***Official Jan 2018 Thread****

[k8Davies]

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!

Wow well that sounds like it's going to be a very trip!

So glad you managed to get your most wanted ADRs and I'll keep my fingers crossed you get the rest.

I have added your trip to the roll call and I hope you have a fantastic break

 

[k8Davies]

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.

Wow that's one lucky little boy wonder if I can persuade my folks to take me for my birthday

I have added your trip to the roll call, I love the boardwalk area and the villas look fabulous.

Also glad we've got another fan of January, as it's my first Jan trip, it's nice to see so many people think it's a great time to go

 

[otten]

I'm looking for suggestions on how to surprise the kids on Christmas morning. They will be 6 and 3 by then. The plan is to give each a set of disney themed gifts that have to be opened separately with each gift getting more specific about the trip. Right now the plan is to start with Disney pyjamas and the last gift will be our traditional Disney countdown with only 5 days on it. Looking for ideas for gifts for the middle.

 

[jodybird511]

We are thinking of having family personalized shirts made and make those one of the Christmas gifts to indicate the upcoming vacay.

 

[StageTek]

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?

It does look that way. at least from the amount of people posting here.

It's official now for three of us old guys! (58, 61, 63) Long time friends now living in different parts of the country, all previous Disneyland CM's (1970's), staying at the Cabins last week of January. 4 days.

 

[amandaleigh2]

I'm looking for suggestions on how to surprise the kids on Christmas morning. They will be 6 and 3 by then. The plan is to give each a set of disney themed gifts that have to be opened separately with each gift getting more specific about the trip. Right now the plan is to start with Disney pyjamas and the last gift will be our traditional Disney countdown with only 5 days on it. Looking for ideas for gifts for the middle.

We are surprising our 4 and 8 year old boys the morning we leave. I plan to wrap up outfits, mickey ears, autograph books, a hidden mickey book for the oldest, and their magic bands.

 

[DisneyObsessed87]

Well, we have already changed our plans! That did not take long. We decided instead of staying near the airport the night before we would fly down that night and stay another night at Disney... Because why not? So, now we will be arriving the 24th instead of 25th. Also changed our resort from All Star Sports to Coronado Springs. We will probably do Magic Kingdom on the 25th and Animal Kingdom on the 27th (DS birthday) with a rest day in between. I cannot wait to see Pandora!

 

[jodybird511]

Pandora is awesome! We were there the week it opened--so amazing!

 

[k8Davies]

It's official now for three of us old guys! (58, 61, 63) Long time friends now living in different parts of the country, all previous Disneyland CM's (1970's), staying at the Cabins last week of January. 4 days.

Wow love this, the fact you've been friends for so many years and even though you're far away from each other you still make the effort to meet up. #friendshipgoals

I hope you have an amazing trip, I have added it to the the roll call but as I didn't have specific dates I improvised

oh and @DisneyObsessed87 I updated your trip as well, I hope you enjoy your extra day

 

[k8Davies]

I'm looking for suggestions on how to surprise the kids on Christmas morning. They will be 6 and 3 by then. The plan is to give each a set of disney themed gifts that have to be opened separately with each gift getting more specific about the trip. Right now the plan is to start with Disney pyjamas and the last gift will be our traditional Disney countdown with only 5 days on it. Looking for ideas for gifts for the middle.

We are surprising our 4 and 8 year old boys the morning we leave. I plan to wrap up outfits, mickey ears, autograph books, a hidden mickey book for the oldest, and their magic bands.

Aw the kids are going to be so blown away on Christmas.

I'm excited for them, Santa will be outdoing himself this year on the present front lol, think I'm destined for Coal

Although one year I got my DH a trip to Disneyland Paris - I got a huge box, stuck some rock to the bottom for weight, then stuck a load of tissue paper, confetti, and ribbon in the box.

So he had to keep digging and digging to find right near the bottom on a piece of card was the details of the trip, it was a bit mess but really fun

 

[StageTek]

Wow love this, the fact you've been friends for so many years and even though you're far away from each other you still make the effort to meet up. #friendshipgoals

I hope you have an amazing trip, I have added it to the the roll call but as I didn't have specific dates I improvised

Jan 28 to Feb 1. Yep, it's a special friendship. One a magician, one a writer/director and me a stagehand/pyrotech. All big Disney fans. This will be the first time all three of us are together in 10 years.

 

[saluki2002]

Just booked our next stay, Jan 27-Feb 3. Staying at CR

 

[Ellester]

Booked at SSR in a 2BR from Dec 30-Jan 7!

 

[BurTam]

So excited to see all these new people in the January trip thread! We're getting really excited for our trip. Even though it's still 5 months away, I know it will come fast......especially considering how fast this summer went by! I mean really? How is it almost September already! My girls just started school on Tuesday this week (Grade 3 and Grade 6) which seems crazy to me! I swear it was June only a few seconds ago! Eeeesh! (We haven't had the best weather this year so I think that's why it seems like it flew by). Plus, both my girls play hockey as well which starts up in a couple of weeks so we'll be ready for a nice sunny vacation come January.

Mention of the Pro Bowl has me a bit worried but I think I planned our trip around it well enough. Will all the parks be crazy busy on the Saturday or just MK? I've scheduled our HS day on the Saturday and MK on Sunday so hopefully we'll be o.k. Managed to get all of our ADR's that I wanted as well! Even CRT on our last day, which surprised me because my husband and girls sprung that one on me a few weeks after the 180 day mark and I made other reservations instead. So glad I was able to snag it. It's a bit earlier than I wanted but I'm o.k with that. I've already booked Tusker house but I'm hoping to get the Rivers of Light dining package at AK once the dates have been released. So far it looks like AK closes at 7pm so we'll have to decide if we want to see RoL or do Pandora at night instead. It would be nice if they extended the hours!

 

[han22735]

Mention of the Pro Bowl has me a bit worried but I think I planned our trip around it well enough. Will all the parks be crazy busy on the Saturday or just MK? I've scheduled our HS day on the Saturday and MK on Sunday so hopefully we'll be o.k. Managed to get all of our ADR's that I wanted as well! Even CRT on our last day, which surprised me because my husband and girls sprung that one on me a few weeks after the 180 day mark and I made other reservations instead. So glad I was able to snag it. It's a bit earlier than I wanted but I'm o.k with that. I've already booked Tusker house but I'm hoping to get the Rivers of Light dining package at AK once the dates have been released. So far it looks like AK closes at 7pm so we'll have to decide if we want to see RoL or do Pandora at night instead. It would be nice if they extended the hours!

The whole Pro-bowl thing had me concerned as well but from reading other posts its mainly that saturday at MK that will see an increase in crowds. We will be in EP and then Sunday at MK as well. I believe they extended AK hours in January to 8pm recently.

 

[jannalynn_11]

I believe they extended AK hours in January to 8pm recently.

They extended on our day there, thanks SOOO much for pointing this out! I have been checking and hoping this would happen!

 

[BurTam]

So I'm looking for some fun stuff to do that we didn't do on our last trip. My girls are pretty sensitive to loud noises...especially my youngest so she HATES the fireworks (we even tried ear plugs last time and that didn't work at all. She cowered on the ground and was crying so not an enjoyable experience). I'm hoping to plan something where we can view the fireworks from a distance so she can enjoy them without the loud noises. We have reservations at O'Hana's one night so I was thinking watching from the beach of the Poly but was thinking maybe splurging on the Pirates and Pals Fireworks cruise. Do they still have that in January? I would imagine it would be fairly cold in the evenings. Has anyone ever done this? Is it still loud?

 

[k8Davies]

Booked at SSR in a 2BR from Dec 30-Jan 7!

Yay @Ellester hope you have a fab trip and have fun plans for NYE.

I have added your trip to the roll call

 

[k8Davies]

Just booked our next stay, Jan 27-Feb 3. Staying at CR

Congrats on booking your trip I hope you have a fantastic time and I have added your trip to the roll call

 

[k8Davies]

So I'm looking for some fun stuff to do that we didn't do on our last trip. My girls are pretty sensitive to loud noises...especially my youngest so she HATES the fireworks (we even tried ear plugs last time and that didn't work at all. She cowered on the ground and was crying so not an enjoyable experience). I'm hoping to plan something where we can view the fireworks from a distance so she can enjoy them without the loud noises. We have reservations at O'Hana's one night so I was thinking watching from the beach of the Poly but was thinking maybe splurging on the Pirates and Pals Fireworks cruise. Do they still have that in January? I would imagine it would be fairly cold in the evenings. Has anyone ever done this? Is it still loud?

My son's the same with fireworks, we got some ear defenders for him - the ones you can use when shooting. They seem to dampen the noise better than ear plugs.

But the Poly is a great idea especially if you get there early enough as they have some beach swings or just sitting on the beach is fun.

Last suggestion depending on your plans, I think the Cali Grill is also a great place to see the fireworks. As if you have a window seat they just dim the lights if you don't want to go out on the viewing platform.