Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>I'm still torn between the Port Orleans Riverside and the Coranado Springs, but the latter one is tucked away, while the other one is near DTD.<< It has easy access to DTD, but definitely doesn't feel like it's anywhere near it. You can take a boat or a bus, so it's an easy trip, but you're actually still not right next to it; You'll pass by French Quarter, Old Key West, and Saratoga Springs and the Treehouse Villas before getting there. I'm not sure if there are sidewalks the entire way there, but it would easily be a 30-45 minute walk from POR. With all the lush swampy landscaping and extensive grounds, you really feel like you're far away from everything (at least until Illuminations starts and you can hear the fireworks) My one big complaint about POR (other than the size, depending where you room is) is the tiny size of the hot tub. For a hotel with about 1,800 rooms, it's an insanely small hot tub; I would say it comfortably fits about 6-8 people max. I've been several times during Marathon Weekend (which admittedly has a higher than normal demand for the hot tub) and it's been busy every single time we've wandered past it. For what it's worth, French Quarter is about half the size of Riverside and has the same size hot tub. The 2 hotels are connected by a pathway (about a 5 minute walk between the main pools), and they both tell guests it's okay to use the pools at the other one
Originally Posted By dagobert I'm not so much into hot tubs, so that wouldn't be any problem. I know that the POR isn't right next to DTD, but its easy to reach by boat or bus. By the way, how long is the boat running to and from DTD. In 2008 we have also been during January and the weather was fine. However the temperatures changed from very warm to very cold. So my question is, is it worth to spend a day at Disney Waterpark?
Originally Posted By FerretAfros According to a fan website I found, the boats run from 10am to around 11pm; bus service runs until about 2am, when DTD officially closes each night Blizzard Beach will be closed while you're there (the 2 water parks take turns being closed for several months during the cold season), but I think Typhoon Lagoon is a lot of fun, and would be a good change of pace from the typical chaos of the theme parks. The Crush N Gusher is a lot of fun, and they have a neat snorkeling pool where you get to swim with tropical fish and (small) sharks. I'd definitely wait to buy the tickets until you know what the weather will be like (you could always add an extra theme park day to your ticket instead), since January is somewhat unpredictable, but I think it's a fun thing to do on a long trip But if you're short on time at the theme parks (less than 4-5 days), and are trying to decide whether to do another theme park day or a water park day, I'd almost always recommend the theme park instead
Originally Posted By dagobert I found the bus transportation times on the WDW website as well, but nothing for boats. Nevertheless tanks for the answer. If everything runs according to our plans, we will spend three weeks in Florida including the one week cruise. Two days are planned for Universal and the rest for WDW.
Originally Posted By DouglasDubh When we were there in January of 2013, I bought three day passes to Universal. They were a significant cost savings over the two day passes, and if you like thrill rides, there is plenty to do at Universal to keep you busy for three days. We have gone to Florida in January several times over the last 20 years, and there is usually at least a day or two where it is warm enough for a water park. Sometimes Blizzard Beach is open for the early part of our stay and Typhoon Lagoon during the second, so we will visit both. Both are exceptional water parks. However, sometimes the weather has been spotty, and this is a problem with Fastpass plus - sometimes you want to adjust which park you hit depending on the weather. The boats from DTD usually run every 15 minutes.
Originally Posted By WDWdreamin Congratulations! We spent our Honeymoon at POFQ because we couldn't get the 30% off the room at POR. They upgraded us to a corner room with a water/river view, I think because we said on our reservation that it would be our honeymoon. We enjoyed it a lot. We have been once in January and it was never warm enough for a water park. However, they are not important to us anyway, so I can't advise you. One hour at the hotel pool and two times in the hot tub were enough for us. We did not rent a car. We took a rented bus to and from Universal and it worked out easily for us.
Originally Posted By seafairy1622 We went in December in 2010 and it was cold but my daughter and boyfriend went to blizzard beach and they said the park was empty. No lines at all and the cast members were all dancing.
Originally Posted By dagobert We have booked our flights and the Disney cruise. We have chosen the seven night Western Caribbean cruise on the Fantasy in January 2015. Now we still need our hotel.
Originally Posted By dagobert We are moving ahead with our trip planning and booking. So far we have booked the cruise and airfare. We have planned two days for the Universal Studios. Are two days enough for both parks and how are the crowds in January (after Three Kings Day)? What are the "Must Do" attractions at Universal, except HP. This would be my list: Studios: - Escape from Gringotts - Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit - Transformers - Revenge of the Mummy - Terminator - Men in Black Alien Attack IoA: - HP Forbidden Journey - Jurassic Park River Adventure - Spider-Man - Hulk Coaster
Originally Posted By Autopia Deb We did 3 day hopper type tickets at Universal during Thanksgiving week which is historically more crowded than January and I felt we could have done well with 2 day passes. We experienced all the headliner attractions more than once, some more than three times.
Originally Posted By Princessjenn5795 You have all of my favorite Universal rides listed. We find two days to plenty, and I don't think that would change even with the new Diagon Ally area that will be open (which I cannot wait for!!!)
Originally Posted By Autopia Deb Also, Three Kings Day (Jan 6?) isn't a big deal here. I work with someone from Ethiopia who celebrates it somewhat, and I've known people who like to do the whole 12 days of Christmas thing, but otherwise it's just another day here in the States and no one gets the day off work. Unless there's a marathon, convention or other event going on in the Orlando area, crowds should be low until the middle of February when we have Presidents' Day weekend.
Originally Posted By DouglasDubh Once you get past the first weekend in January, the crowds drop off significantly. They do go up a bit for the MLK weekend. <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.undercovertourist.com/planning/when-to-visit/disney-world-crowds-calendar_january-2015.html#disney-opening-hours">http://www.undercovertourist.c...ng-hours</a>
Originally Posted By dagobert Thanks for answering my questions. Three Kings Day is a holiday over here, but it will be our "flying and arrival day". So I guess we will be able to do all the mentioned attractions. Today arrived the Disney planning DVDs. Disney doesn't send them to Europe, but thanks to our wonderful American friends, we got them nonetheless.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I was at IOA on January 10 (Friday) this year, and it was somewhat busy, but totally manageable. Our wait for Harry Potter was just under an hour; everything else had a wait of about 30 minutes or less. Walking around the park, it felt busy, but none of the waits were especially long. I don't think we got into the park until around 10 or 11am, and we struggled to stay busy until our offsite dinner reservation around 6:30; if you have similar crowds, I would think 2 days would be plenty for both parks, especially if you're able to spend the full day there >>Unless there's a marathon, convention or other event going on in the Orlando area...<< Marathon Weekend at WDW is Jan 7-11, so there will be extra people around for that, but the crowds still aren't too bad. Most waits are under 30 minutes, with a handful of the more popular attractions in the 45 minute range. The only ones I can recall seeing over an hour are TSMM, TT, and Soarin'. And since runners have races early in the mornings, the parks are very quiet when they first open and later in the evening, since they need to rest up for the next day
Originally Posted By Autopia Deb Our first time the line was close to two hours, IIRC. We discovered later in our trip that the entire Wizarding World section has the worst crowds in the morning and everything approaches walk-on during the last few hours the park is open. So for us, doing Spiderman and the other Marvel attractions first thing in the morning and working to the WWoHP section after everything else worked best.
Originally Posted By dagobert >>>Our first time the line was close to two hours, IIRC. We discovered later in our trip that the entire Wizarding World section has the worst crowds in the morning and everything approaches walk-on during the last few hours the park is open. So for us, doing Spiderman and the other Marvel attractions first thing in the morning and working to the WWoHP section after everything else worked best.<<< Thanks for the advice.
Originally Posted By DouglasDubh Have you heard about the Orlando Flex Ticket? For about $300, you can visit the two Universal parks, Sea World, the sea world water park, and wet n wild for up to 14 consecutive days. And $50 or so adds the ability to go to Busch Gardens in Tampa. It's a pretty good deal.
Originally Posted By dagobert >>>Have you heard about the Orlando Flex Ticket? <<< Yes I did, but since we only plan to visit WDW and Universal, it isn't an option for us.
