Disney over Thanksgiving vs. Disney over Christmas?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What a nightmare. A birthday gift can be enjoyed at times other than the actual birthday week, OP, such as when you're giving an electronic device that only comes out in stores after the birthday. Same for theme parks. You can take the kids out of school and plan for the LEAST BUSY week of the year. It's going to be dicey for the 15 year old and their high school classes, though. You left that a little too late.

I'm French, and my favorite theme park memories are of going to EuroDisney on below-freezing mid-January days and enjoying a practically empty theme park. The water wheel in front of Big Thunder Mountain was frozen solid with tons of icicles. We warmed up with chili in one of the restaurants and got to go on multiple rides back to back without wait lines. It was awesome.

I'm not the OP, but I love that you call it by the original name, EuroDisney, instead of "Disneyland Paris!" I do too!

[Anonymous]

Op here. To clarify this isn’t a birthday trip, just a chance to visit Disney for the first time that works with the holiday breaks aligning best with my work and their school outages. We don’t get Presidents’ Day holiday days anymore.

We could maybe work Labor Day but school is tight since we won’t take days off school to go to Disney.

Spring break at Disney doesn’t appeal as much to me tbh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here. To clarify this isn’t a birthday trip, just a chance to visit Disney for the first time that works with the holiday breaks aligning best with my work and their school outages. We don’t get Presidents’ Day holiday days anymore.

We could maybe work Labor Day but school is tight since we won’t take days off school to go to Disney.

Spring break at Disney doesn’t appeal as much to me tbh.

Just skip it then. You will be miserably disappointed if you go over thanksgiving or Christmas until you do the VIP. It's OK not to do Disney.

[Anonymous]

I used to work at Magic Kingdom seasonally. Both are incredibly packed. I did used to enjoy working the Mickey Christmas Parties but those do cost extra money and I've heard the quality isn't what it used to be. But the Christmas fireworks were fun.

But having worked there, I would not voluntarily go either of those times. By FAR the worst shift I ever worked was New Years eve because we hit capacity almost immediately upon opening and people were blowing noisemakers everywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. To clarify this isn’t a birthday trip, just a chance to visit Disney for the first time that works with the holiday breaks aligning best with my work and their school outages. We don’t get Presidents’ Day holiday days anymore.

We could maybe work Labor Day but school is tight since we won’t take days off school to go to Disney.

Spring break at Disney doesn’t appeal as much to me tbh.

Just skip it then. You will be miserably disappointed if you go over thanksgiving or Christmas until you do the VIP. It's OK not to do Disney.

I agree. Op, why didn’t you address going during summer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here. To clarify this isn’t a birthday trip, just a chance to visit Disney for the first time that works with the holiday breaks aligning best with my work and their school outages. We don’t get Presidents’ Day holiday days anymore.

We could maybe work Labor Day but school is tight since we won’t take days off school to go to Disney.

Spring break at Disney doesn’t appeal as much to me tbh. [/quote]

You don't want to go during these times anyway. If you aren't going to pull from school, you need to go during the summer or not at all. Or just go at Christmas and hate it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here. To clarify this isn’t a birthday trip, just a chance to visit Disney for the first time that works with the holiday breaks aligning best with my work and their school outages. We don’t get Presidents’ Day holiday days anymore.

We could maybe work Labor Day but school is tight since we won’t take days off school to go to Disney.

Spring break at Disney doesn’t appeal as much to me tbh.

You don't want to go during these times anyway. If you aren't going to pull from school, you need to go during the summer or not at all. Or just go at Christmas and hate it.

[Anonymous]

I’m willing to do almost anything once - but I don’t plan to do Disney at Xmas again. Never been during Tgiving.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here. To clarify this isn’t a birthday trip, just a chance to visit Disney for the first time that works with the holiday breaks aligning best with my work and their school outages. We don’t get Presidents’ Day holiday days anymore.

We could maybe work Labor Day but school is tight since we won’t take days off school to go to Disney.

Spring break at Disney doesn’t appeal as much to me tbh.

I would do Labor Day personally. Though in FCPS we get 4 days for that now - not sure about your school district.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. To clarify this isn’t a birthday trip, just a chance to visit Disney for the first time that works with the holiday breaks aligning best with my work and their school outages. We don’t get Presidents’ Day holiday days anymore.

We could maybe work Labor Day but school is tight since we won’t take days off school to go to Disney.

Spring break at Disney doesn’t appeal as much to me tbh.

I would do Labor Day personally. Though in FCPS we get 4 days for that now - not sure about your school district.

If you are willing to deal with the summer heat, really any time in August is quite slow as most of the south heads back to school. Labor Day is also slow, but no need to go that weekend specifically.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. To clarify this isn’t a birthday trip, just a chance to visit Disney for the first time that works with the holiday breaks aligning best with my work and their school outages. We don’t get Presidents’ Day holiday days anymore.

We could maybe work Labor Day but school is tight since we won’t take days off school to go to Disney.

Spring break at Disney doesn’t appeal as much to me tbh.

Just skip it then. You will be miserably disappointed if you go over thanksgiving or Christmas until you do the VIP. It's OK not to do Disney.

I agree. Op, why didn’t you address going during summer?

Op here. I went during the summer the one time I went at 18. It rained mid day, destroyed my phone and the showers were terrible on snd off during that trip. The heat as well was a challenge for my asthma. I have two with asthma as well so I’ve skipped the summer idea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Go on Thanksgiving Day and stay over that weekend and miss one day of school on Monday. The week after Thanksgiving is the absolute best. All of the Christmas decorations, shows, etc. but with few crowds. You won't have that exactly, but you'll get a bit of it.

Christmas Week is terrible. If you must go over Christmas break, leave by the 23rd.

This isn't a bad idea to miss Monday after Thanksgiving. At my DC's school, they have 'black out' dates the Monday and Tuesday after Thanksgiving. Nothing is allowed to be due and no tests are given.

If that's not an option, I'd do Christmas instead of Thanksgiving. Leave after school on Friday when winter break starts so you are hopefully there before the hordes get there for Christmas. You should plan on doing the Very Merry party so you can enjoy Magic Kingdom late at night when the crowds are lighter. You should also plan to be in the parks early, then leave mid day and return in the evenings. Your 7 yo is a wildcard but the older two should be able to stay up late. That's a game changer for avoiding crowds. I would recommend Art of Animation if you're a family of 5. It's on the gondola line and kids like it. If you're going to be managing two different sleep schedules (younger one goes to bed early while older two are out later with the other parent), then having another bedroom and bathroom will be invaluable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. To clarify this isn’t a birthday trip, just a chance to visit Disney for the first time that works with the holiday breaks aligning best with my work and their school outages. We don’t get Presidents’ Day holiday days anymore.

We could maybe work Labor Day but school is tight since we won’t take days off school to go to Disney.

Spring break at Disney doesn’t appeal as much to me tbh.

I would do Labor Day personally. Though in FCPS we get 4 days for that now - not sure about your school district.

We do not get those extra Labor Day days. Op here. Columbus/Indigenous seems to be in flux with a day off after the holiday and a teacher workday that follows. That could potentially work! Just a much shorter adventure or one weekend with a Friday/Thirsday depending.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. To clarify this isn’t a birthday trip, just a chance to visit Disney for the first time that works with the holiday breaks aligning best with my work and their school outages. We don’t get Presidents’ Day holiday days anymore.

We could maybe work Labor Day but school is tight since we won’t take days off school to go to Disney.

Spring break at Disney doesn’t appeal as much to me tbh.

Just skip it then. You will be miserably disappointed if you go over thanksgiving or Christmas until you do the VIP. It's OK not to do Disney.

What is the VIP btw?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. To clarify this isn’t a birthday trip, just a chance to visit Disney for the first time that works with the holiday breaks aligning best with my work and their school outages. We don’t get Presidents’ Day holiday days anymore.

We could maybe work Labor Day but school is tight since we won’t take days off school to go to Disney.

Spring break at Disney doesn’t appeal as much to me tbh.

Just skip it then. You will be miserably disappointed if you go over thanksgiving or Christmas until you do the VIP. It's OK not to do Disney.

What is the VIP btw?

It’s a small group tour with a Disney cast member guide. It’s like $400/hr and a minimum of seven hours (check those details), but you can do a ton in a short time bc you skip all lines.