Official January 2016!!!

[taythecray]

Popping back in the thread What do everyone's park plans look like? Anyone overlapping us? I love hearing what other people find to do because it gives me ideas for next time We are staying Jan 4-9 and rented points for a 2 bedroom at Animal Kingdom-Kidani! Time has actually gone by pretty fast, although it could go faster Made our ADRs a while ago and got everything we wanted as well! Planning this big of a trip is all new to me and it's been so fun! I do have a pre-trip report but here's what we have. Party of 9 by the way, Me (21) DH (21) mom and stepdad (both 40 some) two stepbrothers (20) one stepbrother fiance (20) brother (14) and sister (10) 0_o

Jan 4-arriving at 11:30am; DH and I are heading to Epcot for date night and snacks around the world while the rest of the family enjoys the resort
Jan 5-Magic Kingdom all day with lunch at Whispering Canyon
Jan 6-Epcot all day with dinner at Garden Grill
Jan 7-Breakfast at Ohana then splitting up the party; DH and I (along with any other volunteers) will be going to Hollywood Studios while everyone else visits the Kennedy Space Station (a last minute request, thanks mom)
Jan 8-Magic Kingdom again! I am surprising my little sister with a lunch date in the castle! She is going to freak
Jan 9-Animal Kingdom with the dreaded flight home at 9pm

 

[ariane37]

Popping back in the thread What do everyone's park plans look like? Anyone overlapping us? I love hearing what other people find to do because it gives me ideas for next time We are staying Jan 4-9 and rented points for a 2 bedroom at Animal Kingdom-Kidani! Time has actually gone by pretty fast, although it could go faster Made our ADRs a while ago and got everything we wanted as well! Planning this big of a trip is all new to me and it's been so fun! I do have a pre-trip report but here's what we have. Party of 9 by the way, Me (21) DH (21) mom and stepdad (both 40 some) two stepbrothers (20) one stepbrother fiance (20) brother (14) and sister (10) 0_o

Jan 4-arriving at 11:30am; DH and I are heading to Epcot for date night and snacks around the world while the rest of the family enjoys the resort
Jan 5-Magic Kingdom all day with lunch at Whispering Canyon
Jan 6-Epcot all day with dinner at Garden Grill
Jan 7-Breakfast at Ohana then splitting up the party; DH and I (along with any other volunteers) will be going to Hollywood Studios while everyone else visits the Kennedy Space Station (a last minute request, thanks mom)
Jan 8-Magic Kingdom again! I am surprising my little sister with a lunch date in the castle! She is going to freak
Jan 9-Animal Kingdom with the dreaded flight home at 9pm

We're going a little later in the month than you, but I wanted to say your park plans look good I don't blame you for skipping Kennedy! We almost went there on one of our trips last year, but I just couldn't give up any Disney time lol.

 

[taythecray]

We're going a little later in the month than you, but I wanted to say your park plans look good I don't blame you for skipping Kennedy! We almost went there on one of our trips last year, but I just couldn't give up any Disney time lol.

Thanks! We dont have a huge interest in it and decided a trip to Disney would not be complete without riding Tower of Terror, so Hollywood Studios was the pick! My mom and younger sister are bummed they will be missing that though. I just told them to hurry back and pop into the park for that last hour to ride it with us XD

 

[Kathymford]

Popping back in the thread What do everyone's park plans look like? Anyone overlapping us? I love hearing what other people find to do because it gives me ideas for next time We are staying Jan 4-9 and rented points for a 2 bedroom at Animal Kingdom-Kidani! Time has actually gone by pretty fast, although it could go faster Made our ADRs a while ago and got everything we wanted as well! Planning this big of a trip is all new to me and it's been so fun! I do have a pre-trip report but here's what we have. Party of 9 by the way, Me (21) DH (21) mom and stepdad (both 40 some) two stepbrothers (20) one stepbrother fiance (20) brother (14) and sister (10) 0_o

Jan 4-arriving at 11:30am; DH and I are heading to Epcot for date night and snacks around the world while the rest of the family enjoys the resort
Jan 5-Magic Kingdom all day with lunch at Whispering Canyon
Jan 6-Epcot all day with dinner at Garden Grill
Jan 7-Breakfast at Ohana then splitting up the party; DH and I (along with any other volunteers) will be going to Hollywood Studios while everyone else visits the Kennedy Space Station (a last minute request, thanks mom)
Jan 8-Magic Kingdom again! I am surprising my little sister with a lunch date in the castle! She is going to freak
Jan 9-Animal Kingdom with the dreaded flight home at 9pm

We have similar dates!
I'm having a hard time planning this year. Partly because we are participating in marathon weekend and partly because we are going with other friends for the first time (2 other couples). And one of the other couples may or not come solo, so I don't know whether to include him in our plans, or to assume he will have some form of a girlfriend with him. Here are my tentative plans!

Jan 4 - arriving at 2:45 p.m. This is earlier for us than usual (coming from CA), so I'm undecided if we run into a park that day. We have an Artist Point res in the evening
Jan 5 - possibly AK, possibly Universal. One of the group couples arrive this day
Jan 6 - RunDisney Expo and MK - BOG res in the evening with the whole group. The other couple arrives.
Jan 7 - Another possible Universal day; another option is HS.
Jan 8 - EP day with evening Le Cellier - not sure this is a great choice the night before my half marathon. lol
Jan 9 - Half marathon at the crack of dawn; I've got a Kona breakfast and a Sci-Fi lunch booked. One of these will have to go, but I'm not sure which yet. Probably the breakfast, sadly.
Jan 10 - Full marathon for my bf and the rest of the day depends on how he feels. I'm hoping MK to say goodbye.
Jan 11 - BOG breakfast booked if the bf can walk. Flight leaves around 7 p.m., so hopefully he is up to it!

 

[taythecray]

We have similar dates!
I'm having a hard time planning this year. Partly because we are participating in marathon weekend and partly because we are going with other friends for the first time (2 other couples). And one of the other couples may or not come solo, so I don't know whether to include him in our plans, or to assume he will have some form of a girlfriend with him. Here are my tentative plans!

Jan 4 - arriving at 2:45 p.m. This is earlier for us than usual (coming from CA), so I'm undecided if we run into a park that day. We have an Artist Point res in the evening
Jan 5 - possibly AK, possibly Universal. One of the group couples arrive this day
Jan 6 - RunDisney Expo and MK - BOG res in the evening with the whole group. The other couple arrives.
Jan 7 - Another possible Universal day; another option is HS.
Jan 8 - EP day with evening Le Cellier - not sure this is a great choice the night before my half marathon. lol
Jan 9 - Half marathon at the crack of dawn; I've got a Kona breakfast and a Sci-Fi lunch booked. One of these will have to go, but I'm not sure which yet. Probably the breakfast, sadly.
Jan 10 - Full marathon for my bf and the rest of the day depends on how he feels. I'm hoping MK to say goodbye.
Jan 11 - BOG breakfast booked if the bf can walk. Flight leaves around 7 p.m., so hopefully he is up to it!

Woohoo that's awesome! Eventually I will make it over to Universal, that might be next year's trip. I've realized that making plans for a big group without any help or input is exhausting so I finally gave up and just laid out the plans for DH and I (then maybe my little sister if I can drag her away for a while) Maybe you could do a relaxing half day at Epcot on the 8th? Good luck to both of you on your runs! Have you been during marathon time before? How are crowds normally? I've heard traffic can be tricky but that doesn't bother us too much.

 

[kayteekt]

Joining in, we've got a trip planned last week of January. Renting DVC Points and staying at Boardwalk Villas. Excited for our family to share "The World" with my SIL, BIL and Niece for their first time!

 

[lustergirl]

My plans:

Arrival day, 1/24: MK then Sanaa for dinner: early night, will probably go back to the resort for some drinks.
2nd day: AK, then a break, then to EPCOT for dinner at Restaurant Marrakesh, then Illuminations
3rd day: Kona Cafe for breakfast, MK early morning, take a break, then back to MK for Wishes.
Departing day: Flight is at 3:30pm, going to Rainforest Cafe at AK for breakfast.

 

[Karl66]

DW and I just booked our first DVC. An adults only weekend Jan 22nd - 24th at OKW. Really looking forward to this one.

 

[smilezlie]

My friend and I will be there from Jan 5th-13th. Celebrating my 31st bday! My friend is a Disneyland cast member so we get a nice discount on rooms and free park admission (thank goodness). More money to spend on drinks and food!

Jan 5th: Arrive in Orlando around 4pm (flying from CA) and check into the All-Star Sports resort. Head to Disney Springs and get our drink on at Trader Sams & Hangar Bar.
Jan 6th: WDW with dinner at Sci-Fi Drive In.
Jan 7th: Harry Potter World.... aka Universal. Park hopping it, buying all the things, and "Disneybounding" Slytherin (friend is Gryffindor).

Jan 8th-11th: 3 day Disney Cruise on the Dream to the Bahamas

Jan 11th: Animal Kingdom/Hollywood Studios with dinner at 50's Prime Time Cafe.
Jan 12th: Epcot, lunch at Be Our Guest, drinking at Rose & Crown (among other places).
Jan 13th: 10am flight home..... so I can make it back for the Ducks hockey game that night.... because I am crazy.

This will be my first time at WDW and my first Disney cruise. Beyond excited! If you have any tips or tricks please let me know.

 

[ariane37]

My friend and I will be there from Jan 5th-13th. Celebrating my 31st bday! My friend is a Disneyland cast member so we get a nice discount on rooms and free park admission (thank goodness). More money to spend on drinks and food!

Jan 5th: Arrive in Orlando around 4pm (flying from CA) and check into the All-Star Sports resort. Head to Disney Springs and get our drink on at Trader Sams & Hangar Bar.
Jan 6th: WDW with dinner at Sci-Fi Drive In.
Jan 7th: Harry Potter World.... aka Universal. Park hopping it, buying all the things, and "Disneybounding" Slytherin (friend is Gryffindor).

Jan 8th-11th: 3 day Disney Cruise on the Dream to the Bahamas

Jan 11th: Animal Kingdom/Hollywood Studios with dinner at 50's Prime Time Cafe.
Jan 12th: Epcot, lunch at Be Our Guest, drinking at Rose & Crown (among other places).
Jan 13th: 10am flight home..... so I can make it back for the Ducks hockey game that night.... because I am crazy.

This will be my first time at WDW and my first Disney cruise. Beyond excited! If you have any tips or tricks please let me know.

Hi there! Your trip looks fun and I can feel your excitement through your post Just want to give you some info. You may know all this already and just have made some typo's, and I don't want to be a know-it-all. But wanted to throw it out there now rather than having you get down there and be like......."wait, what???"
1. On the 6th you say you're going to "WDW" and having dinner at Sci-Fi. By WDW do you mean MK or Hollywood Studios? Sci-Fi is in HS so if that's where you'll be, great. Or if you have park hoppers and will be in MK and then hop to HS for dinner. Wanted to be sure you realized you either need to be in HS that day to eat there or have hoppers
2. On the 12th you're going to Epcot but having lunch at BOG, which is in MK. Again, if you have hoppers and are planning on heading to Epcot after lunch, . just checking!
3. Now the big one! On arrival day when you guys want to go drinking in DS. Trader Sam's is at the Polynesian Resort Sorry! Don't want you wandering around DS searching for it. You will find other places in addition to Jock Lindsay's to drink down there, though. If you really want Trader Sam's, you could do what lots of others do which is sometimes called the "monorail pub crawl". You start at one of the monorail resorts (Poly, Contemporary, Grand Floridian), have some drinks at the bar(s) there, then proceed by monorail to the next resort . When done you can take a cab back to All-Stars. If you wanted to do this AND Jock Lindsay's that night you could bus it from your resort to DS, drink, bus back to Poly, do all 3 monorail resorts and cab back to your resort (no resort to resort busses which is why I'm saying cab).
Did I confuse you? I hope not! Again I hate to rain on your parade but rather give you a chance to change anything you need to before you get down there. Enjoy!!!!!

 

[acbshada]

Jan 7th: Harry Potter World.... aka Universal. Park hopping it, buying all the things, and "Disneybounding" Slytherin (friend is Gryffindor).

First of all "buying all the things" will definitely by your motto at Harry Potter World if you're both big HP fans. When my best nerd friend and I went, we were really bad influences on each other's spending. You'll have fun.

Planning a trip in January, though doing later in the month due to lower-crowds, value season, and knowing that I'll need a break from the dark, ugliness of winter in my state. Yuck. Winter.

 

[smilezlie]

Hi there! Your trip looks fun and I can feel your excitement through your post Just want to give you some info. You may know all this already and just have made some typo's, and I don't want to be a know-it-all. But wanted to throw it out there now rather than having you get down there and be like......."wait, what???"
1. On the 6th you say you're going to "WDW" and having dinner at Sci-Fi. By WDW do you mean MK or Hollywood Studios? Sci-Fi is in HS so if that's where you'll be, great. Or if you have park hoppers and will be in MK and then hop to HS for dinner. Wanted to be sure you realized you either need to be in HS that day to eat there or have hoppers
2. On the 12th you're going to Epcot but having lunch at BOG, which is in MK. Again, if you have hoppers and are planning on heading to Epcot after lunch, . just checking!
3. Now the big one! On arrival day when you guys want to go drinking in DS. Trader Sam's is at the Polynesian Resort Sorry! Don't want you wandering around DS searching for it. You will find other places in addition to Jock Lindsay's to drink down there, though. If you really want Trader Sam's, you could do what lots of others do which is sometimes called the "monorail pub crawl". You start at one of the monorail resorts (Poly, Contemporary, Grand Floridian), have some drinks at the bar(s) there, then proceed by monorail to the next resort . When done you can take a cab back to All-Stars. If you wanted to do this AND Jock Lindsay's that night you could bus it from your resort to DS, drink, bus back to Poly, do all 3 monorail resorts and cab back to your resort (no resort to resort busses which is why I'm saying cab).
Did I confuse you? I hope not! Again I hate to rain on your parade but rather give you a chance to change anything you need to before you get down there. Enjoy!!!!!

We have park hopper tickets for each day which will be a big help. I planned which days in which parks based on magic hours/closing time. Unfortunately for us even making reservations 75 days out we were limited on time slots/days. That is the only reason we are park hopping like that. It is my first WDW trip and those were my 3 must eat restaurants.

The plan is to leave the park a couple hours before dinner/lunch, depending on time head straight to the restaurant, then maybe hit a ride or 2, then back to the original park. MK has magic hours on the 6th and Epcot on the 12th I believe. We have early (430-445pm) dinners so even with the travel time we will still have a few hours in the original parks after. The other day we will actually be in the correct park!

TOTALLY forgot Trader Sam's Grotto was at the Polynesian! I knew that. :: smh :: We should be checked in and stuff around 5pm on arrival day and hungry. Probably doing dinner at Raglan Road (or Earl of Sandwich depending on level of hangry), hit up Hangar Bar, and then head over to the Polynesian to close out Sams. I do like your pub crawl idea though! Tempting!

Thanks for your help!

First of all "buying all the things" will definitely by your motto at Harry Potter World if you're both big HP fans. When my best nerd friend and I went, we were really bad influences on each other's spending. You'll have fun.

Planning a trip in January, though doing later in the month due to lower-crowds, value season, and knowing that I'll need a break from the dark, ugliness of winter in my state. Yuck. Winter.

I bought a Slytherin patch on etsy and a plain black cardigan from Target. I am also dressing in Slytherin colors. That should (hopefully) save me some money on clothing merch. Totally getting my interactive wand, butterbeer mug, and who knows what else.

Thank goodness I am a Disneyland AP and the majority of merch is the same or similar in both parks. I can resist temptation at WDW... but not Harry Potter World...

 

[JustMeFran]

Here are our plans..."We" consist of Me, DH and DD8.
We will be there 9 – 17 January and staying at POP!

I know we are traveling a bit, but part of my goal for this trip is to see new resorts!
This is not our first trip, and it will not be our last!

Day 1- Land at MCO @ 11:20am, travel to POP! and settle in (hopefully).
Head to EPCOT around 2:00ish.
FP Spaceship Earth
5:25pm Akersus (daughters request for first night, what we did last trip, great start!)
FP TT

Day 2 – MK Day!
7am Chef Mickey (again, Daughters request)
FP Big Thunder, Mine Train,
BBB@ noon
To the room to rest
FP Enchanted Tales in the evening

Day 3 – EPCOT day!
Head to Countries as soon as they open
FP Turtle Talk and Land before heading to room to rest
5:05pm Whispering Canyon
Back Epcot
FP TT

Day 4 – HS Day!
Sleep in a bit...
9:30am 'Ohana
FP ToT and RnR (about 2 hours after breakfast so no tummy issues!)
Maybe back to the room
FP later afternoon TSMM
Fantasmic!

Day 5 – Animal Kingdom
CURENTLY we have an ADR for 8:20am Tusker House BUT...we MIGHT change that to the Dining with Animal Expert at Saana (sounds awesome!)
FP Kali, Everest
Lunch
FP Dino
Back to room
5:15pm Spirit of Aloha

Day 6 – resort/non-park day
6:00pm Boma

Day 7 – EPCOT again!
Arrive whenever and head to the Countries.
Lunch
Back to room
FP SE
4:00pm Teppan Edo
FP TT, Figment
Illuminations (maybe)

Day 8 – MK again!
FP Splash (was closed first day), Space Mt
11:00am BOG
FP Big Thunder
Back to room to rest...park closes at midnight and I WILL be staying to the end!
5:50pm Liberty Tree (a MUST!)
9:00pm-ish Terrace Dessert Party

Day 9 – Heading Home
Not really sure what we are going to do...no park tickets.
MCO fly out at 5:30pm

 

[ariane37]

Here are our plans..."We" consist of Me, DH and DD8.
We will be there 9 – 17 January and staying at POP!

I know we are traveling a bit, but part of my goal for this trip is to see new resorts!
This is not our first trip, and it will not be our last!

Day 1- Land at MCO @ 11:20am, travel to POP! and settle in (hopefully).
Head to EPCOT around 2:00ish.
FP Spaceship Earth
5:25pm Akersus (daughters request for first night, what we did last trip, great start!)
FP TT

Day 2 – MK Day!
7am Chef Mickey (again, Daughters request)
FP Big Thunder, Mine Train,
BBB@ noon
To the room to rest
FP Enchanted Tales in the evening

Day 3 – EPCOT day!
Head to Countries as soon as they open
FP Turtle Talk and Land before heading to room to rest
5:05pm Whispering Canyon
Back Epcot
FP TT

Day 4 – HS Day!
Sleep in a bit...
9:30am 'Ohana
FP ToT and RnR (about 2 hours after breakfast so no tummy issues!)
Maybe back to the room
FP later afternoon TSMM
Fantasmic!

Day 5 – Animal Kingdom
CURENTLY we have an ADR for 8:20am Tusker House BUT...we MIGHT change that to the Dining with Animal Expert at Saana (sounds awesome!)
FP Kali, Everest
Lunch
FP Dino
Back to room
5:15pm Spirit of Aloha

Day 6 – resort/non-park day
6:00pm Boma

Day 7 – EPCOT again!
Arrive whenever and head to the Countries.
Lunch
Back to room
FP SE
4:00pm Teppan Edo
FP TT, Figment
Illuminations (maybe)

Day 8 – MK again!
FP Splash (was closed first day), Space Mt
11:00am BOG
FP Big Thunder
Back to room to rest...park closes at midnight and I WILL be staying to the end!
5:50pm Liberty Tree (a MUST!)
9:00pm-ish Terrace Dessert Party

Day 9 – Heading Home
Not really sure what we are going to do...no park tickets.
MCO fly out at 5:30pm

Looks good! For day 3 at Epcot, just remember WS doesn't open until 11:00

Can you add a day to your tix & do a park for a bit on departure day? You won't have to catch DME until 2:30.......we did a park on departure day for the first time on our 2013 trip and have done that ever since, love it! Actually very bummed our flight later this month leaves too early for us to really do this

 

[lustergirl]

Fast pass selection is coming soon

 

[Jennunc]

We are going Jan 11-15th. I just booked it a month or so ago and it's my kids first trip (DS-5 & DS-1). DH hasn't been since he was 11 & me 17. Needless to say things have changed.
1/11- arrive AoA look around resort, swim if warm enough
1/12- BOG breakfast & MK day. Mid day break & then Liberty Tree Tavern dinner & hope to see Parade & Wishes.
1/13- DHS with H&V. Hope to ride the monorail just for fun this day. Evening back at AoA
1/14- DS' 1st birthday! Chef Mickeys, MK, mid day break. Crystal Palace dinner.
1/15- no plans. Play around the resort until it's time to go.

 

[han22735]

Love hearing everyones plans!! Its getting so close. Booking Fast passes for us tonight!!

 

[frassieshines]

Hello, thought I would join in.... My family of 5 (myself, DH, DS 10, DS 7, DD4) will be at Caribbean Beach Resort from January 3rd-January 9th. This is all of our first trips to Disney World and we are very excited! We got all of the Fast Passes we were hoping for as well as ADR's.

 

[han22735]

Hello, thought I would join in.... My family of 5 (myself, DH, DS 10, DS 7, DD4) will be at Caribbean Beach Resort from January 3rd-January 9th. This is all of our first trips to Disney World and we are very excited! We got all of the Fast Passes we were hoping for as well as ADR's.

I hope you guys have an awesome trip!!! We also got all the FP's we wanted no problem.

 

[ariane37]

Fast pass selection is coming soon

My FP day is tomorrow (well, tonight) for the first part of our split-stay. I don't do them at midnight, and tomorrow I have to be at school for PTA stuff from 7:30-12:00, so I won't actually do them until the afternoon. Not such a big deal since it's just DH and I in Jan., but I have fun making them so I still am looking forward to it