Week after Labor Day or Week after Thanksgiving?

[Freiden8]

I'm starting to plan our trip this year and I seriously can't decide! We very likely will be staying at the Beach Club, although a repeat stay at the Poly is a possibility. I really want to go with the week after Thanksgiving because of all the Christmas stuff, but I am unsure about the heat and our ability to take advantage of Stormalong Bay. We have wanted to stay at BC for years and we keep putting it off in favor of other resorts for various reason.

Sept Pros:
• Low crowds
• Guarenteed hot enough to swim
• Slightly cheaper than post-Thanksgiving/ our youngest is still free.
• Likely that a fall deal will become available

Sept Cons:
• We usually go this week so we always see Halloween decor.
• still very hot and humid
• Hurricane season

Nov/Dec Pros:
• Christmas decor and programs, which we haven't seen in 10 years.
• Relief in the scorching heat
• More likely to not experience rain/not hurricane season

Nov/Dec Cons:
• Maybe not the best swimming weather.
• Have to wait until after Thanksgiving.. lol
• Youngest will be 3 so we will have to pay for her, making this option a bit more expensive
• maybe slightly higher crowds

 

[Gillyrose779]

If this could be your one and only time at Beach Club then I would go in Sept. to guarantee good swimming weather. We swam at Beach Club this last Dec. but we also had days we were in coats too.

My kids love the pool- the best by far.

 

[Accident]

the week after labor day may not have anything special except for halloween decorations in mk. If your interested in other things like winter holiday party then I suggest the week after thanksgiving (it's also usually a reasonable crowd week) and with the exception of this year, is when they film the dec 25 christmas show.

in 2014 we went that week in dec and it was 70s and fine for swimming as long as the sun was out.

 

[scrapquitler]

I'm starting to plan our trip this year and I seriously can't decide! We very likely will be staying at the Beach Club, although a repeat stay at the Poly is a possibility. I really want to go with the week after Thanksgiving because of all the Christmas stuff, but I am unsure about the heat and our ability to take advantage of Stormalong Bay. We have wanted to stay at BC for years and we keep putting it off in favor of other resorts for various reason.

Sept Pros:
• Low crowds
• Guarenteed hot enough to swim
• Slightly cheaper than post-Thanksgiving/ our youngest is still free.
• Likely that a fall deal will become available

Sept Cons:
• We usually go this week so we always see Halloween decor.
• still very hot and humid
• Hurricane season

Nov/Dec Pros:
• Christmas decor and programs, which we haven't seen in 10 years.
• Relief in the scorching heat
• More likely to not experience rain/not hurricane season

Nov/Dec Cons:
• Maybe not the best swimming weather.
• Have to wait until after Thanksgiving.. lol
• Youngest will be 3 so we will have to pay for her, making this option a bit more expensive
• maybe slightly higher crowds

We went to Disney the weekend after Labor Day this year (Sept 10-14). It was VERY hot and much more crowded than I thought it would be. I do think that the crowd levels were higher than we expected because the end of our trip coincided with the first Halloween Party, AND the Jewish holiday. It probably wouldn't be quite as busy in other years because of the coincidence of Rosh Hoshana falling at the same time (I think it's usually a little later).

 

[hakepb]

It's possible (but unlikely) to have an entire week in November with no high above 65. Most guests will have multiple good swimming days.
(And pools are heated for hardy guests). It is nice seeing the Christmas tree and carousel in Beach Club, too.

....but it's so hard passing up that last "free" trip

 

[CynBeth]

I don't want to jinx anything but we have gone during during the holiday season 3 times over the last 6 years and had great weather (Thanksgiving Week 2011, second week of Dec 2013, and Thanksgiving Week 2015). I know there is no guarantee but I would take the chance. It is even more magical this time of year.

 

[Paigesmom2013]

The free 3 year old would be incentive for me to go in September, but if you're staying at Beach Club, you must have a decent budget anyway. Our first trip was the week after Labor Day and it was hot and humid beyond what we could bear. I don't remember many fall decorations. It was more crowded than I expected too but that was me being naive about what "low crowds" means at Disney.

 

[anniemae]

Def Thanksgiving. Much better weather. The heat, humidity, rain and hurricane threat of Sept is not worth it IMO. Nov is my favorite time to go.

 

[To the honeypots]

We actually went both of those weeks this year. Admittedly, we do love our pool and water park time and found after thanksgiving was too chilly to do swim for long. We didn't even attempt the water park because we knew that would be too cold. Crowds were much higher week after thanksgiving as well Imo.

The Christmas decorations were beautiful though especially the castle and I think my son liked the Christmas parade even more than the Halloween parade. He did miss the trick or treating.

Ultimately, I did vote for week after Labor Day, but this was because we are such swimmers. If you aren't I would vote for week after Thanksgiving.

 

[mom2rose&john]

We went the Saturday after Thanksgiving in 2014. I loved the Christmas Decorations. After Sunday the crowds were low and wait times were awesome. Yes, it was chilly a few days and early morning/late evening you needed a sweatshirt. Considering we are from Buffalo, NY it was fine. We went swimming on a 60-65 degree day and the lifeguards were in their parkas with hats and gloves. It was hilarious. They even thought it was funny (assuming no one needed to dive in).

 

[wdw4rfam]

November. We did years of September trips and this past year went 10 days right through thanksgiving, and in my opinion, the weather in November is enough to convince us we will NEVER have another September trip. The weather in September is so hot and humid it is hard to just enjoy walking around for us, but we did it because of price and low crowds for 9 years. We had some 9/10 crowd days this past trip and it was still more enjoyable for us. If someone told me I had to chose Polynesian in September or a value in November, I'd still say November. But that's us. If you can handle temps in the 90s with 90-100% humidity, with a good chance of daily rain, absolutely do September.

 

[kohlby]

We've been both of those week. I prefer the week after t-giving by quite a bit. Though the crowds were lower when we went that week in Sept, the crowds weren't that bad in Nov either. We can handle a little more crowded far better than we can handle the heat. (I actually handled the heat far better than I expected, but not everyone in my family did. Since you have a young child, the heat is a concern). The heat index was over 100 on several days during our trip in Sept of 2014. (And though we did US - not Disney in 2015, we did go the week after Thanksgiving. The weather then was, as usual, great!)

As for swimming, the temp has only been an issue when we had a trip at the end of January. We've had several trips in Nov/Dec.

*A side thing to consider is the child's height. 40" will mean a few more rides. My eldest was barely 3 on his first trip and his favorite ride was Test Track. When my daughter made 40", also at 3, her favorite ride was BTMRR, which is also 40". (My youngest has sensory issues and though he made 40" at 3 as well, he wasn't ready to try those rides until 4.5).

 

[matheke]

If you haven't done the Christmas and other winter holidays for 10 years, you need to do it again. Some things have changed, and some have gone away but it is still fun. We just went down the Friday after Thanksgiving and did US Saturday and Sunday, then WDW Monday-Thursday and had a blast. We go during December most years.

Saturday after Thanksgiving was crowded and we used our express pass a lot that day, Sunday it was a ghost town. I told a few people that I could not connect to the internet from our room Friday and Saturday but Sunday afternoon I was able to log in with no problems. Too many folks hogging up the bandwidth. We also had problems using the line apps on our phones before everybody left.

Anyhow I guess that was a long way to say, check in on Saturday and start the festivities on Sunday if you can.

 

[lustergirl]

early September: too hot
after Thanksgiving: just right

 

[han22735]

I would take the lower crowds and heat in Sept over the higher crowds and chance of cold(freezing) weather in November.

 

[maryj11]

I would go the week after Thanksgiving. The Christmas decorations make everything so beautiful! I have gone Labor day week several times . My only complaint is it is hot hot. Crowds were average or a little over.

 

[bcinohio]

Were the resort decorations at the GF, Poly, and Contemporary up the week after Thanksgiving? We would like to go the second week of Dec like DH and I did a few years ago but work for him may be a problem. So was thinking maybe week after Thanksgiving this year. Are the crowds a little lower the week after Thanksgiving?

Can anyone tell me if there were any discounts offered the week after Thanksgiving?

 

[maryj11]

Were the resort decorations at the GF, Poly, and Contemporary up the week after Thanksgiving? We would like to go the second week of Dec like DH and I did a few years ago but work for him may be a problem. So was thinking maybe week after Thanksgiving this year. Are the crowds a little lower the week after Thanksgiving?

Can anyone tell me if there were any discounts offered the week after Thanksgiving?

I read that Christmas decorations begin to go up the first week in November and the resorts are all finished being decorated by the day after Thanksgiving.

 

[piglet1979]

The past 2 years we have gone the week of Labor day. We love not have the high crowd levels. With this being the last your to have your youngest free I would go in September. Get one more year of savings then the next time you visit go in Nov/Dec.

 

[100acreHiker]

We had excellent crowds and nice weather (other than a little rain) right after this most recent Thanksgiving. I would go again that week in a heartbeat. September would be WAY too hot and humid for me.