Visiting on last day of holiday decorations

[babsinspace]

Hi everyone! I'm new to the boards, so excited to be going on my first Disney trip! We are getting ready for our first trip to WDW in January, staying at the CBR. I hadn't even thought of it when I booked, but recently realized that our first day there is the last day of the holiday decorations, January 8th. I was wondering: does anyone have any experience of visiting at this time? Are all the decorations still up, or should we target specific areas/resorts to see all we can on our first day? Does anyone know if there will be a special fireworks show that night?
I'm hoping we'll get a "bonus" to our trip, seeing the holiday stuff still up!
Thanks in advance!

 

[disney4life2008]

For the most part No. However, the holiday magic continues at Magic Kingdom at least through the first full weekend of January. The holiday decorations (minus the tree) and the castle snow lights. If I recall, the other parks will start taking things down overnight immediately.

The resorts do late night removal almost immediately. If you want to see a particular resort, go to that resort first.

 

[kstella]

The two big things you should make sure to see are MK and the Osborne lights at DHS. Any of the parades you can catch or the Christmas Around the World storytellers at Epcot would be bonus.:xmas:

 

[dreamscometrue]

Welcome to the boards and congratulations on your trip. :wave:

I believe that by January 8th, all that you may catch in terms of holiday events are the last showings of 'Cinderella's Holiday Wish' castle lighting ceremony and 'The Magic, The Memories and You' holiday edition. (The show plays nightly, but this version includes a couple minutes of holiday theming in the middle of the show.) I'd get to MK to see those on Jan. 8th. Plus, as it's your first visit, I believe all first timers should start with MK as their intro to WDW. It was the first park, is still the most magical imho, and was designed by Walt and his Imagineers at WED.

As for decorations, I think they'll be practically all down by then. Others on these boards will have more info about decoration removal.

Enjoy the most magical place on earth.

 

[Firepath]

We were there this year Jan. 2 - 9 and most of decorations were up the entire time. The Osborne lights were still lit but they ended the MK castle lighting earlier than scheduled so we missed it. We did catch the holiday parade at AK just before it ended. They played Christmas carols at the parks and resorts the entire time we were there. I love Christmas so I was happy tho I heard some people complaining. Have a great trip!

 

[babsinspace]

Great! Thank you so much everyone. We will head straight for the MK then and take anything we see as a bonus! I'm so excited, I can't believe I have the holidays before we can get there! :xmas::wave: