May or November 2017

[meanbean527]

Opinions please!

We originally were planning to camp 11/23/17-12/03/17 but have decided to maybe move it up to 05/20/17-05/29/17. What are your thoughts on the crowds and weather for those days? They both have holiday weekends. We do not want to do MVMCP.

The benefit of coming in May means that we won't have to pull the kids from school. November has better weather for sure though. My son thought that it was too cold for the pool sometimes when we were there this past November.

I would love to do both but I don't think that I can convince everyone else.

 

[bama_ed]

I have done both times in years past, meanbean527, and would vote for May myself. Not sure November would have better weather (it's good though, don't get me wrong) but at least a fall trip might mean you can see some Christmas decorations at the resorts and in the parks (plus the Fort campsites) which is a bonus for that option. Your May dates aren't bad as long as you might try to avoid park days on the 3-day weekend (or at least expect bigger crowds than on the other days). But the weather would definitely be warm for the pool or water parks.

Bama Ed

 

[2goofycampers]

To us cooler is better, November vote here.

 

[peg110]

We haven't been there in May (yet) but have done November a couple of times (and again this year in 2016). While you are right about pulling the kids out of school (for us we are down to 1 in school), they typically get a longer holiday during that time. For us they don't get out of school in the summer typically until early June, so May would be yanking them out too.

Anyway, you are right that the weather is not always conducive to swimming in November, but we have had plenty of swim days in the past. We don't typically do the water park thing so that wasn't a concern either.

For us, traveling from NEPA, we will leave the Tuesday before Thanksgiving after school/work to get below DC during a lesser busy time. The first day of missed school for the kids is Wednesday before Thanksgiving, which is always a half day. Sadly, most of our teachers don't do anything of significance on the half days, so our DD won't miss much there. They are on holiday Thursday through Monday. Monday is the first day of Buck Season here in NEPA and is (or was) like a holiday. (History... In the past so many families were hunters and would miss school on the first day of Buck Season. So many that the schools in the area have just decided to make it an extended holiday for the kids). Then our DD would miss the following Tuesday through Friday. So she only really missed 4.5 days, one of which they don't do much anyway. Last time we went, they ended up having a snow day on the half day AND another Snow day on the Tuesday, so she really only missed 3 days.

As Ed has pointed out above, the decorations around the Christmas holiday are wonderful. The crowds aren't too bad once you get to the Sunday after Thanksgiving. I will say an exception to that is the MVMCP. We did it in 2012, loved it. Wasn't very crowded. We did it twice in 2014 and the crowd was worse then a normal park day. So much for "Limited" sales! (The limit was on how many they could actually get sold I think).

I would also point out that your planned dates in November give you 1 more day at the fort then the May dates.... An extra day is always good.