January 2017 Disney World Trip Planning

Jan 24

Jan 24 January 2017 Disney World Trip Planning

So my mom and I just got back from our annual Disney World trip. This year was going to be a little different because it would be my first time away from Melody. We decided to only go for 3 nights so that I could get home sooner to see Melody (oh and Brad!). I wanted to share all of the planning that I did for this trip!

Dates

We decided to travel January 19 - January 22. We had limited dates to really pick from. Since Melody is not in daycare, Brad would have to be home to watch her. So it really had to be based around his work schedule. Also, I wanted to be home on my actual birthday which is January 18. We hated to travel to Disney on a weekend, but with good planning, it shouldn't be too much of a problem!

Hotel

I have mentioned it before, but mom and I almost always stay at the All Star Sports Resort. That is just home to us. We used the Annual Passholder discount to get the ultimate discount on our room.

Tickets

This year my mom and I both decided to get Annual Passes. Disney had a special that you could get 13 months for the price of 12 months if you purchased before a certain date. Since we would not activate it until our trip, we would be able to get both of our trips covered under this AP. I also had planned on taking at least one other trip this year, maybe two. So it definitely made sense for me to get an Annual Pass.

Transportation

We decided to fly since we were not doing a cruise. The big debate was Birmingham or Huntsville. In the end we picked Huntsville so it got me closer to home for departure and arrival. I didn't want to spend a night in Birmingham before or after, and it was almost going to be that way in order for the flight to be cheaper. So we went the easier route and flew Delta out of Huntsville.

Dining Reservations

Again, anytime I think we are going to Disney, I look into dining reservations. A few months ago, I believe I had over 30 dining reservations made, but only kept about 10 of them. I cancel them in plenty of time to not be charged, and I also cancel them as soon as I know I won't be using them in general. Below is when/what reservations I made regarding our January trip. Some of these reservations were made prior to me knowing the final dates.

Booked 8/8/16 - The Boathouse dinner (1/22/17); Be Our Guest Dinner (1/24/17); Be Our Guest Breakfast (1/24/17)
Booked 10/4/16 - The Boathouse dinner (1/6/17); Be Our Guest breakfast (1/8/17); San Angel Inn dinner (1/7/17); Teppan Edo lunch (1/7/17)
Booked 10/5/16 - Yak & Yeti lunch (1/9/17)
Booked 10/17/16 - The Crystal Palace dinner (1/19/17); The Garden Grill breakfast (1/20/17); Teppan Edo lunch (1/20/17); San Angel Inn dinner (1/20/17); The Garden Grill breakfast (1/31/17); Teppan Edo lunch (1/21/17); San Angel Inn dinner (1/21/17); Be Our Guest breakfast (1/22/17)
Cancelled 11/15/16 - The Garden Grill breakfast (1/21/17)
Booked 11/15/16 - Be Our Guest breakfast (1/21/17); California Grill dinner (1/21/17)
Cancelled 11/19/16 - The Boathouse (1/6/17); Teppan Edo lunch (1/7/17); San Angel Inn dinner (1/7/17); Be Our Guest breakfast (1/8/17); Yak and Yeti lunch (1/9/17); Be Our Guest breakfast (1/24/17); Be Our Guest dinner (1/24/17)
Cancelled 12/30/16 - The Garden Grill Breakfast (1/20/17); The Boathouse dinner (1/22/17); Teppan Edo lunch (1/21/17); San Angel Inn dinner (1/21/17)
Booked 12/30/16 - Be Our Guest breakfast (1/22/17)
Cancelled 1/4/17 - Be Our Guest breakfast (1/22/17)
Booked 1/15/17 - Be Our Guest dinner (1/19/17)
Cancelled 1/18.17 - The Crystal Palace dinner (1/19/17); Be Our Guest breakfast (1/21/17); California Grill dinner (1/21/17)

In case you can't make heads or tails of the above, below are our final dining reservations!

1/19/17 - Be Our Guest, 7:50 p.m.
1/20/17 - Teppan Edo, 1:00 p.m; San Angel Inn, 7:15 p.m.
1/22/17 - Be Our Guest, 9:45 a.m.

Fastpass+

So as I have discussed before, I use Touring Plans to help me decide when to book our Fastpasses. Below are the fastpasses that I was able to book. The Disney website is super easy to use now because you can just put in a time that you want to look for a certain fastpass, and it will show you only times available around that window. [Side note: both Epcot and Hollywood Studios have tier systems. It makes picking fastpasses really difficult because only the top tier ones usually need a fastpass.]

1/19/17

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train 4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Peter Pan's Flight 5:15 p.m. - 6:15 p.m.
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad 6:20 p.m. - 7:20 p.m.

1/20/17

Spaceship Earth 11:35 a.m. - 12:35 p.m.
Soarin 3:05 p.m. - 4:05 p.m.
The Sea with Nemo & Friends 4:20 p.m. - 5:20 p.m.

1/21/17

Tower of Terror 9:15 a.m. - 10:15 a.m.
Toy Story Mania 10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Muppet Vision 3D 11:45 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.

1/22/17

Space Mountain 9:05 a.m.- 10:05 a.m.
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train 10:25 a.m. - 11:25 a.m.
Pirates of the Caribbean 11:50a.m. - 12:50 p.m.

Touring Plans

Below are our touring plans. We probably won't follow these too closely, but it at least gives us an idea of what we will be able to accomplish and how long it may take. We also hope to fit in Disney Springs while there!