WDW for the Big 4-0 or Christmas?

GoofTroop4Life

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jan 16, 2020
I would love to go to WDW for my 40th birthday the first weekend in October 2020, but I'm a teacher so it would have to be a pretty quick trip (2-3 park days). I was thinking of postponing it until Christmas (we could head down on 12.19) or maybe even Thanksgiving (not as likely, but I'm open). Here's what I'm thinking:

OCTOBER
Well...it is my birthday and all
I've heard the weather is lovely
MNSSH and/or Food and Wine (I have never been to either)
We could only go for a long weekend

DECEMBER
Christmas at WDW 🎄
My kids (DS 12, DD 8) would love to see the decorations and fake snow...as I type this, I realize leaving real snow in MN for fake snow in FL sounds a bit crazy, but I suppose we're all a little off :ssst:
More expensive and larger crowds (I don't love the huge crowds, but I'm not scared of them either)
We could stay a bit longer

I know like so many things Disney, there isn't a wrong answer, but what would you do?
 
I’d go when you have more time, whether it’s thanksgiving or mid Dec. For us, with flight costs, and park ticket cost structure, we tend to take longer trips. Our last one was thanksgiving thru 12/5... 10 days, which was long for us. We still had the Christmas decor and celebrations... we love the EP Christmas storytelling and the processional (we booked Neil Patrick Harris). With the grand opening of rise of the resistance, crowds were heavier than typical thanksgiving- early dec. But I think after the sat after thanksgiving, crowds are manageable. All things equal, if you had more time in oct, I’d go in oct over the holidays, but only because I’ve often done the Christmas WDW vacation many times and prioritize lower crowds. Plus we love Food and Wine Fest. Columbus Day wknd and wknds towards Halloween can be fairly busy though... not Christmas busy, but not early Sept light either.

We only did weekend trips when we lived in Tampa. We are doing a 5 day trip on Labor Day wknd, but only because we’re out of paid vacation days by then and bought the 4 day magic tickets.
 


I would price both trips out and have that help me decide . If I could get amazingly cheap air I’d consider the weekend . If I couldn’t then to me the weekend trip wouldn’t be worth it
 
Do you get a fall break? (I do in Oklahoma, but didn't in California.) If so, could you go later in October and not right ON your birthday? I went for my 40th a few years ago over fall break and it was amazing. The weather is pretty great in October, plus F&W.
 


I went for my 40th a few months back with 2 friends. We had such a great time!

We did W-Su with the following itinerary (F&W was still going on):
W- HS
R- Epcot/AK/Epcot
F- MVMCP (this was my actual birthday)
Sa- MK/Epcot/MK (this day's plans weren't solidified until we saw on W & R how much of HS & AK we got through)
Su- Disney Springs/late flights home

In 2018, the 3 of us and a 4th friend went in October specifically for F&W and MNSSP. Our itinerary looked like this:
W- Disney Springs
R- Epcot
F- AK/MNSSHP
Sa- HS
Su- hang out at hotel/go home

The 3 of us that did both trips preferred the itinerary where we went to a park on arrival day. We felt like we got much more done.
 
I spent my 40th at WDW. It was in June so super hot, but an amazing trip. We drove 12 hours to spend two days and two nights there, just for my birthday. I loved it! With that said, we also took two other short trips that year. But I realize you are much further away and would probably fly, which would double your airfare if you did two short trips. I would choose Christmas if I could go right before and leave before the actual holiday; otherwise, I would pick October.
 
I would love to go to WDW for my 40th birthday the first weekend in October 2020, but I'm a teacher so it would have to be a pretty quick trip (2-3 park days). I was thinking of postponing it until Christmas (we could head down on 12.19) or maybe even Thanksgiving (not as likely, but I'm open). Here's what I'm thinking:

OCTOBER
Well...it is my birthday and all
I've heard the weather is lovely
MNSSH and/or Food and Wine (I have never been to either)
We could only go for a long weekend

DECEMBER
Christmas at WDW 🎄
My kids (DS 12, DD 8) would love to see the decorations and fake snow...as I type this, I realize leaving real snow in MN for fake snow in FL sounds a bit crazy, but I suppose we're all a little off :ssst:
More expensive and larger crowds (I don't love the huge crowds, but I'm not scared of them either)
We could stay a bit longer

I know like so many things Disney, there isn't a wrong answer, but what would you do?

I would choose your birthday weekend - in fact, I did! I'm celebrating a milestone birthday there this year (let's just say, I'm not turning 29, LOL!) and, because of DS12's school schedule, it's only a two night trip. The first night will be MVMCP followed by a day of park touring and dinner at V&A. We are staying GF CL as a special treat.

It is beautiful at WDW over Christmas, but, boy, the crowds are not fun.
 
October! You only hit those milestone birthdays so many times;)
 
I would go Thanksgiving if you can or around Christmas so you have a longer trip and experience the holiday stuff. Even if it is not your actual birthday you can get a birthday pin and celebrate. On our last trip it was my DH’s actual birthday but there were people we met who had a theirs a month or 2 before and this was when they could get to Disney.
 
The week before Christmas Eve is not busy. From Christmas Eve it is very busy.
We went in 2017 from Dec 20-26. We did all we wanted daily even taking a mid day break and TS dinners. We waited very little for any ride, until Christmas Eve. Christmas we did more than we thought we would, even though we spent the entire day at Magic Kingdom. I would definitely go with December. The festive vibe is great.
 
Do you get a fall break? (I do in Oklahoma, but didn't in California.) If so, could you go later in October and not right ON your birthday? I went for my 40th a few years ago over fall break and it was amazing. The weather is pretty great in October, plus F&W.
I do get a fall break mid-October, but I have parent/teacher conferences until 7pm on Thursday :sad1:, and the admin at my school gives us a hard time about asking for extra time off around breaks. Having the summer "off" (you know we are always working on something) is amazing, but man I wish I could sometimes take a short break when I needed one.
 
I went for my 40th a few months back with 2 friends. We had such a great time!

We did W-Su with the following itinerary (F&W was still going on):
W- HS
R- Epcot/AK/Epcot
F- MVMCP (this was my actual birthday)
Sa- MK/Epcot/MK (this day's plans weren't solidified until we saw on W & R how much of HS & AK we got through)
Su- Disney Springs/late flights home

In 2018, the 3 of us and a 4th friend went in October specifically for F&W and MNSSP. Our itinerary looked like this:
W- Disney Springs
R- Epcot
F- AK/MNSSHP
Sa- HS
Su- hang out at hotel/go home

The 3 of us that did both trips preferred the itinerary where we went to a park on arrival day. We felt like we got much more done.
Thanks for the itinerary! I don't think we could make it down until Wednesday night at the earliest, but I would be ok with not doing all of the parks. I'm sure this is blasphemous, but I wouldn't mind waiting for the ROTR hype to die down even more, so maybe skipping HS is a possibility if I decide on a short trip.
 
We went in 2017 from Dec 20-26. We did all we wanted daily even taking a mid day break and TS dinners. We waited very little for any ride, until Christmas Eve. Christmas we did more than we thought we would, even though we spent the entire day at Magic Kingdom. I would definitely go with December. The festive vibe is great.
Good to know. I am never sure how crazy the crowds in December really are. If we don't go for Christmas this year, I definitely want to get there soon. I think I just need to experience it for myself.
 
I do get a fall break mid-October, but I have parent/teacher conferences until 7pm on Thursday :sad1:, and the admin at my school gives us a hard time about asking for extra time off around breaks. Having the summer "off" (you know we are always working on something) is amazing, but man I wish I could sometimes take a short break when I needed one.
So are you saying you are off a whole week, but that you have conferences on Thursday night the week before your break? Or do you mean you have conferences the Thursday of your break?
 
Are you a Christmas person? We’ve been during the Christmas season and my husband and daughter (who are Christmas fanatics) think it’s the greatest thing ever. I actually loathe Christmas it’s my least favorite holiday (go ahead call me Scrooge I’m OK with it lol!) and for me it always slightly annoying to see Christmas plastered all over the parks. I’d rather be there on my birthday and especially during food and wine. Last year I WAS there on my birthday and the opening day of food and wine and out of dozens of trips it was honestly the best one ever! All of our trips are usually pretty short, 2-4 park days at most. For us it’s OK because we know will be back so there’s not this feeling of pressure to do it all. I guess if it’s your once in a lifetime or you only go very infrequently maybe a longer trip would be a better option.
 
We went this last Christmas, mainly the week before and it was busy. Too busy for us. Christmas eve/day was nuts with crowds. The days before were OK other than the rain, which we thought we left in Seattle. I'd go earlier in December if you can as it just gets busier as you get closer. October is just too hot for us and we're moving to mid-November or early December for our trips. We loved the decorations and how the resorts were done up but the crowds were killer.
 

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