Choosing time of year..

[Melskip]

We are trying to choose when to return to Disney World. Our family went for our first trip November 2016, when our kids were 8 and 4. We are trying to decide between the fall of this year (So we don't have to wait so long!!!) or the Spring of 2019 to try a different season (maybe even be there for the Flower and Garden Festival.
Which would you choose?

 

[DisneyDoug85]

We were there that exact weekend in 2017. We only did one park day.. started at Animal Kingdom, hopped to HS, and then MVMCP that evening. It was crowded, but manageable. Make sure to do MVMCP, the crowds are a lot lighter than a regular evening.

I can deal with “crowded”, just hoping it won’t be insane. Oh yeah I’m definitely planning on MVMCP, we’ve never been there during XMAS time so its a must haha. Problem is it’ll most likely be a weekend so it may still be crowded....

 

[DisneyDoug85]

I would disagrre with your assessment, we have gone the last 3 years on these dates and actually stayed thru Thanksgiving, those days are the best days, that Tues or wed prior to Thanksgiving is when it starts to get crowded until the Monday after, Have a great time, maybe we will see you there

This is similar to what I’ve heard from a few others as well. That it slowly but steadily gets more crowded from the weekend before through Thanksgiving and into and through the weekend after. I’m hoping that getting out of there Tuesday we’ll avoid the “peak” crowds

 

[21stamps]

I can deal with “crowded”, just hoping it won’t be insane. Oh yeah I’m definitely planning on MVMCP, we’ve never been there during XMAS time so its a must haha. Problem is it’ll most likely be a weekend so it may still be crowded....

I was so afraid of an extremely crowded MVMCP in 2017, we went on the Friday prior to Thanksgiving.

However, it was a pleasant surprise! That Friday in ‘17 Actually felt less crowded than the Wednesday after Thanksgiving in 2016!

I think one of the reasons could be because we went on a ride during Wishes instead of standing in front of the castle, then we watched the rest of the show from Frontierland, then quickly went to another ride before the hub crowds could get over there.lol. Holiday Wishes was still great from our vantage point.

 

[DisneyDoug85]

I was so afraid of an extremely crowded MVMCP in 2017, we went on the Friday prior to Thanksgiving.

However, it was a pleasant surprise! That Friday in ‘17 Actually felt less crowded than the Wednesday after Thanksgiving in 2016!

I think one of the reasons could be because we went on a ride during Wishes instead of standing in front of the castle, then we watched the rest of the show from Frontierland, then quickly went to another ride before the hub crowds could get over there.lol. Holiday Wishes was still great from our vantage point.

Yeah I’m thinking that’ll be the day we attend MVMCP. We’ll arrive on Friday after getting off of our cruise, so I’m thinking we’ll use MVMCP as our main stop at MK. We’ll get to our hotel, grab lunch etc and head to MK at 4 so we get a good 6-8 hours in without using any park hoppers.

We typically do similar to what you mentioned...we’re not overly concerned about he fireworks so we’ll ride hop and then stop for a bit for the fireworks wherever we happen to be at the time.

 

[Dave B]

don't want to thread jack...but I'll be going the weekend just BEFORE Thanksgiving this year (fri, sat, sun, mon, leaving tues). Just curious to see what you'd expect crowds to be like for those days?

Are you suggesting that Thanksgiving week is less crowded than the weeks prior?

No, I am not, what the OP posted asking was prior to Thanksgiving, I actually stated that starting the Wed before thru the Sunday is very busy, the OP was asking about the weekend just before,