*** Official January 2020 Thread ***

[mamamelody2]

Our Magic Bands arrived! Yay! Small World for me and Pirates for my son. I was getting worried since MDE was saying I had declined new Magic Bands even though I had an email confirmation of my order. So now I have 4 upgraded MBs! Small World, Soreceror Mickey, Spaceship Earth and the white one with Cinderella castle. Woot!

 

[ElizabethDisney2020]

Hello all. Hope you all are having an AMAZING day. I am going on my first solo Disney trip Jan 22- Jan 26. I am having such a blast planning my trip out. I am a but nervous because I have never done this solo before but I am super excited for this journey!!

 

[YawningDodo]

Well, Disney moved my burner FP+ on both DHS mornings--on my first park day it only got pushed back to about 10:00 so it'll still drop off before I'll be out of SWGE and looking to book anything else, but on the later park day it got pushed back to evening and I couldn't find a replacement. Dropped it entirely and figure I'll play that one by ear. I also ended up swapping FoP for NRJ because I wanted to put it later in the afternoon--I know I could have waited until that day to mess with it, but I didn't want to be stressing about it and I know I'll have plenty of opportunity to ride both during DAH at the end of the trip. Hadn't realized when I first set up my AK day that the animal trails would be closing at 4:30, so I need to prioritize those for early afternoon and not hit Pandora until afterward.

 

[mandis77]

Well, Disney moved my burner FP+ on both DHS mornings--on my first park day it only got pushed back to about 10:00 so it'll still drop off before I'll be out of SWGE and looking to book anything else, but on the later park day it got pushed back to evening and I couldn't find a replacement. Dropped it entirely and figure I'll play that one by ear. I also ended up swapping FoP for NRJ because I wanted to put it later in the afternoon--I know I could have waited until that day to mess with it, but I didn't want to be stressing about it and I know I'll have plenty of opportunity to ride both during DAH at the end of the trip. Hadn't realized when I first set up my AK day that the animal trails would be closing at 4:30, so I need to prioritize those for early afternoon and not hit Pandora until afterward.

Does it say somewhere when the animal trails are closing? That's a priority for us this trip. We will be at AKL 1/29 (8 weeks from today!!)

 

[JonathonW]

Does it say somewhere when the animal trails are closing? That's a priority for us this trip. We will be at AKL 1/29 (8 weeks from today!!)

Looks like 4:30 through most of January; if you visit the attraction page (for example, here's the one for Gorilla Falls), it'll show expected hours for any date where they're currently known (only out to the end of January right now).

 

[YawningDodo]

Does it say somewhere when the animal trails are closing? That's a priority for us this trip. We will be at AKL 1/29 (8 weeks from today!!)

Looks like 4:30 through most of January; if you visit the attraction page (for example, here's the one for Gorilla Falls), it'll show expected hours for any date where they're currently known (only out to the end of January right now).

Yep, this! I've been slightly concerned by the lack of hours posted for Maharajah Jungle Trek in January, but when I started a thread about it elsewhere on the board I was told it's pretty normal not to have full schedules up for all the attractions yet. MJT is my priority over Gorilla Falls if I'm only able to do one, so right now I'm just crossing fingers that they have the same hours, which seems likely enough.

 

[musika]

Our Magic Bands arrived! Yay! Small World for me and Pirates for my son. I was getting worried since MDE was saying I had declined new Magic Bands even though I had an email confirmation of my order. So now I have 4 upgraded MBs! Small World, Soreceror Mickey, Spaceship Earth and the white one with Cinderella castle. Woot!

I have to order ours still. We have to pick up at resort so a bit worried about the upgraded ones actually showing up

 

[Monykalyn]

Delayed and delayed and delayed ordering MB's-so of course the upgraded one I wanted is no longer available. Still had the Star wars one for DH, so I just got a solid color band. Have 2 other upgraded MB's (Figment and the white/castle one) so not a big deal.
And caught a price drop on SW flights out and on rental car so those are rebooked. And switched hotel for 2nd part of trip and saved ~$160, still at Disney Springs though, as plans changed so late for 2nd half that nothing is available at a rate I'm comfortable with on property itself (marathon weekend!)

Wasn't terribly excited about trip (toying with cancelling-one of reasons delayed on MB) til I saw RotR video today and the glowing review by Ryno and Craig. I got to ride Smugglers run in September, but DH hasn't seen GE at all yet-I think he's gonna be really excited as he's huge star wars fan!

 

[bluecastle]

Delayed and delayed and delayed ordering MB's-so of course the upgraded one I wanted is no longer available. Still had the Star wars one for DH, so I just got a solid color band. Have 2 other upgraded MB's (Figment and the white/castle one) so not a big deal.
And caught a price drop on SW flights out and on rental car so those are rebooked. And switched hotel for 2nd part of trip and saved ~$160, still at Disney Springs though, as plans changed so late for 2nd half that nothing is available at a rate I'm comfortable with on property itself (marathon weekend!)

Wasn't terribly excited about trip (toying with cancelling-one of reasons delayed on MB) til I saw RotR video today and the glowing review by Ryno and Craig. I got to ride Smugglers run in September, but DH hasn't seen GE at all yet-I think he's gonna be really excited as he's huge star wars fan!

I going to have to watch that review. I know Ryno has motion sickness issues, so I'm very curious to hear what he had to say.
I know CoP usually closes before the rest of MK, but if the park is open until 11 pm do you think it will still close around 5 pm?

 

[musika]

@bluecastle new tip I learned this week, you can try checking the attraction page on WDW site to see opening hours

 

[tinabina919]

Well I did a little plan revising and added a night/switched our last two days to the Dolphin.

The trip felt incomplete since I wasn’t able to find a room at our fav BWV, I don’t know why I didn’t think of looking at Swan and Dolphin earlier.

We are now doing Poly - GDT CL - Dolphin

Any tips for a first time Dolphin stay??



edit: We can all officially say we are going to Disney next month!!!

 

[AngieInOH]

Count me in! Jan 18-23 at POR. A much shorter trip than I'm used to but I'll take it! I think I just may be converting my hubby over to the Disney side....last visit was just a year ago and never did I think I'd be back so soon!

Usually spend months planning. This time planned out fast passes in a matter of minutes!

 

[mandis77]

Any hope of MK hours being extended in late Jan/early Feb? I might have to make a choice between CRT or missing our only chance to watch HEA. And I don't want to make this choice.

 

[Leigh L]

Any hope of MK hours being extended in late Jan/early Feb? I might have to make a choice between CRT or missing our only chance to watch HEA. And I don't want to make this choice.

I am watching for the same! My decisions relate to my Artist Point reservation and whether or not they'll extend hours for MK or HS. We really want to experience GE but also this reservation is a must-do for our family on this trip.

I looked at last year's hours for the last week of January (https://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/hours/january19.cfm) and it seems only the Saturday night was really extended for MK. I'm hoping with Rise of the Resistance opening at HS, some extra hours may trickle for HS and the other parks to spread the crowds.

 

[WawaCoffee]

Our MagicBands shipped today! No upgrades, just blue and pink. Keeping a close eye on the weather (they're predicting a rough winter here in the northeast) and fully prepared to leave a day early if necessary. If we leave a day early, I'm getting a room at the Grand Floridian!

 

[JonathonW]

Just got an email from TouringPlans about Hollywood Studios hours changes-- for my stay (1/25-2/2), at least, it looks like Hollywood Studios hours are being extended in the mornings, with the park opening at 8 AM instead of 9 AM.

Along with this, they've eliminated the morning EMH on that Sunday and replaced it with evening EMH from 8 PM to 10 PM. Kind of messes up my original plan for that day with FastPasses and everything, but probably works out a little better overall, especially if they're still doing the virtual queue/boarding groups for Rise of the Resistance by then.

Probably worth checking to see if the hours changes affect any of your plans... I haven't checked to see if they've changed hours for any other dates in January, but I'd guess that they probably made similar changes for the whole month.

 

[Jelkat]

Thanks for this. Yep I will be there the 22nd and its changed to 8am too. I had an 8am reservation which I guess I won't need now. Do they ever do earlier breakfasts than 8am? With young kids the late hours wont really suit us. Hopefully it wont be too busy that week, I can only wish

 

[Leigh L]

Just got an email from TouringPlans about Hollywood Studios hours changes-- for my stay (1/25-2/2), at least, it looks like Hollywood Studios hours are being extended in the mornings, with the park opening at 8 AM instead of 9 AM.

Along with this, they've eliminated the morning EMH on that Sunday and replaced it with evening EMH from 8 PM to 10 PM. Kind of messes up my original plan for that day with FastPasses and everything, but probably works out a little better overall, especially if they're still doing the virtual queue/boarding groups for Rise of the Resistance by then.

Probably worth checking to see if the hours changes affect any of your plans... I haven't checked to see if they've changed hours for any other dates in January, but I'd guess that they probably made similar changes for the whole month.

Thank you for sharing! I had no idea, this will affect the plans I have too for this week.
Time to start reworking

 

[Naomeri]

Just got an email from TouringPlans about Hollywood Studios hours changes-- for my stay (1/25-2/2), at least, it looks like Hollywood Studios hours are being extended in the mornings, with the park opening at 8 AM instead of 9 AM.

Along with this, they've eliminated the morning EMH on that Sunday and replaced it with evening EMH from 8 PM to 10 PM. Kind of messes up my original plan for that day with FastPasses and everything, but probably works out a little better overall, especially if they're still doing the virtual queue/boarding groups for Rise of the Resistance by then.

Probably worth checking to see if the hours changes affect any of your plans... I haven't checked to see if they've changed hours for any other dates in January, but I'd guess that they probably made similar changes for the whole month.

So excited for this—I’m more of a night owl than a morning person, so being able to stay later is perfect for me. But because of the hours change, I was able to switch my evening SDD FP+ to a morning one, and then make some tier 2 FP+ in hopes of getting another tier 1 later in the day.

 

[Leigh L]

Lots of Slinky Dog Dashes in a.m. and p.m. for DHS on January 26 if anyone's looking!
Edit: Just saw the post above mine