Our family is considering planning another Disney trip later this year. My husband and I both are teachers and usually visit during Summer break. However, we were thinking of going during Thanksgiving or Christmas Break. This would be the week of Thanksgiving or the week of Christmas. We will be traveling with a 5 year old and a 2 year old and possibly grandparents. What’s your thoughts…Thanksgiving or Christmas?
I would vote for Christmas! We just did a trip during Thanksgiving week and last year we went the week between Christmas and New Year’s. I liked having a extra days at the end our trip before the semester began. With our Thanksgiving trip, we came back on Saturday and had one day until school started. It didn’t really feel like a break, especially since doing Disney with small kids (we have three) can be a lot of work. I didn’t really see a big difference in the crowds. As long as you have a strong touring plan you will be fine either way.
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As a multi-year veteran with both, I would choose thanksgiving only for crowd size. Christmas week is the busiest of the year at DW, they will likely close several parks for reaching capacity. My wife is just a tine bit claustrophobic and could not make it through the crush getting into MK, we had to leave. Never in our 30 years has she had an issue anywhere else or any other Disney day. Most decorations will be up for Christmas by thanksgiving so you will still see that, Mickeys Christmas party will be going on, just shorter lines.
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I’ve done Thanksgiving twice (DD was 3; DS was 4) and loved it. There is something magical about touring the parks normally on Wed, then going to the parks Thanksgiving morning and seeing them completely decorated. An amazing start of the holiday season. The hotels typically offer special Thanksgiving menu’s; Stayed at the Beach Club both times and Cape May was awesome. And, as mentioned, while crowded nothing like the stories I’ve heard about Christmas week.
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My DH is a teacher and we were considering the same thing. We decided on Thanksgiving week because MVMCP and the CP stop before Christmas so we would miss out on those if we went the week between Christmas and New Years. One thing that I noticed in 2017 though was the that the last MVMCP was the Friday before Thanksgiving and there wasn’t another one until the week after Thanksgiving. Also, it looked like the CP started for 2017 on the day after Thanksgiving. Just some food for thought.
Thanks for all the suggestions. Sounds like most of you have experienced Disney at both times of the year. With small children would you recommend MVMCP? I feel like people either love it or feel like it is a complete waste of money. When are dates for the party normally posted?
That is one of our biggest concerns with Thanksgiving Break…the time crunch of returning to work a day after we get home. We know it will be crowded either way, so crowd size isn’t a concern for us. Anything we don’t want to miss out on if we go during Christmas Break?
If I was going over Christmas this year, I would do everything I could to see the Candlelight Processional. No one else in my traveling party has an interest in doing this so I haven’t pushed for it during our past trips; however, if I ever get the chance to go back to Disney during the holiday season, I’m absolutely doing it on my own. Also, I highly recommend seeing the Voices of Liberty as they sing holiday songs and it is beautiful! Illuminations also has a special holiday ending that is wonderful and not to be missed. In Hollywood Studios, we really loved the Frozen Sing-a-Long. They incorporated the music from Olaf’s Frozen Adventure and my kids really enjoyed it.