Hi everyone. Trying to make a decision about vacation plans for this year. We’re a family of 4 (kids will be 14 & 11). Have been to Disney 5 times with our kids, so not every year but know the ropes. We’ve gone mostly in the summer…it is hot, but I honestly don’t mind it. Kids love the mix of park & pool.
Here are our options:
Option 1: Disney World for a week in July. We have free dining package booked, so somewhat affordable. Feels similar to past trips - we know what to expect (which is good). No festivals this time though. Don’t have to wait that long!
Option 2: Disney World over Thanksgiving. Would definitely be more expensive (we’re looking at $4Kish with no free dining and room more expensive). I’ve never seen Disney with Christmas decorations, so it is bucket list. Could do the Christmas party. Would be more crowded. Maybe too cool for the pool.
What would you do? For people who have been at TG - is it worth it or too crowded to enjoy? We’d get Genie+ and do $LL either way.
I’ve done Disneyland at Thanksgiving and it was a great and successful trip (minus seeing the fireworks which were repeatedly cancelled for wind as often happens on that coast). I’ve done WDW at Christmas and up to Christmas it’s fine but NYE was insanity I never want to repeat. So for me, I’d probably do Thanksgiving for the cooler weather and the Christmas stuff including the Christmas Party which was awesome this year. But if cost is a factor and you don’t mind the heat I can understand wanting to do something else with that cash!
Also this December I did the pool slide and it was fine for being in the water. Getting out was a tiny chilly but not really bad at all. The pool will be heated but the question will be getting out. I think November you’ll have even less chance of a strong cold front so should be mild temps and if you can swim in 60-70s youd be fine. I can but I am also a swimmer.
Been both of your times. I’d opt for Thanksgiving. Chiefly due to less heat.
Our 2017 Thanksgiving week trip was planned less than 60 days out. We were staying off property for the first time in millenia, it seemed. Getting used to traffic was one impediment to ever getting to rope drop on time.
But even so, we did pretty much everything we wanted. Got the ADRs we wanted. The crowds weren’t as much as we’d anticipated.
Until Sunday when we left. We were driving. The highways were so packed traffic was crawling. At first we thought there must be an accident. Our drive down was no more crowded than usual.
I have never been the week of TG, but have been the week before and several weeks after. It has always felt “slower” to me. The holidays at Disney are extra special. The decorations at the parks and hotels. Plus FOTH at EPCOT, MVMCP, and more. Lots of “extras” that time of year. If the extra cost isn’t a deal breaker, I suggest you go with it.
Thanksgiving is busy but doable with Genie and touring plans! This used t be our favorite time to visit but now our grandchildren have different holidays. The Christmas decorations are wonderful and a great way to transition into the Christmas holiday spirit!
Personally I am terrified of going when it’s holiday-level of crowding, moreso than heat. But is a personal preference. That said, of the major holidays, Thanksgiving isn’t nearly as bad as Christmas-New Year’s. It’s quite a bit more crowded than Memorial Day or 4th of July (which tends to be slow for some reason ). See this graph from Thrill Data.
If you go Thanksgiving week, Monday is the most crowded, with each day thereafter getting less busy. By the Sunday after Thanksgiving it’s usually back to normal.
Thanks for the graph @Jeff_AZ - you may recall I love a graph.
Comparing my feel for the crowds during Thanksgiving’s week - missing rope drop - in 2017 to our week in the World including July 4th 2018 - when we did manage rope drop - the crowd levels seemed more annoying in July.
Some of that could be my lack of enthusiasm for 90+ degree touring. We were so warm, we skipped the pool during our midday breaks to hang out in the room’s a.c.
Also worth noting that the trends tend to have changed since Covid. For whatever reason, people have wizened up to the fact that Orlando is hot in the summer and so crowds have been lower in July especially. The last couple of years it’s been practically dead on the 4th itself. A little baffling honestly.
But also, when crowds are higher, there is typically more going on, so waits can be about the same. And where the people are can make a big difference in how crowded it feels.
We’ve only been to WDW (haven’t been to DL yet) at Thanksgiving, 3x: 2014, 2015 and 2019. We loved all of them. The weather was sometimes hot and sometimes cold. We actually had to pack all seasons of clothing and one time used all of it. But it was “hot” like no hotter than low 80s, not summertime in FL hot. And sometimes it got in the high 30s cold. I was too cold in the pool the one day I went in one visit, but it was night so maybe that doesn’t count. Other visits we got a lot of pool time. It really just depends. The holiday decorations are 100% worth seeing if you’re someone who likes that. What I also liked was that our last trip we also went to Universal and they also had the holiday decor and to compare the two was fun. I will say that our first 2 trips we had far less crowding than 2019, when it really was unbearable the whole week, but that is so much history ago that I wouldn’t trust that to be a current measure of what crowds to expect that week.
I wonder if another reason might be that people have a more relaxed attitude about taking kids out of school for vacation. Post-pandemic, parents might feel like it’s not such a big deal for their kids to miss a few days of school, so they don’t have to limit their trips to the summer.
This is interesting. I despise the dead of summer. Does Disney do anything special for Independence Day? I have the 3rd- 7th off. Trying to decide what to do.
I always should watch fireworks from a distance but I do love them. I’ve considered it but only if I can find a resort with plenty of nice pool space for mid day breaks.
OP sorry to hijack your thread We go often the week after Thanksgiving for low-ish crowds, nice weather and the Christmas decor. It you haven’t been and it’s something you really want to do- I say go for it. I wouldn’t focus too much on swimming though. They have a lot of fun holiday activities at the resorts and parks.
IF you have it in your budget and can tolerate the crowds. I think I’ve read the Tuesday and Wednesday before Thanksgiving is some of the worst park days. I don’t know how actual Thanksgiving compares because I’ve never considered being in the parks that day (just the weekend after).
Your family sounds like ours. Love the park and hotel pool mix. Kids are 12 and 15, and we are considering a Thanksgiving stay. Though it may not be swimming pool weather (though it might be!), we have always done early rise rope drop and back to hotel for pool in the afternoon, so we are thinking our focus could be much more on evening park visits, as we’ve never been able to make it back to the parks with a full tank. So if we do this Thanksgiving, our thought is to sleep late, focus on staying at parks until close and enjoying the various night time fireworks/shows and the new rides. And like you said, enjoying the festive decorations of the Holidays. Maybe sneak a little pool time in still. Thinking of staying at grand Floridian or Polynesian to have easy monorail access to Magic Kingdom and Epcot. Fun to think about!
Here’s what TP had to say about last year’s Independence Day activities. I think the big, special fireworks are only at MK on July 3 and 4, while EP has an extra 5 minutes of pyro only on the 4th, and even HS had some fireworks on the 4th.
). See this graph from Thrill Data.
We go often the week after Thanksgiving for low-ish crowds, nice weather and the Christmas decor. It you haven’t been and it’s something you really want to do- I say go for it. I wouldn’t focus too much on swimming though. They have a lot of fun holiday activities at the resorts and parks.