CdnDisneyNut: I suggest you call or e-mail Disney to get the "official" answer.
I know when I made the booking, I had to pay a deposit within 2 weeks of making the booking, or the booking would be automatically cancelled. If that's the case, then you could book mid- to late- January, and then still have two weeks to get your vacation approved. But you better ask Disney to make sure how this works when the offer must be "booked" by Jan 26th.
There's also rules on how much you would get back if you had to cancel (depends on how many days before arrival you cancel).