*** OFFICIAL January 2013 Thread ***

[Penguin312]

Sure, post away! It really is alot to plan.....and figuring out logistics is crazy. But I think the planning and organization is what keeps me coming back every year I'd be happy to look at your plans.

Thank you so much! We are trying to balance a trip where we get to see a lot and also get to relax and spend time together. It is our honeymoon, after all.

1/5 Flight from Oakland arrives 6:50am, take ME to POR, spend the day at DTD, Boardwalk, etc, general exploring and getting the lay of the land. Hopefully we will be able to check in a bit early. Lunch at Earl of Sandwich, dinner ADR @ Raglan Road.
1/6 Epcot. Lunch @ Le Cellier, dinner @ Biergarten, possibly head to MK for EMH in the evening.
1/7 Hollywood Studios. Late lunch at Sci-Fi Dine-In, maybe watch Fantasmic (is it any different from Disneyland's version?). Maybe go to Epcots EMH at night.
1/8 Pick up rental car in the morning(we still need to book this, any suggestions?) Magic Kingdom for he day. Watch the 3pm parade. Dinner @ BOG 7:25p
1/9 Epcot. A little drinking around the world, dinner at Rose & Crown at 7:25p, hoping to snag a patio seat for Illuminations. How tough is this to do?
1/10 Magic Kingdom. Is it possible to watch the Main Street Electrical Parade and the fireworks in the same night? We have no ADRs this day, but will probably go to BOG for lunch.
1/11 Not sure where we are going this day, we wanted to leave a day open for going back to anything we missed in Epcot, MK or Hollywood Studios. We are planning on going to the Aloha Dinner show this night.
1/12 Animal Kingdom. Followed by late dinner at Ohana at 9:25p. Hoping to catch a glimpse of the Electrical Water P agent.
1/13 Heading to "the other park" to check out The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
1/14 I've heard good things about Gatorland, so we may do that. We are just planning a day off from Disney exploring the surrounding area.
1/5 We are hoping for a nice enough day to spend time at the pool at either POR or AKL. We will be returning the rental car in the morning and making the switch to AKL for our last two nights. We also have dinner ADR at Boma.
1/16 Magic Kingdom and Epcot, DTD for a bit, then relaxing at the resort, watching animals, etc.
1/17 Get ready to go home Catch the ME at 3pm for our 6pm flight.

I'm not sure what else I need to plan. Trying to start thinking about counter service meals (we have the dining plan). I know its impossible to do it all, but I'm worried we are missing something major. Thanks for any advice and input you may have.

Also, do you have any opinions about PP+? We aren't doing any character meals, but I think having the ride photos would be fun and I worry that since its just the two of us, if we don't do it, then we won't have any photos of just the two of us.

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

I think overall your plans look great. The length of your stay is a real big advantage in trying to take a more relaxed pace of seeing the parks. I put a couple of comments with your schedule. One thing I would highly recommend is visiting MK on a Wednesday which is by far the least crowded and most pleasant day to tour the park. It looks like you might be able to do that for 1/16.

Thank you so much! We are trying to balance a trip where we get to see a lot and also get to relax and spend time together. It is our honeymoon, after all.

1/5 Flight from Oakland arrives 6:50am, take ME to POR, spend the day at DTD, Boardwalk, etc, general exploring and getting the lay of the land. Hopefully we will be able to check in a bit early. Lunch at Earl of Sandwich, dinner ADR @ Raglan Road.
1/6 Epcot. Lunch @ Le Cellier, dinner @ Biergarten, possibly head to MK for EMH in the evening. Don't know how much time you have spaced apart between your lunch and dinner, but this may be a lot of food between the two meals depending on what you order and how many hours you give between the ADRs especially since both restaurants are relatively protein-heavy.
1/7 Hollywood Studios. Late lunch at Sci-Fi Dine-In, maybe watch Fantasmic (is it any different from Disneyland's version?). Most people who have seen Fantasmic at both DL and DHS will agree that the DL version is much better. The animatronic dragon along with incoporations of the ships of Rivers of America at DL are one of the more notable differences at DHS Maybe go to Epcots EMH at night.
1/8 Pick up rental car in the morning(we still need to book this, any suggestions?) Magic Kingdom for he day. Watch the 3pm parade. Dinner @ BOG 7:25p I believe National and Alamo has a location at the Car Center located right outside of MK and provides shuttle service to the location from WDW resort hotels. There are also other rental car agencies embedded in some of the non-Disney hotels located around DTD
1/9 Epcot. A little drinking around the world, dinner at Rose & Crown at 7:25p, hoping to snag a patio seat for Illuminations. How tough is this to do?
1/10 Magic Kingdom. Is it possible to watch the Main Street Electrical Parade and the fireworks in the same night? Yes. The two are only an hour a part, usually 7pm for MSEP and 8pm for Wishes. Plus the castle projection show starts around 7:40pm (I think?). You'll have to stake out a spot that's conducive to viewing both which also means you'll have to place yourself in the more relatively crowded spots along Main Street and the Hub. While it may be possible to watch the parade along the Frontierland's portion (which tends to be far less crowded) of the route then walk to Main Street/Hub to watch Wishes, you'll have to battle through crowds just to get there, AND by then most of the locations may not be available. We usually split viewing MSEP and Wishes on different nights so that we can comfortably watch MSEP in Frontierland on one night, then watch Wishes from the Tomorrowland Bridge on another. We have no ADRs this day, but will probably go to BOG for lunch.
1/11 Not sure where we are going this day, we wanted to leave a day open for going back to anything we missed in Epcot, MK or Hollywood Studios. We are planning on going to the Aloha Dinner show this night.
1/12 Animal Kingdom. Followed by late dinner at Ohana at 9:25p. Hoping to catch a glimpse of the Electrical Water P agent.
1/13 Heading to "the other park" to check out The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
1/14 I've heard good things about Gatorland, so we may do that. We are just planning a day off from Disney exploring the surrounding area.
1/5 We are hoping for a nice enough day to spend time at the pool at either POR or AKL. We will be returning the rental car in the morning and making the switch to AKL for our last two nights. We also have dinner ADR at Boma.
1/16 Magic Kingdom and Epcot, DTD for a bit, then relaxing at the resort, watching animals, etc.
1/17 Get ready to go home Catch the ME at 3pm for our 6pm flight.

I'm not sure what else I need to plan. Trying to start thinking about counter service meals (we have the dining plan). Our favorite QS places are Columbia Harbor House (MK) and Flame Tree BBQ (AK). I know its impossible to do it all, but I'm worried we are missing something major. Thanks for any advice and input you may have.

Also, do you have any opinions about PP+? We aren't doing any character meals, but I think having the ride photos would be fun and I worry that since its just the two of us, if we don't do it, then we won't have any photos of just the two of us.

 

[Penguin312]

I think overall your plans look great. The length of your stay is a real big advantage in trying to take a more relaxed pace of seeing the parks. I put a couple of comments with your schedule. One thing I would highly recommend is visiting MK on a Wednesday which is by far the least crowded and most pleasant day to tour the park. It looks like you might be able to do that for 1/16.

Thank you so much! Perhaps we will wait to watch Wishes on 1/16. I used EasyWDW to decide on parks, for the most part. As far as the Epcot meals on our first day, our lunch is at 11:45am and dinner is at 8 so I think we might be okay, but maybe I will try to switch them around. We have seen Fantasmic a bunch of times at DL so perhaps we will skip it.

 

[ButterflyJen]

We're going to be at Kidani from 1/13-1/21. . Getting so excited!

***I know this may sound crazy, but I have a 6 year old little Girl Scout Daisy who I'd love to have meet up with another little girl scout! Just for 5 minutes...was thinking maybe a patch exchange, a GS handshake, the GS promise and a pic?? Let me know if anyone is interested!!!***

Thanks!
Jen

Aw bummer!! I have a Daisy and a Brownie, but we don't arrive till the 27th

 

[hoffmann2828]

Aw bummer!! I have a Daisy and a Brownie, but we don't arrive till the 27th

Super Bummer! Am I crazy for thinking that would be super cute?

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Thank you so much! Perhaps we will wait to watch Wishes on 1/16. I used EasyWDW to decide on parks, for the most part. As far as the Epcot meals on our first day, our lunch is at 11:45am and dinner is at 8 so I think we might be okay, but maybe I will try to switch them around. We have seen Fantasmic a bunch of times at DL so perhaps we will skip it.

You should be fine then with 8 hours between the meals. Especially with all the walking involved at WS

Since you have multiple opportunities to watch Wishes, you may also want to consider watching it from the beach at Poly in addition to watching it once inside MK.

 

[DanInMN]

We are visiting POR on P/S/D from 1/26-1/30. I made ADR's for:

1/26 POR Boatwrights
1/27 MK Crystal Palace
1/28 HS Mama Melrose
1/29 Epcot Germany​

Then I discovered that these are EMH days, and not recommended due to crowds on several web sites. I don't know if we will use the EMH or not.

Is late January slow enough that EMH crowds are bad? Should I start over with the ADR's? Can I create the new reservations before cancelling the existing ones to ensure we have something?

Edit: Never mind... I got brave and changed the reservations online without trouble. We are now doing:

1/26 POR Boatwrights
1/27 HS Mama Melrose
1/28 Epcot Germany
1/29 MK Crystal Palace
​

 

[ajasmom]

We will be going January 18 - 22 SSR. I so need a get away.

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

We are visiting POR on P/S/D from 1/26-1/30. I made ADR's for:

1/26 POR Boatwrights
1/27 MK Crystal Palace
1/28 HS Mama Melrose
1/29 Epcot Germany​

Then I discovered that these are EMH days, and not recommended due to crowds on several web sites. I don't know if we will use the EMH or not.

Is late January slow enough that EMH crowds are bad? Should I start over with the ADR's? Can I create the new reservations before cancelling the existing ones to ensure we have something?

Edit: Never mind... I got brave and changed the reservations online without trouble. We are now doing:

1/26 POR Boatwrights
1/27 HS Mama Melrose
1/28 Epcot Germany
1/29 MK Crystal Palace
​

I went through the same change-of-heart last week and re-did my park days and ADRs to avoid EMH days.

 

[ButterflyJen]

Super Bummer! Am I crazy for thinking that would be super cute?

Definitely not...my girls would have been down with it!

 

[pixiemeg]

Add us in!

Me, my ds(12), and dd (10) will arrive 1/2 to 1/7 staying at POR-- garden view -- so please add me to the list. I would appreciate a room recommendation for POR. I have only read about Oak Manner but don't have a royal room so would love a recommendation. Dh and am oldest (college boy) are staying home. We hope to surprise kids at Christmas. Can't wait! Thanks, Megan

 

[PixieDust1928]

Please add us in Jan 26-Feb 4th. I just read something about a crowd due to EMH DAYS????? 'What is that....about to make my ADR'S...

 

[Marshay]

WELCOME all new January members!!

I will update the first post later this week with your new information. (I just got back from a 3 day crop and need to catch up at home first!)

 

[Suziewan]

Please add us in Jan 26-Feb 4th. I just read something about a crowd due to EMH DAYS????? 'What is that....about to make my ADR'S...

EMH stands for extra magic hours; the additional hours you can access the park when staying on Disney property.

 

[PixieDust1928]

Thank you

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Please add us in Jan 26-Feb 4th. I just read something about a crowd due to EMH DAYS????? 'What is that....about to make my ADR'S...

Just to add to the previous post about EMH days and crowd levels, one of the strategies when trying to decide which park to tour on a given day is to try to avoid going to parks that have Extra Magic Hours (both morning and evening hours) as these parks attract larger proportions of guests staying at Disney Resorts on those days. Easywdw.com does a great job explaining and incorporating this in its crowd calendars.

 

[shalom]

Shalom - I've never been in January, but hopefully it's a good time to go. I figure even if the crowds are bad, at least the weather won't be horrible.

We prefer too cold to too hot -- and we think it's too hot in May! Not thinking we'll brave August anytime soon.

. Easywdw.com does a great job explaining and incorporating this in its crowd calendars.

I love easywdw.com -- Josh empowers the reader by giving you the whys and wherefores, but also offers a basic calendar of recommendations for those who just want to know when to go.

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Intrigued to find out what the new castle projection show will look like!

http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2012/11/its-time-to-celebrate-the-magic-at-magic-kingdom-park/

 

[JKromer]

Been hunting around for an answer, so I thought I'd come to this thread first. We're staying in POFQ late in January, one of the things I like most about FQ is the dedicated bus service. Is this still the practice during low crowd periods? Or will the buses "merge" with POR? Thanks for the help!

 

[Chocolab23]

Aw bummer!! I have a Daisy and a Brownie, but we don't arrive till the 27th

We're missing it too, would you like to have a GS meet? We're getting there on the 25 and would love to have a scout DISmeet.