***Official January 2023 Thread***

[ThereYouSeeHer]

I wanted to thank Thereyouseeher for this awesome blog....it was a lifesaver and timesaver for me when planning to know what was changing and when.

This was our second trip around this time of year and I already booked our return with the exception that we will pick up the last two days of December and spend NYE in Disney for the first time ever.

We are doing Wilderness Lodge and already so excited.

The kids all agreed it was our best trip ever and none of us can put our finger on exactly why but it was unanimous.

Only thing that would make this time of year better would be if they could add Food & Wine to it. We left right before the Festival started, so didnt get to enjoy that.

Until next year everyone!

Yay! I'm so happy you had a great trip!

Our original plan for this trip was to spend the last couple of days of December and NYE at WDW, but we switched it to HHI for various reasons. I'm glad we got to experience NYE at HHI for the first time, but we would definitely plan for WDW next time. I know you'll have a great time!

It stinks to miss Food & Wine and Festival of the Arts, but you'll get the tail end of the Festival of the Holidays!

We're looking at 2025 for our next trip (we visit during odd years now), and we'll have to work around college schedules by then (yikes!).

 

[Letting It Go!]

Thank you so much ThereYouSeeHer for keeping up with this thread and answering all our questions! This has been the best forum to help me prepare for our trip!

We had a wonderful time...even with kids getting sick along the way and one coming home with pink eye. I agree the early closure day at Magic Kingdom was amazing! My 2.5 year is asking us to go back to Disneyworld already. She also keeps telling us to take her to the "Cars hotel." Haha...She had a blast!

Thanks again to all of you for your wonderful help and insight. Hope to be back on one of these forums in the future when we get our next trip booked!

 

[ThereYouSeeHer]

Thank you so much ThereYouSeeHer for keeping up with this thread and answering all our questions! This has been the best forum to help me prepare for our trip!

We had a wonderful time...even with kids getting sick along the way and one coming home with pink eye. I agree the early closure day at Magic Kingdom was amazing! My 2.5 year is asking us to go back to Disneyworld already. She also keeps telling us to take her to the "Cars hotel." Haha...She had a blast!

Thanks again to all of you for your wonderful help and insight. Hope to be back on one of these forums in the future when we get our next trip booked!

Yay! This thread has been so fun, and everyone's comments have been helpful to me, too!

Glad to hear you had a great time. Hope everyone feels better soon!

 

[Kcnc]

Just now writing about our 1/21-1/28 trip. But it was so much fun I can't stop thinking about it and thought, who could I talk to about it? Oh yeah, Disboards!

Stayed Sat-Sat at Wilderness Lodge. Got a room next to sidewalks and was a bit bummed about the lack of privacy. Turned out to be a huge lifesaver. If kids fell asleep on the boat or bus, we placed them in the stroller, parked it on our balcony, and opened the door and watched TV and rested while they had a nice nap in the perfect weather.

Our first day was MK day, but last day for Splash Mountain. So our plans for a low crowd first MK day didn't work out. However most of the crowds were concentrated in Frontierland. The line held up the train for a little bit. I had grabbed an LL for Splash Mountain at 7am, already set for 3:30pm. So we enjoyed our rope dropping and more rides until our Splash LL. We waited in line for 30 minutes (standby line was 3.5 hours at that point). I didn't expect us to park hop much but it ended up that was the only day we stayed in the same park all day. Day 2 we did AK/Epcot, Day 3 rest day, Day 4 HS/MK, Day 5 Epcot/MK/Epcot, Day 6 MK/AK

Never got hot or cold. Last morning the youngest wore a toboggan but that was the coldest it got.

Wasn't interested in Cosmic Rewind but met someone who encouraged us to try and WOW it was mind blowing. And I don't even like thrill rides!

But we learned my 6 year old daughter does. She rode Big Thunder Mountain 4 times.

As many times as people told me not to get caught up in ADR's I didn't believe them and they were right. We made so many ADR's but cancelled most. I had been really worked up for weeks about trying to get Hollywood and Vine reservation, which I finally did. But learned after LTT that the kids want kid food! So when a Chef Mickey's opened up the night before my son's birthday we cancelled H&V and grabbed that, and it was a highlight.

The other big highlight was Day 5. Slept late because of the EEH night before. Toured some countries in Epcot, the back to MK for my daughter's BBB. Back to Epcot for princess dinner at Akershus. She was wearing a dress I got off Amazon and snuck to her fairy godmother. She got so many compliments from the princesses because they had not seen it on any BBB kids before. Jasmine said "I've not seen this in the marketplace, is it new?" It was just from Amazon, I wanted to say! Daughter drew a picture for Ariel who made a huge deal out of how thankful she was.

The weather and crowds were perfect. My kids are at great ages and super into it. I loved the customer service. Magic all around!

 

[ThereYouSeeHer]

Just now writing about our 1/21-1/28 trip. But it was so much fun I can't stop thinking about it and thought, who could I talk to about it? Oh yeah, Disboards!

The weather and crowds were perfect. My kids are at great ages and super into it. I loved the customer service. Magic all around!

Loved reading your recap! So glad you had a great time!!

 

[Kathy Erdreich]

FYI.

Hours Extended for December, New Year’s Eve 2022 at Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom

Magic Kingdom
Now open at 8:00 a.m. on December 4, 8, 9, 11, 13, 15, 16, 18, 20, and 22, with Early Entry for hotel guests at 7:30 a.m. It will still close at 6:00 p.m. on those days for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party.

It will stay open an hour later until 11:00 p.m. on December 5, 7, 10, 12, 14, 17, 19, 21, and 23 – 29. Extended Evening Hours for deluxe resort guests will be from 11:00 p.m. until 1:00 a.m. the next morning on December 7, 14, 21, and 28.

On December 30 and 31, Magic Kingdom will be open from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m.

EPCOT
Now open until 1:00 a.m. instead of midnight on December 31, New Year’s Eve.

Animal Kingdom
Now open an hour later until 8:00 p.m. on December 4, 10, 11, 23, and 24. It will open an hour earlier at 8:00 a.m., with Early Entry at 7:30 a.m., on December 9 – 12, 17 – 19, and 22 – 24.

Looking for epcot hours on 12/12 , will be on property, any help, thanks

 

[Disturbia]

Looking for epcot hours on 12/12 , will be on property, any help, thanks

Subscribe to Touring plans. They notify you immediately when the hours change (usually two weeks before).

 

[Kathy Erdreich]

Subscribe to Touring plans. They notify you immediately when the hours change (usually two weeks before).

Thank you

 

[kanerf]

OKW 1BDRM 01/11 - 01/13
AKL JH 1BDRM 01/14 - 01/16
AKL JH 1BDRM 01/17 Club Level
BRV 1BDRM 01/18 - 01/20