2016 January Check-in Thread

[PoohBearFriends]

My fiance and I will be there from Jan 7-11!! This trip is my 25th birthday present to myself, and I'm very glad that I'll get there before everything seems to shut down. We're staying at the new Holiday Inn Express on Manchester Ave.

So far I've booked the Blue Bayou Fantasmic package for my birthday dinner, and then the WoC package at Wine Country for lunch on Sunday. Crossing my fingers that everything goes off without a hitch, including Mother Nature and our flights...in order to use our points, we have to connect through Boston Here's hoping they don't have a repeat of last year!

Sounds like a great trip. I did the 25th birthday present to myself at WDW. Very fun. Good luck on flights and weather.

 

[PoohBearFriends]

My family of 4 from NorCal will be traveling 1/23-1/25. We are staying at the Tropicana. I'm really torn b/c I love the location and nearby eateries however, to be quite honest, I'm still debating b/w Paradise Pier and Tropicana. We almost always stay on site but I'm trying to save money so I can take more trips to DL next year. We are taking advantage of a long weekend b/c the kids are out of school on Monday, 1/25. Anyone out there have and feedback about the weekend crowds due to the NAMM conference?

Welcome! Tough choice the last few times we have stayed onsite but it is so hard to look at that price difference. Good luck!

 

[NewbieMouse]

We will be going January 4-8th, staying at BWPPI. Can't wait!

 

[PoohBearFriends]

We just made an impulsive decision to visit DL in January. We'll be in the parks Jan 7-8, staying at the Park Vue Inn. Southwest had a huge sale on flights yesterday (for one day only), so we snagged some cheap flights down. It will be our 3 year old's first flight (we've been to DL with her twice before, but always drove, since we're just up in the Bay Area). We figure it will be a good trial run for her before we decide to book a vacation with a longer flight (e.g. Hawaii).

We have already made reservations for lunch at BTRBBQ for the 8th. When we were there in March it was closed, and we were super bummed. Even more so when we later learned it was closing forever. DH has joked he just wants to spend an entire afternoon at BTRBBQ soaking up every last ounce of it! I also intend to hit up the petting zoo before it's gone for good -- one of my most favorite places in the park. It sounds like we may be there at a great sweet spot, so we can also catch the railroad, ROA, and a few other things before they shut down/change for a long time (and possibly even catch a few holiday decorations before they're down). I think that's what we'll spend the majority of our time doing (especially since we'll only be in the parks for a day and a half).

Enjoy your last visits. We won't get a chance since we are headed down during semester break for my kids and that is always the end of January.

 

[myladyfae]

My fiance and I will be there from Jan 7-11!! This trip is my 25th birthday present to myself, and I'm very glad that I'll get there before everything seems to shut down. We're staying at the new Holiday Inn Express on Manchester Ave.

So far I've booked the Blue Bayou Fantasmic package for my birthday dinner, and then the WoC package at Wine Country for lunch on Sunday. Crossing my fingers that everything goes off without a hitch, including Mother Nature and our flights...in order to use our points, we have to connect through Boston Here's hoping they don't have a repeat of last year!

Don't stress too much about the flights! We are actually coming from Boston ourselves- Logan is *very* resilient and used to weather!!

 

[PoohBearFriends]

We're in for Jan. 3 - 7th and can't wait!! We're staying at the Worldmark Anaheim.

I saw that the hours for Jan 4th were posted, it looks like DL will be open until midnight, which is great! Do you think they'll be expecting large crowds? Also, it looks like Soarin' will be closed into January as well, did anyone else notice that?

Welcome! If they are open until midnight they are expecting some crowds but a lot of schools are back in session so it shouldn't be as bad as the weeks before.

I am hoping Soarin is back open by the end of the month since we will miss many other things.

 

[PoohBearFriends]

We will be at Disneyland Jan. 14-18 for the Star Wars Half Marathon!

Welcome and best of luck with training for the run!

 

[PoohBearFriends]

We will be going January 4-8th, staying at BWPPI. Can't wait!

Welcome! You look like you could be a BWPPI expert. I hear good things about that hotel.

 

[NewbieMouse]

Welcome! You look like you could be a BWPPI expert. I hear good things about that hotel.

We like the proximity, and the breakfast. It's free, and open in time to scarf down before rope drop - then you can go for early lunch before those crowds build after you've hit lots of rides with a minimal wait. But we're not too fussy about rooms, etc. - it's fine for us. Every year I toy with the idea of staying on site for the EMH, but until I get a PIN code, I think I'll stick with the BWPPI!

 

[PoohBearFriends]

What is the first ride you go on at each park?
Maybe I should say after Peterpan and RSR:

 

[NewbieMouse]

What is the first ride you go on at each park?
Maybe I should say after Peterpan and RSR:

We do go on Peter Pan first at DLR, but we do Toy Story at DCA (if it isn't EE) or CS if it is. At DLR if we don't have EE we'll do Splash or BTMRR.

 

[brianerickson]

Can I talk about how much I feel I lucked out thus far when it comes to ride closures?

They've announced park hours and closures for 3 of the 5 days we're going to be there, and the only rides that're going to be down, outside of the ones we already knew about, were the few I was OK with not riding anyway in Autopia, Jungle Cruise, and Grizzly River Run

The fact that I get to see the Holiday overlay for Haunted Mansion is a nice bonus too

I know things can change last minute, but right now I'm feeling really grateful

 

[myladyfae]

The hours were just announced for 1/11 ( first day after the big closure D day!) I noticed that the Fireworks were not listed for that Monday, just PTN. Is it typical for fireworks to only be on the weekend for off season? If so I'll make sure to work the weekend it into my itinerary! It already seems like I'll miss F! and WoC the week I am there, so missing out on the fireworks as well would be a real bummer heh.

 

[dec2009mama]

based on the closures I hope January is a "slower" month!

 

[Sorcerer Jody]

The hours were just announced for 1/11 ( first day after the big closure D day!) I noticed that the Fireworks were not listed for that Monday, just PTN. Is it typical for fireworks to only be on the weekend for off season? If so I'll make sure to work the weekend it into my itinerary! It already seems like I'll miss F! and WoC the week I am there, so missing out on the fireworks as well would be a real bummer heh.

I noticed that the fireworks are not listed for Sunday, either - which surprised me. I thought they would be on Sunday, but not Monday. We are there the 8th to the 13th (Friday to Wednesday), so we only have two nights to catch the fireworks - I hope the weather cooperates!

 

[StayClassy]

Can someone link the closure list?


I was kind of disappointed about a arriving on the fourth because I'd only get to spend a few hours in the park, but apparently the park will be open much later than I anticipated! I'm sooo excited!

 

[moulinette]

Can someone link the closure list?


I was kind of disappointed about a arriving on the fourth because I'd only get to spend a few hours in the park, but apparently the park will be open much later than I anticipated! I'm sooo excited!

Here you go: https://disneyland.disney.go.com/calendars/park-hours/2016-01-11/

The things that close on the 11th are:

• Mark Twain Riverboat
• Sailing Ship Columbia
• Davy Crockett's Explorer Canoes
• Disneyland Railroad
• Pirate's Lair on Tom Sawyer Island
• Jingle Cruise
• Autopia
• Fantasmic!
• Haunted Mansion Holiday
  
  
• Soarin' Over California
• Grizzly River Run

 

[StayClassy]

Oh thank you so much!

 

[PoohBearFriends]

Here you go: https://disneyland.disney.go.com/calendars/park-hours/2016-01-11/

The things that close on the 11th are:

• Mark Twain Riverboat
• Sailing Ship Columbia
• Davy Crockett's Explorer Canoes
• Disneyland Railroad
• Pirate's Lair on Tom Sawyer Island
• Jingle Cruise
• Autopia
• Fantasmic!
• Haunted Mansion Holiday
  
  
• Soarin' Over California
• Grizzly River Run

I added this list to the second post and will update it as we get more dates.

 

[dec2009mama]

gosh -- i knew of all the closures in January but it still makes me sad to see the list on the website!
i wonder how long HM is down for to remove the holiday overlay?