I have been researching our upcoming trip using this website...and I am totally hooked! Love all the opinions and advice. I now have a question. We are planning a trip for November 2008 and hope to stay at the Wilderness Lodge (3 kids - 3,5,7 at the time of travel) and a set of grandparents. Our planned week is November 8 -15, since my husband's birthday falls in there and we could possibly be at his favorite restaraunt (Le Cellier) for his birthday.

Our last trip was June 2007 and we decided it was too hot and a bit too crowded for us. We picked November for this next trip, thinking the weather should be nice and the crowds slightly less. BUT...just read something about Jersey Week and increased crowds during this time. Here are my questions:

What is Jersey Week and does it really increase the crowds considerably?
Does anyone know the exact dates for this year?
Would another week in November be better? (perhaps the week before or the week after...we are pretty flexible and have yet to actually book anything)

I appreciate any-and all-advice!! :)

Hi! Jersey Week, as it's usually referred to, is the week in November during which the New Jersey Education Association holds its annual convention in Atlantic City, NJ. I think it's usually during the week of Veteran's Day. Generally, most NJ public schools are closed that week, and families arrive in WDW in flocks to take advantage of a non-summer, non-holiday week to enjoy Disney. As far as impacting crowd levels, I've heard arguments on both sides. One thing's for sure: you hear lots of Jersey accents. Whether that's a plus or minus for you is up to your taste. ;) Veteran's Day 2008 is on Tuesday, November 11. I don't know the exact dates of the convention this year, it's not posted on the NJEA site yet. November is a great time to go, I haven't encountered a lot of crowds that time of year. Avoid Thanksgiving weekend, though. It gets crowded then. You'd probably be safe booking the week in between, 11/17-23, or thereabouts.

Another great time to go is the first or second week of December. Nice weather, and all the decorations are up. We were there 12/2-6/2007, and we waited no more than 10 minutes for any ride! Granted, we used fastpasses for anything over a 30 minute wait, but most posted times were longer than the actual waiting times. Expedition Everest was a walk-on!

ABC Super Soap Weekend is also around that time (in 2007 it was 11/10 & 11/11) which causes alot more people to be at the Studios...however, they're usually at the fan event venues and not really on the attractions.

Thank you for your responses! We are now deciding between Nov. 8-15 and Nov. 15-22 .

Does anyone know if the Christmas decorations will be up by then? We would love to experience the Christmas party as well. These are deciding factors in which week we choose. If the Christmas activities will be going on by the 8-15, that is what we are leaning towards. Any info on this?

Thanks in advance!:)

Jersey week is always the first full week in November. So it looks like you will miss it. We don't have off for Vet's day unless it happens to fall during that week. They condensed it to one week because the first week was NJ Teacher Conventions and election day and we would only have 2 days of school and the next week was Vet's day and another day. So they just combined it all in to one week.

We are going during that week this year.

Thank you for your responses! We are now deciding between Nov. 8-15 and Nov. 15-22 .

Does anyone know if the Christmas decorations will be up by then? We would love to experience the Christmas party as well. These are deciding factors in which week we choose. If the Christmas activities will be going on by the 8-15, that is what we are leaning towards. Any info on this?

Thanks in advance!:)

Generally, the deadline to have all christmas decorations up all around the parks and resorts is the day before thanksgiving. This last year, my group left to go home from WDW the day before thanksgiving. Most of the decorations were up during our trip, and they were doing the Very Merry Christmas Party (which we attended) and the Osborne Lights. The major notable thing that was not started until we left was the holidays around the world tag on Illuminations. Also, I noticed that, although they were up, we didn't see the arches at Epcot lit up until the day before we left... Don't know why they'd set those up and then not turn the lights on... :confused:

:) We just booked the week of November 8-15 at the Wilderness Lodge. I'm hoping weather and crowds are in our favor. We're from New England and we usually have our winter coats on by then...so anything should be an improvement from that!

If anyone has any more insight on weather, crowds or Christmas decorations during that timeframe- I would appreciate any more info!

In the meantime, I have become obsessed with reading trip reports!:geek: