Thanksgiving or Christmas ??

[ssweldon]

My trip to WDW this year will have to be either the week of Thanksgiving (Nov. 19-26) or the week before Christmas (Dec. 17-24). Any advice on which week I should choose? Which time will be busier? I plan to stay on-property and I would like to take part in most of the Christmas festivities.

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

It will actually be less expensive to stay on property the week before Christmas than it will the week before Thanksgiving. That may seem a little odd but the reason is that Disney has "seasons" for their hotel rates.

The 11/19-11/26 stay falls in "Regular Season", while the 12/17-12/24 stay actually begins in "Value Season" and extends into "Holiday Season". The beauty of it is that if your stay begins in value season, you pay the Value Season rate for all nights of your stay, even if they fall in Holiday Season.

Another consideration would be the extra holiday events that do not take place prior to Thanksgiving. You have the resorts and parks all decorated for Christmas, MVMCP, the Candlelight Processional, Osborne Family Lights and Christmas shows in every park. It's a magical time of year to visit WDW and if you have the chance, that's when I would recommend doing it.

You might be concerned about crowds but with planning and patience, you're sure to have an enjoyable time.

 

[ansky922]

My trip to WDW this year will have to be either the week of Thanksgiving (Nov. 19-26) or the week before Christmas (Dec. 17-24). Any advice on which week I should choose? Which time will be busier? I plan to stay on-property and I would like to take part in most of the Christmas festivities.

We just went to disney from 11/19 - 11/26/05 and let me just say it was one of the best trips ever. Mon & Tue before thanksgiving we were able to see everything we wanted between WDW, Epcot. We did candlelight precesional, MGM osbourne lights and we stayed so we could do MVMCP. Well worth it and by thanksgiving everything was aready decorated. The crowds were decent and the weather was great. My vote would be this week

 

[kimberh]

We have went to Disney at Thanksgiving night for several years, we live 7 hours away. The traffic on I-95 has really become terrible on Sunday coming home. We decided last year NEVER again. We saw 3 wrecks involving 20 plus cars within 5 miles and that doesn't take into account all the cars coming to a sudden stop at 70 mph. We had 3 cars of family on the road so this year we are going to give Disney a try in Mid Dec. to see if the traffic situation is better. I don't know if you are flying or driving but maybe this will help with your decision. Our 7 hr. trip was 12 on the way home. Just something to think about.

 

[WAHMto5]

I would vote for Christmas, you will not be disappointed at ALL! We also go the week before Chrsitmas and leave the day after Chrsitmas and it is soo much fun. Like a PP mentioned it is a bit more expensive to go in November also.