Thoughts? I am seeing contradictory crowd calendars as to which is a better long weekend to be at WDW as far as crowds.
We are coming off an exhausting (but still fun) spring break trip and crowd level is probably my largest concern.
There are no parties for the dates in Nov, so that doesn’t have any weight. I know it is historically cold in Jan, but that isn’t a huge concern (though thunder mountain speed in 40 degrees doesn’t sound terribly appealing).
The Nov time is part of jersey week, which raises levels some, but easy wdw also projected crowds the last weekend of Jan this year (7 that Saturday).
One thing that does give some weight to Jan is that we are going in Mid Dec 2018, so we could upgrade to annual passes when there and save on tickets.
I was just there 1/25-31 of this year. It was the only time I have needed a sweatshirt all day long at WDW, but I much preferred that to the 95 degrees we experienced there last week. The crowds were very low in January, about as low as they ever get anymore. Sunday 1/30 at MK was amazing, I think we used at least 15 fastpasses each in my group of 4. We went to watch Wishes 45 minutes before the show, and left as there was barely a soul in the hub. We came back 10 minutes before the show and watched from a centered prime view, and there was plenty of room. I haven’t seen it like that in 6 years. It was wonderful! I think November will be more crowded than that. The added bonus of getting an AP and returning in 12/2018 (plus who knows, you might need a 3rd trip in there with the AP) makes January the best choice. November is still decent weather where we live, but by the end of January we are in snow he!! so leaving then is perfect. Just my 2 cents.
If CL is your primary concern, the Jan dates will “probably” be less crowded. The trade off is that there may be more ride refurbs going on during that week. I’m pretty sure that F&W will still be going on at EP during your Nov week, and some people plan their trips to be in WDW for that. The Christmas decorations may also be up in at least the MK - but with the MVMCP starting a week later than it has in the past, maybe not. I’ve been in late January and I’ve been in shorts and a t-shirt and jeans and a hoodie - in the same week.
If CL is your primary concern, the Jan dates will “probably” be a bit less crowded. I’m pretty sure that F&W will still be going on at EP during your Nov week., and some people plan their trips to be in WDW for that. The Christmas decorations should probably also be up in at least the MK.
The Wine & Dine Half Marathon is that weekend in November, so the resorts may be more crowded then (not supposed to have a huge impact on park CL). F&W will still be going on.
It really was a great time to visit, well except for all the coughing people everywhere we went. All four of us girlfriends that went came home with some yucky sickness, loss of voice, bad cough, and general yucky feeling that lasted a week and a half. It was still great though!
We’ve gone to DW every year since 1993 (DVC members). We were at DW the first week of November 2017. We thought the parks were somewhat crowded. Not spring break crowded, but the parks were crowded. I contribute it to the popularity of the Christmas Party and not Jersey Week. We also experienced some ride rehab closures during our November trip. In 2018, we’re going the end of January for the first time. I’ve talked to cast members and they said the end of January is a great time to visit. However, Disney does like to close rides for rehab during this time period. Keep in mind, the weekends are always crowded no matter the month.
This year I went both times of the year and the crowd was better the first week of November. The parks seemed to be more crowded than they used to be at any given time of the year, so don’t set yourself of for disappointment. Always expect a crowd and make a good plan.
