**The Official January 2012 WDW Thread**

Hi! I am new to this board, but have been lurking occasionally for awhile. My wife and I are excited to be visiting Orlando from 1/30 - 2/3.

We have been to WDW several times before. We have brought our kids, some of their friends, and several foreign exchange students on various trips. We have stayed on-site at Movies, Music, Sports, Pop Century, Port Orleans, and Swan. We have also stayed off-site at various places, some horrible and others wonderful. Also, my son (now 31) did the Disney College Program a few years ago.

Although the kids are grown up (sort of) and gone, my wife and I still enjoy WDW. There is something we like about the cleanliness, beautiful grounds, themed decor - oh, and the attractions too. We made our first no-kids trip a year ago, and next week will be our second. We will be meeting up with my in-laws, which is good as my wife does not get to see them very often.

Although we have also stayed on Disney properties, we have had great experiences off-site at Reunion Resort (just south of WDW) and Bahama Bay Resort (a few miles southwest of WDW). Reunion was nice, but a little expensive for us. Bahama Bay is wonderful, and very inexpensive. The condos are HUGE with 2 or 3 bedrooms, a full kitchen, 2 bathrooms, living room, and deck for less than $100/night. The grounds are beautifully landscaped, with multiple pools and a restaurant. We liked it so much that this will be our fifth visit. Only down side is we need to rent a car, but it is not too expensive if bundled with the resort reservation.

I lost my corporate job and am ramping-up a small business, so this trip will be done on the cheap. My small business is flight training, which is slow in the winter, but very busy spring/summer/fall. Now is our opportunity to take a little vacation to WDW. Our airfare is covered by credit card points, and the resort/car is only about $500 for the 5 days! To cut costs we will only visit WDW on Tuesday 1/31 (Magic Kingdom) and Thursday 2/2 (Epcot). Downtown Disney will keep us busy Monday evening, and Boardwalk on Wednesday evening. Most of Wednesday will be spent in the pools and hot tubs at Bahama Bay. We will eat some meals at the condo, which will cost less.

We are excited to go, and looking forward to some warm weather!
 
Hi! I am new to this board, but have been lurking occasionally for awhile. My wife and I are excited to be visiting Orlando from 1/30 - 2/3.

We have been to WDW several times before. We have brought our kids, some of their friends, and several foreign exchange students on various trips. We have stayed on-site at Movies, Music, Sports, Pop Century, Port Orleans, and Swan. We have also stayed off-site at various places, some horrible and others wonderful. Also, my son (now 31) did the Disney College Program a few years ago.

Although the kids are grown up (sort of) and gone, my wife and I still enjoy WDW. There is something we like about the cleanliness, beautiful grounds, themed decor - oh, and the attractions too. We made our first no-kids trip a year ago, and next week will be our second. We will be meeting up with my in-laws, which is good as my wife does not get to see them very often.

Although we have also stayed on Disney properties, we have had great experiences off-site at Reunion Resort (just south of WDW) and Bahama Bay Resort (a few miles southwest of WDW). Reunion was nice, but a little expensive for us. Bahama Bay is wonderful, and very inexpensive. The condos are HUGE with 2 or 3 bedrooms, a full kitchen, 2 bathrooms, living room, and deck for less than $100/night. The grounds are beautifully landscaped, with multiple pools and a restaurant. We liked it so much that this will be our fifth visit. Only down side is we need to rent a car, but it is not too expensive if bundled with the resort reservation.

I lost my corporate job and am ramping-up a small business, so this trip will be done on the cheap. My small business is flight training, which is slow in the winter, but very busy spring/summer/fall. Now is our opportunity to take a little vacation to WDW. Our airfare is covered by credit card points, and the resort/car is only about $500 for the 5 days! To cut costs we will only visit WDW on Tuesday 1/31 (Magic Kingdom) and Thursday 2/2 (Epcot). Downtown Disney will keep us busy Monday evening, and Boardwalk on Wednesday evening. Most of Wednesday will be spent in the pools and hot tubs at Bahama Bay. We will eat some meals at the condo, which will cost less.

We are excited to go, and looking forward to some warm weather!

Have a great time!!! Enjoy the nice weather too!
 
Very few crowds..walking on nearly every ride...they let us stay on several times...only saw 2 tour groups in 3 days.

This has been our experience too :)

At the Disney Junior Dance Party, after the first hour the place cleared out and there were probably less than a dozen kids there. DD got all kinds of one on one dancing time with all the characters. It was awesome.

The crowds are the lowest I have ever experienced. This morning when we got to HOllywood studios we were just walking around seeing what we could see after getting fast passes for TSMM (awesome BTW) and some areas it looked like what I imagine it would look like after the zombie apocalypse. no one in sight lol and eerily quiet. Hubby was like "this is WEIRRRRRRRD" :lmao:

Marshay... I'm so glad we were able to meet tonight :) we didn't run into anyone else but I'm glad we found you. It was a pleasure to meet you and I saw your oldest DD and my DD chuming around a bit :) was very cute.
 
We got home from our trip last night, and I want to go back!! We had a great trip.:lovestruc We did not have much planned out except for the day all 24 of us would get our picture in front of the castle in our orange shirts in the morning of the 19th. Luckily we had heard about the Presidents visit before we all showed up there that morning. We just switched it to Friday the 20th and it was all good.:thumbsup2 My SIL best friend's brother is a Jungle Cruise Pilot, he was so much fun, he let the boys drive and they had a blast. He even ran around the parks with us when he wasn't working. It was fun to hear all the stuff he knew. Thank you Micheal! We went to the Hollywood Studios Rock the Night Fireworks Spectacular on the 19th, and it was amazing!:yay: Great show! I hope they do it more often, one CM said before the show when I asked what it was like, that it was the first and maybe the only time. We used the Community hall at the Boardwalk alot this trip. It was right in front of us. I really like that location. We made the tie dye Mikey shirts there, only $15 for DVC. They came out awesome! Best part, all the mess stayed there! We let them set for two days and washed them in the washer in the room and got to wear them to the park before we left. They are very bright and we got lots of comments. We had a great time, the weather was beautiful, the crowds were low and it was good to be with so much of the family! Now my DH says we are going back this Nov. but staying off property, I've never done that before so I have lots of research to do!:rotfl:
 
Very few crowds..walking on nearly every ride...they let us stay on several times...only saw 2 tour groups in 3 days.

That's great news. Hope it is the same when we get there in FIVE DAYS Hoping for good weather. I'm losing my mind checking The Weather Channel on my phone because the forecast changes multiple times a day. UGH.
 
That's great news. Hope it is the same when we get there in FIVE DAYS Hoping for good weather. I'm losing my mind checking The Weather Channel on my phone because the forecast changes multiple times a day. UGH.

We leave Friday:banana::banana::banana: I am checking the weather mutliple times a day and it keeps changing. I text my DH every time, going now it says Wednesday will be.... He thinks I am nuts and says just quit looking like that is an option:rotfl:
 
LOL we only have checked the weather a few times, just to make sure its warm there!! Flip Flops and capris for me!
 
Very few crowds..walking on nearly every ride...they let us stay on several times...only saw 2 tour groups in 3 days.

DUDE! you weren't were I was then! Jeeze! We saw a TON of the groups and most of our lines were 20 minutes MINIMUM. Our wait for RRC said it was 40 minutes at the entrance but we actually waited 75! Yuck! Buzz's ride was the same situation and we didn't even bother w/ Space Mtn, because the stand by que said 120 minutes! I have a few pix of the crowds. EPCOT was actually nice and quiet, but MGM (yes, I still call it that and always will. ;) ) and MK on both days we were there were BUSY and packed!!! I swear the crowds followed us! e used the TGM's recommendations but for 3 of the 4 days they were useless. The President's visit threw a wrench in though. We didn't arrive until Friday, the day after, but as I was expecting, people delayed their Thursday MK visit to Friday. Yikes!
 
DUDE! you weren't were I was then! Jeeze! We saw a TON of the groups and most of our lines were 20 minutes MINIMUM. Our wait for RRC said it was 40 minutes at the entrance but we actually waited 75! Yuck! Buzz's ride was the same situation and we didn't even bother w/ Space Mtn, because the stand by que said 120 minutes! I have a few pix of the crowds. EPCOT was actually nice and quiet, but MGM (yes, I still call it that and always will. ;) ) and MK on both days we were there were BUSY and packed!!! I swear the crowds followed us! e used the TGM's recommendations but for 3 of the 4 days they were useless. The President's visit threw a wrench in though. We didn't arrive until Friday, the day after, but as I was expecting, people delayed their Thursday MK visit to Friday. Yikes!

We were there last week too and with the exception of MLK day the crowds were similar to the PP's. THEN Obama day happened and the rest was crazy madness no matter where you were. The Thurs they had very limited access to MK and recommended folks go to the other parks so yes, that absolutely impacted Fri/Sat elsewhere. Fri although TGM was green for MK was pretty rough and we hit AK on Sat (our last day) just because it would be the lesser of the evils all things considered. But mid week last week was fantastic. HS/MGM :thumbsup2 weds at opening allowed us to do TSMM, RnR, ToT (all 3 stand by) and then TSMM (using a FP) within the 1st hour. It was amazing!

FYI for those visiting Mk with tweens they are beta testing the new Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom game on and off each day. Take a look to the right of Guest Services at the firehouse when you enter the MK and see if the doors are open or if the "Sorcerers Wanted" sign is out. If so you can go in and pick up your set of cards to test the game. We unfortunately never got to it (thanks O! :rolleyes:) because they do it intermittently during slower days but earlier in the week saw several people testing and got the scoop and everyone was LOVING it. Can't wait to go back to chek it out personally.
http://www.insidethemagic.net/2012/...ive-role-playing-game-with-theme-park-guests/
 
I should have taken pix of the posted ride times. I didn't even think of it. :headache: Some were pretty accurate and some were WAY off. Same w/ UCT's phone app.. I'll try to remember to do that next time, though I'll never be able to prove to the doubters that ride times were actually far longer on the "big ticket" rides.

We were determined to not run around like headless chickens on this visit. Since we got to go w/o kids and we're just not into the "rush" to this and that anymore, we didn't make it intense, and you know what, It was still enjoyable. :goodvibes Of course, knowing we'll be returning again in Oct, probably had something to do w/ that. ;)
 
FYI for those visiting Mk with tweens they are beta testing the new Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom game on and off each day. Take a look to the right of Guest Services at the firehouse when you enter the MK and see if the doors are open or if the "Sorcerers Wanted" sign is out. If so you can go in and pick up your set of cards to test the game. We unfortunately never got to it (thanks O! :rolleyes:) because they do it intermittently during slower days but earlier in the week saw several people testing and got the scoop and everyone was LOVING it. Can't wait to go back to chek it out personally.
http://www.insidethemagic.net/2012/...ive-role-playing-game-with-theme-park-guests/

oooooo, My DD would love to try that out! It sounds a bit similar to the Magiquest at Great Wolf. I hope she can be a tester!
 
DUDE! you weren't were I was then! Jeeze! We saw a TON of the groups and most of our lines were 20 minutes MINIMUM. Our wait for RRC said it was 40 minutes at the entrance but we actually waited 75! Yuck! Buzz's ride was the same situation and we didn't even bother w/ Space Mtn, because the stand by que said 120 minutes! I have a few pix of the crowds. EPCOT was actually nice and quiet, but MGM (yes, I still call it that and always will. ;) ) and MK on both days we were there were BUSY and packed!!! I swear the crowds followed us! e used the TGM's recommendations but for 3 of the 4 days they were useless. The President's visit threw a wrench in though. We didn't arrive until Friday, the day after, but as I was expecting, people delayed their Thursday MK visit to Friday. Yikes!

I can vouch for you. We were there Jan 7-14 and the BTGs were horrendous, they even followed us to Sea World one day, that was a nightmare, worse than Disney. My problem were the masses of them just standing around in large groups not letting anyone pass.

Most ride lines and waits weren't bad. Some DH rode single rider because I either woulldn't ride, or couldn't ride because of my foot, he wouldn't let me ride RnRC, he was worried about me stepping down in the ride vehicle with my foot in that boot. I think he was in and out in maybe 30 minutes or less, I don't know what the time was listed as. One time he headed to ToT and the sign said 40 minutes, but he was in and out in less than 20. We rode TT o and when we went in the sign said 10 minutes, we came out maybe 15 minutes later and it said 65 minutes
 
We leave in the morning just as soon as we drop our dog at the doggy hotel.

So much packing and cleaning to do today and here I am on the boards.:rotfl2:
 
We went to the Hollywood Studios Rock the Night Fireworks Spectacular on the 19th, and it was amazing!:yay: Great show! I hope they do it more often, one CM said before the show when I asked what it was like, that it was the first and maybe the only time.

We were there for that too, and I agree it was amazing. I videotaped it because I knew it was the first time and wasn't sure if they would do it again. :)
 

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