*** OFFICIAL January 2013 Thread ***

[Ckmommy72]

Add me to the list!!

Just booked our trip for the 21st - 28th. The exact same dates we went this year!! Can't wait!!! Now, fingers crossed for a room discount or FD!!! Right now we're booked in LM room at AoA, but we'll see if that stays the same!?!?

 

[MollyBelle09]

Just booked for Jan 2-7 ---but I'm currently devastated that I missed ADR at BOG. But I'm still super excited!

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Just booked for Jan 2-7 ---but I'm currently devastated that I missed ADR at BOG. But I'm still super excited!

I know how you feel. We decided on our trip last week, and by then it was too late for ADR at Be Our Guest. I'm still trying though, checking for any cancellations/openings several times a day!

 

[brightvalleyjrts]

I dreamed last night that free dining had finally been announced....c'mon Disney!

I know! I can't believe they are taking so long to put out a Jan. promo. Last year free dining for Jan, was released the beginning of Aug I think. This is nuts!!

 

[Marshay]

I was able to extend my January trip an extra day, so now I'll be there 1/8 through 1/18.

I'm still booked at AoA in a LM room, I was kind of surprised they were able to extend it since I've heard the LM rooms are mostly full for January. I was expecting to have to change to ASMo, which I might still do if FD or a good discount comes out.

Now I have to rearrange my ADRs!

Yeah! Nothing better than being able to add a day to your trip ... ok, maybe adding more than one day is better!!

Glad you can keep AOA!

Hi Everyone! So excited to be joining this thread! We'll be at Disney 1/19-1/26. We're staying off site at Orange Lake Resort. I'm having a blast planning our trip. I've been using TP and easyWDW and they vary greatly in their crowd calendar for that week as well as their recommended park for each day. Is one more accurate than the other? I'm hoping that it won't be that crowded that week so it won't make a big difference. We have 2 ADRs so far, one for dinner at Ohana for the day we arrive and one for lunch at Chefs de France later in the week. Thinking about making one more, but we can't decide on a place.

You shouldn't have much issues in January, except for MLK weekend, so just expect crowds to be a bit more then. I typically use TP but it would be neat to compare to the other.

I'll add you to the list.

Joining in. I haven't booked yet but we have decided to surprise the kids with a Disney trip for Christmas. Right now I'm looking at 1/8-1/14 and staying at AoA (we JUST got back from Disney 4 days ago and stayed there, LOVED it). I am waiting to see what they offer for deals---hoping for free dining. I can do the military deal, but the FD ends up being a little better of a deal for me so waiting ever so impatiently to see what deals come out so I can book it!

Welcome! I'll add you to the list. I'm hoping for a room only AP discount. Right now I booked with AAA but if FD is better, than I'll switch to that.

Joining in . . . we're arriving via autotrain on the 26th, but will be spending that night with relatives near Sanford. We check into BWV on the 27th and out on Feb1, then one more night with the relatives and we're heading home on the autotrain on Feb 2nd.

(Just thought I'd mention the extended dates in case anyone is going to be on our train.)

Don't know about all of you, but January can't come quick enough. I'm hoping when my work ramps back up in October it will make the time go by faster!

Sounds great! We love the AT!

Please add me. 1st trip to Disney world do excited. Seasoned Disneyland traveler though. We start off at AofA in a little Mermaid room January 22nd, then at the beach club for a week and then 3 more nights at pop?! We have a 6 year old and a 3 year old...So excited!!

Welcome! I'll add you to the list. Your kids will love WDW -- just be prepared that WDW is much, much bigger and spread out. Also, almost everyone who is a Disneyland person finds they end up liking the DL version of the rides better.

Add us to the list Jan 3-9 @ OKW/SSR. DH and I have a 2Br @ OKW and are expecting friends who live in the area to join us for a night or two. My Mom, Step- Dad, Sister, Brother in Law and Niece are staying at SSR. We will be celebrating DN's 6th Birthday. 124 Days and counting!!!

Welcome! I"ll add you to the list. We were not expecting to like OKW or SSR when we went (only ones available for our days) but were very pleasantly surprised.

Hi y'all! Will you please add us to the list?

We'll be staying at Coronado Springs 1/27-2/2 - can't wait!

Welcome! Will add you too!

 

[Marshay]

Please add me to the list! We'll be there January 25-29th. Tentatively, we're planning to stay at AoA.

With DD starting elementary school this year, I had written off us going to WDW during off-season for awhile. A couple of days ago, was going through DD's school calendar and found out she has a four day weekend for the last week of January! Talked it over with DW about what we could do that weekend, and WDW ended up on top of our list. It's a shorter stay then our previous ones, but we're excited! Can't wait to check out the new AoA and New FL!! Now scrambling to put together some ADRs.

Sounds great! We have a few locals on this thread. I'm out near Dulles Airport.

Finally we're booked!

Pop Century Jan 22nd to Feb 5th! We already had the flights booked so it was a matter of time until we booked the hotel as well!

Now we pray for FD to show up!

yay!! Glad you booked.

Add me too!!! I'm going with my family - Mom, Dad, younger sister, myself and my best friend. January 5-12 at OKW!!!!

Welcome! I'll add you to the list. Family + best friend vacation sounds great!

Yeah, today is our 4 month mark

Come on January

We will be at POR Royal Guest room Jan 3-13th.

Can you tell I am excited????? Now if free dining comes out that would be awesome.
I keep reading all the great posts about recent visits. I'm addicted.

Oh, Rachel and I stayed there for 2 nights in July and absolutely loved it!! I got to finish that TR, too.

We (DH, DS, and me) just booked our January trip. We are staying at the WL (for now) Jan. 25- Feb.2. We might change resorts to Poly or Beach Club. We always stay at the WL. Just don't know if we are ready for a change.

Welcome! I highly recommend switching resorts. It just adds to the magic and you get to explore more. And if you end up not liking it, then you just HAVE to schedule another trip to go back to WL. And if you end up loving it, now you have another choice ... and maybe incentive enough to schedule another trip to try out another resort.

Really, I can't see anything bad, ya know? Either way you get a trip and another trip in your future!!

Count us in!

Just booked our Anniversary trip January 15-19 at the Poly!

WOOHOO!!!!!

What a great place to spend your Anniversary!! Poly is my favorite non-DVC resort.

Booked our package tonight for a Finding Nemo Suite at AoA! Waiting for a decent promotion/discount from Disney.

Also need to figure out when to pull the trigger and buy our plane tickets. Are the prices expected to continue to go up if I keep waiting?

Ugh, the airfare dilemma. I say set a price you are willing to pay and when the tickets are at that price, then buy it.

 

[Marshay]

We just got back last night from WDW and can't wait for our January trip, especially for Fantasyland to open up. To our surprise yesterday after being inside Mickey's Philharmagic an announcement was made that Disney is doing a testing on one of the new attractions at Fantasyland and if we had an hour to spare and would like to take part please head back to the blue construction walls and cast members will direct you from there. So of course we went to check it out, we only had 1.5 hours until we had to catch the ME to the airport but we weren't going to miss this opportunity to be some of the first to see parts of the new Fantasyland additions.

DD had a Belle outfit on and the CMs leading us into Fantasyland kept making a fuss over DD. So we started to think we were going to see some of the new Beauty and the Beast areas of Fantasyland.

Just let me tell you the details we saw were AMAZING .

We got to enter in Maurice's cottage. Hanging on a wall is a picture of Belle as a child with her mom. There is also a growth chart of Belle on one of the walls. We of course had our DD stand next to it to see where she compared with Belle. There is even the book that Belle is reading in the movie and the sheep took a bite out of the page sitting on a table inside the cottage.

Then they take you into Maurice's workshop. There are blueprints all over the place and a beautiful mirror hanging on one of the walls. We made sure to stand in front of the mirror. Once everyone is inside, the CM tells you no more flash photography and asks us to repeat after him. "Show us the night Belle and Beast fall in love" The mirror then transforms into a doorway and we are asked to walk through. It was so magically to see the mirror transform and then walk into Beast's castle.

Once inside the castle, which is breathtaking , another CM is there with the enchanted wardrobe. Yes, there is a lifesize talking/animated wardrobe inside this room. They explain that the Beast wants to surprise Belle by having us "villagers" help retell the story of how they met. They ask for villagers to help act out the parts. DH was picked to be one of the "marching" knights. The villager actors are given props for their roles and we all practice our "parts".

We are then lead into the Castle Library and Luminaire is on the mantle to meet us along with two additional CMs. The actors are asked to take their places and the rest of us "villagers" are asked to take a seat on three different rows of benches. We decided to sit on the far right side of the room up front to be position in front of DH. WHich happened to be a great spot because we were seated right next to the door that Belle entered and exited. Everyone acted out their parts and they had a Photopass photographer taking pictures. All the actors got a bookmark from Belle and a special photopass card with Belle on the card. I wasn't planning on buying photopass from this trip but now I might be tempted once I load up all our cards.

I am so excited that we got see this firsthand and now can't wait to see the rest of fantasyland in January.

Oooh, how exciting!! That sounds so wonderful and what an incredible way to end your vacation!! We definitely want to see pictures if you purchase them.

How long did the whole thing take?

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Marshay]

Just booked a trip for January 16- January 23 at AKV! Can't wait!

Welcome! AKV, esp Kidani, is one of our favorite resorts.

So, with Fastpass+ going for another test phase, do you all think that it will go live by the time New FL opens (which means we January visitors will have to learn a new system)?

January would be a good time for them to put it into broader use, with the parks not being too busy.

I did read on other threads that the testing portion included 4 FPs at MK that you could pre-schedule.

Add me to the list!!

Just booked our trip for the 21st - 28th. The exact same dates we went this year!! Can't wait!!! Now, fingers crossed for a room discount or FD!!! Right now we're booked in LM room at AoA, but we'll see if that stays the same!?!?

That last week in January is a wonderful time to go! We went around then this past Jan 2012, too!

Just booked for Jan 2-7 ---but I'm currently devastated that I missed ADR at BOG. But I'm still super excited!

Welcome! You never know...keep checking.

 

[Marshay]

Ok, everyone should be updated on the first post. If your info changes or I mis-typed, just let me know.

Wow! We got a lot of new travelers in the past week! Welcome everyone!!

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Sounds great! We have a few locals on this thread. I'm out near Dulles Airport.

Ok, everyone should be updated on the first post. If your info changes or I mis-typed, just let me know.

Wow! We got a lot of new travelers in the past week! Welcome everyone!!

Thank you for maintaining this thread! That's a lot of work with all the updates. Also, always a treat to see fellow DISers who are close by!

 

[Marshay]

Thank you for maintaining this thread! That's a lot of work with all the updates. Also, always a treat to see fellow DISers who are close by!

No problem! I always like to anticipate seeing fellow Dissers in the park. Most times I don't but it's still fun meeting on-line.

Last January we did a Dismeet at DHS on a Monday night with EMH at the Dance Party and had soooooo much fun!

The park was basically empty but the dance party was pretty full. Our kids danced together and us adults just had fun talking to each other laughing at the characters.

 

[redoschi]

Marshay, I was looking on the first page and noticed that my travel dates are wrong (we hadn't booked when I first joined). My current dates (and final unless FD is offered but doesn't include jan 22nd) are January 22nd to February 5th at Pop Century!

 

[PRmamiDEdos]

No problem! I always like to anticipate seeing fellow Dissers in the park. Most times I don't but it's still fun meeting on-line.

Last January we did a Dismeet at DHS on a Monday night with EMH at the Dance Party and had soooooo much fun!

The park was basically empty but the dance party was pretty full. Our kids danced together and us adults just had fun talking to each other laughing at the characters.

I wonder if thy will still have EMH dance parties with the two hour limit.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards. Please excuse the typos.

 

[Marshay]

Marshay, I was looking on the first page and noticed that my travel dates are wrong (we hadn't booked when I first joined). My current dates (and final unless FD is offered but doesn't include jan 22nd) are January 22nd to February 5th at Pop Century!

Sorry about that! I will fix it now.

 

[Marshay]

I wonder if thy will still have EMH dance parties with the two hour limit.

I know. I hope they still do. My DD's loved them but I haven't read anything on it. Let me know if you hear anything.

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Just booked our flights! I'm horrible with "playing chicken" with airfares and I usually blink first with just about a week or so of price monitoring

Decided not to go with Southwest for the first time in a long while and booked out of Reagan National even though that means baggage fees. The thought of fighting Friday evening rush hour traffic to BWI just made me shudder

So now I have left - car rental and one more ADR. Things are taking shape!!

 

[mickeyplanner]

Even with waiting in line before we went into the cottage, it all took less than an hour. I believe there might be multiple workshops and libraries once you enter into the cottage.

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Even with waiting in line before we went into the cottage, it all took less than an hour. I believe there might be multiple workshops and libraries once you enter into the cottage.

I've read that somewhere else as well that they probably have it set up to have more than one room so that they can try to keep the line moving.

I think I also read that they will have FPs for this experience - I think this is how we'll plan on getting this one done. Even with multiple rooms going I suspect that the wait time will be pretty long during the first couple of months. Will be paying close attention to the wait times once it opens

 

[Suz8]

It's official. We are going Jan 1-6 and are staying at POP. (Feel free to add us to the list.) We are also bringing grandma and grandpa (grandma only went to one park very briefly and this is grandpa's first visit). Should be so fun.

We know it will be extremely crowded especially the first few days, but didn't want to take the kids out of school this year due to my older daughter's more challenging classes. We have all our ADRs for dinner. We plan on going to Epcot our day of arrival on Jan 1 (fingers crossed) and Hollywood Studios on Jan 2 (hoping to catch the Osbourne lights. We've never been to Disney around the holidays).

Any other decorations we should try to catch the first few days in January before they come down? Any tips on crowd avoidance besides the basics such as getting to the park at rope drop on Jan 2? We are planning that the first few days at least will be insanely busy. I will "pack extra patience."

 

[GraceMonica]

My dates have changed! I will be arriving 12/26 and leaving 1/24! decided to spend new years with the mouse!