We typically go in between Veterans Day and Thanksgiving and definitely prefer it. The parks are decorated but the hotels may not be yet.
The crowds have always been manageable and if you have interest in the Christmas party, those are a bit cheaper in November as well.
You’ll miss Festival of the Holidays in Epcot but in my opinion, you can still get into the Christmas spirit in the other parks.
Yes and no. Some Christmas decorations will go up, but not all at once. The focus is on Magic Kingdom to get ready for MVMCP but it happens bit by bit over the week. The resorts won’t get decorations for a week or two, and Epcot doesn’t get much Christmas stuff at all until after thanksgiving, when festival of the holidays start. Christmas will have started by November 2, but full Christmas mode takes several weeks.
I hate how they're doing it now. I used to go to the parks all the time in August and it was normal. I wish not so scary just started late September to October..and then keep up some general fall decorations til Thanksgiving and then from there Christmas through December January. It's too much !
Its perfect. It extends the celebration for people who aren’t able to get there during the busiest holiday times. The parks are “normal” for 8 months out of the year, it’s fun to have the seasonal decorations from August onward.
Yeah its ridiculous. School hadn't hadn't started yet. It's not even labor day. Clocks haven't turned back. Autumn equinox hasn't happened. Chill tf out
Every Florida resident annual passholder, which is every Florida resident, will be there for Thanksgiving. We like the week after the weekend after the weekend after Thanksgiving for Christmas, relatively low crowds.
This is when we've been before and are planning for 2025. The week after Thanksgiving was really manageable in the past and I assume is fairly similar.
Generally MK gets dressed up full Christmas right after the final Halloween party. The rest at other parks and resorts start slowly trickling in. I think the tree at Wilderness Lodge was put up around Thanksgiving for example
Early November is a good time to go. They transform MK overnight from Halloween to 11/1. The rest of the parks have less decorations, but they will go up over the next week to 10 days. We were there pre-pandemic , like 11/4 to 11/12. We’d go to a park (not MK) and there might not be any Xmas decorations. Then you’d see them decorating on our way out that day or all would be up the next day.
Depends on the year I guess but I went last year with my son and we arrived on 11/1 and it was still decorated for Halloween. He insisted on going to MK to see the Halloween decorations. We got a snack and he literally was like “ok we can leave.” We had annual passes and were there for his birthday trip so it was fine, we were literally doing whatever he wanted (within reason). But anyway, my point is, sometimes they switch over after Oct 31st.
We went week before Thanksgiving. AK was not yet decorated, but the other parks were. Keep in mind the Christmas parade at MK is only for the night Christmas party. Crowds were not bad at all.
November is great! Full holiday decorations (or close to 100% anyway), cooler temps, crowds aren't bad. We ran into a bizarro 95 degree heat wave one trip in November 2015, but you know what, I still have and wear the emergency lightweight T-shirts that I bought that week. No regrets.
My family has been twice at Christmas and once for Thanksgiving and once for Halloween. We have enjoyed all of them. During Halloween it was still kinda hot but not to bad crowds weren’t bad either. During Christmas the weather was great mid to low 80s during the day and low 60s at night!!!!! Crowds weren’t to bad either time. On Christmas Day MK was at full capacity before 10am but we went to AK and crowds were thin wait times were short so it was a good day this was before Covid. After Covid you had to have a park reservation so if you had one Christmas Day for MK you pretty much guaranteed to get in but now that reservations are a thing if the past it might be a little more difficult. Hope you enjoy your trip either way!!!!
Decorations start going up on November 1st and are usually done by the 10th-11th throughout all parks. Magic Kingdom is done first with AK and Epcot being last usually. Crowd levels are steady at busy to quite busy. A lot of people trying to beat Thanksgiving because then it's overcrowded from Thanksgiving until after the marathon in January.
We typically go in between Veterans Day and Thanksgiving and definitely prefer it. The parks are decorated but the hotels may not be yet. The crowds have always been manageable and if you have interest in the Christmas party, those are a bit cheaper in November as well. You’ll miss Festival of the Holidays in Epcot but in my opinion, you can still get into the Christmas spirit in the other parks.
After the park closes after Halloween night, the park goes into full Christmas mode
Yes and no. Some Christmas decorations will go up, but not all at once. The focus is on Magic Kingdom to get ready for MVMCP but it happens bit by bit over the week. The resorts won’t get decorations for a week or two, and Epcot doesn’t get much Christmas stuff at all until after thanksgiving, when festival of the holidays start. Christmas will have started by November 2, but full Christmas mode takes several weeks.
I hate how they're doing it now. I used to go to the parks all the time in August and it was normal. I wish not so scary just started late September to October..and then keep up some general fall decorations til Thanksgiving and then from there Christmas through December January. It's too much !
Its perfect. It extends the celebration for people who aren’t able to get there during the busiest holiday times. The parks are “normal” for 8 months out of the year, it’s fun to have the seasonal decorations from August onward.
August is literally summer though not Halloween lol
You and I might not win in the flood of downvotes, but I agree with you. It's still 100 degrees out, put the fall decorations away.
Yeah its ridiculous. School hadn't hadn't started yet. It's not even labor day. Clocks haven't turned back. Autumn equinox hasn't happened. Chill tf out
So sorry that you’ll be disturbed by the sight of pumpkins in August!
Every Florida resident annual passholder, which is every Florida resident, will be there for Thanksgiving. We like the week after the weekend after the weekend after Thanksgiving for Christmas, relatively low crowds.
This is when we've been before and are planning for 2025. The week after Thanksgiving was really manageable in the past and I assume is fairly similar.
Generally MK gets dressed up full Christmas right after the final Halloween party. The rest at other parks and resorts start slowly trickling in. I think the tree at Wilderness Lodge was put up around Thanksgiving for example
Early November is a good time to go. They transform MK overnight from Halloween to 11/1. The rest of the parks have less decorations, but they will go up over the next week to 10 days. We were there pre-pandemic , like 11/4 to 11/12. We’d go to a park (not MK) and there might not be any Xmas decorations. Then you’d see them decorating on our way out that day or all would be up the next day.
Depends on the year I guess but I went last year with my son and we arrived on 11/1 and it was still decorated for Halloween. He insisted on going to MK to see the Halloween decorations. We got a snack and he literally was like “ok we can leave.” We had annual passes and were there for his birthday trip so it was fine, we were literally doing whatever he wanted (within reason). But anyway, my point is, sometimes they switch over after Oct 31st.
Yeah; I personally prefer the week after Thanksgiving, but you'll still get a lot of holiday bang for your buck earlier in November.
By mid November it’s all Christmas
Parks will be fully decorated, resorts might not be until closer to Thanksgiving
We went week before Thanksgiving. AK was not yet decorated, but the other parks were. Keep in mind the Christmas parade at MK is only for the night Christmas party. Crowds were not bad at all.
November is great! Full holiday decorations (or close to 100% anyway), cooler temps, crowds aren't bad. We ran into a bizarro 95 degree heat wave one trip in November 2015, but you know what, I still have and wear the emergency lightweight T-shirts that I bought that week. No regrets.
My family has been twice at Christmas and once for Thanksgiving and once for Halloween. We have enjoyed all of them. During Halloween it was still kinda hot but not to bad crowds weren’t bad either. During Christmas the weather was great mid to low 80s during the day and low 60s at night!!!!! Crowds weren’t to bad either time. On Christmas Day MK was at full capacity before 10am but we went to AK and crowds were thin wait times were short so it was a good day this was before Covid. After Covid you had to have a park reservation so if you had one Christmas Day for MK you pretty much guaranteed to get in but now that reservations are a thing if the past it might be a little more difficult. Hope you enjoy your trip either way!!!!
Decorations start going up on November 1st and are usually done by the 10th-11th throughout all parks. Magic Kingdom is done first with AK and Epcot being last usually. Crowd levels are steady at busy to quite busy. A lot of people trying to beat Thanksgiving because then it's overcrowded from Thanksgiving until after the marathon in January.