I am going to cry, I just read about the beginning of November!

[nicanna]

I just booked my airfare for this November 6-10 Thurs-Monday. We are staying at Poly concierge. I just read about the "soap Oprea Week and the Jersey week" and I am sick. I will be charged at least $100.00 to change my airfare and I have not checked Poly yet for rooms. Is there any hope?

 

[wvjules]

Don't you have 24 hours to cancel your airfare?

 

[las3888]

I wouldn't worry too much - we were there not this past Nov, but the year before for the soap weekend. I didn't even know it was going on until we got to MGM. Most of the soap people are there to see their favorite soap stars. There are lines and lines of people queued up in various areas of MGM where they sign autographs. Apparently, they have different soap stars there at different times on different days. The fans don't seem to bent on riding any rides.

It really didn't bother us at all. Expect SLIGHTLY more crowded than what you think - we've been 20+ times at various seasons and found nothing unusual at all during the soap weekend. At least that was our experience.

 

[tinaluis]

Don't worry too much. We were there in November, 2000 and I didn't know about Jersey week or Super Soap Weekend before I made my arrangements either and when I found out I worried myself sick for no reason. When we got there I didn't notice any difference in crowds from our September or October visits. Face it, WDW is a popular place and at any given time it is bound to be crowded. We all do what we can to minimize the crowds, but you're never going to be the only one in the park -- wouldn't that be fun. Go and enjoy - Just my two cents.

 

[Puffy2]

Been there, done that - it's not a big deal. During our visit, crowds were not bad (Animal Kingdom seemed the most congested on the first day). Avoid the MGM on the soap weekend. You should be fine! Enjoy! (just about every week will have "something"...some complain about the cheerleaders in Feb.- although we stayed at a deluxe resort with no cheerleaders, the parks were not crowded with them. It was fine and I "worried" for nothing.)

 

[SuzieQMomof3]

Forget what you've heard. People from New Jersey are nice!

Susan

 

[vicb]

My sister was there 2001 during "soap weekend" and she said they just avoided MGM on the weekend and had no problems!

 

[busy mom]

I don't know when NJ starts this year, but we were there last year (Nov. 2-6. 2002) and the crowds grew as the week progressed. MK was a nightmare on 11/5. I think the NJ schools were closed 11/5, 6 & 7, so that's when the volume increased.

Just plan accordingly, these boards should help with that!

 

[JulesMom]

We were there during Super Soap week one September. Just avoid MGM on the big days there and you'll be fine. Actually most fans aren't riding the rides so that might not be a bad time to go

 

[Eeyore1954]

Ditto to all the comments. My DW and I went this past Nov. for part of Jersey-week/Super Soap weekend and beyond. We noticed that the BC (where we stayed) was a little more crowded than we expected, but it didn't slow us down. We had no problems at at of the parks -- and Epcot was having the Food & Wine Festival, too. The worst time we had was one evening at Epcot when it was super crowded -- the other parks had closed and it looked like lots of people were flocking to Epcot for the wine & beer. We decided to head back to the pool and watch Illuminations from the beach.

Stop worrying -- we met some of the nicest people from New Jersey and would love to go back again in 2003. We avoided MGM during the weekend, but reports from others said it was fine -- unless you were there to get autographs.

 

[lauraljp]

I don't think the dates for SSW have been announced yet. Although it has been the early part of November the last two years, I believe it has been in September, too.

We are going October 31-November 6 and hoping for manageable crowds.

 

[Bill From PA]

I suppose the terms 'crowded' and 'uncrowded' are relative, but I'm at a loss to match our experience of 11/8 - 11/16 2002 with what I'm reading here. We went to MGM on the first day of SS, Sat. 11/9, and at the wait at the Rope Drop I noticed that the 'crowd' was only about 6 deep, the lightest gathering for rope drop I've ever seen in any park. All the rides at MGM that day were walk-ons until late morning when we first used a FastPass on ToT. The areas where the stars were appearing were crowded, but the rides were almost deserted.
Sun. was busy at MK late morning/early afternoon, but still no worse than any given day in March, our usual week to visit. We needed FastPass once for BTMRR. Cirque du Soleil was not sold out for our 11/8 show, we got into every show we wanted to at Comedy Warehouse at PI and we never needed or used Priority Seating. We never had more than a few minutes' wait for Disney transportation and never had to stand on a bus.

These boards have been a wonderful help to me over the years, but one needs to be careful when judging subjective words like 'crowded' or 'congested'.


Bill From PA

 

[TDC Nala]

It's not that big a problem...remember 2 things:

1) Don't go to MGM during the super soap weekend. Even then, it might work because I am not sure the folks who are there for the soap stuff are going on the rides. Someone who has actually been there for it would know more about it.

2) Don't go to MK on Saturday (unless you have to duck in to see the SpectroMagic parade).



(going Nov. 9-16 for fourth consecutive Veterans Day weekend)

 

[Poohfanatic]

Don't cry! We've been that time twice and it's great, Fabulous in fact. Everyone seems to blow it up for some big thing but its not, just avoid MGM on weekends and you're set for sure. Have fun!

 

[Kallison]

There is always something going on:
Cheerleaders
Brazilian Tour Groups
Soap Week
Regis & Kelly Week
Marathon Week
Gay Week
Spring Break
Refillable Mug Abusers Week

I wouldn't worry about it, you will have a great time. The only weeks I would really avoid are Christmas and Easter.

 

[lisareneeo]

We went 10/31-02 through 11/9/02. For the first 3 days there were no crowds or waits what so ever. We did go to MK on Sat (the beginning of Jersey week) and it was crowded, but we were able to manage. I know to avoid MK on Saturdays but we happened to get a PS for Cinderella's so this is why we visited on a Sat. Overall, I did notice that the crowds did pick up somewhat as the week went on but we never had a problem. We never waited more than 20 minutes ( this was long to us because at the beginning of our trip we may have had to wait 5-10 minutes) I honestly do not think you will have a problem. Early entry was not happening at this time and we still were able to do everything we wanted to do without long waits. We did utilize fast pass and this helped.
We did avoid MGM on Soap Weekend.
I think you will have a great time with little waits! Don't worry!

 

[TwingleMum]

What the heck is Jersey week?? Do people wear jerseys? Are they fans of Disney channel show The Jersey?? Or are they from New Jersey? Do they get special rates??? I've heard of super soap weekend. I hope its in Sept I also plan on goig early Nov and woould prefer to avoid it.

 

[goofy4tink]

Refillable mug abusers week!!! I love a big laugh first thing in the day. Thanks. Anyway...we've been twice during that time frame. It's no big deal. Really. We didn't even know about it until we hit MGM. But all the people were pretty much in that one area. We try to never do MK on a Sat also. That's just having a death wish. Then I would never get my dh to go back. Go and have a terrific time. That's a great time to visist the World.

 

[jel0511]

Jersey week is usually the first week of November. Here in NJ, the schools are closed for Thurs and Fri of that week, and some schools also get election day off. It's a less expensive time to go to WDW, so a lot of folks go down so they don't have to take their kids out of school for a whole week. IT's actually pretty nuts up here, you can't find a cheap flight!!! I've never been, but friends who have gone, say the lines are short, you'll just be seeing A LOT of people from NJ!!!! We'll be doing the Magic this year during NJ week.

 

[Gillian]

For anyone who wants to do advanced planning, for the next 3 years "Jersey week" is the week of election day. All schools in the state are closed the Thursday & Friday of that week. Many are closed for election day & some are even closed the whole week!

Now when is that Mug Abusers Week? I sure want to avoid the lines at the Coke machine!!