adding on to 11/12-11/15, before or after?

[Kristin0713]

We were gifted with three nights at the Grand Floridian, Monday 11/12 - Thursday 11/15. We are adding on 5-6 nights and getting 7 days of park tickets. Ideally, I would like to do parks Mon-Fri that week, based on crowd levels. I know the week before is the end of F&W and it's "NJ Week", and the weekend of 11/17 is the weekend before Thanksgiving. So I'm not sure which end to add on.

Here are the options we thought of:

1) Arrive Sunday 11/11, do one night at Pop and then move to GF Monday. Thursday, move somewhere else TBD (likely Wilderness Lodge) and leave Monday 11/19. This gives us Mon-Fri when I think crowds will be lower, and extra time over the weekend to finish anything we want. Downside is switching resorts twice.

2) Arrive the week before, like Wednesday 11/7. Then we would only have one hotel switch to GF on Monday. Downside is that we lose Thurs-Fri of what I think is a lower crowd week (11/15-11/16), and instead we will be doing parks the week before when I think they will be more crowded.

3) Just arrive Monday 11/12, and add on at the end of our stay. This is my least favorite option because I don't want to sacrifice Monday as a park day. And I know the next week will have heavy crowds and we will get hit with crazy airfare coming home.

Thoughts?

 

[DebbieB]

We were gifted with three nights at the Grand Floridian, Monday 11/12 - Thursday 11/15. We are adding on 5-6 nights and getting 7 days of park tickets. Ideally, I would like to do parks Mon-Fri that week, based on crowd levels. I know the week before is the end of F&W and it's "NJ Week", and the weekend of 11/17 is the weekend before Thanksgiving. So I'm not sure which end to add on.

Here are two options we thought of:

1) Arrive Sunday 11/11, do one night at Pop and then move to GF Monday. Thursday, move somewhere else TBD (likely Wilderness Lodge) and leave Monday 11/19. This gives us Mon-Fri when I think crowds will be lower, and extra time over the weekend to finish anything we want. Downside is switching resorts twice.

2) Arrive the week before, like Wednesday 11/7. Then we would only have one hotel switch to GF on Monday. Downside is that we lose Thurs-Fri of what I think is a lower crowd week (11/15-11/16), and instead we will be doing parks the week before when I think they will be more crowded.

3) Just arrive Monday 11/12, and add on at the end of our stay. This is my least favorite option because I don't want to sacrifice Monday as a park day. And I know the next week will have heavy crowds and we will get hit with crazy airfare coming home.

Thoughts?

I would do #1. The week before is Jersey Week and the end of the Food & Wine Festival, will be crowded.

 

[Kristin0713]

Do you think every park will be crowded or mainly Epcot? And I was wondering how Jersey Week really increases crowds?

 

[sharonabe]

Do you think every park will be crowded or mainly Epcot? And I was wondering how Jersey Week really increases crowds?

For me, the fact that it's even named says there is significant enough impact to be cautious. Even though option 1 is two hotel switches, I think you'll do better crowd wise with that option.