In this post, we discuss visiting Disney World in November. We cover weather, crowds, holidays, events, refurbishments, and anything else you’d like to know if you were planning a visit to Walt Disney World Resort as things transition from Halloween to Christmas! Read on to learn all about visiting Walt Disney World in November!

Quick Thoughts on November 2024

A tale of…between one and three months. November is a tough month to plan. In 2024, we have Veterans Day on Monday, November 11 and Thanksgiving on Thursday, November 28. We know Thanksgiving week is one of the busiest weeks of the year, but a Veterans Day surge (many people will have three-day weekends) makes the early month busier too.

There’s typically a gap of below average crowds in between these holidays, which basically breaks the month into three parts. But you might also see sustained crowds throughout.

Finally, holiday celebrations are generally scheduled to begin around November 11 (see some specifics below as they are announced), so try to target the later half of the month if you’re hoping to catch those.

Tiana’s Bayou Adventure now open. The new ride debuted June 28, 2024 at Magic Kingdom. We have a short post outlining what we know and how this will impact touring at Magic Kingdom.

2024 November NOTABLE DATES IN DISNEY WORLD

We’ll talk more specifically about crowds and events below, but we like to start with some dates to flag. If you’re thinking about these dates for your visit, keep in mind that normal rules might not apply.

October 31 - November 3, 2024. Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon weekend
November 8, 2024. First date of Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party
November 9, 2024. First date of Jollywood Nights (Hollywood Studios holiday event)
November 11, 2024. Veterans Day.
November 12, 2024. Official start of Holidays at Walt Disney World
November 23, 2024 - Epcot International Food and Wine Festival Ends
November 29, 2024. Start of Epcot International Festival of the Holidays
November 23 - December 1. This is Thanksgiving week, with Thanksgiving itself being Thursday, November 28.

Disney World Crowds In November

Our position on Walt Disney World crowd calendars is that people often put too much weight into them, but that’s it’s still good to know general trends as well as specific events that impact crowds.

November is a textbook example of why we won’t bank on crowd calendars for day-by-day predictions. Crowds aren’t awful most of the month, which is great news, but timing precise dates in November can be challenging.

With a minor holiday early in the month (Veterans Day) and a major holiday to end the month (Thanksgiving), crowds in November are unpredictable on a day-to-day basis because everyone’s plans around those holidays, and many schools’ scheduled breaks, vary significantly.

Looking a little more broadly, the bulk of November is slightly below average crowds, with the month as a whole being the seventh or eighth most crowded month of the year.

A Monday Veterans Day in 2024 means three-day weekends which means we’re expecting high crowds November 9-11.

Then the question becomes whether or not we’ll get a dip in between the month’s holidays. In 2023, there was a small lull in the single week between the holiday weeks. We expect the longer time between the two holidays in 2024 to bring about slightly below average crowds.

Once Thanksgiving week arrives, you’ll need to expect very high crowds through December 1, the Monday following Thanksgiving.

If you must see a crowd calendar, the one we trust most is over at WDW Prep School.

Disney World Events In November

It’s worth breaking November events into two categories—“not Christmas” and “Christmas”. (Note: Walt Disney World does recognize winter holidays other than Christmas, but most of the focus is on Christmas, and I prefer not to mislead people into thinking otherwise.)

Not Christmas Events In November

ESPN Wide World of Sports hosts a few athletic events in November, but they tend to be timed with holiday weekends, meaning you should already have expected crowds. The 2024 calendar currently has:

November 8-9: Special Olympics FL Fall Classic
November 21-24: WBCA Showcase
November 28-29: NIT Season Tip-Off and ESPN Events Invitational
November 29-December 1: Disney Junior Soccer Showcase

These events typically bring increased child and teenage crowds to the value resorts, particularly All Star Sports.

The 2024 edition of the Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon will be held October 31 - November 3, 2024. As discussed in the January post, race weekends tend to bring crowds down a bit. The half marathon weekends also shouldn’t significantly impact touring, though we admittedly have never paid much attention when we’ve visited during these weekends.

Veterans Day is November 11 each year (a Monday in 2024). When it occurs on a Friday through Monday (assuming people have one weekday off for it), it’s obviously more of a draw for vacationers, while Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday dates will draw locals in for one semi-busy day, but that’s it.

Thanksgiving is the fourth Thursday in November (November 28, 2024) and a major holiday in the United States. It is common for people to have Thursday and Friday off of work / school, and many families / schools go even further, taking the entire preceding week off.

While you might find a special meal at some restaurants in Walt Disney World, the resort as a whole doesn’t have any notable Thanksgiving celebrations. By this time, the resort is already in Christmas / winter holiday mode.

Epcot typically takes on three personas during November. It will usually start with the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival before taking a break to go festival-free around the Thanksgiving crowds, before transitioning to the Epcot International Festival of the Holidays. You can see the Epcot Festival Calendar here.

The Start of Christmas at Walt Disney World

First, we have a post specifically about Christmas at Walt Disney World that will answer more of your questions. Second—yes, it really is that magical a time of year. Whatever the drawbacks of visiting during the holiday season, Disney makes the experience worth the trouble.

November marks the start of Christmas celebrations at Walt Disney World. There’s no one night when all the decorations go up—even Magic Kingdom takes a few days. Magic Kingdom typically sees its first decorations up the day after the final Halloween event, and the details are added over the following few (two to four) days.

In 2024, the start of the holiday celebrations is set for November 12. November 8 is the first date of Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, which had several parties throughout November. November 9 is the first date of Jollywood Nights, the ticketed holiday event at Hollywood Studios.

While Magic Kingdom’s ticketed Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party is the flagship event of the season, the other parks have noteworthy ongoing events as well:

Flurry of Fun at Hollywood Studios
Holiday Celebrations at Animal Kingdom
Epcot International Festival of the Holidays (starts later November)

And 2023 saw the debut of a new ticketed event, Jollywood Nights at Hollywood Studios.

The hotels are the last to get decorations up, usually having all their decorations up two weeks into November. (The Grand Floridian Gingerbread House opened on November 8, 2023, and that’s just about the last of the major resort decorations.)

Once the festivities start, they continue until the last week of the year. While Christmas week itself can be a little different (mostly at Magic Kingdom), there’s no difference between visiting November 12 and December 12 in terms of holiday spirit at the resort.

Disney World Prices In November

Disney World’s hotel and ticket prices vary throughout the year. For a more comprehensive look for pricing throughout the year, check out our post on the cheapest time of the calendar year to visit Walt Disney World. You can also visit the 2024 hotel rate table at MouseSavers. Here’s a table showing how hotel prices at All Star Movies, Port Orleans Riverside, Wilderness Lodge, and Yacht Club fluctuate throughout the year:

November is a bit of an odd month. You can see that value resort are actually discounted a bit during the early part of the month, while the moderate and deluxe resorts come at a premium. This is mostly because families with kids in school during this time make up a larger share of value guests. Let’s zoom in a bit and look just at November:

Notably, Veterans Day doesn’t bring an increase in prices. Thanksgiving brings a surge, and while prices come down for a few days, they start to rise again heading into December.

Disney World November Deals and Discounts

As you might expect from the complicated holiday schedule, November doesn’t see month-long discounts. You might see room discounts or even free dining available for scattered parts of the month, but you’d have to plan a very targeted trip to avoid the peak pricing that comes with holidays and weekends.

As of this update, a limited discount will be offered covering the later part of the year:

To make it all even sweeter, starting on June 27 you can save up to 30% on rooms at select Disney Resort hotels for stays most nights from Nov. 24 to Dec. 25, plus other savings for stays most Sunday to Thursday nights between Oct. 6 to Nov. 21. You can also get a free Park Hopper option added to your tickets when you upgrade to a Walt Disney Travel Company package that includes a non-discounted 4-day or longer date-based ticket. -Disney Parks Blog

Discounts will vary by hotel, room type, and availability. You can see current Disney World offers here. If nothing is available yet, you might also want to check out historical Disney World discount information here.

Refurbishments & New Constructions

Shorter refurbishments, if any are ongoing, should wrap up mid-month as holiday travelers start to arrive. You will want to check our Walt Disney World construction / refurbishment calendar for the latest.

Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade, typically only held during the Very Merry party event, will replace the daytime Festival of Fantasy Parade at Magic Kingdom on November 8 and 9, 2024. (Note: While the Nov 8-9 dates were presumably correct at some point, I now see Festival of Fantasy missing from the calendar and the 9th and 10th—assume this situation is in a bit of flux.)

Test Track (Epcot) closed for a large refurbishment / reimagining beginning June 17, 2024. Reopening is set for 2025, but no more specific date has been given. The last major reimagining of Test Track took 8 months.

Water Park Operations

Disney World has two water parks, Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach, neither of which is open the entire year. After some years of uncertainty, the schedule has seemingly settled down so that each year we have:

Typhoon Lagoon opens / Blizzard Beach closes mid-March
Blizzard Beach opens / Typhoon Lagoon closes early November

This schedule is subject to change (and Disney only announces specific dates about a month in advance, in any case). Most recently, Disney confirmed that Blizzard Beach will reopen on November 4, 2024. Typhoon Lagoon will begin its annual refurbishment closure on that same day. This means the bulk of the month will be Blizzard Beach only, but the first three days will be Typhoon Lagoon only.

We also expect Blizzard Beach to get some holiday touches beginning mid-November. Here’s a look at the 2022 holiday theming, which returned in 2023.

Check our Walt Disney World construction / refurbishment calendar for the latest.

Disney World Weather In November

November is one of the few beautiful months (in terms of weather) at Walt Disney World. The average high is 79F (26C), and the average low is 59F (15C).

Rain has also let up, with only around six days of rain in the month (comparable to the rest of the year, outside summer). It’s technically still hurricane season, but Walt Disney World has never seen a November closure due to a hurricane. In 2022, the resort had shortened hours for one evening and one morning (November 9-10) in response to Hurricane Nicole, though.

We have a post that talks more broadly about weather at Walt Disney World.

Cold, Heat, and Rain

November isn’t too cold, but it’s worth an early mention that in our opinion (and we’ve heard similar from other people) Florida cold is a different type of cold.

We’re from Chicago and routinely (and happily) spend bulks of our winters in sub-zero temperatures. But something about the cold in Florida just bites a different way. Maybe it’s because we’re used to warmer temps during the day, so night feels colder. Maybe it’s the humidity. Maybe it’s just that you’ll be standing around so much (in lines, watching shows, waiting for fireworks).

In any case, if the forecast looks “cool” for your trip, pack an extra layer or two in case it gets “cold.” I can’t tell you how often I’ve been in Walt Disney World in November through February and been so glad I flew from Chicago and had some hardcore warming layers available.

Heat isn’t much of a risk in November, but if you’d like to prepare for it just in case you can hop back a month to October and read about our heat tips.

We don’t let rain forecasts bother us at Disney World anymore. We prepare for rain—bringing the right shoes and maybe a poncho—but we don’t plan trips around it. Even in months with less rain, you’ll see short spurts of it, and the occasional downpour.

We were at Fort Wilderness during a severe thunderstorm that kept us inside all day (though people who braved the parks got tremendously short waits). This was the relatively dry month of February.

And in November 2019, we also were on hand for the first Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, which had almost every show rained out.

October / November / December

As a closing note, let’s compare November to its neighboring months.

Should I visit Disney World In October or November?

If you’re ambivalent about the Christmas celebrations, October is the easy pick here. The weather is slightly better in November, but November is a mess on the calendar.

Thanksgiving and Veterans Day keep crowds ebbing and flowing, and the precise timing of those crowds will always be hard to predict. Will some days in November have very low crowds? Definitely. Can you time predict those as easily are you can predict slightly low crowds in most of October? No way. Take October, it’s more predictable.

If you allow Christmas celebrations to enter the equation, it gets more complicated. So far, we’ve had success visiting right at the start of the holiday celebrations (typically around November 7).

You might face slightly higher crowds around Veterans Day (November 11), but as long as you avoid Thanksgiving week you shouldn’t see awful crowds. On balance, if you’re interested in holiday celebrations, November is tricky to time but worth it.

Should I Visit Disney World in November or December?

Assuming we’re talking about planning around the holidays, December has a small window to find average-to-low crowds (the first two weeks of the month), but if you can visit during that time, we’d pick December over November.

December is more predictable than November—crowds will start average-to-low (“start” depends on exactly how late Thanksgiving is) and increase steadily until New Year’s Day. If you can visit the first half of the month, you’ll have some crowds but nothing troubling.

You also don’t have to play the “when will holidays start” game in December. Hotels are fully decorated by December. The parks have been in holiday swing for weeks..with one exception.

The Epcot International Festival of the Holidays typically starts after Thanksgiving. If you want to visit Food or Wine Festival, you’ll need to visit in November. If you want the holiday festival, December is the pick.

Should I visit Walt Disney World In November?

November is a fine month to visit, it’s just complicated to time properly. Before Thanksgiving week you should find mostly low crowds, but Veterans Day can cause some issues.

If it’s Christmas celebration you’re after, you’re going to be waiting until around November 14 for all the hotel decorations to be up, and a few days earlier (around November 8) for most holiday celebrations at the parks to start, except the Epcot holiday festival which won’t start until the end of the month.

If Christmas celebrations are not an issue for you, then the first two weeks of November are more or less just an extension of October.

Have you visiting Walt Disney World in November? What did you think?

All Your Other Disney World Planning Questions Answered

Don't be overwhelmed by Disney World planning! Take a second to check out our most important content and you'll not only be an expert, but you'll save big $$$ along the way.

Just starting out? Check out our Walt Disney World planning guide! If you're still picking dates, we've got everything you need to know about Disney World crowd calendars. For picking your hotel, check out our Walt Disney World hotels guide.

When it comes time to book we’ll help you find discount Disney World tickets. Decide whether you need a dining plan in our Complete Guide to Disney World Dining Plans! And don't forget to book those Disney World Advance Dining Reservations!

Don't forget to master your Disney World Lightning Lane Guide and Strategy a few months in advance. We'll keep you out of long lines so you can maximize the magical time in the parks! We've got park-specific guides as well: Magic Kingdom Lightning Lane Strategy, Epcot Lightning Lane Strategy, Animal Kingdom Lightning Lane Strategy, and Hollywood Studios Lightning Lane Strategy.

Know what to ride with our guides to: Magic Kingdom rides, Hollywood Studios rides, Epcot rides, and Animal Kingdom rides! Plus learn about the water parks with our guide to Blizzard Beach and our guide to Typhoon Lagoon! And for some some fun prep, check out our Ranking of Every Ride at Walt Disney World.

Finally, before you head out, be sure to check out our to-the-point packing list, 10 essentials you forget to pack for every Disney trip. And if you're interested in saving, there's no better list than our 53 Ways to Save on your Disney trip from start to finish.

Learn More About The Holidays at Walt Disney World

Want to learn more about Christmastime at Walt Disney World? For starters, we've got a Guide to Christmas at Walt Disney World, which introduces you to everything you need to know.

Need more specifics? You'll want to read about the park that gets the most Magical decorations in our post on Christmas at Magic Kingdom. You'll also want to read about Flurry of Fun—the Christmas celebration at Hollywood Studios, the Epcot International Festival of the Holidays, and the Holiday Celebrations at Animal Kingdom.

But the flagship event of the season is Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party—and our guide has you covered with everything you need to know. Or check out the quick version in our 12 Tips for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party.

Last but not least, let's not forget that the celebrations don't stop at the parks! You can visit our post on Christmas decorations at the Disney World hotels to see how even the hotels get into the spirit! Even Disney Springs gets in on the action, with bar overlays and an awesome Christmas Tree Trail! It’s a great time of year at Walt Disney World resort!

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