***Official Jan 2018 Thread****

[Twilight Sparkle]

Oh, one thing that I loved about FOTA were the famous art reproductions that were set up for photo ops with photo pass around Epcot's World Showcase. Those turned out to be some of our most favorite photos from the trip. They were so much fun. I hope they bring them back. If so, it's worth stopping to take pics.

ETA: These photo ops were up even on non-festival days, so be sure to look for them even if you aren't in Epcot on the weekends during the festival.

 

[neitzelt]

Last year, we were at the Magic Kingdom on the Saturday of Pro Bowl (the day before the actual game) and it was PACKED! For a Saturday in January, it certainly wasn't what we were used to. However, we made lemonade from lemons and grabbed some snacks and camped out on a bench and people watched in Liberty Square. We saw so many famous pro football players! It was neat seeing them and their crew walking around the park. We even rode Mine Train with a famous football player - my 9 year old son was LOVING IT!

 

[k8Davies]

I am officially booked! Staying at Art of Animation 01/17-01/24 with my husband and two daughters (7 and 2). I am so excited!

Yay congrats on the trip and I have added it to roll call

Your two girls will love it no wonder you're so excited know you're all going to have an amazing trip

 

[k8Davies]

. There was a Pro Bowl parade on that Saturday last year in MK

There's a parade too?!? OMG this weekend will be so wasted on me, as I can't identify UK sport stars.

But thanks for this information, now going to rearrange my plans as might avoid MK as I don't want to get in the way of real fans enjoying the day.

Even though I'm crap at sports this sound really fun for the fans and it's nice Disney put stuff like this on

 

[neitzelt]

By the way, I wouldn't waste your time on the Pro Bowl Parade. We staked out seats well in advance by the train station and all it ended up being was one car with about 4 football players in it and a few other cars with kids in it. In my opinion, not worth your valuable time at MK.

 

[Frankie Vivian]

Not sure which board I should post in, Jan or Feb so I decided to do them both! Hope it's ok to join in..
We are staying in Kildani Village Savannah view studio Jan. 27th - Feb. 2nd. This was a last minute before add to a cruise we had already planned on the Norwegian Escape on Feb. 3rd. We are celebrating our 15th Anniversary and decided 1 week of Vacation just wasnt enough! This will be my second time to DW but not since 1995 and Jeffs second also but not since he was in the Navy in 1989. I think we ended up getting a great deal after doing hours of research online to get the resort I really wanted within in our budget.
So very excited but such a long time to wait!

Any tips on how/when to request a room with a view of the giraffes?

Still trying to learn all of the abbreviations everyone is using to be gentle! I think I have figured out ADR are my dining reservations of which I have 3 not sure if they are considered good ones.

My hubby is a contractor who has a passion for race cars so for the last 15 years our vacations have been spent at racetracks along with his race cars. Needless to say I am not very savvy on the ins and outs like everyone's seems to be on here. 4 years ago I finally talked him into a cruise which we have since done one every year, one of which we spent a few days at universal studios afterwards and he LOVED it! Okay well mainly because we are huge Harry Potter fans. He is being a bit apprehensive about Disney but I know he will love it, if I plan it right. Any ideas, suggestions, tips, tricks or opinions are much appreciated!

 

[DisneyObsessed87]

Joining in!

DH, DS (11 and 4) and myself will be down for a short trip January 25 to 28. Celebrating oldest DS birthday (January 27), and DH birthday (the day after we leave). Staying at All Star Sports, right now but may change pending a discount. This will be our second January trip.

 

[k8Davies]

Not sure which board I should post in, Jan or Feb so I decided to do them both! Hope it's ok to join in..
We are staying in Kildani Village Savannah view studio Jan. 27th - Feb. 2nd. This was a last minute before add to a cruise we had already planned on the Norwegian Escape on Feb. 3rd. We are celebrating our 15th Anniversary and decided 1 week of Vacation just wasnt enough! This will be my second time to DW but not since 1995 and Jeffs second also but not since he was in the Navy in 1989. I think we ended up getting a great deal after doing hours of research online to get the resort I really wanted within in our budget.
So very excited but such a long time to wait!

Any tips on how/when to request a room with a view of the giraffes?

Still trying to learn all of the abbreviations everyone is using to be gentle! I think I have figured out ADR are my dining reservations of which I have 3 not sure if they are considered good ones.

My hubby is a contractor who has a passion for race cars so for the last 15 years our vacations have been spent at racetracks along with his race cars. Needless to say I am not very savvy on the ins and outs like everyone's seems to be on here. 4 years ago I finally talked him into a cruise which we have since done one every year, one of which we spent a few days at universal studios afterwards and he LOVED it! Okay well mainly because we are huge Harry Potter fans. He is being a bit apprehensive about Disney but I know he will love it, if I plan it right. Any ideas, suggestions, tips, tricks or opinions are much appreciated!

Yay congrats on booking your trip and you're more than to the January board. I have added your trip to the roll call.


You'll have a great time on your big anniversary trip and I'm sure they'll be lots of people on hand to help with your queries (unfortunately I've never been to the AK resort but planning to take a trip over to get some Zebra Domes I've heard they're amazing).

You're right ADR are Advanced Dining Reservation- and as long as you're happy with your choices they can't be bad as it's your fab trip. I think most restaurants in Disney you get people who love it and a group who hate it lol

Good luck with the rest of your planning

 

[k8Davies]

Joining in!

DH, DS (11 and 4) and myself will be down for a short trip January 25 to 28. Celebrating oldest DS birthday (January 27), and DH birthday (the day after we leave). Staying at All Star Sports, right now but may change pending a discount. This will be our second January trip.

And yay to sorting out your trip, and even though it's short I bet it's perfectly formed lol

Sound like you'll all have a great time celebrating both birthdays, I hope there's lot of fun and lots of cake

 

[MelinaYasmin]

Hi everyone! So we're going on Jan20/Feb03 (all ready on the roll call). We were considering moving our trip a couple of weeks so we had a little more time to save money, but I found it imposible to get free dates in the POP! So we're going to stay with the original plan, but it does make me feel like january/february wont be as "low crowds" as we've been told... does anyone feel the same thing?

Also, we were planning on doing Animal Kingdom on saturday 27th and a chilled Disney Springs day on sunday 28th (Pro Bowl day)... will I be ok or should I changed it ?

Thanks for the tips!!! I cant wait till its january!!!

 

[k8Davies]

Also, we were planning on doing Animal Kingdom on saturday 27th and a chilled Disney Springs day on sunday 28th (Pro Bowl day)... will I be ok or should I changed it ?

Well the Pro bowl has sorta messed up my plans too - as I have a CP pre-opening booking on the Saturday and had planned to have the whole day at MK - but now we will still get our breakfast and Tigger Hugs then move on somewhere else (after I've been on SDMT) .

Either visit KSC as my DH loves it or just have a chill day resort hopping, hmm I wonder if we'll get nice weather as I could venture to the pool and by nice weather anything around the 20 degrees (68f for you guys) - I'm ginger, pale and from London so that's plenty hot for me lol..

 

[Twilight Sparkle]

Well the Pro bowl has sorta messed up my plans too - as I have a CP pre-opening booking on the Saturday and had planned to have the whole day at MK - but now we will still get our breakfast and Tigger Hugs then move on somewhere else (after I've been on SDMT) .

Either visit KSC as my DH loves it or just have a chill day resort hopping, hmm I wonder if we'll get nice weather as I could venture to the pool and by nice weather anything around the 20 degrees (68f for you guys) - I'm ginger, pale and from London so that's plenty hot for me lol..

If the parade is in the morning again (have not yet seen anything official as to whether there will be another parade), then it's possible that the ride lines might stay somewhat low after your breakfast while people snag spots for the parade. You might be able to get in a good couple hours of rides before they get too crowded. Since you're already going to be at MK for breakfast, it might be worth using your low interest in sports to your advantage.

 

[Twilight Sparkle]

Disney is definitely hosting Pro Bowl events again, but still no mention of a parade (unless I skimmed too quickly and missed it):

http://disneysportsnews.com/release...world-resort-during-2018-pro-bowl-in-orlando/

 

[k8Davies]

If the parade is in the morning again (have not yet seen anything official as to whether there will be another parade), then it's possible that the ride lines might stay somewhat low after your breakfast while people snag spots for the parade.

Thanks for the info , So if the parade is in the morning, I'll see if I can snag some FP+ for SDMT, if not I think I might just head out after my Mickey Waffles lol

Although might look again at my CP booking as last time we had a pre-opening booking they changed the hours and opened the park early and I think if they've got this going on they might do the same.

Not that big of a deal (if I can't get a replacement) but we do like getting some quieter pictures in front of the castle before the park gets too busy.

 

[k8Davies]

Managed to get it all sorted have moved my CP reservation from 8.35am on the Saturday to 8.05am on the Sunday.

Meaning I will be able to avoid the MK Pro-bowl shenanigans.

Also with this new reservation, even if they do decide to open the park early, I'll be getting into the MK before 8am so will be able to get my quieter in front of the castle shot whoop whoop...

This is why I love these boards as without you guys I would have ended up in a bit of a pickle with my Saturday MK day, so thanks.

 

[han22735]

Managed to get it all sorted have moved my CP reservation from 8.35am on the Saturday to 8.05am on the Sunday.

Meaning I will be able to avoid the MK Pro-bowl shenanigans.

Also with this new reservation, even if they do decide to open the park early, I'll be getting into the MK before 8am so will be able to get my quieter in front of the castle shot whoop whoop...

This is why I love these boards as without you guys I would have ended up in a bit of a pickle with my Saturday MK day, so thanks.

Same boat...Thanks to this thread I was able to move our MK day from Saturday to Sunday. I didn't even think about the Pro-bowl until I saw it here. It will be great to watch the Patriots in the AFC championship game while in Disney the weekend before though

 

[jodybird511]

Hey y'all! We just planned a surprise MLK weekend trip Jan 13-Jan 15). Think we may tell the kiddos for Christmas (or maybe not until the day before the trip! We'll see!). We are DVC members but are saving points to do Aulani in May 2018, so we rented points for a 1 BDRM standard view at Kidani. What do folks know about typical hours for Jan--please tell me MK will be open later than 8pm on Sat, 1/13? Also, are pools open or closed that weekend (assuming it could maybe be warm enough--you never know!).

 

[shellieschoenberg]

Hi everyone! Just booked a trip to celebrate my birthday with my two sons (11 and 7) on the 16th to the 23rd of Jan! We are staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge for the first time! Still working some ADRs, but managed to get most of what we wanted (including breakfast at Cindarella's castle)! I am so stoked for our trip!

 

[kippynumber1]

Hello everyone! We are going to Disney Jan20-30. We try to go every year for our sons birthday. It's our first time staying at Boardwalk Villas and we are very excited!! We absolutely love Disney in January.

 

[k8Davies]

Hey y'all! We just planned a surprise MLK weekend trip Jan 13-Jan 15). Think we may tell the kiddos for Christmas (or maybe not until the day before the trip! We'll see!). We are DVC members but are saving points to do Aulani in May 2018, so we rented points for a 1 BDRM standard view at Kidani. What do folks know about typical hours for Jan--please tell me MK will be open later than 8pm on Sat, 1/13? Also, are pools open or closed that weekend (assuming it could maybe be warm enough--you never know!).

A short but no doubt sweet surprise trip, I have added you to the roll call.

The kids are going to be so happy when you spring it on them.


Also super jealous about the Aulani trip, I will get there one day, well I hope you have a fab trip in May as well.