Who's been in November/Thanksgiving

[*DisMom*]

Who's been in November or for Thanksgiving? Tell me about crowds, weather, clothes you wore, etc. I am getting very excited about our upcoming trip. I am already wondering what to pack, especially clothes?? Any tips, advice. We are staying at BWV- my parents bought into DVC last year!!! Thanks in advance!!

 

[maraki527]

We were there last year...I was alright with jeans and a tshirt during the day at night i took a sweater. My Dh had on shorts and a tshirt and took a jacket at night.

 

[Pirate-Jeff]

The crowds the in November are not bad with the exception of Thanksgiving week. Thanksgiving week you will need a shoe-horn just to get into the parks.

We will NEVER go Thanksgiving week again.

Jeff

 

[Noreendisfour]

We went Thanksgiving week about 6 years ago. The first couple of days of our week were ok. It didn't get really crowded until Tuesday before Thanksgiving, but our biggest mistake was going to Magic Kingdom on Thanksgiving Day. Do not make that mistake.

 

[momminnie]

Please don't say that! That's the day we will be there, and the ay before. We don't have any chose but to be there on those days.

 

[khurley23]

If you have no other options but to go on that day, my suggestion would be to accept that you will have lots of crowds and go prepared with a plan. I think if you're in the right frame of mind, you might get frustrated at times but you'll still have fun. Good luck!

 

[disneykibbes5]

We have gone two seperate years the week after Thanksgiving. We wore shorts with t-shirts and a coat in the morning. Then at night we would wear jeans. But it wasn't always nessesary to have the jeans. But I would make sure to pack a lightweight jacket especially for the morning.
I have never been the actual week of Thanksgiving though. But the week after is really nice. Not too crowded and I think the weather is wonderful.

 

[*DisMom*]

i'm excited about the weather part. we usually go in the summer and it gets so hot and humid! thanks for everyone's advice/info. we won't be going to MK on thursday. we have a late lunch scheduled and the guys are going golfing that early morning!!

 

[marsh0013]

i'm going that week too (nov 16-nov 27), but i don't plan on being anywhere near the parks from at least the tues-sat. i'll be going to the parks before and after. but i guess i have that option because i'm staying at a friend's house in celebration. still very excited to be going then though! looking forward to the weather. i was there the same time last year, and i was wearing jeans and a sweatshirt on the day we went to the parks. it was a bit chilly.

 

[december]

I'm going 11/16 - 11/22. I've joined TGM to help me plan around the crowds. I'm from the south, so no shorts for me (70 is cool here!). I'm packing jeans, ts, sweatshirts, and a hoodie.

**I'm also taking us each a pair of those cheap stretchy gloves.

 

[standleyent1]

My DD and I were there last year and the week before was great! To give you an idea of how the crowds were the Thursday before Thanksgiving, Soarin was on a 10 min wait and the following Wed it was 180 mins!! We went to MK on Thanksgiving day and it was really packed in fact I talked to a CM and they told us that this was the 2nd busiest week next to Xmas. We had our Thanksgiving dinner at the Poly and it was superb!! We wore light jkts in the am and pm and shorts the whole time DD needed to change to sweat pants at pm but she was fine. You have to plan for both kinds of weather!
Have Fun!!

 

[rie'smom]

Who's been in November or for Thanksgiving? Tell me about crowds, weather, clothes you wore, etc. I am getting very excited about our upcoming trip. I am already wondering what to pack, especially clothes?? Any tips, advice. We are staying at BWV- my parents bought into DVC last year!!! Thanks in advance!!

My hubby gave me 300 pts at BWV last year,so I'm a fairly new DVC memeber too!! This will be the second trip that my 13yo daughter and I take at Thanksgiving.
Clothes:
capris
t shirts
warm ups
comfortable walking shoes/sandals
Last year we had to buy warm ups in the gift shop because there were snow flurries and we froze our patoots. Of course, this year it might be in the
80's,so pack for both.

We stayed at BWV with a Boardwalk view in May. I do not recommend this. The view is great BUT people were on the B'walk at 2 in the morning making LOTS of noise. I didn't realize that the bars stayed open as late as they do. Our room was waaaaayyyyy down one of the halls but that was OK because we joked that we walked off our meals by the time we reached the room.

We arrived last year on November 19th and the parks did not really get crowded until the day before Thanksgiving. I subscribed to TGM, as I always do, for the least crowded days. I also subscribed to RideMax because you can get a detailed,pretty much personalized touring plan for the parks.

I am going to use TGM and Ride Max again this trip and probably every trip. Our dates are: Nov 16th -Nov 23rd. This time we've booked a 1bd standard. Our last 2 nights, we're staying at the Portofino at Universal.

 

[bornwiththeears]

Last year we had to buy warm ups in the gift shop because there were snow flurries and we froze our patoots. Of course, this year it might be in the
80's,so pack for both.

We were there in the same time frame. Being from the South we took shorts, capris, sweatshirts and lightweight jackets. As an afterthought I threw in a fleece jacket for everyone. We never used the capris and shorts but we lived in the fleece jackets for three days. We went to the gift shop and bought gloves and hats.

My point is (even after you have checked the weather forecast) be prepared for anything. Bring clothes you can layer. Some days may be hot enough for shorts and on other days you may get the unexpected cold snap that we had.

However, all being said, it is one of my favorite times of the year. The Christmas decorations are beautiful. One final tip: do NOT plan on going to the Magic Kingdom on Thanksgiving Day!!!! We tried and then went to EPCOT, which was great crowd wise.

 

[Mickey'n'Me]

I am new to this site as of today. I don't mean to sound stupid but what is TGM and Ridemax?

 

[december]

I am new to this site as of today. I don't mean to sound stupid but what is TGM and Ridemax?

Tour Guide Mike. Great planning site, in my opionion! It is also a sponsor to the theme parks attractions and strategies board. If you go through the link on that board, you can join for around $18 per trip.

http://www.tourguidemike.com/index.asp?promoCode=AG9MF-AQ#TGM-home

I've never done Ridemax.

 

[rie'smom]

I am new to this site as of today. I don't mean to sound stupid but what is TGM and Ridemax?

Tour Guide Mike is a great planning site! He has the least crowded days chart which tells you which park to attend on each day-great for avoiding crowds.

RideMax is another planning tool which helps tremendously in avoiding crowds. It's a more personalized plan,eg, you type in when your ADRs are scheduled and when you plan to arrive and leave the parks. Then it runs a prgram that tells you the order the you should ride to avoid crowds.\

I would never consider a WDW trip w/out either of these.

 

[Mickey'n'Me]

Thanks so much for the info. I never knew there was anything like that out there. We are going to WDW this year for 12 days around the week of Thanksgiving and I think I will give one of these a try. Thanks again!!!

 

[luvsJack]

I notice you are from South Mississippi, too! We were there for Thanksgiving week last year. It was crowded, but not impossible to manage. We definitly learned to stay away from the EMH park. As for the weather, it was beautiful days all week, but cool. Having been before in that same time frame, we were expecting cool mornings and evenings and warmer days, so we took jeans and t-shirts with light jackets. It was much cooler than we expected. We ended up buying sweatshirts.

 

[*DisMom*]

yes, i'm from the gulf coast. i'm mostly worried about the little ones with the weather. i am hoping to have them comfortable during the day and if i have to take along a sweatshirt/jacket for the evenings, that will work. where about from south mississippi are you from??

 

[luvsJack]

I live just south of Hattiesburg. Comparing to our weather here, it was really chilly last year in wdw. I would suggest that you take some sweatshirts and jackets, just in case you need them. My dd rode in a stroller and in Epcot she covered up with a blanket because the wind was cold. (maybe, the wind coming off the lake?) If your kids are small,and in a stroller (and cold natured like my dd!) you may want to take some small, light blankets for them to cover up if its windy and to use at night.
Keep in mind, when we went the same time 3 years ago, it wasn't cold at all. It was cool in the am and early pm, but really warm during the day. But, then it wasn't as windy that year. I would just say be prepared for any temp!! Thats what I plan to do when we go back Nov 08.
We love it at that time of year, the decorations and Christmas music, and I would much rather have chilly temps than the heat and humidity!! We have enough of that at home!!