October or November - weather; crowds?

[YawningDodo]

So I'm back on track for heading to DLP for the first time this fall (obligatory "I'm an American clarification), and among many many other things I need to figure out what month would be best for the trip. Because of the way my paid leave is structured I cannot go before October 1 of this year. Theoretically I could put it off until spring 2019, but I'd really like to go sooner than that. I don't mind cooler weather, but I'm concerned about attractions being closed if it's too far into the off-season, too cold, too likely to snow, etc.

One of the big options I'm looking at is traveling over the Thanksgiving holiday, which will be on November 22 this year. Since I get Thanksgiving off from work and would expect to take that Friday as a vacation day anyway, doubling it up with the trip would get me up to two extra days of travel time. Would traveling that late in the year mean risking weather bad enough to close down significant portions of the park? How are crowds at that time of year? I'm tentatively planning to spend about half a week in DLP and then at least half a week in London afterward.

 

[olafLover]

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[YawningDodo]

The weather needs to be really bad for them to close attractions, closing parts of the park generally never happens. We were there last May, which is when you'd normally expect good weather and there was an enormous downpour (pretty normal tropical rain, except Europe doesn't have tropical rains), we lucked out it was during our diner, we everybody who came is was soaking. I looked in the app and they's closed every outside attraction. After diner and a drink I said I still really wanted to go out again, so we went and lucked out again, because it had just stopped They opened everything again. It took a bit longer for BTM, but we were able to ride it before closing (just). Two days ago it snowed (which doesn't happen often in DLP) and I heard they closed all outside attractions again. So yes, it does happen, but it's not a regular thing and not due to cold. The busiest week is Christmas, the park is geared to be able to be open then.
Thanksgiving could be a good time, the Christmas season is already started, so it won't be considered of season, it will also start to get more busy, so earlier in November could be better, but if you avoid the weekend, it should be ok.

Thanks! I suppose I hadn't really thought about the Christmas angle, but that makes sense considering how things are in the American parks as well. I guess I've been sort of hoping that our Thanksgiving wouldn't be a particularly special time for other people to be traveling. Unless it's very much more crowded at the end of the month I think the benefits of traveling over the holiday are looking pretty solid; depending on when I can best use my miles, too, I can maybe aim for Thanksgiving to more or less mark the end of my trip so I'm traveling in mid- to late November instead of the very tail end of the month.

 

[olafLover]

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[awaydrink]

I went to DLP in November 2017 (the week of Thanksgiving, Nov. 19th-22nd).

Weather: Cold and rainy. If it isn't raining, the cold really is not that bad since wind isn't as aggressive in Paris compared to a northeastern city. Even with rain, we never noticed any of the rides closing, but our was more of an on-off drizzle.

Crowds: Low. Crazy low. We had hotel fastpasses (1 per person per day) and we never used them as most rides were under 30 minutes the entire day. The main exception being Crush's Coaster and Big Thunder. In fact, we barely even used regular Fastpasses. Apparently November, aside from the weekends, isn't super crowded at DLP. You can find a crowd calendar on thedibb forum that was pretty accurate to what we experienced.

 

[YawningDodo]

I went to DLP in November 2017 (the week of Thanksgiving, Nov. 19th-22nd).

Weather: Cold and rainy. If it isn't raining, the cold really is not that bad since wind isn't as aggressive in Paris compared to a northeastern city. Even with rain, we never noticed any of the rides closing, but our was more of an on-off drizzle.

Crowds: Low. Crazy low. We had hotel fastpasses (1 per person per day) and we never used them as most rides were under 30 minutes the entire day. The main exception being Crush's Coaster and Big Thunder. In fact, we barely even used regular Fastpasses. Apparently November, aside from the weekends, isn't super crowded at DLP. You can find a crowd calendar on thedibb forum that was pretty accurate to what we experienced.

This is very encouraging, thank you! Cold and wet isn't ideal, but if I come expecting dreary weather and stay on-site so a change of clothes is never far off if I get too damp, it shouldn't be a big deal. The rides potentially closing down was my bigger concern, and it's good to hear that crowds were low for you that week. I'll definitely aim for weekdays; I figure if I end up arriving in France on a weekend I'll just spend a day or two in Paris before heading to Disneyland in order to avoid weekend crowds in the parks.

 

[awaydrink]

This is very encouraging, thank you! Cold and wet isn't ideal, but if I come expecting dreary weather and stay on-site so a change of clothes is never far off if I get too damp, it shouldn't be a big deal. The rides potentially closing down was my bigger concern, and it's good to hear that crowds were low for you that week. I'll definitely aim for weekdays; I figure if I end up arriving in France on a weekend I'll just spend a day or two in Paris before heading to Disneyland in order to avoid weekend crowds in the parks.

Ride wise, the only one we noticed which would temporarily be closed was Big Thunder; it seem to break down during the day quite often rain or shine.

Also, a small note, a lot of food options weren't open or closed very early during our trip.

 

[YawningDodo]

Ride wise, the only one we noticed which would temporarily be closed was Big Thunder; it seem to break down during the day quite often rain or shine.

Also, a small note, a lot of food options weren't open or closed very early during our trip.

How early is very early? Were there places to at least buy packaged foods later in the evening, or is it necessary to buy some food in advance to keep in my room, park bag, etc?

 

[awaydrink]

How early is very early? Were there places to at least buy packaged foods later in the evening, or is it necessary to buy some food in advance to keep in my room, park bag, etc?

https://disneykindofday.blogspot.com/2015/04/restaurant-opening-hours-disneyland.html

This site has an archive of the restaurant hours. (They're not fully accurate-eg. Toad Hall was closed for my entire trip or sometimes the restaurant closes earlier than what is stated as well.) Generally by 4/5 pm many restaurants were closed. I would say the majority of visitors ate dinner at Disney Village. I did not see many places to buy a packaged snack in the park, but Disney Village has some. The food is also very standard theme park fare. Chicken nuggets as far as you can see.

Also check out magicforum.eu; it's a europe-based forum for DLP.

 

[YawningDodo]

https://disneykindofday.blogspot.com/2015/04/restaurant-opening-hours-disneyland.html

This site has an archive of the restaurant hours. (They're not fully accurate-eg. Toad Hall was closed for my entire trip or sometimes the restaurant closes earlier than what is stated as well.) Generally by 4/5 pm many restaurants were closed. I would say the majority of visitors ate dinner at Disney Village. I did not see many places to buy a packaged snack in the park, but Disney Village has some. The food is also very standard theme park fare. Chicken nuggets as far as you can see.

Also check out magicforum.eu; it's a europe-based forum for DLP.

That is early. If restaurants in Disney Village are open later I can always eat there, but it's good to know. The packaged food thing was more of a thought of having something on hand in case everything's closed when I'm hungry.

I'll check that out, thanks!