those that have visited or will visit in January...question

[autismgoesdisney]

We are on the dining plan but are rethinking it. With the park hours being so short during January, we are worried about spending so much time sitting down eating than at the parks. Will we have enough time exploring the parks if we're eating a sit down meal each day? We also have 3 young kids so most likely we will be napping most days for 2 hours.

 

[mwatson011]

How long are you staying, and what are the ages of your kiddos?

We went in January for 7 nights with a 2yo and a 3yo on the deluxe dining plan. We loved every minute of it. Our kiddos are early risers, so we did a character breakfast every day, early, so we were already in the parks by rope drop, so that was a plus. Ride lines were either short or non-existent, and we already met characters, so no searching the parks for those.

We had planned on a nap every day too We ended up just burning through the day, and the sit down lunch helped us all with a little rest. The girls slept at the table while we ate dinner (we did not do this on purpose, they were just as hungry as us, but the stopping and sitting down had a sedating effect, apparently) We were back in the room and all of us in bed by 8pm, and it worked great for us.

 

[MusicMouse]

We're taking our DS2 and DS5 in January, and we are also planning on taking an afternoon nap everyday (it's a MUST for my DS2!). We are planning to do the Safari Breakfast one day before AK opens, and to eat several early-ish dinners in Epcot, because the World Showcase is open until 9:00. I suppose it depends on where you have your heart set on eating.

 

[bunkkinsmom]

I LOVE GOING IN JANUARY!! Yes, the parks close earlier, however it is much less crowded, so you spend less time waiting in lines. When we went last year we walked on all but 3 rides (Test Track, Toy Story Mania, Soarin). And that was Super Bowl week!!

The great thing about the parks closing early is the ADR times. If AKL closes at 5pm, make your Jiko ressie for 6pm. Perfect dinner time and you don't miss a single park minute! You have only a couple of exceptions:

Fantasmic, and that has a dinner package
Wishes or Spectro: Later ressies in the park or at a MK resort then monorail back for the fireworks, or watch them from the beach at the Poly!
Illuminations: Dang, just pick an Epcot restaurant! Know what I mean?

Have a great time!!

 

[Northern Disney Girl]

If you are concerned about the Table Service meals cutting into too much of your park time, you could also try the Quick Service Dining plan. Just as convenient but with no TS meals to tie up your time. There are many healthy options at several of the Counter service places! Just an idea!

 

[AnninIowa]

We went the end of January-beginning of February once and it was so empty that we wished we'd scheduled sit down meals! We found ourselves done with the parks (15 minute wait for Soarin' at 11:30 am!!!) that we would have had more time to sit down and eat.

 

[Pakey]

With 10 January trips, I feel like a January expert. We did the plan this year in January and we thought it worked fine. We mixed it up, 3 character breakfasts, 2 lunches that were both scheduled at the earliest/opening for lunch to avoid waiting and 2 dinners.

We did not really like having dinner sit downs; the earlier meals worked better for the 3 year old. We always went back to the resort early afternoon for a break and the two dinners seemed inconvenient. The character meals worked great because we got to skip standing in character meet lines at the parks for all of the characters we met at breakfast.

The past 2 years, the parks have not been near as empty as they were in prior years so park time is still important.

 

[*~PrincessBelle~*]

double check park hrs on disney.com the park hrs for my trip in Jan are better than when I went in April! MK has an EMH a couple nights open till 1 am

 

[sharadoc]

Depending on your kid's ages, a later TS dinner is also nice. We were there in Jan. 09 and were able to make reservations that day of or day before, so you should be fine if you decide to change your mind.

January/early February is the BEST time to be at Disney World. Good luck deciding what to do.

 

[VAN]

I think if this is your first time at WDW, I'd either do the QS plan or just go OOP. That way you can focus your time on enjoying the parks, keeping in mind how your kids are doing.

Many times a child will get a nice nap by sitting in an out of the way location of the park and/or going into an attraction such as the Hall of Presidents, etc.

We've been on the dining plan the last couple of years and while we enjoy it, it does require quite a bit of planning (and overeating) in order to use all your credits.

 

[MickeyNicki]

We went in January with our 2 nieces and we did TS breakfast every single day and that worked out well, we did the first time slot before the parks opened and we did 2 TS dinners, one late at 1900 PF and it was terrible (the day MK closed at 8pm) and one at Coral Reef when Epcot closed at 9pm...

I would def go in January again and with kids I would do it the same way but with DH and I we would go to TS dinners only

 

[sharadoc]

I think if this is your first time at WDW, I'd either do the QS plan or just go OOP. That way you can focus your time on enjoying the parks, keeping in mind how your kids are doing.

Many times a child will get a nice nap by sitting in an out of the way location of the park and/or going into an attraction such as the Hall of Presidents, etc.

We've been on the dining plan the last couple of years and while we enjoy it, it does require quite a bit of planning (and overeating) in order to use all your credits.

I agree with this. Plus when you get there, you can work with your resort concierge to plan out some TS meals if you want them. At the end of January last year, we ate breakfast at Cape may Cafe and there were literally two other families there at 10 AM. We actually got a little tired of seeing the characters so many times! But there was some great interaction - they colored with my daughter, Minnie kept changing my DHs Goofy hat ears to Mickey Ears - a LOT of fun.

As long as you're flexible with times and days, you can decide to do something when you're there and not go crazy planning. Have a great trip!!

 

[aduck126]

Even though the hours are shorter in January the parks are so much less crowded that you can do everything much quicker. You will have plenty of time for food and fun!

 

[tyandskyesmom]

And to add to what the others said, we found that since we were me and two kids (one 9-10 and the other 4) we wer enot waiting in the few longer lines which are generally the bigger rides (the 4 year old, now 5 1/2, is still onlt 39 1/2 inches tall!!!!) so we had plenty of time to sit down three times a day and never felt like we were missing out on something else!

 

[carstinsmom]

i would keep the ddp just make adr for dinner or breakfast not lunch, we too didn't want to take up our park time with eating but with our kids being a little older we weren't ready to call it a night at 6:00 either so it was great we stayed at the parks until they closed then went to dinner and used our counter service for the parks. have a great time, it is great that time of year with no crowds, you'll love it, just pack some warms things it can get cold especially in the evenings.

 

[Leshaface]

We are on the dining plan but are rethinking it. With the park hours being so short during January, we are worried about spending so much time sitting down eating than at the parks. Will we have enough time exploring the parks if we're eating a sit down meal each day? We also have 3 young kids so most likely we will be napping most days for 2 hours.

Thanks for posting this!

I was getting a little worried myself. This will be our first time on the DDP in Jan, and thought that the park hours were way too short!

This thread makes me more confident that we will be able to accomplish everything that we really want to do!

 

[Colleen27]

We did the deluxe plan in January and didn't feel it took too much away from the parks. We just planned dinner for after the park closing when we were at a park that closed early. I think the lighter crowds do make up for the shorter hours - we got more done in less time than on any of our other trips!

 

[blanq]

Even though the hours are shorter in January the parks are so much less crowded that you can do everything much quicker. You will have plenty of time for food and fun!

ITA! With the exception of a crowd bump around the MLK holiday (and of course a very crowded New Years!), January is blissfully quiet. We have travelled to WDW numerous times during January, and have done the DDP several of those trips. We tend to do one TS meal per day most days, and once in awhile, two, and we have still had plenty of park time. We don't have young children (just a big 16 yo), but still do a mid-day break on every trip. We went to WDW this past late Jan/early Feb and were able to ride 10 rides in th MK, all walk on, from 9:00-11:00 one morning, before heading over to Kona for lunch.