Just Back 11/24-12/3 - Perfect Time of Year

[lovewdwfun]

Just back from our first ever Nov/Dec trip and it is my new favorite time of year.

Crowds were AMAZING! I cannot emphasize enough the importance of getting to the parks early and going to a "recommended" park. We hit MK on the early close day and on party days. Other than SDMT, everything was basically walk on all morning. I usually go late August (last week) and September and have never seen the parks as empty. We did also go in the afternoon/evening during non-party nights. It was a zoo and I could barely get through the sea of strollers. With park hoppers and proper planning, this is really an amazing time of year.

Other thoughts:

FP+: I love it! We only made it to rope drop once and were able to stress so much less about when we go on the bus in the morning. We would get to parks around 9:15 instead of 8:15 and it was so much more relaxing. We also got an incredible amount done on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

Mobile Order: Fantastic! You can actually order hours before you want your food as long as the restaurant is open and hit "I'm here" when you are ready. We would do our family orders while waiting for shows to start.

HEA: Meh. We preferred Wishes.

HEA Dessert Party: We did this the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It was definitely worth it not to deal with the crowds.

MVMCP: Not as good as the Halloween party, though we enjoyed the free treats. Whether or not it is worth it would depend on a family's disposable income. If money is no object, it is a fun experience. If you are on a strict budget, I wouldn't feel bad about skipping it.

CP: Candlelight processional is a new family favorite. I highly recommend!

Festival of the Holidays: Food was generally only OK, although I loved the fondue in Germany. Kids loved checking off the boxes on the guide and really enjoyed the Chip and Dale search.

Weather - Gorgeous! We brought hoodies and wore them in the mornings and evenings over t-shirts and shorts. It was a beautiful week.

I've been to WDW over Christmas, in May, August, and September. This is my new favorite week to go. Just make sure you hit MK on the party days and go early! It is definitely worth investing in a park hopper so you can hop to another park for evening festivities.

 

[hllb]

LOL....there was another post today for the same dates and they said how horrible and crowded it was. Glad you had a good trip!

 

[kenthanson]

My favourite week is actually this week coming up, smack dab in the middle of American thanksgiving and Christmas, so most people are going to use one of those times to go on their big trip and the crowds are non existent but you get all of the Christmas stuff. First time we went in December it was the 9th and we rode splash mountain, got to the bottom and nobody was in line so we stayed in the boat and went again and again and again. We go every two years but the last time my inlaws paid for the trip so we had to go when they picked which was end of January and this year we are doing a cruise with some friends as well as WDW so we're going end of January again but best believe in two years we'll be going in December again.

 

[SAMMMMMMMMMM]

We just got back too from a 11/25-12/2 trip and the crowds were awesome. I also cannot agree more about mobile ordering. We saved so much time waiting in line. There were 2 times we saw the line, stood outside and ordered then got the food faster than if we had waited. We also didnt rope drop any mornings, i wish we would have gotten to HS 15 mins earlier but we waited on the bus forever. We had one day were slept in late and go to the park at 10 and that was the only day we didnt get at much done.
The two things that surprised me were that Hollywood Studios feels SOOO much more crowded with how much smaller the park is at the moment. It felt like every show lets out at the same time then the march of the first order is right after so you always run into obstacles and secondly, Animal Kingdom felt more crowded than normal on the non-pandora attractions. I didnt expect it to be as dense outside pandora.

 

[Tormania]

LOL....there was another post today for the same dates and they said how horrible and crowded it was. Glad you had a good trip!

So true!!! LOL!! All about prospective I guess. We went Dec 6th - 13th back in 2013 and I thought the crowds were very nice and it's why we are going this week from the 9th - 16th and am hoping for similar crowd levels.

 

[magicalcouple]

100 % agree! We even went to MK on the 11/24 for the 7 a.m. opening...and we were able to do
IASW, Peter Pan, Carousel, Dumbo twice, Little Mermaid, BTMRR, Aladdin's Magic Carpets 3 times, and the Country Bear Jamboree- before 9:30 a.m.

We were there from Nov 22- Dec 1 and the longest I waited in line was 45 min and that was for Na'vi...and ONLY because the ride temporarily stopped twice, once being when I was about to board a boat. We rec'd Multi Experience fastpasses for our trouble. That was the longest I ever stood around. We were able to do Flight of Passage 4 to 5 times (depending on which person in my party you're asking.)

We hit MK on party days, we followed the guidelines of non EMH parks (except on the 11/24) and we utilized FP+ so hard that we were always able to get more fastpasses during the day...including a Flight of Passage FP on Thursday, Nov 30th. I was on the bus to AK at 1:00 and saw there was a FP for FOP at 2....whoa!

I agree- with smart planning, this is an amazing time to go!!!!

 

[Happy_2_B]

This is the best time of the year- low crowds and decked out for the holidays. Crowds are lower at other times, but when you add in the holiday theming I prefer a few more people and the decorations. We got back a couple of days ago and experienced the same type of crowds, and will go back in a week and a half for 'round 2'. We love the holidays at Disney- can't get enough...

 

[Elsaspiritanimal]

I think if you were at the wrong parks on some of those days you would have a different experience. We were there 11/29 - 12/3 and having park hoppers and a good plan made all of the difference in the world. If you were at MK on 12/2 with a crowd level 9 or moved over to AK after MK closed early on 11/3 you might not be so ecstatic. Trust Kenny and Touring plans and which parks will be bad!

 

[samantha3590]

We were there same exact days. The only time I felt crowded was at HEA in 11/27 and for some reason Animal Kingdom on 11/30 felt very crowded. We used same day fast pass in every park. Weather was absolutely perfect. The MK Christmas decorations are breathtaking!!

 

[caliope]

We were there 11/24-11/29 and also felt the crowds were very reasonable and manageable. We didn't wait more than 15 minutes for anything except Test Track, which went down for 25 min when we were almost at the point of getting in the car; even then, the total time we were in line wasn't more than 40 minutes. The weather was also wonderful. I'd definitely go this time of year again.

 

[poppinspenguins]

Agreed. We went to mk on 28th and 30th. (early close)

It was awesome...walk ons and fp everywhere