*** OFFICIAL January 2013 Thread ***

[GraceMonica]

I'm going! I think I'll be there from 1/1/13-1/24/13 (this is a guesstimate...but what I'm aiming for! I may end up being there before the New Year )

Offsite.

This will be my chance to really explore the World!

 

[catdance23]

This is getting so hard to keep a secret from my daughter!!!

She thinks we might go to WDW next summer but I am surprising her with this trip in January. I want to tell her so bad. She thinks we are flying to see my parents. My parents are driving separately to Disney to join us so she still gets to see them. I've covered all my bases (I think) so that there's no disappointment and she gets to help plan since she thinks we are are going in the summer. I hope the next 7 months goes by quickly.

 

[mickeyplanner]

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.

I would have loved to take part in a DISMeet that would have been my first, but we won't be at WDW during your stay. I am going to look into HS EMH PM for our September trip and then for our January trip. Thanks for the tip.

 

[forever-maria]

Hi all! I've tried to plan a January trip for 3 years in a row now, and it keeps getting cancelled however, as of yesterday, we have decided we are going to make this trip happen this year, no matter what! I just read this whole thread and it is just making me more and more excited!

We know we want to go for a week, but we're torn on dates though... We like the idea of January 2-9 because we could maybe still catch some decorations and the Osborne lights and there may be less refurbs(?) but it will also be more crowded and more cold (?). Alternatively, later in the month for less crowds.

Any advice? We'll be doing 5-6 days in disney and *whisper* 1-2 days in Universal. If we go during the marathon we figured we'd spend marathon day in Universal.

Oh, and, we want to see if Free Dining or any other deals will be available, but does that mean we have to wait until October or so to book?? It seems that's when the deals were released last year...

Refurbs are well.. January is VERY well-known for them. You might miss a few, but for us, in 2011, Star Tours was down, as was Splash (and this is one that goes down nearly every January), and I know a few others. This year, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was down (but! Splash Mountain was open, which was SUPER exciting), the Main Street Electrical Parade, Fantasmic, and a few other things. People were unhappy this year because they felt too many things were closed. I think you'll be safe on HM (though, knock on wood )... I know my husband would be really sad if HM was down because it is his favorite attraction.

Oh, and I don't know if you care about water parks but usually one of the water parks is also closed in January... It's pretty much a guarantee.

Glad you've joined this thread! It's such torture having to wait though, I agree!

Yikes! This scares me! The parade and Fantasmic were closed? We'd be heartbroken if Fantasmic was down, that's our very favorite....

 

[readytogotodisney]

Oh, and, we want to see if Free Dining or any other deals will be available, but does that mean we have to wait until October or so to book?? It seems that's when the deals were released last year...


Yikes! This scares me! The parade and Fantasmic were closed? We'd be heartbroken if Fantasmic was down, that's our very favorite....

You can go ahead and book now, and when/if a free dining promotion comes around you can call back and have them apply it to your reservation. But be flexible, you may have to switch your dates or hotels depending on the details.

And we've gone every January for a long time, and I've never seen Fantasmic bc it's seems to always be down while we're there. That or we've never really tried to make it there. We did see the MSEP last few years, I believe it went down a few days after our trip last year.

 

[mickeyplanner]

From what I remember from last year's refurb schedule they didn't take Fantasmic off until after the Marathon. I think you would be safe going January 2-9. We are going January 2-8 and hope to see the Osborne Lights too. This will be our second January trip and are looking forward to it after the holidays.

 

[CandiceH]

Jan 10 - 20. We are excited to go back. . . we only stayed six days
last time, and felt so rushed, so we decided to make it longer and
take our time.

the park hours are shorter in Jan? How much so?

 

[Eli's 1st trip]

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

we will be there same time, same resort! I also have two little boys! 5 and 2!

 

[readytogotodisney]

the park hours are shorter in Jan? How much so?

Usually MK will be open until 9 or 10pm, Epcot always 9pm, HS will more then likely close at 7pm, and AK at 5pm.
That is for "normal" days. If you're going over MLK weekend, MK will stay open until 11pm or midnight on that Friday/Saturday. But the rest of the parks will still stay with the above.

In about 2 or 3 weeks, we'll know for sure when Disney will releases the TA park schedule. Woo Hoo!

 

[SL30]

we will be there same time, same resort! I also have two little boys! 5 and 2!

Very cool! Our will be 6 and turning 4 while we are there! Funny I just realized my original post said turning 3! oops he will be turning 4! where does time go?

 

[kennethsrib]

Hi Everyone, for some reason I thought I posted last month, but I guess I didn't! Anyway, we are planning our trip for January 13-18th, staying at POP, bringing my parents along this time. Going to update my ticker and looking forward to reading about everyone else's plans!

 

[kennethsrib]

I am not sure when the tour groups from Brazil start coming in... in 2010 we were at MK the last few days of January into the first week in February and the tour groups were there, a little rude and pushy, but we managed

our last trip was in July, so that doesn't help at all LOL.

I prefer the winter months. unfortunately, my kids school doesn't agree with me LOL... but that's ok because really if one of my daughters misses an exam, she will not remember it in ten years but I guarantee that she will remember riding Small World with her Nana and Pop Pop.

 

[readytogotodisney]

I am not sure when the tour groups from Brazil start coming in... in 2010 we were at MK the last few days of January into the first week in February and the tour groups were there, a little rude and pushy, but we managed

I agree! January is the time we go down to DW, and on our last trip we ran into a few groups that left me with a few bad memories.

But their summer (our winter) break is typically December through early Feb. For some reason I want to say that they usually start to thin out on the 3rd week of January.

 

[mickeyplanner]

I am not sure when the tour groups from Brazil start coming in... in 2010 we were at MK the last few days of January into the first week in February and the tour groups were there, a little rude and pushy, but we managed

our last trip was in July, so that doesn't help at all LOL.

I prefer the winter months. unfortunately, my kids school doesn't agree with me LOL... but that's ok because really if one of my daughters misses an exam, she will not remember it in ten years but I guarantee that she will remember riding Small World with her Nana and Pop Pop.

Memories of Disney with family can't be beat. Will this be your first trip with extended family?

 

[kennethsrib]

Memories of Disney with family can't be beat. Will this be your first trip with extended family?

yes this will be the first trip with my children and their grandparents. We went a lot when I was a kid with my parents and my grandmother.

 

[Marshay]

I'm going! I think I'll be there from 1/1/13-1/24/13 (this is a guesstimate...but what I'm aiming for! I may end up being there before the New Year )

Offsite.

This will be my chance to really explore the World!

Yay!! That's a wonderful amount of time to be at WDW!! I hope you really enjoy it and can explore a lot.

This is getting so hard to keep a secret from my daughter!!!

She thinks we might go to WDW next summer but I am surprising her with this trip in January. I want to tell her so bad. She thinks we are flying to see my parents. My parents are driving separately to Disney to join us so she still gets to see them. I've covered all my bases (I think) so that there's no disappointment and she gets to help plan since she thinks we are are going in the summer. I hope the next 7 months goes by quickly.

She'll be excited to be going back sooner ... but then again, she'll still be expecting a Disney trip in the summer!

I would have loved to take part in a DISMeet that would have been my first, but we won't be at WDW during your stay. I am going to look into HS EMH PM for our September trip and then for our January trip. Thanks for the tip.

It was great for small kids .. and the park really cleared out too, in the last hour...we kept riding Star Tours, just going in and out, over and over again!

Hi all! I've tried to plan a January trip for 3 years in a row now, and it keeps getting cancelled however, as of yesterday, we have decided we are going to make this trip happen this year, no matter what! I just read this whole thread and it is just making me more and more excited!

We know we want to go for a week, but we're torn on dates though... We like the idea of January 2-9 because we could maybe still catch some decorations and the Osborne lights and there may be less refurbs(?) but it will also be more crowded and more cold (?). Alternatively, later in the month for less crowds.

Any advice? We'll be doing 5-6 days in disney and *whisper* 1-2 days in Universal. If we go during the marathon we figured we'd spend marathon day in Universal.

Oh, and, we want to see if Free Dining or any other deals will be available, but does that mean we have to wait until October or so to book?? It seems that's when the deals were released last year...

Yikes! This scares me! The parade and Fantasmic were closed? We'd be heartbroken if Fantasmic was down, that's our very favorite....

You'll have a better chance of everything "up and running" earlier in the month b/c it will be more crowded. So if you want less crowds and can handle more refurbs, go the end of the month. If you can handle more crowds and less things closed down, then go earlier.

But January crowds won't be anything like summer or holiday crowds (in general).

We went this past January and there was a LOT shut down with F!, MSEP, BTMRR, Kali, etc. I was not happy prior but after we got there we realized it provided us an opportunity to see/do things we normally don't do (Indy Speedway, AstroOrbiter, more countries in Epcot, played in Boneyard more, etc).

Hi Everyone, for some reason I thought I posted last month, but I guess I didn't! Anyway, we are planning our trip for January 13-18th, staying at POP, bringing my parents along this time. Going to update my ticker and looking forward to reading about everyone else's plans!

Sorry, if I missed your post. There are two different threads for January 2013, so maybe you posted in the other one.

So excited that you can bring your parents -- sounds like a great family trip!

I am not sure when the tour groups from Brazil start coming in... in 2010 we were at MK the last few days of January into the first week in February and the tour groups were there, a little rude and pushy, but we managed

our last trip was in July, so that doesn't help at all LOL.

I prefer the winter months. unfortunately, my kids school doesn't agree with me LOL... but that's ok because really if one of my daughters misses an exam, she will not remember it in ten years but I guarantee that she will remember riding Small World with her Nana and Pop Pop.

Well, actually the BTGs frequent Disney in January and July. We did not encounter them a lot when we went the week after MLK. However, we may have just gotten lucky b/c others did. I had heard that the later in January, the less BTGs.

I agree! January is the time we go down to DW, and on our last trip we ran into a few groups that left me with a few bad memories.

But their summer (our winter) break is typically December through early Feb. For some reason I want to say that they usually start to thin out on the 3rd week of January.

yep, that's what I heard too. First 2 weeks of January is still crowded with BTGs..3rd week is less and by 4th week and into early Feb, not much at all.

But just remember the adage -- "you gotta zig, when they zag!"

 

[Marshay]

I will update all the new folks for January on the first page.

 

[maganda]

I will update all the new folks for January on the first page.

Can you include me too please? Jan 11 - 15 at the Pop. It's my first Disney marathon weekend, first onsite stay, first trip without kids. Lots of firsts!

If your DISMeet happens to fall on Jan 14 I would love to join in and say hello!

 

[catdance23]

I prefer the winter months. unfortunately, my kids school doesn't agree with me LOL... but that's ok because really if one of my daughters misses an exam, she will not remember it in ten years but I guarantee that she will remember riding Small World with her Nana and Pop Pop.

I'm with you. I'm only taking my daughter out of school for 2 days so hopefully they don't give us a hard time. She hardly ever misses school and we aren't taking her out for any other trips during the school year.

 

[catdance23]

She'll be excited to be going back sooner ... but then again, she'll still be expecting a Disney trip in the summer!

I didn't even think about that!!!!

Oh well, I'll just have to start planning a summer trip as well.