Help with timing of trip...

[yipee]

Hi again!

For some reason, I thought the American Thanksgiving Holiday was Nov 29 this fall. Now I see that it is Nov 22!!! We were originally planning on going Dec 7-15 (what we thought was a week after Thanksgiving). What do you guys recommend, stick with that or bump it back to Nov 30? (or is it even better to go right after Thanksgiving, like the 23rd or so?) Mostly, we're interested in avoiding Christmas crowds...

Thanks!

 

[DangerMouse]

I think your original dates are perfect. Schools won't be out yet for Christmas vacation and all the holiday offerings will be in full swing. Not to mention you will get to see the DEP on either the 14th or the 15th.

 

[HydroGuy]

FWIW, for the internationals out there Thanksgiving is always on the fourth Thursday of November. Every few years (like this year) there are five Thursdays in November. Those are the years that cause confusion for some.

Thursday and Friday of Thanksgiving week are standard holidays for most Americans, and all schools are out. It has been increasingly common for schools to be out the entire week of Thanksgiving. Until very recently (a year or two ago) Southern California schools were not out all week, and I do not know the percentage, but Southern California schools are going in the direction of taking the whole week off.

Note that Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday of Thanksgiving week are considered to be highly crowded days at DLR. The previous weekend is crowded but considered to be less so. The Monday-Wednesday of that week is also crowded, but not as much as Thursday and afterwards.

 

[Amy&Dan]

I would stick with what you have for the exact reasons Dangermouse said. In all liklihood, your weekend will be the weekend they start up the Electrical Parade for its Christmas run. And that weekend will be very crowded, but all weekends at DL are. Those days beginning Monday, the 10th, should be really nice and low in the crowds department, Tue-Thur in particular. We went that same time frame a few years ago and it was very nice except the weekend was nuts (partly because it was really nice and warm) but the weekdays were heavenly.