11/11 Veteran's Day Crowd Levels?

nouvellefleur

Mouseketeer
Joined
Mar 28, 2017
Has anyone been to the parks on a mid-week Veteran's Day before? Are the crowds noticeably heavier?

We'll be in the parks 11/8 through 11/11, and Veteran's Day never even crossed my mind when we were scheduling. I've never had a job that gives you this day as a holiday, have you guys? But maybe I'm working in the wrong field. ;)

I assumed Express Pass wouldn't be necessary, early November is so slow, but I've never been there on a mid-week holiday before. Orlando Informer is projecting low, Undercover Tourist is projecting moderate.

Any thoughts? Thanks! :)
 
We were at UO last veteran's day. It was packed . Even for early entry . We walked down from royal Pacific and couldn't believe how long the lines were even before park open . No idea how much covid affected it . But it was so busy we left .
 
We were at UO last veteran's day. It was packed . Even for early entry . We walked down from royal Pacific and couldn't believe how long the lines were even before park open . No idea how much covid affected it . But it was so busy we left .

I did some googling and finally found that like 2/3 of Florida schools have Veteran's Day off - which is not the case in either of the states I've lived in over the last few years so that's very strange to me ngl. We're in the parks Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday though so we're thinking we'll plan for mostly a resort day on Thursday and just avoid the question entirely. :) Thanks everyone!
 


I'm going 11/13 to 11/17. I expect the weekend will be quite crowded and will clear out a good bit on the Monday. I booked Royal Pacific specifically for the express pass for that weekend.

@nouvellefleur I believe they still had a lot of rooms at the deluxe resorts open, you might want to see if you can change your resort if you weren't already at one. If you didn't book a package you should still be able to cancel whatever hotel you had booked since you have til 6 days before to cancel. If you don't want to change resorts, it might be worth booking just one night at a deluxe on that Wednesday night so you'd have express on Wednesday and Thursday. You should be okay for Monday and Tuesday without express.
 
I’ve gone during that time period at least ten trines or more as it’s DD bday 11/11- crowds are thick for a whole lot of reasons - big one being Jersey week - I would say at times as bad as Spring Break and one year it was lithe Christmas unbelievable it was so busy - just come expecting crowds abs hope everyone does a pool day or something else !! We are doing a pool day !! Bday party at the pool
Have a great time !!!!
 
@nouvellefleur I believe they still had a lot of rooms at the deluxe resorts open, you might want to see if you can change your resort if you weren't already at one. If you didn't book a package you should still be able to cancel whatever hotel you had booked since you have til 6 days before to cancel. If you don't want to change resorts, it might be worth booking just one night at a deluxe on that Wednesday night so you'd have express on Wednesday and Thursday. You should be okay for Monday and Tuesday without express.

Since we'll be there on weekdays, not the weekend, we might grab an EP for Thursday, but we might not since it's our last day. I've been to the parks without Express Pass in early June 2017 and it was rather crowded, but it was bearable; moderate to high crowd levels iirc. A deluxe resort isn't in the cards for this trip - I just bought a house.

I’ve gone during that time period at least ten trines or more as it’s DD bday 11/11- crowds are thick for a whole lot of reasons - big one being Jersey week - I would say at times as bad as Spring Break and one year it was lithe Christmas unbelievable it was so busy - just come expecting crowds abs hope everyone does a pool day or something else !! We are doing a pool day !! Bday party at the pool
Have a great time !!!!

Good to know, though I believe Jersey Week is the week prior this year, 11/4 - 11/5.
And thanks!!
 


Ooh I hope your right !! It usually always falls when we go / I’d be happy to miss that crowd ! Nothing personal to NJ ❤️
 
Ooh I hope your right !! It usually always falls when we go / I’d be happy to miss that crowd ! Nothing personal to NJ ❤

Just double checked - according to MouseSavers, it's the 4th-5th! So Monday will probably be a little elevated, and then Thursday/Friday due to Veterans Day but hopefully we won't get the double whammy. ;)
 
Since we'll be there on weekdays, not the weekend, we might grab an EP for Thursday, but we might not since it's our last day. I've been to the parks without Express Pass in early June 2017 and it was rather crowded, but it was bearable; moderate to high crowd levels iirc. A deluxe resort isn't in the cards for this trip - I just bought a house.



Good to know, though I believe Jersey Week is the week prior this year, 11/4 - 11/5.
And thanks!!
Totally understand what you are saying. However IF you decide it is more crowded than you'd like and you do want to get the express make sure you check out the deluxe room rates before buying an EP cause sometimes it is cheaper to do it that way rather than buy Express by itself. For example right now you can get a room at a deluxe on Wednesday 11/10 for 337, when you add taxes it comes to 379. Two EP's alone for Thursday 11/11 is 170 each and when you add tax it comes to 362. So if you have more than 2 people it would be much cheaper to pay for a deluxe room one night and have the express passes for 2 days for up to 5 people rather than buy EP's by themselves for Thursday.

Sometimes they drop rates even further last minute if they aren't booked up so it would just be a smart move to check room rates before an EP purchase that week if you decide you do want to get them for that Thursday. You don't have to stay in the room or even set foot in it, just check rates online, book if it will be a cheaper choice and then one person has to go check in and pick up the room cards that act as express passes and then you don't have to go back to the hotel again at all. and you can pick those cards up as early as 6 am the first day. Just a suggestion to save money if you end up needing express!
 
Totally understand what you are saying. However IF you decide it is more crowded than you'd like and you do want to get the express make sure you check out the deluxe room rates before buying an EP cause sometimes it is cheaper to do it that way rather than buy Express by itself. For example right now you can get a room at a deluxe on Wednesday 11/10 for 337, when you add taxes it comes to 379. Two EP's alone for Thursday 11/11 is 170 each and when you add tax it comes to 362. So if you have more than 2 people it would be much cheaper to pay for a deluxe room one night and have the express passes for 2 days for up to 5 people rather than buy EP's by themselves for Thursday.

Sometimes they drop rates even further last minute if they aren't booked up so it would just be a smart move to check room rates before an EP purchase that week if you decide you do want to get them for that Thursday. You don't have to stay in the room or even set foot in it, just check rates online, book if it will be a cheaper choice and then one person has to go check in and pick up the room cards that act as express passes and then you don't have to go back to the hotel again at all. and you can pick those cards up as early as 6 am the first day. Just a suggestion to save money if you end up needing express!

Where are you seeing 11/10 for $337? Is it AP or FL resident rate? Unfortunately neither are applicable for us. I'd thought about getting an AP but... then I bought a house which curtailed the thought of another Universal trip within the next year. 🙃 For us non-AP plebs, I see Sapphire Falls from $242 but SF doesn't include Express Pass. The lowest deluxe resort right now is Hard Rock at $454.

I'll keep an eye on it, but I don't think the burner room strategy will work for us in this scenario since it's a two person trip. If there were more of us, I'd definitely plan for a split stay to take advantage of the deluxe resort EPs. Especially if we brought the kids!! But this is a grown-ups only, long-delayed sisters getaway so, knowing the crowds will likely be higher on Thursday, we really will probably just plan on a mostly-resort day for relaxing and cocktails by the pool. :)

Thanks though!
 
Yeah that was an AP rate, if you already have a 3 day or more ticket then a seasonal pass is usually free or incredibly cheap. But yeah if you are on a 2 person trip then getting the room won't much make sense, I wasn't sure how big of a group you had.

Have fun! My sis and are there the week after you for the exact same thing- a girls only getaway, they are the best!!
 
Yeah that was an AP rate, if you already have a 3 day or more ticket then a seasonal pass is usually free or incredibly cheap. But yeah if you are on a 2 person trip then getting the room won't much make sense, I wasn't sure how big of a group you had.

Have fun! My sis and are there the week after you for the exact same thing- a girls only getaway, they are the best!!

WOW, thanks for that - I completely forgot that the seasonal pass upgrade is so close to the ticket price! This trip has been deferred from early 2020 and I dimly recall knowing that once upon a time I was going to upgrade, but with all the confusion of canceling and rebooking and extending, I never thought of it again. Off to play around with those numbers now! Thanks again and hope you guys have a great time! :)
 

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