Plans need to change...disappointed, but it'll be okay, right?

[LibrarianBecky]

My family (myself, DH, and DS 9) were planning on doing a trip to Orlando later this year. We want to do MVMCP, severals days at Disney, Harry Potter at Universal, and Legoland. For us, a big trip. We were planning on going from November 12-21 to take advantage of low crowds. We have a credit at Southwest that we need to use for airfare. I called to book our flights...and our return flight needs to happen by November 10 to be able to use our credit. The credit is for over $900, so I feel like we really do need to use it.

So, it was back to the drawing board for me. Now, I"m looking at arriving on November 1 and leaving November 9. The first Christmas party is Sunday, November 8--so as long as we got tickets ahead of time for the first party, we would be able to still do that. I believe that the Osbourne Lights begin November 6, so with some planning we would be able to do those as well. The weekend we would be there is Wine Dine Marathon, with an "8" crowd level....but I thought we could avoid that by going to Legoland that day.

In general the crowds are higher this first week, and I don't think any of the resort decorations will be up yet. I"m trying not to be disappointed at missing those things, since I know they are fairly minor in the scheme of things. I'm looking for some reassurance, I guess, that the earlier trip will still be great and will feel, to some extent, like Christmas at Disney.

Thanks for the input. I appreciate it.

 

[prudence64]

We went early November last year and had a great trip. Weather was perfect. Crowds were manageable. Enough Christmas for us.

 

[MatzoBelle]

I think it will still be an amazing trip. If you've never been at Halloween, you could come a week earlier and do MNSSHP and Food & Wine instead of MVMCP and Osborne lights, and save Xmas for another trip that is timed to be more Christmassy. But either way will be great.

Edited to add: You will be there during Food & Wine anyway.

 

[Lucius Best]

With dates of Nov 1-9, you could theoretically do both the MNSSHP and MVMCP on the same trip. Legoland that weekend and avoiding Wine&Dine are good ideas, also good to stay away from Epcot on F&W weekends. There's another thread currently on here regarding MVMCP that is worth reading.

Have you been to Universal before? Were you planning on one or two days at Universal to see Harry Potter? We stayed at Universal for 3 nights last year, huge advantage to staying at Universal is front-of-the-line access on every ride, so you don't have to wait for anything, and admission to Harry Potter land one hour before the rest of the general public gets in.

If I was planning a Nov 1-9 trip myself, (commando, "sleep when you get home"), this is rough guess of what I might do. Disney parks during weekdays when crowds less, Legoland first weekend, and move to Universal to avoid Wine&Dine crowds at Disney and get Universal perks to see Harry Potter:

Oct 31: fly down, check-in Disney resort, AK afternoon
Nov 1: Legoland morning, MNSSHP evening
Nov 2: HS
Nov 3: MK
Nov 4: Epcot
Nov 5: MK
Nov 6: AK/HS/Epcot/water park? leave Disney check in Universal
Nov 7: IoA
Nov 8: US, MVMCP evening
Nov 9: fly home

 

[itchin2go]

My family (myself, DH, and DS 9) were planning on doing a trip to Orlando later this year. We want to do MVMCP, severals days at Disney, Harry Potter at Universal, and Legoland. For us, a big trip. We were planning on going from November 12-21 to take advantage of low crowds. We have a credit at Southwest that we need to use for airfare. I called to book our flights...and our return flight needs to happen by November 10 to be able to use our credit. The credit is for over $900, so I feel like we really do need to use it.

So, it was back to the drawing board for me. Now, I"m looking at arriving on November 1 and leaving November 9. The first Christmas party is Sunday, November 8--so as long as we got tickets ahead of time for the first party, we would be able to still do that. I believe that the Osbourne Lights begin November 6, so with some planning we would be able to do those as well. The weekend we would be there is Wine Dine Marathon, with an "8" crowd level....but I thought we could avoid that by going to Legoland that day.

In general the crowds are higher this first week, and I don't think any of the resort decorations will be up yet. I"m trying not to be disappointed at missing those things, since I know they are fairly minor in the scheme of things. I'm looking for some reassurance, I guess, that the earlier trip will still be great and will feel, to some extent, like Christmas at Disney.

Thanks for the input. I appreciate it.

Have you been when the Christmas decorations are up? The reason I ask is because our last trip was Thanksgiving of last year and it was our first time seeing the holiday decorations. I was underwhelmed. Some of them were quite lovely (the tree in AKL comes to mind), but it just did not enhance my experience the way I thought it would.

The exception to this was Osborne Lights. Those were spectacular and not to be missed!

So, all in all, I wouldn't mourn the lack of holiday decorations. Not to be a Scrooge, but they weren't "all that" anyway. Even if crowds are heavier at the time you're planning, I wouldn't worry too much about that either. Crowd levels were high during Thanksgiving and we didn't really notice a difference ... and we had a great trip.

 

[kiford]

We love to go at the Christmas season and see the decorations, but $900 is too much to let go just to see them. Your plan to avoid WDW during the high crowd days seems sound especially as you'd already planned to go off the grounds anyway. Weather should be nice. It sounds like a fun time planned with a few really minor changes. Go with the right attitude - that you'll have a good time despite missing some of the Christmas stuff - and you will have a great time.

 

[maryj11]

I think there may be a Halloween Party on Nov 1st, you could that and then do the Christmas party the last day .

 

[ElizabethG]

In 2013 we went down at the same time. We went to the last Halloween party, first Christmas part, and Osborne lights. It was a great trip! We got to see the park decorated for both holidays which was fun. Consider doing that.

 

[LibrarianBecky]

Thanks for the input. I thought about doing MNSSHP on November 1st and MVMCP on the last day. We went to MNSSHP in 2013 and had a absolutely fantastic time.