We were there in 2010 for the Sunday to Wed with Thursday being Veteran's Day. it was AMAZING!!! That Sunday was filming day for the Christmas special so in front of the castle was insanely crowded, but everything else was empty. Walk on to anything we wanted. Weather was good, but very chilly at 4:30 each afternoon. There were some Christmas decorations up, with more and more appearing each morning. IASW was the only thing closed for refurb. I walked over on Thursday morning (the holiday) to get souvenir maps to take home, and it was very crowded. Glad that we were done! I would go again that week in a heart beat.