Can any regular November travellers tell me..

[Disney1fan2002]

what the crowds are like the few days BEFORE Thanksgiving? I have only travelled in late May/early June and in OCtober..and all those times the crowds have been a good size. I am expecting it to become crowded the day before Thanksgiving and then for the weekend, but I am hoping there will be no crowd the Sat, Sun, Mon and Tues before.

I hear rumors of times when there are NO lines, but I have yet to experience that! I am hoping this time I will.

 

[rtkane]

While I haven't been there right before Thanksgiving, I did read in Sehlinger's The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2003 that "the least busy time is from after the Thanksgiving Weekend until the week before Christmas. The next slowest times are November through the weekend preceding Thanksgiving".

Unfortunately, I would think that this means that people are going to start checking in for the Thanksgiving holidays that Saturday/Sunday before and staying through the week. It would make sense because to stay the entire week, most people would only need to take three days of vacation time--I wouldn't think most people would arrive the day before. The parks are probably going to be very busy Monday - Wednesday. Perhaps with tourism down, it'll be a bit less crowded. Anyone disagree--again, I'm going from what I've read, not from personal experience.

 

[Disney1fan2002]

OH NO! I guess it just means that the times we can go are the same times the rest of the population can go! We went in Ocotber a couple of years ago because I had heard October was a real slow time. Well, we decided to go for Halloween weekend, and I have never seen it so crowded.

So this past year, we decided to try October again, but to plan it BEFORE Halloween, so what did I do?? I booked it around Columbus day, again, not super crowded, but when I had seen people posting about how "empty" the parks were just days before we left, to get down there and have to wait in lines irked me just a little.

I try to book it around holidays because it means less vacation time my hubby has to take, and less school missed for the kids..I guess I am not the only "genius" who came up with that plan...LOL

 

[Simba's Mom]

Although I've only visited once at that time, it was just this last November (2002), so I'll give you that experience. First full day was Saturday before Thanksgiving. I met a lady on the bus from AK who said "Wow, what a difference from earlier in the week!" According to her, it was relatively very busy. Saturday nite I went to MGM for the AP preview of the Osborne Lights. Because of the special event, that was pretty crowded. On Monday, I went to the MK in the AM, but left right after lunch at LTT. That was VERY busy! Tuesday nite they had 2 parades at the MK, and fireworks, and I remember commenting to CMs in Fantasyland how I thought it was supposed to be quieter later in the evening when the kids went to bed. They laughed-it definitely wasn't quieter! Would I go again at that time? Definitely-the weather was perfect as far as I was concerned, a little cool for swimming though, but I don't swim. I stayed at BCV and though it was busy in the parks, BCV never seemed busy (although I'm sure it was). Weatherwise, it was my favorite time to go.

 

[Harambe]

We went in November 11-18, 2001. The crowds were very managable, but it was right after 9/11. The only thing that impacted us was the cancellation of the early entry hour (now called magic hour). We like to go at park opening and do tons of stuff before the crowds beef up, but even with EE cancelled we still jumped right on rides! Also, the Saturday night during our stay was the only time MK was open for the Spectromagic. The park was packed! We waited 40 minutes for rides like Peter Pan, and Pooh. I even had to wait 15 minutes to buy Mickey ice cream bars for the parade!

We are going in the off season (Jan. 2004) again and we will spend that Saturday night at our resort (AKL) and hit MK early on Sunday morning. Hopefully, a lot of folks will go Saturday night and sleep in on Sunday morning. One can only hope.

All and all November is a great time to go. The weather was cool at night but we're from New England so it was still a heat wave to us!

One final note - there was something going on at that time that had something to do with New Jersey. Something about a teacher's convention. All the CM's kept asking us if we were on the "New Jersey weekend". Must have been our accents! I'd check it out.

 

[bliss4us]

Hi,

We were there from Nov. 14 to 21 last year - very light crowds!

BUT - this may also have been because the weather was fairly cold, for Florida. Forties at night for a couple of days, near freezing one night, and hard, cold rain a couple of days.

We went everywhere anyway. An extra sweatshirt and a poncho worked wonders.

Even on the nice days, though, it was great, uncrowded. We walked onto some rides with no wait, and the longest wait we had was about fifteen minutes, maybe.

We're going to try October this year, the week before Halloween. Hoping for a bit warmer weather!

Daisy

 

[sus]

We were there this past October 2002 from 13-17. VERY LIGHT crowds. The longest we waited was to get a picture with Cinderella. I love to go at this time of year. We stayed at the WL and the day after we arrived I woke up to the lobby being decorated for Christmas. It was fantastic. Plus the Food and Wine festival is going on at Epcot, which for us was the key.
Hope you have fun!

 

[TiggerInNY]

SUS,

We're scheduled to go from Oct. 11-18th. First time with kids (7 & almost 4) and hope that the crowds are to a minimum. Did you go during Columbus Day week? Just curious. We're staying off-site and was wondering how light the crowds usually are during this time of the year. How is the weather, by the way? Warm enough to go to BB or TL?

Thanks for the info.

TTFN,
Maria

 

[Simba's Mom]

BTW, I just checked the historic temperatures from last November when I was there and said it was a little too cool to comfortably swim. Last year was several degrees below the normal for that time.

 

[TiggerInNY]

Simba's mom,

Thanks. What does BTW mean?

Maria

 

[rtkane]

BTW = by the way

 

[TiggerInNY]

Thanks.

 

[sus]

Tigger in NY,
Sorry I meant to write we were there Nov. 13-17 last year. Sorry.

 

[sus]

Simba's Mom,
Yes it was a little chilly at night, but you could still use the pools at the hotel and hot tubs. All the pools are heated. We aren't big water park people anyway, with so much to do at Disney, who needs a water park.

 

[tink2]

I have been twice during the week of Thanksgiving. The first was in 1999 and the last in 2001- after 9/11. Both times the crowds were very managable Mon- Wed. We had no problems with lines and the weather was beautiful. After 9/11, there were several cutbacks- POFQ was closed completely (where we had booked) and the parks closed relatively early for a holiday week. Still, both trips were very pleasant. We are definitely a commando- type family who want to see/do everything possible. We were pretty successful. Just realize that Thurs and Fri will be extremely crowded- especially at MK. We will be there again this Thanksgiving week- see you there!