Which holiday would be least painful?

[rdaky]

We just got back from WDW a few days ago, so this will not be a once in a lifetime trip or anything like that...

We are deciding when to take a trip this Fall and need to go around our kids' school schedules.

Fall break, which is Oct. 5-8 (also Columbus Day and the shortest option)
Thanksgiving week
December 20 or later.

I'm thinking that December is out because it's nuts. But between Oct and Nov, not sure what to do. October will only give us 4 park days. Thanksgiving week would give us an entire week, but if the crowds are body to body I'm not sure if that would be of any benefit?

Any thoughts?

 

[ArwenMarie]

I would pick Thanksgiving week.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

Thanksgiving for sure in my opinion!
I've gone around that time many times and my parents still do.
Its especially great if you love Christmas but don't want to go during the insane Christmas week.

 

[CynBeth]

Thanksgiving!

 

[pitpat]

Groundhog Day or Arbor Day aren't too bad

 

[DizDaD7]

Groundhog Day or Arbor Day aren't too bad

this made me chuckle...

 

[Alesia]

Definitely Thanksgiving

 

[SaintsManiac]

Thanksgiving!!! We had a blast last year.

 

[ColoradoMom12]

I’d also vote for Thanksgiving!

 

[alldiz]

Thanksgiving

 

[Klayfish]

We just got back from WDW a few days ago, so this will not be a once in a lifetime trip or anything like that...

We are deciding when to take a trip this Fall and need to go around our kids' school schedules.

Fall break, which is Oct. 5-8 (also Columbus Day and the shortest option)
Thanksgiving week
December 20 or later.

I'm thinking that December is out because it's nuts. But between Oct and Nov, not sure what to do. October will only give us 4 park days. Thanksgiving week would give us an entire week, but if the crowds are body to body I'm not sure if that would be of any benefit?

Any thoughts?

The crowds are very rarely "body to body" anytime, only in limited circumstances. All of these will be busy, but you have to have the right mindset. If you see them as "painful", you won't like any of them. We love both Thanksgiving and Xmas.

 

[EscalatorKid]

Thanksgiving.

I've been and it wasn't any worse than or even as busy as trips in August.

 

[rdaky]

The crowds are very rarely "body to body" anytime, only in limited circumstances. All of these will be busy, but you have to have the right mindset. If you see them as "painful", you won't like any of them. We love both Thanksgiving and Xmas.

I understand what you're saying. And up until this year, we've pulled kids out of school and gone at the least crowded times. My oldest is going to be a 7th grader and it's just too difficult to take her out. So we went in June. It was definitely an adjustment with crowds (and heat!) but we had a longer trip and rope dropped and it was a great trip. We have visited during our Spring Break but when we went it was not any busier than off-season, but we've never done a Fall holiday. We can definitely rope drop and lower our expectations, but at the same time, we're not interested in waiting 2+ hours to ride everything.

 

[ariane37]

We are going Thanksgiving week this year for the 3rd time, we love it! Weather is great, parks and resorts all decorated We don't find the crowds unbearable at all and much prefer it to spring break.

 

[SaintsManiac]

I understand what you're saying. And up until this year, we've pulled kids out of school and gone at the least crowded times. My oldest is going to be a 7th grader and it's just too difficult to take her out. So we went in June. It was definitely an adjustment with crowds (and heat!) but we had a longer trip and rope dropped and it was a great trip. We have visited during our Spring Break but when we went it was not any busier than off-season, but we've never done a Fall holiday. We can definitely rope drop and lower our expectations, but at the same time, we're not interested in waiting 2+ hours to ride everything.

There aren’t 2 hour waits for everything. We did everything we wanted to do multiple times, scored last minute dining and didn’t even rope drop every day.

 

[rdaky]

There aren’t 2 hour waits for everything. We did everything we wanted to do multiple times, scored last minute dining and didn’t even rope drop every day.

Wow. That's really good to know. I was under the impression that Thanksgiving was just a notch below Christmas in craziness levels.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Wow. That's really good to know. I was under the impression that Thanksgiving was just a notch below Christmas in craziness levels.

I've never been at Christmas, but I've heard stories...

I will say that AK on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving was the most crowded park I have ever experienced in my life and we still had a blast and did what we wanted to do. It just felt extremely congested in some of the walkways. However, it was not "shoulder to shoulder" or anything like that. Pandora at night was so peaceful, so we spent a good amount of time relaxing in there.

 

[drwadadli]

Another vote for Thanksgiving here. Christmas week is totally insane. Yes it is all decorated and a great to spend Christmas at the Happiest Place On Earth but if you plan to eat or do anything at the parks then good luck. The parks will be PACKED!!!!! Therefore, I would pick Thanksgiving.

 

[disneygolfer1985]

I prefer Thanksgiving over Christmas personally and now that they start the International Festival of the Holidays the Sunday before Thanksgiving you can enjoy all of the holiday festivities at Epcot before Thanksgiving. The crowds are not nearly as bad during Thanksgiving as they are during Christmas.

 

[kwdw]

Really depends on how long you what to stay and how much money you want to spend. Frankly, if you can pull them out of school one day to make it a 5 day trip - early October is awesome. I think the Halloween party is great - don't miss a great spot for the parade. I think October is better if your family likes to go to the pool - weather is consistently warmer.

But - if you want the longer trip - yep - pick Thanksgiving or Christmas.