Late November - crowds, weather, etc.?

YawningDodo

DIS Veteran
Joined
Sep 16, 2014
I'm an American and had intended to make my first ever DLP trip earlier this year for their 25th anniversary, but those plans fell through for various reasons. I've been crunching numbers, though, and my prospects for getting there next fall are looking good! I've got some financial goals to hit, but assuming I can keep my budget together I'll be ready to start booking travel in January. :woohoo:

I know I'll need to go sometime after October 1 next year to fit with my work schedule, but it occurred to me that putting it a month later than that and setting myself up to be in Europe over our Thanksgiving holiday (that'll be November 22 in 2018) would maximize my available vacation days (I don't really celebrate Thanksgiving anyway - I've always found it to be a very stressful holiday and I have the excuse of living too far from family for a short hop home to be worth the cost so soon before Christmas).

So -- how does November stack up? Based on the 2017 calendar, it looks like that would have me there for their Christmas season. Is it crowded for the holidays? Is late November early enough to miss the worst of whatever Christmas rush there might be? Do attractions, restaurants, etc. tend to be more likely to close down that time of year? I don't mind the idea of the cold itself (if it's even particularly cold that time of year); it might actually be kind of novel to be in a Disney park when it's chilly outside. I live in Montana and our winters are pretty brutal, though it sort of helps (and sort of makes it worse) that it's very dry here. I'm planning to spend around half a week at DLP and at least a solid week in London afterward.
 
End of November should be relatively quiet as long as you stick to weekdays and preferably mid week. The Christmas festivities will be in full swing and there is no reason why things should be shut down. It could well be cold, but there are lots of under cover areas, hot chocolate and wooly hats to keep warm.
 
I have no info for you now, but will after Thanksgiving this year! We're making our first trip to DLP Thanksgiving week this year... can't wait!
 
End of November should be relatively quiet as long as you stick to weekdays and preferably mid week. The Christmas festivities will be in full swing and there is no reason why things should be shut down. It could well be cold, but there are lots of under cover areas, hot chocolate and wooly hats to keep warm.

Glad to hear it! Doesn't sound like it's too far different from what I remember of early November in WDW, apart from the weather. It'll be a little odd packing for a colder trip (I usually travel in summer) but I'm actually kind of looking forward to seeing a different season than the other times I've been abroad. Landing my DLP visit on weekdays might be fiddly in terms of getting a flight I can afford at the right time, but if I end up flying in at the end of the week I can always spend the weekend in Paris itself.

I have no info for you now, but will after Thanksgiving this year! We're making our first trip to DLP Thanksgiving week this year... can't wait!

Looking forward to hearing about it! I'm worrying a little about flights that week costing more miles since I have to make at least one connection within the States (curse of living in a small city in a mostly rural state), but I suppose I won't know until it gets closer. I should be able to put together enough to pay for airfare out of pocket, but I'd certainly rather do it on miles.
 


Looking forward to hearing about it! I'm worrying a little about flights that week costing more miles since I have to make at least one connection within the States (curse of living in a small city in a mostly rural state), but I suppose I won't know until it gets closer. I should be able to put together enough to pay for airfare out of pocket, but I'd certainly rather do it on miles.

We can't wait to go! We just booked our flights on Sunday with miles (four business class seats)... but the added fees were a bit crazy. We're flying into Paris and out of London. The flight to Paris connects through London as there were no directs available with miles (we live in Chicago, so we don't have any US connections to make). Oh... the other glitch we had with booking with miles, was the return. We had planned a shorter, one city trip that corresponded with our kids' Thanksgiving Break... we had no problems with the flight out, but the return caused us some problems. Nothing available for Saturday or Sunday, only Friday. In the end, we decided that the kids wouldn't miss much if we pulled them out Monday and Tuesday. Leaving Saturday and returning Friday gave us more flight options. However, after typing this, this may have been a business class specific issue. But it's something to keep in mind with booking.

We're so excited about this trip! My teen daughter and I made Disneyland our thing a few years ago when she had a dance competition in Anaheim. We've returned each year for a mother daughter trip together. We've both joked about going to DLP and talked about wanting to visit a Disney park during Christmastime to see the decorations... we are a little overwhelmed that we're doing both of those with this trip! My husband and son are just along for the ride with our DLP visit :-)
 
I'm worrying a little about flights that week costing more miles since I have to make at least one connection within the States (curse of living in a small city in a mostly rural state), but I suppose I won't know until it gets closer. I should be able to put together enough to pay for airfare out of pocket, but I'd certainly rather do it on miles.

I will also be heading to DLP/Paris over Thanksgiving week (17th-25th). I didn't book my flight with miles, but flight prices don't seem to be jumping back up for France soon. I bought direct, round trip tickets for $400/pp incl service fees. The big drop in flight prices to Europe was my main reasoning of switching my vacation from WDW to DLP!

Maybe consider one of the flights (departure/return) on miles and the other one out of pocket depending on price/cost of flight in miles near Thanksgiving?
 
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