Nov, really that busy?

[minnie4me]

Decided to book a 5 day visit in Nov... 7th thru 13th. It seems like every hotel I look at is booked solid, unless I want the super expensive rooms. We have always stayed in a deluxe resort, but the prices seem to really go up at this time. Went to Universal last year, same time, and it was so quiet (and cheaper). So, wondering about moderate resorts...PO maybe. How are my onsite food options? DS wants to go to Epcot and Magic Kingdom. how is transportation? I know we will miss the monorail, but we have taken many a bus to get where we want to go. Worried about cleanliness of hotel (esp bathrooms)....need some advice from all you moderate fans !!

 

[Missyrose]

Decided to book a 5 day visit in Nov... 7th thru 13th. It seems like every hotel I look at is booked solid, unless I want the super expensive rooms. We have always stayed in a deluxe resort, but the prices seem to really go up at this time. Went to Universal last year, same time, and it was so quiet (and cheaper). So, wondering about moderate resorts...PO maybe. How are my onsite food options? DS wants to go to Epcot and Magic Kingdom. how is transportation? I know we will miss the monorail, but we have taken many a bus to get where we want to go. Worried about cleanliness of hotel (esp bathrooms)....need some advice from all you moderate fans !!

The weekend you picked is very busy: it's the last weekend of the Food and Wine Festival at Epcot, it's the start of the Osbourne Lights at DHS, it's the start of the Christmas parties at MK, it's Veterans Day weekend and I believe there's a RunDisney event that weekend, as well.

If you want to eat at TS restaurants, I would make some ADRs ASAP.

 

[Missytara]

Decided to book a 5 day visit in Nov... 7th thru 13th. It seems like every hotel I look at is booked solid, unless I want the super expensive rooms. We have always stayed in a deluxe resort, but the prices seem to really go up at this time. Went to Universal last year, same time, and it was so quiet (and cheaper). So, wondering about moderate resorts...PO maybe. How are my onsite food options? DS wants to go to Epcot and Magic Kingdom. how is transportation? I know we will miss the monorail, but we have taken many a bus to get where we want to go. Worried about cleanliness of hotel (esp bathrooms)....need some advice from all you moderate fans !!

Next to Thanksgiving, one of the busiest weeks in November.

POR has the best food court of the mods. There is a restaurant as well as access to several restaurants via water taxi to DTD. That is an extra added plus.

POFQ is also more compact, but it is the sister resort of POR, so you can use all the amentites. It also has access to DTD.

We have found the mousekeeping to be wonderful, up until this year. We found it to be spotty when they did make it to the room. Usually we had to call to have them come when we returned for dinner to change, but we also slept in most days and were told the bulk of the staff left before we had awakened. Like I said, the days they came, the place was spotless.

You will find many opinions on the bus service at POR; some true, some not so true and some perceived. The added bonus is again the proximity to POFQ, which is much smaller. Twice this year, we stayed to the bitter end at the parks. There were tons of people in the POR line and a handful on the POFQ line. We hopped on the first POFQ bus and arrived at POFQ and walked the 15 minutes or so back to our room and probably still beat most of the POR people back.

The rest of the times, except rope drop, park opening and late park closing, I find the bus to be wonderful.

 

[Dis703]

Thats part of Jersey week too which when we went a couple years ago it was packed. Like pp said there is a lot going on that weekend. We are planning a Nov trip but trying to go between the 10th and Thanksgiving for lighter crowds.

 

[valeriemouse]

I've gone that week the past 2 years, and just booked again for this year, and its not THAT bad. It's busy, yes, but not as busy as it was when I was just there 2 weeks ago. And even that - if you hit rope drop, you can do everything you want without going nuts.

The key is to stay away from EP the day the races are run, and go to MK on the day of MVMCP - even if you don't have tix. The park is pretty low key because it closes early and people go to parks open later. I get tix for MVMCP which serves as my park hopping day - I go to AK in the morn, then with the tix you can enter the park at 4pm (3 hours before the party technically starts). Otherwise, I stick to one park a day.

I think its a great time to go. You get to see the Osbourne Lights, run the race if you so choose, sample the Food and Wine Fest and go to the Christmas Party. There are very few times of the year there is THAT much going on in Disney.

 

[Cinderumbrella]

That is Jersey Week, a marathon weekend, last weekend of F&W fest, & start of the Christmas festivities. Chances are it is only Fri or Sat (or both) that is actually sold out. And because of F&W it seems like EVERYONE wants to be on the EPCOT side.

We are going that same time and are staying at POR. We've done that week 2 times before and its not terrible (Thanksgiving is still worse). Just stay away from World Showcase during the weekend and MK during the weekend evenings.

 

[minnie4me]

I'm looking into POR, pool area looks good for an 11yr old. We would arrive late on the 7th, like 10pm. So we have Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon and Tues to do things. I was hoping to do a park on Fri or Sat then one Mon. Now I feel like I have to work around the events.
If I understood Disney's website..MVMCP is on the 8th & 11th. And the race at Epcot is over the 8th-9th & food festival ends on 11th. Do you think the last day of festival would be crazy?
I am having problems finding park hours for the month of Nov. Used to show them by month on Disney's website, but I can only find for the current week.

 

[Cinderumbrella]

I'm looking into POR, pool area looks good for an 11yr old. We would arrive late on the 7th, like 10pm. So we have Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon and Tues to do things. I was hoping to do a park on Fri or Sat then one Mon. Now I feel like I have to work around the events.
If I understood Disney's website..MVMCP is on the 8th & 11th. And the race at Epcot is over the 8th-9th & food festival ends on 11th. Do you think the last day of festival would be crazy?
I am having problems finding park hours for the month of Nov. Used to show them by month on Disney's website, but I can only find for the current week.

http://www.easywdw.com/category/calendar/11-november-2013-crowd-calendar/

Here is the November crowd calendar (and park hours) from easywdw. Read the details for your dates and Josh will give a good explanation about which park is best for which day.

If you aren't planning on attending MVMCP on 11/8, then go to MK that day, for rope drop and stay until about 4pm.

I think 11/11 would be your best bet for F&W fest (the 8, 9 & 10 will be VERY busy).

As for POR, my 10 year old thought the pool was a lot of fun (games, the slide etc). We just stayed here in June and the bus transportation was fine. We didn't always get a seat, but we almost always made it on the first bus to pull up to the resort or park. And the boat to DTD was a wonderful alternative to the buses. We spent many evenings down there trying restaurants we had never been to before.

 

[JennyDrake]

In a word, YES. I was there last year during that time.

 

[minnie4me]

Cinderumbrella, thanks for the link. It helps. May hit MK on Sat 9th, even though it is busy, has extra magic night hours. Can do EP on either Mon or Tues, as our flight Wed is in the afternoon, so we can take our time getting up and out of room, check out usually 11am & we will probably have to catch bus around noon. Airfare booked, starting to get excited and less stressed. Now to try and get ressies. Wish me luck !!