One Week Out

[disneyphlo]

Hey all,

So we are officially ONE WEEK OUT from departure down to WDW for a week. I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am.

My family of 5 (3 kids, 9,7,4), my brother, his wife and their 2 y.o., and our parents are heading down, staying at the All-Star music.

So we've done Disney a ton of times, however, my grandpa worked there, and was a Kissimee resident, so this is our first time staying on property (aside for my wife and I camping at FW a few years ago).

Our fam is in a suite at the AS. I think we're pretty much set...but...

QUESTION: What advice do you have for the one week out details? We're flying down, taking Magic express in...the whole deal.

Oh...and I'm pretty excited for how small I anticipate the crowds being...anyone else ever been there in the beginning of January?

Thoughts? Advice? Wisdom?

Merry Christmas all!

DisneyPhlo

[Strmchsr]

About the only thing you can do 1 week out is take a look at the weather thread in this forum so you'll know how to pack and then wait (which is always the hardest part).

As for crowds - don't expect them to be too small. A lot of folks hang around now after New Year's instead of before. I've been the last 2 years the first week of January and while crowds weren't large or overwhelming by any means, they weren't what I would consider small either. I'm not sure if those small crowds happen any more. One of the big reasons I think you might see larger crowds - the Univ. of Alabama is playing in the Citrus Bowl on Jan 1 and since Alabama is so close I expect a LOT of Alabama fans to come to the game (they travel everywhere anyway) and will probably fit in a WDW vacation as part of that trip. I know a good number of folks doing that. Also, January has become a very popular time for South American (especially Brazilian) tour groups, which ups the crowds (it's their summer break, after all). So, I don't tell you that to scare you into thinking there's going to be huge crowds. I just don't want you expecting the park to be almost empty and be shocked by what you find (as I was the first time I went that time of the year). Expect some the less popular rides to be walk-on, but the more popular ones will have significant waits.

I hope you have a great trip!