Disneyworld Trip in January

[jmicha]

The past three Januaries, my family has gone to Universal Studios Florida for three days. I'm okay with doing this again (love Univeral Orlando) but three days at US for the forth time is a little much for my family and they'd like to see something different for next January. I suggested Disney World and they all liked that idea, so I researched it and I have a few questions. The first question is what hotel to stay at. I'm thinking of the Coronado Springs Hotel due to its central location to all of Disneyworld. Is this a correct statement (never been to WDW) and where is the monorail in reference to this hotel? Would getting to the parks be quick if I were to stay at this hotel? The second question I have is what parks to go to. We're leaning toward Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and MGM Studios. I'm wondering if this is the correct choice, or if we should go to Epcot instead of MGM Studios. My family isn't a thrill-seaking family (other than me, although I know not to expect huge thrills from Disney) and I think this is the right choice. The last question I have is what days are the Extra Magic Hours for the three parks in January? Thanks in advance, and I'm open to any suggestions.

[jcuel]

I have stayed at Dixie Landings, now Port Orleans Riverside, Carribean Beach in 10/05, and one of the value resorts. Will never stay at the value resorts again. Will most likely be staying at Riverside in 9/06. Prefer to stay at Wilderness Lodge. THe only hotels with the monorail are Contemporary, Grand Floridian and Polynesian. Won't stay at the Coronado since it has a convention Ctr. Too much chance of kida which I have none and prefer to avoid on vacation. Expect to use a bus for moderate hotels. Experience at Carribean was no more then a 15 minute wait. As for parks Epcot is half a day if you don't go to the pavillons and there isn't much to the Animal Kingdom. I would avoid the safari but there are a few good rides. Worth a half a day. You would need to check the disney site for magic hours.

[Warlord694]

Go over to Disboards and read thru the forum. Most the people there practially live there and know all the details of everything at Disney.

 

Epcot is my fav park.

MK is pure fantasy. You will feel like you are 12 again.

AK is fun I wish EE was open when I was there. Dinosaur was great.

ToT and RNR at MGM are the best thrills at Disney.

 

EMH nights at MK was intensly crowded first week of June last year.

Everyone staying on-property heads to EMH park.

[USRoadTripper]

I'd completely disagree that Epcot is a half day park. I can spend an entire day in Epcot and still not see everything. And I'd never recommend that you go to Epcot and not see World Showcase...it is tremendously well done and a geat place to hang out for an evening. Epcot should definitely not be short changed.

Also, why avoid the Safari at Animal Kingdom??? It is one of the park's star attractions, the largest attraction at WDW, and can be very beautiful and entertaining. Not sure why anyone would want to avoid it!

My suggestion would be to get the three day park hoppers, and go between the parks. You could spend half a day each at Animal Kingdom and the Studios, and a full day each at Epcot and Magic Kingdom. Since you say you are not into thrill rides much, Animal Kingdom and Studios could be easily done together in one day.

I stayed at Coronado Springs once and really enjoyed it. It was a very pretty resort, though the food seemed overpriced, and it can be a terribly long walk to the front if you are in one of the farther buildings. I stayed at Pop Century this past December and really loved it! I thought it was a great value for the price, and would probably pick it again over a moderate. But I think that if you pick Coronado, you will probably be very pleased with it.

 

-Julie

[jmicha]

Thanks for the suggestions. I am actually a thrill-seaker, my family however is not. My family moves at a steady pace and I'm not sure if doing two parks in one day would be good for them, and I know that I'd have to ride EE, RnRC, and ToT over and over again which could make doing two parks difficult. I'm still having trouble deciding whether to go to MGM or Epcot. I was thinking that whatever day we did Animal Kingdom we'd also go over to Epcot for a few hours to ride some of the rides there and see the showcase (although very quickly) and any other day that we finish a park early, we'd head back to Magic Kingdom so that we could get any rerides or do any rides that we hadn't had the chance to ride the day we were there.

[SharkTums]

With Extra Magic Hours, and a typically less busy January I think you could do all 4 parks in 3 days. No one said you have to do EVERY attraction on your first visit. Go have fun and relax and hit the stuff you want to.

 

As for hotels, what is your price range? Sure Coronado is nice and centrally located but that means that it will pretty much take equal time to get to all of the parks. If you know there's a park you'll be spending more time in, maybe choose a resort near that park. Or if you're worried about transportation choose a MK or Epcot resort for easy Monorail and Ticket and Transportation Center options.

[jmicha]

Unfortunately, I'll be at college in two years meaning I'd be unable to take this long-weekend trip for five years, so I'd like to be able to do as much as possible on my first visit. I've been talking with my parents, and we're thinking about having a late-night flight back home on the Monday we're there and hitting AK that day since it closes earlier than the other parks. This would allow for a full day at each park. As far as money goes, the moderate hotels are as much as we're willing to spend on hotels.