad to say, but I officially cancelled our late January trip this morning. We are traveling from Canada, and my youngest is too young to be vaccinated, so it doesn't make sense for us to travel for a number of reasons.

I'll keep lurking to live vicariously through all of your trips. I guess my next step is to start thinking of January 2023, but we have had to cancel so many trips I am not sure my heart is up for planning another trip unless we have more certainty that we can go.

I'm sorry but completely understand. Doing the right thing for your family isn't always easy. We're also Canadian and have our 'Sep 2020' trip planned (for the 3rd time) for Jan/Feb 2022 but we're not convinced it will happen either.

Hope you're able to begin planning your next trip when your heart is ready.

 

[DaniellePoppins]

Sad to say, but I officially cancelled our late January trip this morning. We are traveling from Canada, and my youngest is too young to be vaccinated, so it doesn't make sense for us to travel for a number of reasons.

I'll keep lurking to live vicariously through all of your trips. I guess my next step is to start thinking of January 2023, but we have had to cancel so many trips I am not sure my heart is up for planning another trip unless we have more certainty that we can go.

Sorry to hear this. I hope you can return to the magic soon.

 

[jgl130]

Space 220 - didn't get, but have a dining alert set

Thankfully saw a message about the Space 220 Lounge opening for ADRs on the DisBoards Facebook page this morning and was able to get a ressie for 4 and for 2 on 1/18. Not at an ideal time 1:50 and 1:55, but I’ll take what I can get!!

Now keeping my fingers crossed for a Topolino’s breakfast to pop up on 1/19…

 

[tinabina919]

Ugh see what happens when I stay off my phone all day! I really wanted Space 220 lounge and it’s all booked up for my dates

Here’s to checking everyday for the next month now.

 

[CindysMice]

Sad to say, but I officially cancelled our late January trip this morning. We are traveling from Canada, and my youngest is too young to be vaccinated, so it doesn't make sense for us to travel for a number of reasons.

I'll keep lurking to live vicariously through all of your trips. I guess my next step is to start thinking of January 2023, but we have had to cancel so many trips I am not sure my heart is up for planning another trip unless we have more certainty that we can go.

Totally understand. Having my youngest vaccinated was a must for this trip as well. Glad you’re sticking around to lurk. I’m sure your 2023 will be amazing!

 

[PirateNovelist]

Ugh see what happens when I stay off my phone all day! I really wanted Space 220 lounge and it’s all booked up for my dates

Here’s to checking everyday for the next month now.

Same for me. I WISH YOU ALL THE LUCK!

Though to be fair, it's not top of my to do list tbh.
If I can't make it oh well

 

[Faithful Raider]

Day 5 of ADR's for me today. Woke up after 3 hours of sleep ready to battle. Today was going to be my only real shot at scoring a reservation for Storybook Dining, since it's the only day that won't have been picked over prior by the 60+10'ers and the travel agents before I could book. Well of course it's an IT nightmare (plenty of horror stories in the thread over in the reservation section here). People posting they got theirs, while others (myself included) still unable to see any times. Well 1/31 FINALLY opens up like 20 minutes after the hour and I was able to get a 7:00pm time. **WHEW**!! Of course moments later they were all gone.

In my mind, I'm done for booking 1/31. Ready to put my feet up and relax. My wife decided she wants us to do more character dining (oh joy), so I was hoping to get a Hollywood and Vine breakfast or lunch for 1/31 but nope.... all gone too. I was kinda surprised, considering I've seen openings every single day prior over and over again. But while hunting for that one, I see a Beaches and Cream for late afternoon which would work out perfect for us for a treat on the way back to the hotel to get ready for Snow White later. So grab that for 3:45, then see a Sci-Fi Diner slot open up for a late lunch, so I hurry and book it too. So at the moment, we actually have a pretty killer day of ADR's for that Monday: Sci-Fi, Beaches and Cream, and Story Book Dining. Not bad for not having 60+ access!

But that got me thinking (a dangerous pastime, I know). We planned each of our park days based on crowd calendars and went with what was the lowest projected crowd for each day. But I'm noticing that most days (and especially for 1/31) the park we are booked for is the one that always runs out of the better reservations first! Like with Hollywood and Vine - there are literally still openings for both 1/29 and 1/30, but nada for a Monday. That strikes me as odd and makes me wonder if I should rethink how I'm doing my park reservation planning. I'm thinking about ditching the park plans for the 2nd half of our trip and just focus on grabbing reservations as I see them, then working our park days around them. So then I see a Chef Mickey breakfast open up for 11:55am and at this point I'm in full-on ADR grabbing mode so why not? So now I have the absolutely amazing yet totally impractical Chef Mickey--Sci Fi--B&C--Storybook all in 7 hours quadfecta. Then later I found a Tusker House Breakfast (kind of a must do for the wifey - and has to be breakfast) for what was going to be our MK day on 1/28. Now we're switching our Day 1 and Day 2 around, so AK on 1/28 and MK on 1/29, and then dropped our HS day (hurray!) for an MK morning so we can travel via monorail to do Chef Mickey's breakfast. So now we are looking at:

1/27 - TREX (walk up fingers crossed)
1/28 - AK rope drop, Tusker House @ 10am. Hotel at 2ish, back to MK @ 4:45 for Be Our Guest followed by Enchantment
1/29 - MK rope drop, leave for Wine Bar George @ 3pm, hotel until Bull and Bear @ 9pm (drinks @ 8)
1/30 - Homecomin brunch 9am, EPCOT for festival snacks, Teppen Edo at 3:50pm. Might stay for Harmonious.
1/31 - MK rope drop, Chef Mickey's @ 11:55, leave MK for B&C@3:45pm, hotel then Story Book Dining at 7pm.

We decided (for now) to chase ADR's early, and have lighter park days at first. DD6 has autism and we learned at DLR that pushing her too much too early didn't work for her. So that gives us plenty of non-thrill ride days up front (with 2 MK rope drops for her to do Fantasyland at her pace) mixed with lots of character meals and slower paced days to get her warmed up before taking on HS and the rest of MK. Feeling pretty good with our plans at the moment. Still chasing topolino's and CRT, but really not much left other than Hollywood and Vine x2 (need a breakfast, and a lunch on separate days), Liberty Tree Tavern and Whispering Canyon (both of which have had lots of openings so not worried about those). Finally seeing some light at the end of the ADR tunnel!

 

[Jennifer S]

I will be in the parks jan 4th to 7th. How much will the marathon impact crowds? Never been in January

 

[pryzeless]

I will be in the parks jan 4th to 7th. How much will the marathon impact crowds? Never been in January

The crowd calendars are projecting a level 10 due to the holiday spill over crowd and runners. I will be there the same time and there are no hotel rooms available for my timeframe. I am really hoping final payment loosens this up as I wanted to do a split stay.

 

[Jennifer S]

The crowd calendars are projecting a level 10 due to the holiday spill over crowd and runners. I will be there the same time and there are no hotel rooms available for my timeframe. I am really hoping final payment loosens this up as I wanted to do a split stay.

I'm hoping they are overestimating. Don't kids go back to school on The 3rd ?

 

[disney-inspired]

I keep getting my mouse dining notifications at 3:30 - 4:30am and since I use my airpods when I go to bed, it's a bit frightening to hear Siri read my texts in my ear when I'm sleeping LOL
I tried getting both of those reservations but by the time I logged in, they were gone so the alert was pretty useless.

Still trying to get a better time for Ohana and get reservations for Yak & Yeti and Homecomin'.