Please vote: Labor Day week vs. Thanksgiving 2019?

[Nick6300]

Please help us decide for 4 adults going to WDW for either 8/31-9/7/19 vs. 11/28-12/7/19, room only stay (not wanting to do the free dining package since we bought tickets ahead of time).

Pros for 8/31-9/7

Same hotel cheaper by $200 for 7 nights ($600 cheaper but there’s 2 extra nights in Nov.). Flights will also be cheaper (and dining, slightly).

Low crowds seasonally (possibly even more than normal w/ppl postponing for Star Wars).

Water park will be warm enough to enjoy (we only bought 1 water park day ticket though).

Can pack less clothes (but no decrease in baggage costs), and don’t have to wear a jacket in am/night.

Food and Wine Festival (mainly for shows, no one drinks alc.).

Halloween décor and leaning towards buying a party night with part of the savings (only 1 of us has done this). We wouldn’t book Christmas party.

Only 4 vacation days with Labor Day.


Cons for Labor Day.

2 of the adults will be missing a road race they enjoy

It’s very hot, and probably more likely to rain.

3 of us is looking forward to Star Wars, but 2 of us visit regularly (the others only 1x per decade).


Pros for 11/28-12/7

We all prefer Christmas décor, Processional, storytelling at EPCOT over Halloween + Food and Wine.

Being able to visit monorail resorts for the gingerbread houses (none of us have done this).

Chance for, but not guaranteed, for Galaxies Edge… but it will be even crazier as it could be opening weekend or else very new (you almost hope it doesn’t open until later).

Better chance for Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway ride at HS opening.

2 of the 4 of us have birthdays during this trip, and anniversary, vs. other anniversary end of Aug.


Cons for Thanksgiving.

May sell out quickly. Would likely have to book today, non discounted and then try to change it if there’s a room only sale for the week following Thanksgiving.

It could get in the 50s early am, and 60s late at night. Water park could be closed for cold spells (happened on 2 occasions in Dec.), and otherwise not very warm for water park. We’d have to pack/wear a light weight fleece jacket, possibly pants/leggings instead of shorts

It will be much more crowded for parks/buses.

It will be more expensive for hotel, flights, food.

Miss shopping during Thanksgiving, but we’ll have everyone together.

 

[SaintsManiac]

I've done both and prefer Thanksgiving. It is more crowded, yes, but the weather alone is the main reason we prefer it.

There were times where almost every ride was walk on during Labor Day week and honestly, it killed us. We ran from ride to ride and it took us days to recover from that trip.

It was a really cheap trip and we had a blast, but I would not do it again.

We are booked for Thanksgiving this year

 

[bigeyedfish]

I think you would have to decide which you wanted to avoid - the heat or the crowds.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I'd go with Thanksgiving.

Reasoning:
..Two extra days.
..The Christmas decorations are gorgeous!!
..I'd be afraid of a hurricane cancelling the September trip.
..Coming from New England, 50s and 60s in the early mornings/evenings is "nothing" to me.

 

[biochemgirl]

Having done both times of year, I preferred the Labor day time period. Yes it was hot and we got rain (more like standing in a shower, but I'll call it rain). The weather in November, December, January, etc has been hard for me anytime I visited Orlando. The area doesn't know if it's winter or early summer! This makes packing challenging, but even in a given day of vacation, I'd need to cool off and then bundle up (or not!) in the evening. There have been times when I carried around layers to add in the evening only to not need them and feel burdened by the extras all day. This is particularly a Mom burden and may not be relevant to all travelers.

I liked MNSSHP better than MVMCP. We dressed for both parties, but even with the heat, Halloween was just more fun and I particularly enjoyed trick or treating with abandon

I strongly recommend travel insurance in general, but definitely for travel in hurricane season. I put my own trip together and then buy my own insurance after looking at options starting with insuremytrip.com and then researching the plans I'm most interested. I've then bought direct with the company or insuremytrip depending on if there was a discount available by choosing a specific vendor.

 

[Disneylover99]

I prefer the crowds over the heat and rain. I'd choose Thanksgiving.

 

[vicb]

I prefer the crowds over the heat and rain. I'd choose Thanksgiving.

I agree, I guess if I HAD to pick I'd do Thanksgiving and plan very carefully... I did Easter week once as my son was marching with his HS band in MK but I would never willingly choose a holiday week again. Crowds were crazy and it was hot that year. But it was old paper FP system so we did pretty good getting on things. I have been to WDW many, many times but never seen wall to wall people like that Easter week.

 

[CynBeth]

We love Thanksgiving Week!

 

[glocon]

I would pick thanksgiving- I would love to see the Christmas decorations!
Also, you can do a water Park anywhere- so I would say focus on the theme parks at Disney that are so special.

 

[georgina]

Thanksgiving. The crowds will thin out after the weekend. We went to a water park twice Thanksgiving weekend this year.

 

[tiggerunner]

Love Labor Day week. Yes, hot,but love the quiet around pool time and enjoying late nights walking around parks, DS and resorts. Easier getting the restaurant reservations and really enjoy the Halloween events. Yes, it’s early, but you just get into the spirit.

 

[TJA]

There's something about the Christmas holiday that just feels exciting and special. Therefore, I'd choose Thanksgiving. I love all the holiday décor and the all-around vibe.

Having said that, we prefer MNSSHP over any other holiday party or event. I still think I'd choose Thanksgiving, but it would be hard to pass up MNSSHP.

 

[Nick6300]

There's something about the Christmas holiday that just feels exciting and special. Therefore, I'd choose Thanksgiving. I love all the holiday décor and the all-around vibe.

Having said that, we prefer MNSSHP over any other holiday party or event. I still think I'd choose Thanksgiving, but it would be hard to pass up MNSSHP.

It does seem like the Halloween parties are easily more popular than Christmas parties.

We definitely enjoy the Christmas storytelling at EP and the processional. We watched the first live showing on DIS last month with Neil Patrick Harris. We also like the F&W concerts, but we won’t be on the DP for the snacks this time.

Thank you guys for the votes so far. We’re surprised at the result so far. We originally picked Nov., and we started swaying with the Fun in Sun sale.

 

[Branderson610]

Labor day less crowds.

 

[Nick6300]

I think you would have to decide which you wanted to avoid - the heat or the crowds.

Good pt. Low crowds are more important. I think the rain is more of a turn off than the heat for me in early Sept. We never leave early for heat, but we have headed to hotel when it wouldn’t stop raining.

I think I was looking at it more from Christmas and Star Wars (maybe) vs mnsshp, F&W, and low crowds.

 

[Nick6300]

Having done both times of year, I preferred the Labor day time period. Yes it was hot and we got rain (more like standing in a shower, but I'll call it rain). The weather in November, December, January, etc has been hard for me anytime I visited Orlando. The area doesn't know if it's winter or early summer! This makes packing challenging, but even in a given day of vacation, I'd need to cool off and then bundle up (or not!) in the evening. There have been times when I carried around layers to add in the evening only to not need them and feel burdened by the extras all day. This is particularly a Mom burden and may not be relevant to all travelers.

I liked MNSSHP better than MVMCP. We dressed for both parties, but even with the heat, Halloween was just more fun and I particularly enjoyed trick or treating with abandon

I strongly recommend travel insurance in general, but definitely for travel in hurricane season. I put my own trip together and then buy my own insurance after looking at options starting with ************.com and then researching the plans I'm most interested. I've then bought direct with the company or ************ depending on if there was a discount available by choosing a specific vendor.

I had been checking the temperature during late Nov, early Dec and it’s really inconsistent: 83 for a high and 66 the next day. Cold some am’s. Does make it more challenging. I doubt the others see it the way I do, but I expect to go to FL and it be hot. So I’m more ok with 88 than 55 degrees. On our Dec 2015 & 2017, I only took shorts, because I’ve never worn pants at WDW and wanted to continue that streak. Sort of silly, but I dislike wearing layers on disney vacations.

 

[Nick6300]

Thanksgiving. The crowds will thin out after the weekend. We went to a water park twice Thanksgiving weekend this year.

Were there many others at the water parks... still long waits for the major slides?

I did check out Kenny’s chart to see that it was ‘insane’ for thanksgiving thru Sun. Then ‘moderate’ to ‘light’ the week after - as long as no Star Wars, of course. Moderate for Sat thru Labor Day and Light for the remainder of week.

 

[Nick6300]

I would pick thanksgiving- I would love to see the Christmas decorations!
Also, you can do a water Park anywhere- so I would say focus on the theme parks at Disney that are so special.

I agree with this, but my father in law has to go to Typhoon Lagoon. But we are only indulging him for 1 day.

 

[Abigail Broughton]

The crowds can be worse in September. We have been to Disney that same September week our last 4 trips and our 2017 visit was super hot and super busy. November can be warm as well but it can also be perfect. We just came back from our December 10 - 23rd visit and it was perfect! Warm and cool days but the pools are heated. We were in the pool everyday except one. We wll never visit in September again free dinning or not. Your trip will be so much more magical in November no question. There is no "slow" time in Disneyworld anymore just plan and it will be fun. Enjoy.

 

[j2thomason]

Disney offered a great package last year for Labor Day week. We got to have exclusive access to Toy Storyland after park closing, exclusive rides and Rivers of Light at AK, a special Food and Wine buffet dinner at World Showplace and tickets to MNSSHP. We LOVED it! It was hot, but the crowds were very low. We would definitely do it again.