Here is a short highlight video of our stay at the Howard Johnson Hotel and Waterpark in Anaheim, California. A few months ago, I surprised my daughter with a trip to Disneyland. Our good neighbor hotel was just a few minute walk to the gates of the parks. Stay tuned for a full review of our stay at Howard Johnson Hotel. Don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube Channel to follow along with our travel adventures!
Why January is the Perfect Time to Visit Walt Disney World
We just got back from our 3rd trip to Disney World (2nd for Landry) and I’m already dreaming of our next trip back. This time around our choice of travel time was based mainly on price. I scored a major deal on accommodations. Of course, because we based where we stayed on price alone, we had one option really. We ended up at the Caribbean Beach Resort which is part of Disney’s moderate resorts. We have never stayed at the Caribbean Beach, and were stoked to check it out. I can’t tell you much about the resort itself, for one because we were literally at the parks from sun up to sun down every single day of our 5 day trip so we were only in our rooms to sleep at night. Secondly, because the resort is currently undergoing major renovations, so not everything is open right now. This post isn’t about a review of Caribbean Beach Resort (stay tuned for a post on that to come). I’m going to get right down to business and lay out for you my 4 reasons why you should consider a trip to Walt Disney World in January.
4 Reasons to head to Disney in January:
- Low Season: If you want to save some cash on your Disney vacation or maybe you have a strict budget, low season is something to highly consider. Room rates at resorts are down to entice vacationers after the holidays and when kids are back in school. Here’s a tip for you, and something I always do (except for this trip because we actually bought a Room+Park Ticket package because the price was too good to pass up), book your room as early as possible. As long as you don’t buy a package you can stalk the Walt Disney World website or call up to a week before your arrival to see if there is a lower price on the room you booked or on one at another resort. You can modify your accommodations as many times as you want without a penalty up to as far as a week before your trip. This is one of the biggest ways we save money. I have in the past switched resorts multiple times to get a better deal leading up to even a week before our trip and have saved hundreds of dollars.
2. Low Crowds: Of course with it being January and with kids back in school, Disney World is going feel somewhat like a ghost town. Well, if it’s your first visit, probably not, but to those who have visited during busy times (over the holidays, summer, spring break, etc.) like us, it’s going to feel like you have the parks all to yourself. Just keep in mind, that January is a month where Disney plans more ride closures and refurbishments because of this very reason, so if there are attractions that are not to miss on your list, you’ll want to check the Disney website to see if they will be up and running so you don’t have any disappointments when you arrive.
* Disclaimer: The weekend we arrived was Disney marathon weekend. The parks were busier and the buses were unreliable for pick up times. In the mornings, the buses from our resort had to take a different route to the parks. After the weekend of marathon weekend things settled down and were less hectic. You can find the schedule for future Disney Marathons here.
- It’s still Christmas for the first week of January: Walking into Magic Kingdom on January 6th, we were not expecting it to be Christmas. From the holiday music, to the decorations on Main Street, even the castle was draped in lights. It was the best-unexpected surprise. We got just a tiny little taste of what it would be like to visit during the holiday season, and it was magical.
Mild Temps: Of course, a visit to Disney World in January usually requires packing in layers, if you’re from a colder climate like we are, anything feels warmer than what we would be experiencing here at home. For the first couple of days on our trip we had coats on, mainly at night when the temps would drop after the sun goes down. It did warm up for us each day we were there and by our last day the kids were actually swimming. All resort pools are heated year round. You just never know what kind of weather you are going to get in January, but just pack accordingly and I promise you’ll be riding so many rides you won’t care what the weather is doing.
I have to be honest, we had never really considered a Disney trip in January before, but our schedule, budget and circumstances all aligned so we bit the bullet. We took our much-anticipated Disney trip in January and we didn’t regret it.
Did I convince you to visit Disney World in January? What is your favorite month of year to go?
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Disney Day 3- Animal Kingdom
Our 3rd day at Disney was a little slower paced than the previous couple days. We let the kids wake up slowly in the morning and took our time heading out the door to Animal Kingdom. We love the music that comes on in the bus when you pull into the gates at Animal Kingdom. It makes us feel like we’re on a safari in Africa. For some reason, it always feels like we’re walking on top of people at that park. The walkways are narrow and both times we’ve gone we’ve gotten there later in the morning hours so the crowd has picked up a bit. Plus, we always have our double stroller so it’s a little wider than most. Since nobody would go on Expedition Everest with me, I went by myself, and I’m glad I did. It was so fun. Tanner would have liked it I think. Next time for sure I’ll get the kids on it. We then headed over to DinoLand for awhile.
After that we watched the Flights of Wonder Bird show…obviously I took this pic before any birds came out.
The kids were getting hungry and antsy and the show got over just in time for us to find some lunch.We ate at Yak and Yeti, and thankful we have some adventurous eaters we found something for everyone…
That’s Landry taking a nap in the Bjorn on Mike 🙂
After lunch we wondered around a little bit more.
Since we missed our Fast pass for the Safari (still haven’t been on that), we decided to go back to the resort for a little R&R.
We didn’t have dinner plans so we decided to head to Epcot to walk around and snack..
Our first stop was Germany, and we grabbed a pretzel to share. Mike and I had a grapefruit beer..oh my, delicious!
We then moseyed on down to America and grabbed a turkey leg for us all to share. Who would have thought that 1 giant turkey leg would feed all 4 1/2 of us. I think the kids liked the fact that they could run and around and eat at the same time.
And that’s a wrap for day 3 at Disney World. So far we’re 3 for 3 on days in the parks without a meltdown. WINNING!
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Bringing a Baby to Disney
When we visited Disney World for the first time as a family, it was beyond overwhelming. I didn’t even know where to begin when starting to plan. Luckily for us, our first trip was piggy backed on my husbands’ work trip, so we didn’t have to figure out where to stay. Fast forward 3 years later, and we just got back from our 2nd Disney World trip. I will say, for me, part of the fun in going to Disney is the planning. I LOVE IT! This was a big trip for us, and if you’re following my Trip Recap posts you’ll see in all the photos how much we actually packed into our 1 week trip. I have quite a few friends who are in the middle of planning their first Disney vacations with their families so I though I’d offer some unsolicited advice from a mom who’s done it twice with little kids and both times having a 1 yr. old in tow. For a lot of parents who often wonder if they should take their babies along on a Disney trip, I will say, this one is a personal choice. While we wouldn’t have it any other way than to bring the baby, some folks may not so much. Yes, babies are on their own schedules, and if not planned accordingly can surmount to a magnificent meltdown. Yes, babies travel with lots of stuff. Lots and lots of stuff. If you’re on the fence about bringing the baby along, here are a few of my personal reasons of why you should consider it too…
- Babies are pretty much free for everything. Flight (if they’re sitting on your lap and don’t have their own seat), Food, entry to the parks, etc. Kids are free into the Disney Parks until the age of 3 so why not?
- Family photo in front of Cinderella’s Castle + Baby= Happy happy memories, and family photos with everyone IN them. We don’t get a family photo with all of us in it too often. I didn’t want to look back at all the photos and always feel like we were missing one of us. Once again, that was our choice. Some people feel leaving the baby at home gives them more flexibility and freedom with their day.
- Babies can go on almost every ride at Magic Kingdom. Yup, almost every one. This of course with the exception of Big Thunder Railroad, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Barnstormer, Stiches great escape, Tomorrowland Speedway, and the soon to be Dwarfs Mine Train. There are a couple dark rides such as Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion that may spook little ones, but both of our 1 year olds did fine on them. You as the parent know your baby well enough to make the judgment call about which rides may scare your little one. Oh, and I’m sorry, but who doesn’t love a good baby on the carrousel photo?
- First haircut at Magic Kingdom. Baby boys (and girls) can get their first haircut at the Harmony Barbershop on Main Street. What a sweet memory that would be.
- Kisses from the Princesses. If we didn’t bring our sweet little boy, how would he have ever gotten a kiss from Snow White??
- 1st Mickey Ears! Every baby needs a set of Mickey ears, right?? Ok, ok. If you choose to leave your young one at home, you could always buy a pair and bring it back with you. It’s not like he/she will remember it anyway (wink).
Like I said, bringing a baby to WDW can mean a little more packing, a little more planning, a little more patience. But it can also make for some unforgettable family time and very special moments that you will likely treasure forever.
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Disney World 2014- Day 2 All Things Princesses and Pirates
I have been waiting for this particular day for soooooo long. I made reservations at the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique for Sam to get made up like a princess. We also had plans for Tanner to get made up like a pirate at The Pirates’ League. From there we were going to eat lunch with all our favorite princesses in Cinderella’s castle. Since going to all three of these things is such a big deal, I made invitations for the kids to open that morning when they woke up. I only have a photo of one invitation and it’s the one inviting Sam to the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique. I also made one for Tanner from Jack Sparrow, inviting him to the Pirates League, and one for all 3 kids inviting them for a royal feast (aka, Cindy’s castle). I got the idea for the invites from wdwprepschool.com. Click here to see them or download her version. The kids had no idea when they woke up that they had some special surprises in store, which made the morning that much more exciting. We were able to get into the Magic Kingdom before the rest of the public because we had early reservations. I would have taken more pictures of the castle except that they were doing major work on it so they’re were some very large cranes intruding on all my pictures. I have not one great photo of all of us in front of Cinderella’s castle. Oh well, I should have taken some anyways just to have, but I didn’t.. I guess we’ll just have to go back again (sigh)…soon 🙂
My beautiful castle picture…
The Bibbity Bobbity Boutique:
Sam wasn’t quite sure what she was in for but was being treated like royalty from the moment we walked in. They had her change into her Belle dress that I brought from home and sat her in a chair at her very own vanity. She waited very patiently for her fairy Godmother to do her hair and makeup.
Her fairy Godmother putting her hair up in a tiara just like a real princess 🙂
Putting on some lipstick.
Her reaction to seeing herself for the 1st time is priceless 🙂
Dad told her to give us some sass. I don’t think she knows what that is, but she pulled it off quite nicely.
Waiting patiently for rope drop. The calm before the craziness.
We got to see Peter Pan and Wendy fly by. I love this photo because they are running flying in perfect unison.
Pirate’s League: Tanner’s turn 🙂
As if he didn’t already took mischievous, those eyebrows killed me.
Aye aye Capt’n Hook!!
We battled it out a little.
The boys on Dumbo
That’s one way to get us all in the picture:)
Tanner got shy around Ariel and Sam came alive. Her first princess meet and greet and I think she could have talked to her all day!
Cinderella’s castle for lunch with all the princesses…
Where’s my girlfriend?
This reaction was for Miss Snow White herself 🙂
Well there you are 🙂
No captions needed…
Time for some rides 😉
Found a cast member whose name was also Sam. Because our Sam was wearing a “Happy Birthday” pin she gave the kids pixie dust in their hands. Told them to close their eyes and make a wish and then throw it up in the air! Love witnessing moments like these through their eyes 🙂
This capped off another magical day at the most magical place on Earth :))
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Disney World 2014- Day 1 Epcot
Just got back from our Disney trip and it was nothing short of THE BEST TRIP EVER! We’ve been planning this trip for a really long time, and it seemed like it would never get here, but once it came it was such a whirlwind. We packed so much into that 1 week that we were there and the kids were absolute troopers. Not even sure how to recap everything about the trip without writing a book (maybe that will be my next project), but we’ll start with the surprise…
We knew from the beginning that we weren’t going to tell the kids about Disney until the day we were leaving. Considering this trip almost didn’t happen, it was a good move on our parts. However, it got so hard, planning and packing for the weeks leading up to the BIG reveal. I had suitcases in our bedroom for weeks (I started packing early), and luckily the kids never really noticed. We decided to have a personalized audio message made from Mickey Mouse telling the kids that they were going to Disney. We set up the 2 cameras up so we were hands free and they wouldn’t think it was weird that one of us was recording them. Plus, we were able engage with them, and that was the best part. We surprised Tanner once before when Sam was a baby, and he was in shock, plus he had never been to Disney before so he didn’t really understand. 3 years later, he gets it. Their sweet reactions were priceless. So glad we were once again able to capture this great memory on film to have forever.
We split our stay at two different resorts. When we landed in Orlando at 8:30pm, the magical express bus dropped us off at Port Orleans-French Quarter. We were all exhausted and hungry, so we had pizza in the room around 11pm and then it was off to bed.
Day 1: EPCOT
This was our first time visiting Epcot, and throughout the trip, it quickly rose to the top of our list for favorite parks. So glad we did this on our first day. We didn’t have any real plans and were able to just walk around at our own pace and be spontaneous. Although we were a little spoiled since the Flower and Garden Festival was going on.
We saw Pluto right away and had to get his autograph and some pictures.
As you can see, Sam’s skiddishness of characters has diminished since our last trip when she was a baby and was absolutely terrified.
Even Landry surprised me with his playfulness with them all. (Hey, Lan, I think Pluto wants his ear back :))
Chip and Dale
Tanner wanted to meet them, Sam did not (obviously).
After meeting Pluto and Chip and Dale, we moseyed our way toward Norway in the World Showcase. Not because we actually thought we would get to meet the “Frozen” sisters. Oh, no, no, no. Unless we wanted to stand in line for 3+ hrs.
Taking in all the pretty flowers and topiaries made into different characters. If there’s one reason to visit Disney in the spring, this is it.
Playing in the fountain :))
We hit up Maelstrom which I thought was going to be a little boat ride, and instead turned out to be the boat ride from Hell that went down a hill backwards, had what looked like scary trolls and polar bears that flashed their teeth at you and left our kids screaming till the very end and covering their eyes. First Ride! I can kiss that dream of getting them on other big kid rides goodbye. We tried to distract them afterwards with lunch and dessert from the Norway’s Kringla Bakeri. It worked. Just look at those goodies!
I’ll take that..and that..and that.
Before dessert we all shared a club sandwich. It was also delicious!
Walking through Mexico…
Trading our first ever Disney pin!
The rest of our day at Epcot, we rode Nemo and Friends, Soarin’ and talked with Crush the turtle. Unfortunately, we did not ever make it to Test Track, or any other ride at Epcot the rest of the trip. The kids loved Soarin’. They felt like they were really flying and even went on it twice! Crush the turtle was also a huge hit.
Just so we’re clear, this is the Nemo ride (which came after Maelstrom-dark and scary ride). Naturally this is now an instant reaction for the rest of the rides following suite.
Tanner got to talk with Crush!
“Hey, Little Dudes!”
Bathroom Break for everybody else. Landry didn’t think he was getting enough camera time out of the stroller. I agreed…SELFIES!!
I may have lagged a little behind the group, and found a margarita stand in the process…
This little guy swam past Tanner probably 30 times and literally waved at him every time.
Oh Canada…
England
TICK-TOCK, TICK-TOCK
Aye aye, Hook!
Look! It’s Pan!
Messing around in Mexico…
We walked around the World Showcase, and Tanner and I split a Mickey ice cream bar while the younger 2 took naps in the stroller.
Daddy enjoyed an ice cold beverage
It’s time to go…
A little bit of swim time at the pool
1 day down, 6 to go.
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Disney Surprise is Almost Here!
Well, the day is almost here. I’ve been planning our Disney vacation for about a year now and have had an official countdown since day 222. The best part is, the kids have absolutely no idea. I refrained from telling people really early on, just to make sure the surprise stayed a surprise. Now that the trip is nearing, more people know, and hoping we can keep this a surprise for 19 more days!! When we decided that we were going to go to Disney this time around, we knew we wanted it to be a surprise. This trip almost didn’t happen, so I’m really glad the kids don’t know. Of course, it would also be fun if they knew and we had a countdown going, and could talk about what all we wanted to do when we got down there, but hopefully we’ll have other trips that we can save that for. I will say, for all the friends that know to keep this hush hush, our cover was almost blown by non other than the UPS guy! Of course, I had been expecting our magic bands in the mail and had been very careful about watching for the UPS guy in the late afternoon/early evenings when he normally shows up, but when a different guy showed up one morning as I was loading kids in the car and exclaimed for all to hear, “Are you going to Walt Disney World?” I think the look on my face pretty much said it all. I gently shushed him and he got the idea. Sorry to be rude Mr. UPS guy, but you threw me off my game a little. Luckily, the kids didn’t hear him (which I was sure they did) and the situation was quickly diverted. We’ve been working on a way to surprise the kids and I think we finally have that planned out, so now we wait…
On our last trip to Disney World, Tanner was a few months shy of being 5. Sam was almost 1. Although, Tanner knew who all the characters were, when we popped the surprise on him the morning we were leaving, he was in a little bit of shock. And while he was excited, he couldn’t really wrap his mind around “where” he was actually going. This time is going to be so different I think. I’m going to go out on a limb and make a pretty confident prediction, that the kids are going to be out of their minds excited. Tanner has been there, he remembers some stuff, but understands what it is. Our little Sami knows that all the princesses live where our girl, Cindys’ castle is, and although she doesn’t remember her last trip, I think she will be equally excited as Tanner! Although, it is a pretty overwhelming thing to tell kids, and I have seen surprise videos of kids that cry, but I don’t think that is what they’re going to do. We’ll find out soon! While we wait, I was looking through photos from our last trip and wanted to post some up.
First Day at Magic Kingdom!
Sam was Keeping a very close eye on these 2 characters…
These Jonesys 