Who was there Nov. 3-7?

[parker720]

I'm curious if other people there Nov. 3-8 were just as surprised as we were by the size of the crowds. We thought we were going in the off-off season, and would have minimal waiting. There seemed to be large crowds everywhere -- 30 minute waits and longer first thing in the morning at Magic Kingdom on Nov. 4. Epcot was so gridlocked on Nov. 6th, I guess because of the Food and Wine Festival, that we decided to give up and turn around when we just couldn't get our stroller through. Finally, on our last day, Monday, Nov. 8, the crowds were much more manageable and we were able to walk onto most rides. We did hear that the entire state of New Jersey was out of school last week and that teachers from that state had a major conference in the region -- and that may have drove up the numbers. We still had a great time, because Disney is amazing. But I'm wondering what other people's experiences were. Also, what other resources are out there to find out if there are large conferences, events, going on that might impact the numbers? I did scan for major events ahead of time, and except for the Food and Wine Festival, I wasn't aware of anything. My main reason behind taking my children out of school in November was low crowds. Well, if that was the OFF-SEASON, we are absolutely, positively never going during the ON-SEASON. One employee told us it was the busiest she'd ever seen it in November. I'm just wondering how typical the crowd level was for November.

 

[cruise-o-matic]

We were there Thu-Sun and didn't think the crowds were that bad. Then again, our last trip was in July w/DD in tow.

We were at MGM on Thu and rode Tot and RnRRC several times before lunch. Thu afternoon at Epcot wasn't bad, very short lines at the f&W kiosks.

Fri am at MK wasn't bad either. Walked on at Haunted Mansion and short FP times for Space Mtn. We returned to MK Fri night when it got cool around 6 and walked on several rides.

Sat PM at Epcot the lines were long at the kiosks, but we walked in and had good seats for Eddie Money.

Sun AM at MGM was good too. Walked on Tot twice.

 

[kyler22]

Hello--long time lurker, have only posted a few times previously, but this one made me come out of the shadows to reply. I was at WDW from 10/31 to 11/7 and was absolutely astonished at the crowd sizes. I have vacationed in April, June, and July in previous years, and I can honestly say the crowd levels last week rivaled summer crowds. We went on two backstage tours during our stay and both guides mentioned that they had NEVER seen November this busy. We rode the auto train down and I met many families from New Jersey, so I am sure "Jersey Week" had some play. I was also thinking that perhaps many of those who had to cancel during one of the three hurricanes had rescheduled for this month. Just a thought. At any rate--you are right, the crowds were CRAZY.

 

[parker720]

Thanks for coming out of the shadows. I'm glad you thought the same thing. If you've been there during the on-season, you have something to compare it to. This was our first family trip. My husband and I just couldn't believe it. We just kept thinking our definition of "low crowds" was much different. There were lines everywhere. We must have walked around for an hour at the MK on Nov. 4 looking for a counter-service restaurant that didn't have 100 people in line in front of us. With just a few exceptions, we were in line 30 minutes or more for most rides. We saw a marked difference when we returned Nov. 8. I think your comment about the hurricanes and rescheduling might be right. I'm sure it wasn't as bad as the middle of summer, but it couldn't have been too far off. As I said before, we still had a good time, but the crowd levels were certainly disappointing given that we selected our trip dates for that very reason.

 

[SleepyMom]

We just returned today and I agree, the crowds were amazing!!! We've only been there before during December (very low crowds) and September (hot, but low crowds) and I really thought this visit would compare. I couldn't have been more wrong

We still had a great trip, only because we have been before and didn't feel the need to see and do it all. Last night (11-8) after the MK closed was the worst!!! When we walked to our bus stop, the line was out of the que area and went back over 3 other bus stops, we walked right past the end of our line without even realizing it!!! We had to turn around and go back to find the end of the line

I am hoping to write my first ever trip report, so I will include how we finally made it to our resort, let's just say we used a lot of strange ways to get around this past week

 

[parker720]

SleepyMom, did you stay for the fireworks 11/8? We had a great view for the SpectroMagic Parade. We were in chairs on the second level of the railroad station looking directly down on the parade. We went back and forth on whether to stay for the fireworks, and finally decided to run for it --10 minutes before the fireworks started. I think people thought we lost our minds, giving up our seats. I figured if we sat through the fireworks we weren't getting out of there for 3 hours. I was kicking myself, saying we should have stayed. But then, we were able to get on the first boat back, and were quickly back to the Wilderness Lodge.

 

[JoiseyMom]

Ok, last week was "Jersey Week", but the whole state didn't have off. Teachers have a conference in Atlantic City on Thursday and Friday. Some districts were also closed for Election day. Therefore lots of parents go to Disney since the kids aren't missing so much school. Some districts close all week. Mine doesn't. But I am here right now. We got here on Friday, and hit MK on Saturday. Saturday was more crowded then I thought it would be, but it wasn't that bad. So far the rest of the week has been good. At MK today, even with rain Peter Pan had a one hour wait.

Well..off to bed. AK is tomorrw morning .

 

[parker720]

We were at MK on Saturday to have lunch at Cinderella's Castle and catch a Philharmagic show. It was absolutely wall-to-wall people in FantasyLand. You couldn't move 1 foot forward, right or left without bumping into somebody.

 

[tlgoblue]

The MK crowds were unbelievable! MGM and Epcot weren't nearly as crowded. I was really surprised that Epcot wasn't more crowded as Food and Wine Festival was wrapping up. We had a great time at F&WF. Mission Space was awesome. I was worried at first, as I do tend toward motion sickness, and I had been eating and drinking my way through WS all morning (yes morning! ) long. I had no problem whatsoever. After the ride, I felt a wee bit woosie, but it went away as soon as I headed back to WS for some more F&W! I was not prepared for the crowds at MK and was really quite cranky about the whole thing. I was glad to have the chance to get there on a whim though. I really missed it more than I had thought. Can't wait to go back but we are moving to L.A. and I'm thinking it will have to be DL for a while. OH well, it beats the heck out of Indiana.

Keep the Faith!
Tracy

 

[LYNSUE]

DH and I were there 11-4 to 11-9. I was amazed at the crowds. It was almost as crowded as spring break (just slightly less). Several nights there was no availability (walk ups) at any of the World Showcase restaurants. It was much busier this week than this same week in past years.

I too will be posting my very first trip report. I met three diser's on this trip (all by chance). It was so exciting.

1. Ilovepooh - outside the Crystal Palace Friday 11-5 at 8:15am
2. A wonderful lady (cannot remember her board name...very sorry) Met outside the lady's bathroom next to RnR coaster. Saturday 11-6 at about about 10:00am.
3. Alaska (something) - We spent several hours together on a Keys to the Kingdom tour. Actually shared a table during our lunch break. She and her DH were great company and I enjoyed meeting them very much.

Sorry fellow diser's about how I messed up your board names. I truely enjoyed meeting each of you. Alaska, I will be in search of your trip report.

 

[SleepyMom]

parker720, Yes we did stay for the fireworks 11/8... but not for that reason. We had also been to MK on Saturday and caught the parade and Wishes, so on Monday my DD10 thought we should skip them and do rides instead... just before 8 pm we went on Space Mountain and when we came out the fireworks were just beginning. We sat in a nearly deserted area of Tomorrowland and watched them. After that we slowly walked around (knowing it was our last night there) took a ton of pictures near the castle and thought it would be safe to leave then, it was close to 9pm. That was when we encountered the long lines for the busses. Someone mentioned they had heard it was a record attendance for that date, is that true?

We did have a great trip with lots of special little moments though, so I am very glad we went...

 

[parker720]

Same here. Glad we went. But I wouldn't be at all surprised if it was record attendance for that date. I'm still wondering if anyone out there knows of any places you can check before booking your trip, regarding special events, conventions, etc., that might increase crowds. Because we purposely went in the off-off season, and what we got wasn't what we expected.

 

[Annie&Hallie'sMom]

I think overall attendance is way up at WDW and not just because of "jersey week" (believe me there are plenty of us still here in NJ).

Was there the last week in October and was told all of CBR was sold out. Our first Saturday night, MK was packed! I had never seen such crowds and we have been in July and this was worse!

I better not hear any complaining from Mr. Eisner about WDW attendence!

 

[jjpenguin]

I was there nov 1-7 and found crowds did pick up during the week, but... they were especially large at MK and at Epcot - World Showcase in the evening.

Epcot during the day was fine and Mission Space was a walk on at 7 pm. MGM was ok too, I did ToT back to back with a fastpass and then standby of 25 mins.

Animal Kingdom on 6th nov was also ok.
MK was mobbed on 4th .... it was open till 11 on the 6th so they must have been expecting large crowds.

When I called to book my hotel it was also difficult to get a room. I think a lot of people had rescheduled from september.

JJ Penguin

 

[gjerseygirl]

I don't know if it was all of New Jersey or not but it sure seemed like it. I will also be posting my first trip report and the crowd part of it won't be good. Even though I'm from NJ I will never go that week again. I'd rather go in the summer when the parks are open late and we can relax by the pool all day (especially with the record heat we had from Oct. 29 - Nov. 3rd) and then we can go to the parks at night when the sun goes down and the crowds thin out. Also, someone mentioned that they took the auto train down. Well, we took the regular train down and on the trip back our train hit and killed someone outside of Jacksonville. 8 hour delay....got home 4:00 in the morning. Was supposed to get home 7:30 the night before. Yikes!! It's amazing we still had a good time.

 

[parker720]

I will say that every third person we talked to was from New Jersey, and that's not an exaggeration. After a while, my husband and I started asking people where they were from. No question -- "Jersey Week" had an impact. Is that always the first week of November? I thought the first couple weeks in November and in December were the best times to go. Does anyone know of any other standing events that might affect these time periods? I'd really like to know before we schedule the next vacation. Or maybe everybody is reading the same thing in guide books and shifting to November and December...?

 

[gjerseygirl]

Jersey week is always the first week of Nov. Teacher's conferences. Next year they are not giving our district the whole week off like they did this year and last year. Just the two days for conferences but parents will still take their kids out of school to go down that week although it might not have as much of an impact but I won't ever take that chance again. Hey, how's Jan.??

 

[JohnNJ]

Originally posted by gjerseygirl
Jersey week is always the first week of Nov. Teacher's conferences.

And you call yourself a Jersey girl? Jersey Week for the next two years is the second week in November.

11/10-11/2005

11/9-10/2006

 

[janets]

is that right? So they are making Teachers' Convention over Veteran's Day (11/11) next year? Very interesting. If that's so, then if we decide to go to WDW, I'll only need to take 4 vacation days (we get a choice of MLK's bday or Veteran's Day as a floating holiday). I'll work MLK and use VD and save the vacation day.

We're going this year for the first week of December. DS1 is only in first grade and I felt we could take him out. Next year it will be harder so we might opt for November to only miss 3 days - which all happen to be 1/2 days for us.

Thanks for the update.

 

[Tinkerbelle739]

We were at WDW Oct 30- Nov 7 and were not surprised by the crowds.

First it is NJ week, F&W festival was soooo crowded most nights but thankfully not on Nov 2 when we were there.

We were also told that many vacationers who had to reschedule their vacations due to the hurricanes were there that week.

I agree that MK was very crowded in the AM and you had to use expert MK knowledge to avoid the crowds and the waits.