*** OFFICIAL January 2013 Thread ***

[catdance23]

Yay! One more month. I'm starting a list of the restaurants we want to eat at. I can't wait to start planning our days.

 

[SL30]

We are planning our first every trip Jan 26-Feb2 staying at AOA over ds 3rd birthday! Very excited, nervous, overwhelmed with the planning!!!

 

[Danjocass]

I love being a part of this thread because this is a place where other Disney fanatics gather. My DH thought I was nuts last night when I handed him an itinerary for our upcoming trip...lol! I explained to him that I needed to get something down on paper so that when July rolls around, I can just book our ADR's. I also changed our resort slightly. We are now staying at POR in the Royal Rooms. January can't come fast enough

 

[mickeyplanner]

Oh, able.

I just checked our January 2013 trip prices now. They have gone up ~$220 round-trip for a family of 4, family sleeper car with oversized vehicle, from when I purchased in February.

So that's about $50 per person.


Yay!! I can't wait for the hours ...then it will seem like I can really start planning!

Ok now I am really curious if you don't mind me asking...how much did you pay at 11 months for train tickets round trip family if 4 sleeper car? When I priced it out once I was looking at $1300 which is way more than flying.

I can't wait fir january hours to show...only a few more weeks

 

[catdance23]

I love being a part of this thread because this is a place where other Disney fanatics gather. My DH thought I was nuts last night when I handed him an itinerary for our upcoming trip...lol! I explained to him that I needed to get something down on paper so that when July rolls around, I can just book our ADR's. I also changed our resort slightly. We are now staying at POR in the Royal Rooms. January can't come fast enough

This may sound sad but planning for Disney is what gets me through the work week. I work for the weekends and Disney!

 

[mickeyplanner]

This may sound sad but planning for Disney is what gets me through the work week. I work for the weekends and Disney!

I am right there with you, I read a quote somewhere about Disney is home and work is what you do while you are away from home.

 

[nic100308]

I am right there with you, I read a quote somewhere about Disney is home and work is what you do while you are away from home.

I totally couldn't agree more!!

We'll be going for our wedding/Disneymoon 1/23 - 2/2.

About two weeks ago I put together an itinerary/meal plan, DF KNOWS that I'm nuts. This isn't our first trip to Disney together. But I said the same thing everyone else has been saying: When you have to make ressies 180 in advance then you need to know where you're going and what you're doing! Plus we'll be on DxDP which requires a lot of coordination!

 

[Morningstar2807]

So it's been awhile since I have been on here but I am starting to go crazy without it!

So how is the planning going for everyone? I know I am counting down the days until I can make my ADRs!

 

[catdance23]

I'm in a holding pattern right now. I won't know until 6/16 if we can rent points or not. I don't want to do too much planning in case it falls through. I'll be wishing away the next month.

 

[catdance23]

We'll be going for our wedding/Disneymoon 1/23 - 2/2.

Congrats!!!!

 

[mickeyplanner]

I totally couldn't agree more!!

We'll be going for our wedding/Disneymoon 1/23 - 2/2.

About two weeks ago I put together an itinerary/meal plan, DF KNOWS that I'm nuts. This isn't our first trip to Disney together. But I said the same thing everyone else has been saying: When you have to make ressies 180 in advance then you need to know where you're going and what you're doing! Plus we'll be on DxDP which requires a lot of coordination!

Congratulations, our exciting to be getting married at Disney. Are you planning on eating at alot of signature restaurants? That will help ease the Deluxe credits?

 

[catdance23]

We got pixie dust today!!!!!

We confirmed our point rental for 1/16 through 1/21 for a 2-bedroom standard view at AKL in Kidani. I just finished booking our flights too.

So excited. Now the real planning can begin. We are also going to do the deluxe dining plan so now I get to move onto reading all about the great places to eat.

 

[nic100308]

Congrats!!!!

Thanks!! Much like the vacation planning, the wedding planning is slow this early on...but I am ready to burst waiting to plan some dining or some wedding stuff, ANYTHING!

Congratulations, our exciting to be getting married at Disney. Are you planning on eating at alot of signature restaurants? That will help ease the Deluxe credits?

We are eating at a lot of signature restaurants, two meals a day is our max on the DxDP. It's a lot of food!! I know a lot of people feel that you don't get your money worth when you eat at a lot of signatures, but I saved the receipts once and we still saved the 20% Disney says you save.

 

[Marshay]

Yay! One more month. I'm starting a list of the restaurants we want to eat at. I can't wait to start planning our days.

So what's on your list?

We are planning our first every trip Jan 26-Feb2 staying at AOA over ds 3rd birthday! Very excited, nervous, overwhelmed with the planning!!!

Welcome!! I'm hoping to stay at AOA, too.

I love being a part of this thread because this is a place where other Disney fanatics gather. My DH thought I was nuts last night when I handed him an itinerary for our upcoming trip...lol! I explained to him that I needed to get something down on paper so that when July rolls around, I can just book our ADR's. I also changed our resort slightly. We are now staying at POR in the Royal Rooms. January can't come fast enough

Certainly not nuts around here! It makes perfect sense to have a rough draft of what you want to do. I figure we'll be hitting MK pretty heavy this trip.

Ok now I am really curious if you don't mind me asking...how much did you pay at 11 months for train tickets round trip family if 4 sleeper car? When I priced it out once I was looking at $1300 which is way more than flying.

I can't wait fir january hours to show...only a few more weeks

No problem! We are paying just over $1400 for the Autotrain Family Room (4 people + oversized vehicle). If we took United (the only airline servicing IAD to MCO right now), our tickets for the flights we would want would be $875 right now but then we'd need to add $100 for 4 bags plus fee to park car at IAD or taxi $100 plus $~400-600 for a SUV rental + water bottles for everyone at airport since we can't take our own $20 = $1595 (Right now rental SUVs are $800-900 but I suspect they will become cheaper closer to the date, so I just used $500). Plus there are tolls from MCO to WDW, plus charges for food that we'd buy at Walmart since we can't just bring stuff from home like we can using the AT ~ $50 = $1645.

So for us, it's actually cheaper to take the AT by about $245.

We always rent a car since we don't like to do buses with strollers, small kids, etc, and we do pack a lot. In fact for this January trip, we'll each have a suitcase for WDW and then another suitcase for the Dream Cruise. So really I should add another $35 each for the 2nd suitcase for everyone +$140 = $1785.

Then we'd have to ship our souvenirs back home b/c we wouldn't have room in our existing luggage, so add another $50 = $1835. Oops, forgot about those water bottles again +$20 on the return = $1855.

So it's ~$455 more to fly for our family.

Plus it's a LOT more enjoyable and easier to entertain kids on the train than in the airport or terminals or security lines.

Anyway, that's how we justify the AT for our family.

This may sound sad but planning for Disney is what gets me through the work week. I work for the weekends and Disney!

but :

I am right there with you, I read a quote somewhere about Disney is home and work is what you do while you are away from home.

I totally couldn't agree more!!

We'll be going for our wedding/Disneymoon 1/23 - 2/2.

About two weeks ago I put together an itinerary/meal plan, DF KNOWS that I'm nuts. This isn't our first trip to Disney together. But I said the same thing everyone else has been saying: When you have to make ressies 180 in advance then you need to know where you're going and what you're doing! Plus we'll be on DxDP which requires a lot of coordination!

congrats!! Planning is 1/2 the fun!!

So it's been awhile since I have been on here but I am starting to go crazy without it!

So how is the planning going for everyone? I know I am counting down the days until I can make my ADRs!

I haven't done much yet. I'm waiting until the hours come out and then I'll hit the planning mode, full force. I suspect we'll spend a lot of time at MK seeing the new Fantasyland.

We got pixie dust today!!!!!

We confirmed our point rental for 1/16 through 1/21 for a 2-bedroom standard view at AKL in Kidani. I just finished booking our flights too.

So excited. Now the real planning can begin. We are also going to do the deluxe dining plan so now I get to move onto reading all about the great places to eat.

AWESOME!!

We love Kidani! It's one of our top 2 DVCs.

 

[Marshay]

I think I have everyone updated on the first page.

danjo-- my DD6 and I are staying at the Royal Rooms in July -- I can't wait! I'll definitely let you know how we liked them.

 

[SL30]

So no one in our family has ever been and I thought end of January would be the perfect low crowd time but now I am nervous about such short operating hours and making the wrong ADR's on the wrong days in case it causes us to miss Electrical parade..etc...

Convince me it is a good time to go with 2 little boys!

Will the info that comes out next month on easywdw be accurate as far as which night the electrical parade, etc is scheduled or will Disney change it as we get closer??

Do I need to pay attention to the crowd calendar or does it really matter during value season?

 

[Marshay]

So no one in our family has ever been and I thought end of January would be the perfect low crowd time but now I am nervous about such short operating hours and making the wrong ADR's on the wrong days in case it causes us to miss Electrical parade..etc...

Convince me it is a good time to go with 2 little boys!

Will the info that comes out next month on easywdw be accurate as far as which night the electrical parade, etc is scheduled or will Disney change it as we get closer??

Do I need to pay attention to the crowd calendar or does it really matter during value season?

First, January is a wonderful time to go, esp with young children b/c the parks aren't open that late, so you aren't missing that much. In fact, you may be able to stay to actually see the parade, fireworks/Illumination, Fantasmic, etc, whereas going in summer they are at 9pm and 10pm and I know my youngest won't make it that late.

We found that the shorter hours worked perfect for us...it helped get the kids back earlier, more rested and they were more likely to get up earlier in the AM, too. It also provided DH and I a nice break, too, to come back to our room and relax, have some wine and snacks on the balcony, etc.

Older kids & adults can still go to DTD and shop/eat, go over to the boardwalk area, play video games, swim (if warm enough), explore resort, etc if they aren't ready for bed at 9-10pm or so.

The important thing is to try to get to WDW for RD or within 30 minutes of opening if you can. Explore for a few hours and then if the boys need to go back to the room for naps, do so. Then come back around 5pm for a few more rides and the parades/fireworks.

You'll find that January is a great time to go with generally less crowds. Also, stay for EMH if you can either AM or PM or stay in the park until it actually closes b/c we found they were not crowded at all then.

The last 45 minutes of the night at AK were EMPTY!! They let us ride Primeval Whirl and Tri-Spin 3x in a row without ever getting off. When we left about 10 minutes after park closed, it was weird-eery b/c it felt like we were the only ones in the park.

As far as crowd calendars, it is less vital in January (unless you are going over NYE or MLK weekend). We do a basic plan and then when the schedule came out or was updated, we just went on-line to adjust our ADRs if we needed to. Now that Disney charges $10/pp for no-shows, we have severely limited our character meals and no longer plan our vacation around TS meals. If we can get in a restaurant, fine. If not, no worries. We can find good CS food, too, and we've also started making more simple meals in our kitchen at DVC, which we also enjoy.

So for us, we've found January to have lots of advantages.

Disadvantages can be the cooler weather and refurbs going on.

However, my parents just got back from WDW 4 days ago and complained about all the refurbs going on now and rides that closed temporarily. So it's not just limited to January.

 

[mickeyplanner]

Marsha thanks for th auto train breakdown, since we don't rent a car while at Disney and just bought into BLT to avoid some of the buses I can't get the numbers to work for us for auto train. I think the kids would love the experience though.
One more question..."do you know if they still have the Disney junior dance parties during hs emh?

 

[Marshay]

Marsha thanks for th auto train breakdown, since we don't rent a car while at Disney and just bought into BLT to avoid some of the buses I can't get the numbers to work for us for auto train. I think the kids would love the experience though.
One more question..."do you know if they still have the Disney junior dance parties during hs emh?

yeah, w/o renting a car it or paying for gas (if we'd drive), it's harder to make the numbers work. Then, we go into the "put a price on convenience and adventure" to justify!

We just love the train for our family right now.

Yes, as far as I know, they still have the Disney dance party at HS EMH PM (Monday night).

I'm proposing that we have a DISMeet there for those that are interested. It worked out nice this past January. I'll send out more details closer to the date but we'd be there either/both Mondays -- January 14 and 21.

 

[Danjocass]

I think I have everyone updated on the first page.

danjo-- my DD6 and I are staying at the Royal Rooms in July -- I can't wait! I'll definitely let you know how we liked them.

How exciting!! My DD will be 7 in June and she saw them online and was like, "yes Mommy thumbs up, I wanna stay there!" Yes please let me know