***Official February 2017 Thread***

[cyndiella]

YES, check daily or as often as you can! People's plans are constantly changing. Just keep looking!

So, we have travelled to Disney 5 out of the last 6 years and DH wanted to take a year off and save some money. But now he is getting an unexpected payout of lieu time worked and we are back in the Disney business. Our DS 11 has severe autism and Disney is by far our best choice for a vacation destination! He is barely verbal but can name all of his fave rides!
I couldn't get our usual January week booked off so we are thinking of giving early February a shot (Feb 2 - 8). We are coming in under the wire for FP+ but I can't get any of the ADR's we want (#1 being BOG lunch). Is there ANY chance some will open up if I keep looking? I have never booked at <180 days before!

 

[karly05]

So I'm watching airlines tickets figuring I'd better do something pretty soon. Now Delta has changed the schedule on my come-home day to a shorter connection at ATL. (Time enough to hit the restroom and make the flight, but not to eat.) And their prices are seriously higher than I want.

So I take another good look at American through DFW. For a decent - not good, but acceptable - price, I can fly AA on a schedule I'm ok with AND I can stay on real AA jets, no American Eagle Roulette out of DFW Bus Terminal B. The flights back and forth between DFW and MCO are 767s. I've never been on one of those before (or any widebody plane). So I start Googling and what is the first thing that comes up? News stories of big engine explosion on AA 767 in Chicago last month!

I know the odds, and they're investigating the heck out of it, but that was not what I wanted to read when thinking about flying on one!

Oh,well, if the engine is going to blow up on me, I hope it has the decency to do it on the way home.

ETA: it's Sunday and I still can't believe how this worked out. Call it divine intervention or just plain luck, but I was prepared this morning to settle for the Least Objectionable AA flight when I went on Delta's site one more time and... Got the flights I wanted for $335, super happy.

I guess the lesson is, don't give up.

 

[5kidsmommy]

But make no mistake, the cheerleaders will infiltrate the resort quick service, esp in the mornings. I've read lots of posts on these boards about the number of girls hitting breakfast at the same time and also many on the resort buses.....but in the parks, there isn't much impact. I always look at it --- and any groups this way --- we're all celebrating the happiest place o. Earth!

I am happy that we stay at The Fort and always have breakfast in our trailer. The last thing I want to worry about before I have my coffee is hordes of kids. I have my own horde of kids which is why I always have a cup of coffee before they wake up.

I am really hoping they don't make too much of an impact on crowds. We knew there would be a competition at the end of our trip but I didn't realize they got discounted tickets for earlier in the week. Fingers crossed it doesn't impact it too much, small groups don't bug me so much.

 

[MamaMeggie]

I have not been getting notifications from this thread and am so behind - but I'm so excited about the art festival coming to Epcot in January and February!! I need to plan some extra weekend time there.

 

[ISUamanda]

So, we have travelled to Disney 5 out of the last 6 years and DH wanted to take a year off and save some money. But now he is getting an unexpected payout of lieu time worked and we are back in the Disney business. Our DS 11 has severe autism and Disney is by far our best choice for a vacation destination! He is barely verbal but can name all of his fave rides!
I couldn't get our usual January week booked off so we are thinking of giving early February a shot (Feb 2 - 8). We are coming in under the wire for FP+ but I can't get any of the ADR's we want (#1 being BOG lunch). Is there ANY chance some will open up if I keep looking? I have never booked at <180 days before!

We're going 2/4-2/12 and have made/changed lots of ADRs in the past 2 weeks, even switching out multiple days worth of plans we got what we wanted within a week of starting to search. I think a lot of folks will drop reservations at the 60 and 30 day marks (as they get their park plans and FP finalized). Touring Plans reservation finder is awesome

Stick with it!

 

[cyndiella]

I have not been getting notifications from this thread and am so behind - but I'm so excited about the art festival coming to Epcot in January and February!! I need to plan some extra weekend time there.

I'm looking forward to this Festival too! Wondering what the times each day... I assume 11 am - ??. Also assuming it will be around WS like the Food and Wine Festival??? Any one hear anything? Where will the music be?? More info please, Disney!!!

 

[MamaMeggie]

I'm looking forward to this Festival too! Wondering what the times each day... I assume 11 am - ??. Also assuming it will be around WS like the Food and Wine Festival??? Any one hear anything? Where will the music be?? More info please, Disney!!!

I don't know why they are being so stingy with information this year. It's making planning difficult!

 

[katt789]

we don't have exact dates picked out yet, but we're going down for the Princess Half Marathon at the end of the month!! probably the tuesday to tuesday!!

 

[karly05]

Called Disney this morning and got my flight info set up for DME. I'm at 69 days - which means 9 days to go before FPs, and I'm really struggling this year with what to do (time wise). I need to start giving it some serious thought.

I have been looking at refurb info wherever I can find it - am I crazy, or is Splash Mountain actually going to be open in February next year? If so, boy did I get lucky!

 

[lisahendy]

We have been planning our trip for a while, we will be at Disney World February 20-27th. We are staying off site as there are nine of us and we decided a house rental was more budget friendly for us.
This will be the first trip to Disney for my kids (8&4), they still have no idea we're going. We are planning on telling them at Christmas.
Personally I'm so excited to be going, the last time I was there was when I was 11. I say we're going for the kids, but really, I can't wait to go back myself!

 

[AaronInWI]

We have been planning our trip for a while, we will be at Disney World February 20-27th. We are staying off site as there are nine of us and we decided a house rental was more budget friendly for us.
This will be the first trip to Disney for my kids (8&4), they still have no idea we're going. We are planning on telling them at Christmas.
Personally I'm so excited to be going, the last time I was there was when I was 11. I say we're going for the kids, but really, I can't wait to go back myself!

How exciting for everyone involved! You should be just over 80 days until you are there! I'm hoping the holidays will make the next month go by quickly. Then I have to get through January (winter in Wisconsin -- ugh), and we hit the road the first weekend of February. It's our first February trip after a couple in August/September, and one in December. I'm already almost at the "too excited to sleep" stage, and I still have 67 days to go!

 

[lisahendy]

How exciting for everyone involved! You should be just over 80 days until you are there! I'm hoping the holidays will make the next month go by quickly. Then I have to get through January (winter in Wisconsin -- ugh), and we hit the road the first weekend of February. It's our first February trip after a couple in August/September, and one in December. I'm already almost at the "too excited to sleep" stage, and I still have 67 days to go!

I know how you feel, we're in Ontario, Canada so we'll be glad to be in Florida during the worst winter month we usually have. I'm hoping the time will go by quickly, we have 73 days until we fly into Orlando. We're spending a week on the Norwegian Epic before hitting Disney. Fingers crossed the holidays and January fly by!

 

[msmith07101]

Add me to the list for February! 22nd-27th...running all the Princess races and celebrating turning the big 5-0!

 

[jandkmom]

I just created a Facebook group for us if anyone would like to join! It's called "DIS February 2017 planners" and here's the link:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1270848479668988/
Admin, please feel free to add this to the top post so people can find it. Let's chat about planning!

 

[castoral]

Please add me!

I'm Andrea! We'll be at Poly Feb 6th-11th for DH's 33rd birthday. Our kids are DS (9.5), DD (7.5), DS (6), and DD (3.5). We'll also be in the Orlando area Feb 3rd-6th staying at Bonnet Creek with grandparents doing various things - upick orange/grapefruits, LEGOLAND, Universal CityWalk, Wintter/Summerland mini golf, Downtown Disney, and just enjoying the resort.

This will be our 4th trip since Feb 2013. We've previously stayed at Beach Club (Club Level), AKL (savannah view)/POR split stay, and CBR. VERY excited to stay at Poly this time around!

 

[MamaMeggie]

Please add me!

I'm Andrea! We'll be at Poly Feb 6th-11th for DH's 33rd birthday. Our kids are DS (9.5), DD (7.5), DS (6), and DD (3.5). We'll also be in the Orlando area Feb 3rd-6th staying at Bonnet Creek with grandparents doing various things - upick orange/grapefruits, LEGOLAND, Universal CityWalk, Wintter/Summerland mini golf, Downtown Disney, and just enjoying the resort.

This will be our 4th trip since Feb 2013. We've previously stayed at Beach Club (Club Level), AKL (savannah view)/POR split stay, and CBR. VERY excited to stay at Poly this time around!

Hi Andrea! We'll overlap a little - we'll be at the Poly the 9th-14th

 

[castoral]

Hi Andrea! We'll overlap a little - we'll be at the Poly the 9th-14th

Yeah! Have you decided which parks you are doing which days. We'll be at MK the 9th and Epcot the 10th. I'm trying to talk the hubby into going to AK for half day before starting to drive home the 11th but doubt I'll get anywhere.

 

[DisneyObsessed87]

Hi, everyone! Add me to the list! My best friend and I decided to take a short Disney trip for my 30th birthday/bachelorette getaway. We will be at All Star Music February 21-24. Not our first Disney trip, but our first time without our kids. Also the first trip that my countdown started in the double digits since we just booked a couple weeks ago!

 

[karenh27]

Hello! Joining in. We are staying at the Poly Feb 4-12! Very excited. It will be me, my husband, my 11-year-old son, my 10-year-old daughter, and my parents. We were able to get all ADRs we wanted, and made our Fast Pass+ selections this morning. I was easily able to make all my Fast Pass+ selections, even got 7 Dwarfs and Frozen Ever After at the dates/times I wanted, with the exception of Kali River Rapids - it said fast passes are unavailable for that time! I know it is down for refurb, scheduled to reopen January 30, so I was surprised I couldn't get a fast pass for it on February 9. Have any of you had a similar experience? Not that it particularly matters - I seriously doubt we will need a fast pass for it anyway - just have Disney OCD and wanted to get all my ducks in a row! I wonder if they are now planning on the refurb taking longer than originally expected?

Looking forward to chatting with you all!

Edited to add - I am hopeful that the fact that I got all my ADRs and fast passes so easily means the parks will not be crowded! I've been reading (as I'm sure many of you have) about how crowded it has been there at traditionally low-crowd times, which has been making me a little nervous about crowd levels while we are there. Hoping this is a good sign for all of us!

 

[Jenna319]

We booked our trip last week - got a great deal on a DVC studio at Poly, from February 13 - 17th. So excited, as the Poly is our favorite resort!!! It will just be myself, my husband, and our 2-year old daughter. This will be her 4th trip to Disney and I am anticipating this trip to be the hardest, as the terrible two's have definitely arrived!! But we plan on just taking our time, seeing what we see, and making sure to just relax and enjoy being at the Poly! Will be at Epcot on 2/15 and MK on 2/16. My goal though is to arrive on 2/11 and book a 2 night stay somewhere cheaper, just because it kills me to have to wait until Monday when we are all home on the weekend and can arrive Saturday! Does anyone know of a memory maker share that I can join??