Winter Weather Escape to WDW and the WL ~ A January 2014 Trip Report

[disny_luvr]

I'm here and can't wait to "hear" all about your trip!

 

[Majordis]

Joining in!

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

I'm In!!!

Welcome!

I'm here, I'm here!!! With you being so busy, I was worried you might not do a TR, so I'm thrilled that you are!

I wasn't going to do one, but then figured it shouldn't take too long with the trip being as short as it was.

joining! Could use a winter escape so will live vicariously through your TR

Now that you are pretty familiar with FP+ and MB, definitely interested to hear your take on the whole thing

Glad you joined us!

I think everybody could use an escape from this terrible winter!! Ours wasn't nearly long enough!!

You will definitely hear my thoughts and opinions about FP+/MB and everything else along the way!

 

[DisneyJo]

Sounds fun, can't wait to read more

 

[PrincessPaczki]

Hi I can't wait to read more.

 

[SweetMommy]

Joining in, love your reports

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Not trying to hijack your TR already, but I need some guidance from a seasoned vet

We just bought our tickets, and today started making FP+ selections. It's overwhelming! Any tips for a FP+ newbie? I was reading online that making them later in the day is better when the lines are typically longer, which makes sense - but won't the FP lines be longer anyway later on too?

How did you decide what times to make yours for?

I didn't change the way we tour the parks at all with the FP+. We usually do the parks half days. So, we either get up and get there before RD and stay until somewhere around 2pm. OR we go to the park around 2pm and stay until closing. So, on our early days I made my FP+'s for 9-10, 10-11, and 11-12. Unless we planned to have lunch around 11-11:30, then I might make the last one for 12-1.

Where FP+ really comes in handy is on late arrival days. The days when we do the second half of the day. Then you can just make them for the first three hours you plan to be there; 2-3pm, 3-4pm, 4-5pm. etc. That's usually a busy time in the park, so it works out well. We did run into a few super long FP return lines during the middle of the day though.

Jut remember, you don't have to stick with the times that pop up for whichever option you choose - you can go in and individually change each FP+ to whatever specific time you want.

Hope that helps!

I am making my way through your Summer trip, and happened to see the link for this TR. Looking forward to reading about your trip to FL to get away from winter.

Welcome! Hope you have been enjoying the last TR and that you will enjoy this one as well.

Enjoy your trip! I look forward to hearing more about it. Envious!

Thanks! Welcome to the TR!

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

I'm here looking forward to reading!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

Thanks for joining me for another TR!!

I'm here and can't wait to "hear" all about your trip!

Glad you're here!!

Joining in!

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Sounds fun, can't wait to read more

Welcome!!

Hi I can't wait to read more.

Glad you joined us for another TR!

Joining in, love your reports

Thank you so much!! Hope you enjoy!

 

[thornton0511]

I'm in! I have always enjoyed following along on your trip reports!

 

[katiee37]

Yay for a January 2014 trip report! Can't wait to follow along!

 

[GrammyJudy]

I've read your trip reports and can't believe how big the boys are now.

 

[Wood Nymph]

This was a very short trip for us, only 5 nights! We usually stay 7-9 nights. This was a just a quickie winter get-away!

This was our third time experiencing Fast Pass + and our second time using the Magic Bands. And our first time with no regular Fast Pass machines. Yep, they are all covered up now and not in use.

We had the dining plan this trip. We hadn’t used it in quite awhile, so that was different. I will post all of our food pics and dining reviews right here as well.

We just did four nights on our trip, which was all i could spare from work.

I'll be interested to see what you thought of the fp+ only thing. Most of the time we encountered very short fast pass return lines.

Did you have the Stay, Play and Dine Plan? That looked like a good deal for a family of four or more.

 

[rusafee1183]

Yes, that does help! Thanks!!

We usually would go to a park for RD in the morning, take a break in the afternoon and return to either that park or another park later in the evening. Still trying to figure out how to split the FP's up. 1 in the morning, 2 at night? Or all at night? IDK.

The only problem I am coming across is that FP times are conflicting with parades and nighttime shows we want to see if I do it all on the evening.

I may adopt your method and just do am or pm and leave more time for touring other areas other than the parks. Decisions, decisions...

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

I'm in! I have always enjoyed following along on your trip reports!

Thank you!

Yay for a January 2014 trip report! Can't wait to follow along!

Welcome!

I've read your trip reports and can't believe how big the boys are now.

I know, me either!!

Glad you're here for another TR!

We just did four nights on our trip, which was all i could spare from work.

I'll be interested to see what you thought of the fp+ only thing. Most of the time we encountered very short fast pass return lines.

Did you have the Stay, Play and Dine Plan? That looked like a good deal for a family of four or more.

Yeah, 4-5 days is just not enough!

We mostly encountered short FP return lines, but the long ones we encountered were LONG. I stood there wondering if they are doing something wrong/calculating something wrong with the return times.

Yes, we were on the Stay, Play, and Dine promotion. It seemed appealing when I got the PIN for it last summer. Looking back we should have done a moderate.

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Yes, that does help! Thanks!!

We usually would go to a park for RD in the morning, take a break in the afternoon and return to either that park or another park later in the evening. Still trying to figure out how to split the FP's up. 1 in the morning, 2 at night? Or all at night? IDK.

The only problem I am coming across is that FP times are conflicting with parades and nighttime shows we want to see if I do it all on the evening.

I may adopt your method and just do am or pm and leave more time for touring other areas other than the parks. Decisions, decisions...

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

Glad it helped some!

Yeah, I think if I were doing the parks all day (with a break mid day) I would use the FP's in the afternoon/evening. You can really do a lot most days at the parks before noon without FP's. But yes, I can see where they might conflict with parades/shows.

 

[MeMom]

Lucky you to get an escape from the winter for a few days. We are spoiled to longer trips, too, but in the middle of the winter, I'd be happy for anything. I will look forward to your pictures to help me be somewhere warmer and happier for the next little while.

 

[jbmom]

Glad you started and happy I made it way earlier than last time!

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Lucky you to get an escape from the winter for a few days. We are spoiled to longer trips, too, but in the middle of the winter, I'd be happy for anything. I will look forward to your pictures to help me be somewhere warmer and happier for the next little while.

Yeah, it was nice to get away for a bit and out of this cold!!!

Hope you enjoy!

Glad you started and happy I made it way earlier than last time!

YAY!! Welcome!

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

So, how did this trip come to be?

Well, we were about to embark on trip number 10 last summer. One day in July I got an email PIN code for the Stay, Play, and Dine package. (which eventually became available to everyone) It had to be booked by July 31. I joked to DH that we should take advantage of this offer and take a short winter trip and stay at a moderate. He was interested.

We always have off a Friday and a Monday in February for our “Winter Break”. So I priced out a trip over than weekend. It was quite high. More than we wanted to spend for a short trip. It was right at the beginning of Spring Break season down there and right when Disney’s rates go up to peak. Plus, looking at the school calendar, those 2 days off school were built in snow make up days. That wasn’t really too much of a concern, being that in the 8 years that we have been in this school district they have called off school maybe 2 times. Up until this year that is. Looking back it was wise to not plan a trip around that school break – we have as of right now racked up 5 snow days this school year, so we will be having school on those days (this Friday and next Monday).

We also had MLK Day off, but we had gone to WDW that week once before and it was kind of busy. But then I remembered that we also had the following Monday off – the last Monday in January. And we would never use that day as a make up day because it is a Teacher work day/training. And, it was value season at Disney. So, the trip was set! We would leave Saturday morning January 25. There was no school on Monday Jan 27, and we would come home on Thursday Jan 30. The kids would miss 3 days. One more than I wanted them to miss, but we would just deal with it. Well, in the end they cancelled school on Tues Jan 28 and there was a 2 hour delay on the 29th. The kids didn’t even miss 2 full days!

So then the next question – which moderate? We have stayed at them all and our favorites are Caribbean Beach and Port Orleans Riverside. When booking on such a deal (Stay, Play, Dine or Free Dining, etc.) it is best to stay at a moderate. If staying at a deluxe then it is better for us to take a room discount. Then we got the bright idea – what about the Wilderness Lodge? It’s not that much more than a moderate and we always like trying a new Disney resort. Plus it just looked like a nice, cozy place to stay for a short, winter trip. So, on the last day that the PIN was good, I went ahead and booked it! We went with a standard view, thinking that it would be okay for just a 5 night trip, plus we wanted to keep the cost down because we fully intend to go again in August. Looking back, booking standard view at the WL was not the best idea. But, more on that later (unless you were reading my last TR and already saw the details )

We ended up getting airfare shortly after we got back from our August trip. Paid $1087, but then the flights came down a bit and we ended up paying $883, because we now have a $204 credit to use next time!

Then later in the year I was able to get my TA card and now can get a good percent off of any Disney resort room. We contemplated changing to a TA room discount booking, but I had already made some of the more expensive dining reservations and the kids were excited about the DDP and having a refillable mug. So, we just left it as it was. We originally had 4 day base tickets and later I added on one more day to make it 5 days.

As the trip approached I changed some of our plans around a bit and changed a few ADR’s. We ended up with: Chef Mickey’s, Kona Café, T-Rex, Mama Melrose, and Whispering Canyon Café. A few weeks out I decided that I would rather do Ohana instead of WCC, and checked for an ADR everyday, but that was a no-go! Nothing available, unless we wanted to eat dinner at 9:45pm.


Up Next: Arrival Day