****January 2024 planning thread!!!

[StarlitNight05]

For those of you staying onsite at a resort hotel...how do you pick what day to make your park reservations? I'm struggling without having park hours or more details for which park has early entry for any given day.

I know! It's frustrating not to have that information. We just picked the starting park days based off what we would normally do, but are prepared to move them if needed. The onsite hotel bucket seems to have very good availability, so it shouldn't be a big problem to switch it. But it does complicate any morning dining plans that require a reservation...

PS
My name is Stacey too! I'm glad your parents spelt it correctly (it NEEDS the "e")... apparently it's a pet peeve of mine

 

[DizMe]

Yes, it's not a worry when you're staying on site. The hotel has a whole separate bank of park reservations!

 

[Naomeri]

For those of you staying onsite at a resort hotel...how do you pick what day to make your park reservations? I'm struggling without having park hours or more details for which park has early entry for any given day.

I‘m not onsite, so I can’t comment about the early entry dilemma, but my basic rule of thumb for any Disney trip anywhere is “first day park is the park with the castle”—for DL trips, I just alternate days which park is reserved (I get hoppers, so it’s not like I’m going to miss out on anything.

 

[IandGsmom]

Will be at VGC from Jan 7-11 for my 50th birthday, Yay

 

[BuzzlightHead]

I‘m not onsite, so I can’t comment about the early entry dilemma, but my basic rule of thumb for any Disney trip anywhere is “first day park is the park with the castle”—for DL trips, I just alternate days which park is reserved (I get hoppers, so it’s not like I’m going to miss out on anything.

I totally agree with this approach when I'm off-site. The only wrench in the matter is EE for onsite guests is now limited to a single, specific park each day, (so either DCA or DL will have EE on any given day). With this starting in 2024, we don't know what days are EE for either park...

I'm not too worried about it because I'll just change our park reservations if there are any issues, but it's pretty lame of Disney to switch from 1hr --> 30min EE, then switch from both parks to one park. So now we start our vacation with DCA instead of DL (jk... kinda lol it's not too big of a deal, just annoying).

 

[AZMermaid]

We will be there Jan 12-15 at VGC for race weekend!

Just two park days and so many places we want to eat, lol! Besides our regulars, my 11 year old daughter picked the chicken stand near Toy Story as her place to try. The rest of us are like hmmmm really?

We are doing DCA day 1 and DL day 2 because I want photos with the castle and my medals. We get genie instead of hoppers.

 

[AZMermaid]

DL used to have EE on the S and T days (tues, thursday, Sat, sun) and DCA the rest. Now no idea if that is what will come back… but maybe?

 

[BuzzlightHead]

DL used to have EE on the S and T days (tues, thursday, Sat, sun) and DCA the rest. Now no idea if that is what will come back… but maybe?

Oh interesting, I didn't know that! I guess we'll find out soon enough as the calendar days for Jan. are released. The change starts on Jan. 20th, so we've got probably more than a month before we know exactly what it will look like.

 

[TheyCallMeStacey]

The change starts on Jan. 20th, so we've got probably more than a month before we know exactly what it will look like.

What i hope it looks like is no more reservations for date based tickets like WDW

 

[jmasgat]

Hope no one is looking forward to WoC....it's down from Jan 8 to Feb 29. "Perfect" timing for those of us there for Race weekend. Really disappointed at the timing.

 

[Naomeri]

Hope no one is looking forward to WoC....it's down from Jan 8 to Feb 29. "Perfect" timing for those of us there for Race weekend. Really disappointed at the timing.

What?! No!

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

Hope no one is looking forward to WoC....it's down from Jan 8 to Feb 29. "Perfect" timing for those of us there for Race weekend. Really disappointed at the timing.

I hate that they are closing soo much right before soo many people who will be coming that weekend. We are paying huge prices that weekend... they could keep things open for just one more weekend.

 

[AZMermaid]

Hope no one is looking forward to WoC....it's down from Jan 8 to Feb 29. "Perfect" timing for those of us there for Race weekend. Really disappointed at the timing.

Oh no!!! That prob means the lagoon will be empty and hideous or behind walls….

 

[AZMermaid]

I hate that they are closing soo much right before soo many people who will be coming that weekend. We are paying hug prices that weekend... they could keep things open for just one weekend.

What else is closed?

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

What else is closed?

Anything that has a Xmas overlay is going to be closed to switch over. I am less familiar with Disneyland so do not know all of them but like Haunted mansion is a big one.

 

[AZMermaid]

Anything that has a Xmas overlay is going to be closed to switch over. I am less familiar with Disneyland so do not know all of them but like Haunted mansion is a big one.

At the same time? Usually they close one than the other. I’m trying to find the list somewhere but I don’t see January. Both the overlays (small world and haunted mansion) are really great- so hopefully at least one is still running!

 

[BuzzlightHead]

Hope no one is looking forward to WoC....it's down from Jan 8 to Feb 29. "Perfect" timing for those of us there for Race weekend. Really disappointed at the timing.

That really sucks! I get that this is probably the best time of the year for them to do it, but my wife and I were really looking forward to it.

 

[klmcleod]

Woc down for race weekend!!! Another disappointed group here! That was the one and only reservation we were going to make!!

 

[Glynis4]

Hope no one is looking forward to WoC....it's down from Jan 8 to Feb 29. "Perfect" timing for those of us there for Race weekend. Really disappointed at the timing.

Awe that is super disappointing. We love that show and this will likely be our last Disneyland trip for a LONG time.

 

[TheyCallMeStacey]

Shoot! Where did the World of Color details come from?