Jersey Week 2018 vs. Black Friday-Early December 2018

Nikki G

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jun 13, 2017
Just looking to get opinions on two possible dates for our trip next year. We originally planned to go November 6-14, 2018, but I have since been reading about Jersey Week and now we are not so sure. Part of the trip would span Jersey week, but part wouldn't. Then I thought about possibly heading down there on Black Friday and staying the 8 days then (Nov 23-Dec 1ish). Will it still be too crazy down there from Thanksgiving week? What other dates should we consider as alternatives? We've done end of October and were looking to originally span F&W and christmas decorations with the November dates. And.....Go!
 
Any time during FWF will be crowded. If you are looking to see the Christmas decorations and FWF, you’ve narrowed down your dates significantly.

If I had to choose between the two I’d do Jersey Week. Both weeks will be crowded. There really isn’t a time when it’s not crowded anymore.

The sweet spot might be between the end of JW and the beginning of Thanksgiving crowds.
 
I can't for the life of me imagine Disney World being THAT much more crowded just because schools in the state of New Jersey have two days off of school. Every state has various non-holiday days off for teach conventions or work days.

I've read about the "myth" of Jersey week -- basically stating that just because ONE specific state has some time off really doesn't impact the crowds in a meaningful way.
To believe the myth you have to assume a LOT (would probably have to be thousands) of families in New Jersey decide to go on a family vacation to WDW (and pull their kids out of school around those days off as well). Sure . .I am sure there are a lot that do (I would definitely consider it if I had that option in my school district).

I think the bigger issue is that Nov. 6-14 spans VETERAN's Day (a national holiday). and a lot of schools will have off sometime around weekend (Nov 9-12) (and Disney resort prices go up significantly that weekend because of it).

I am looking for a time to go in November of 2018 and I was planning on going Nov 4. - Nov. 9 ..
My theory is to miss the craziness of Halloween and just go early in November so it doesn't feel like we are turning around after getting back to go on Thanksgiving and Christmas Vacation.

There just is no 'perfect' time to go anymore. You could pick a "low crowd" time and get a hurricane come through. You could pick a low crowd time and Disney drops a major discount or extends a festival that makes it more crowded.

Just plan when it is convenient for you and plan accordingly for crowds.
 
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I was quite content with our original plan until I heard about Jersey week. I probably read too much about it and should just ignore it and do my own thing. As long as we plan accordingly, it can't be too bad, right? We LOVE F&W and definitely wanted to be there for that. We do eventually want to try that mythical first week in December that everyone raves about. Maybe that will be the back up plan.
 
I am from NJ and was at Disney last year during Jersey week and I didn’t not think it was crowded at all. We had great weather and were there to see the beginning of the holiday decoration and MVMCP. Last year our school was closed for the week due to the presidential election but that is not the case this year. Some schools do close for the week regardless but I think most in my area anyway only close for the Thursday and Friday that week.
 
I am from NJ and was at Disney last year during Jersey week and I didn’t not think it was crowded at all. We had great weather and were there to see the beginning of the holiday decoration and MVMCP. Last year our school was closed for the week due to the presidential election but that is not the case this year. Some schools do close for the week regardless but I think most in my area anyway only close for the Thursday and Friday that week.

Interesting to hear your thoughts. We were there Jersey Week last year and couldn't believe the crowds!!! I read it was a 10 crowd level. Now, this was our first trip ever so nothing to compare it to, but wall to wall people at certain points at MK made me at least think it was higher crowds. Anyway, we loved it Bc the weather was perfect and we still got to do everything we wanted. We are going this year for Jersey Week and already have our hotel booked for 2018 Jersey Week!
 



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