We will be going to WDW 11/14-11/21. Since we usually go in the spring, I was wondering if anyone could tell me a little about this time of year.
1- How are the crowds?
2- Are the Christmas decorations up yet?
3-What do I pack? I don't know if we will need pants, shorts, jackets, etc. Any and all advice or tips would be greatly appreciated! TIA!
1- Light to Medium. They will grow as Thanksgiving approaches.
2- Up in MK by the first
MVMCP (around the 10th)
3-LAYERS!
Consider the difference in what you will be doing at
WDW compared to the way you spend your time outside
while at home.
You might be used to walking from a car, up a
sidewalk a certain distance and then into a building
back home...
but do you usually simply stand still, waiting in the
same spot for 45-60 minutes at a time?
You will be doing that kind of thing at WDW, if you
want to hold a spot a bit early and then watch
IllumiNations or Spectromagic and/or Wishes.
My wife and I are naturally "warm-blooded" and hardly
ever wear a coat at home in the winter until the
temperature gets to be constantly below 30 degress...
but STANDING outside at night at WDW for the evening
events, if the temp is in the 40's or lower (plus it
can be damp and windy,) can chill you to the bone
after about 15 minutes.
We're from the midwest and have learned to EXPECT ANYTHING as the weather goes in off-season Orlando.
We always pack winter and summer-wear.
In Dec/Jan/Feb we have even worn LONG THERMAL UNDERWEAR (after sundown)... we now pack it for any off-season trip.
Typical day:
Cool outside at 7am.
Wear shorts and Tee's.
Over that add a thin nylon wind-breaker
We put our "chilly-wear" and RAIN ponchos in a back-pack.
(Rain ponchos are REALLY cheap in hunting section of discount retailers.
You can buy BIG THICK ones to allow covering large jackets... more later.)
"Chilly-wear" is a nylon cotton-lined warm-up suit with zipper legs and a cotton-lined windbreaker.
We buy OVER-sized in these so they can easily be put on OVER other clothing.
After standing in the sometimes chilly "early-entry" lines we can usually take off the wind-breakers.
We always rent a locker at the park(s) and leave our "chilly-wear" in the locker 'til sun-down.
If it looks like rain (in Florida? Who'da thunk?) we take the Ponchos.
Much later, if its a warm night, we're just fine in the shorts.
If it turns windy/cool... we can visit the locker and choose which level of "chilly" OVER-WEAR to add to our clothing.
If it turns really COLD (windy 30's-40's not unheard-of at certain times of the year) we can make a restroom trip and slide-on the long underwear... OR... we can even add the final outer-layer of the RAIN ponchos (with their HOODS)... OVER everything else.
That trick (along with ear-muffs and gloves) has allowed us to "comfortably" stay and enjoy Fantasmic! or IllumiNations when others (less-prepared) have been "frozen-out."