November 2024 at Disney World: Crowd Calendar & Info

Our guide to November at Walt Disney World features a free crowd calendar, tips for when to visit & avoid, weather, new attraction openings & closures, Thanksgiving & Christmas info, and more. We also cover what’s happening at Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios.

In general, the first half of November will be a continuation of what’s described in our Guide to October 2024 at Walt Disney World. Crowds will remain elevated across the board as Halloween transitions to Christmas. However, attendance won’t be as high as Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Nevertheless, November is a good month to visit Walt Disney World due to mild weather, moderate crowds much of the month, and the start of the holiday season! There’s a ton going on at Walt Disney World in November, with festivals at Epcot, Christmas offerings in the other three parks, Disney Springs, resort hotels, and more.

We’re big fans of Walt Disney World in November. It used to be when we took our annual Christmas trip to WDW, and this is reflected in its ranking on our Best & Worst Months to Visit Walt Disney World. November isn’t just one of the best months to visit–it has our favorite week of the year, too!

With that said, one thing we do want to note up front is that although we love November, it has gotten increasingly busy in the last several years. It’s a subjectively great time to visit, but there are few–if any–truly “low” crowd level days. However, it’s still possible to beat the crowds by utilizing Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, Early Entry, Extended Evening Hours, and other savvy strategy. We cover the best & worst approach for each park in Best Time-Saving Strategies for Walt Disney World.

Beyond that, we recommend utilizing our 1-Day Disney Park Itineraries & Touring Plans to make the most of your Christmas-time experience at Walt Disney World. These will help you avoid the crowds, but more importantly, save you time waiting in line (since crowds and wait times are not the same). Truth be told, using sound strategy almost always beats choosing the “best” days to visit!

Let’s take a look at what else is going on at Walt Disney World in November, and how you can make the most of your November visit…

November Weather at Disney World

Weather at Walt Disney World in November is unpredictable. On paper, if you just go by historical averages, November is a great month to visit. In reality, the weather you experience likely won’t be a historical average, and packing can be tricky because you might experience weather in the high 80s or you might experience a cold front with frosty mornings.

Because of the potential for cold weather, one water park always closes for the season before November. We recommend packing for a wide range of weather conditions and paying close attention to the extended forecast before your trip. Read our Ultimate Disney Packing Guide & Checklist for clever things to bring year-round, and our Packing for Winter at Walt Disney World for specific cold-weather recommendations.

I still “fondly” remember our late-November/early-December trip a few years ago when I packed all shorts and polos and we unexpectedly had lows in the 30s and highs in the 50s. Purchasing new outfits from The Emporium is neither fun nor cheap! More likely than not, you’ll have pleasant weather, but let that serve as a cautionary tale.

With that out of the way, let’s cover what’s happening at Walt Disney World in November…

November Events at Disney World

Walt Disney World has a lot of special events, but none compare to the Christmas season. November and December are the best two months of the year from an entertainment, atmosphere, and special offerings perspective. See our Ultimate Guide to Christmas at Walt Disney World.

For timing info, see When Do Christmas Decorations Go Up at Walt Disney World? That covers when decorations typically go up around each of the parks, resorts, and Disney Springs. Note that this starts before the official start of the holiday season, which will likely begins on November 8 or 9, 2024.

Also note that the resort hotels are not decorated by that time. Typically, those are much more staggered and take far longer to be decorated in full. Gingerbread houses go up first (where applicable) and then trees and other decor goes up gradually.

The bigger deal this year is the return of Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party (MVMCP). This hard ticket event has a ton of dates in November. This also begins before the official start of the holiday season, with the first MVMCP likely to happen on or around November 7, 2024.

Magic Kingdom opens and closes earlier on Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party days. As discussed below, this causes roller coaster crowd conditions in the park that might seem counterintuitive. One of the best things you can do when planning is working around those events, as that’ll save you more time than anything else.

That might not the only hard ticket holiday event this year, as the Disney Jollywood Nights Christmas Party could return to Hollywood Studios. Nothing has been announced yet, but the inaugural event wasn’t exactly a smash success, so Walt Disney World may opt against bringing it back. We could see it going either way, and is probably about 50/50.

Regardless, Jollywood Nights is worth knowing about as you may want to attend (or avoid DHS on dates when it’s happening), but it’s less frequent and doesn’t cause the park to close nearly as early, so it should not disrupt crowds to nearly the same degree as MVMCP.

Epcot’s International Food & Wine Festival runs through mid-November, so you’re in luck if you’re visiting during the first few weeks of the month. Just keep in mind that the cost of grazing around kiosks adds up quickly. Read our Epcot’s International Food & Wine Festival Guide for booth menus & reviews, plus what we recommend eating (and what we recommend skipping).

Although Thanksgiving occurs in November, Christmas is the star of the show. Be sure to consult our Tips for Thanksgiving at Walt Disney World post for dining recommendations and more you should know if you’re visiting for that holiday.

Almost as soon as Food & Wine ends, the park transitions over to the Epcot International Festival of the Holidays, which runs through December 30, 2024. This features seasonal foods and other entertainment. It’s like a scaled back version of Food & Wine, with a seasonal twist.

In addition to this, there are a few events on the ESPN Wide World of Sports November Calendar, but these are the types of youth events that only really are a draw for parents with kids participating in them. In other words, if you don’t already know about these events, they probably won’t be a draw for you.

Finally, it’s possible that there will be another celebration or marketing campaign of some sort in the second half of 2024. This could be a summer event that ends well before the holiday season, or a 12-18 month event. Nothing has been announced, but we’re expecting something at some point.

November 2024 REFURBISHMENTS & NEW ATTRACTIONS

In terms of attractions, consult our Walt Disney World Refurbishment Schedule to see what’s scheduled for November. Due it being a busy stretch, there typically are not a lot of attraction closures during the holiday at Walt Disney World. That doesn’t mean there won’t be brief closures or unplanned maintenance, but we would not expect headliner attractions to have multi-week closures.

The only major closure currently scheduled in the second half of 2024 is Splash Mountain…maybe. That ride is being reimagined into Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland. The new attraction will bring guests into the world of “The Princess and the Frog” after the events of the movie. According to Disney, the reimagined ride will open at Magic Kingdom in Florida and Disneyland in California in late 2024.

If recent rumors are to be believed, there’s actually an outside chance it’ll open by Summer 2024, in which case, it would be open in November (obviously). Even if it’s not ahead of schedule, the most logical opening date for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure would be October 1, 2024 with previews prior to that. The next most likely date would be early December, so there is a chance it won’t be open for November.

Turning to what’s new, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind still qualifies. It should drop its virtual queue by November, but if not: read this.

Fair warning: we’ve been saying that Cosmic Rewind should drop its VQ for over a year. Eventually, we’ll be correct. I have a really hard time imagining that it’ll still be in use by November 2024, but I probably would’ve said the same thing last year. It baffles me that it’s still in use, and really should come to an end during the winter off-season. Here’s hoping!

An alternative to the virtual queue is buying line-skipping access via the Individual Lightning Lanes. Those posts explain each option, their pros & cons, and everything else you need to know. Suffice to say, do not just show up to EPCOT expecting to join the standby line–as there isn’t one.

Then there’s the biggest addition to Magic Kingdom: TRON Lightcycle Run. This is the newest major attraction at Walt Disney World, having officially opened in April. This works very similarly to Cosmic Rewind; see our Virtual Queue Strategy Guide for TRON Lightcycle Run for details, tips & tricks for success, and more.

Bouncing back to EPCOT, there’s a bunch of other new stuff there. This includes World Celebration, CommuniCore Hall, Moana’s Journey of Water, and Luminous: Symphony of Us, all of which will around one year old as of November 2024. That’s still pretty new in the grand scheme of things, especially given that not much is happening at Walt Disney World.

Other minor additions, including restaurants and more, have also debuted this year–with more on the horizon. See What’s New & Next at Walt Disney World in 2024 & Beyond. There’s also probably stuff about which we don’t yet know. Our expectation here is that Walt Disney World launches a promotional celebration or marketing campaign at some point in 2024, and that includes new entertainment. Our hope is that this means a new parade (day or night) and something at Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios, but we shall see!

November 2024 Crowd Calendar for Disney World

There’s no color-coded November crowd calendar for Walt Disney World at the top of this section because it wouldn’t tell the full story of attendance trends–and individual days are almost impossible to predict right now. If you spend the ~5 minutes reading this section from beginning to end, you’ll be far better prepared to avoid November crowds!

Unfortunately, crowd calendars are less reliable due to how Walt Disney World manipulates Park Pass reservations, staffing, closures, and ride capacity. Since Disney doesn’t release official attendance numbers, crowd calendars use school schedules, airport traffic statistics, hotel pricing & occupancy, etc., as proxies for crowds. This approach worked and made crowd calendars reliable for years.

With all of that in mind, here are our crowd calendar predictions for the best and worst weeks at Walt Disney World in November 2024…

November 2024 will be a month of peaks and valleys on the Walt Disney World crowd calendar. The first week begins with a bang, thanks to the Wine & Dine Half Marathon Weekend. Consequently, the beginning of November will see a brief blip of busy-ness. Normally, the first couple of weekdays to start the month would be slow, but the runDisney race–which runs through November 3, 2024–should keep them from being truly low. As a result, our expectation is crowds in the 5/10 range for the first few days of the month.

If anything, this might overestimate crowd levels as measured by wait times. All other runDisney events in the last year have not had the same impact on crowd levels in previous years, which is presumably due to runners doing the events but not purchasing park tickets in greater numbers for whatever reason (price increases?). On top of that, more Annual Passholders are now blocked out on weekends.

As a result, Saturdays and Sundays have been the slowest days of the week, outside of some long holiday weekends. It’s possible–if not probable–this trend will continue with Wine & Dine Half Marathon Weekend being less busy than anticipated. (See Best & Worst Days to Do All Parks at Walt Disney World for further discussion/recommendations about which days of the week to do each park.)

Regardless of what happens the first few days of November 2024, worse crowds will arrive due to Jersey Week followed by the Veterans Day holiday weekend during the first and second full weeks of the month.

Jersey Week occuring the first full week of November exacerbates crowds. Even though it’s only one state, families from those school districts descend upon Walt Disney World in large enough numbers to impact crowds in a meaningful way.

Typically, the entire week of Veterans Day sees a slight spike in crowds, as enough people take the whole week off to impact attendance. With this holiday being observed on a Monday in 2024, it’ll be a long weekend for many people, resulting in even larger crowds than normal that weekend.

Throw Jersey Week into the mix, and we’re expect crowds in the 8/10 range that week. Our expectation, though, is that crowds start before Veterans Day and drop precipitously after its over (that isn’t always how it works–it’s just a matter of timing). Accordingly, we’re expecting one of the worst 10 weeks of the year to be November 4-11, 2024.

The following week (November 12 to 17, 2024) is one of the aforementioned valleys. This will mark a return of moderate crowds, probably the best since early October before fall break. If crowds are your primary concern, this is the sweet spot during the entire Christmas season. Expect crowds in the 4/10 to 5/10 range, at the worst. It’s possible they won’t even be that bad.

Due to Thanksgiving falling late in 2024, the week after that is also a great time to visit. Crowds typically pick up a little bit making this week objectively worse than the one before it, but the upside is that more of the resorts are decorated for Christmas. We give it the edge as a result, with November 16 to 22, 2024 making our list of the 10 Best and 10 Worst Weeks to Visit Walt Disney World in 2024 & 2025. (On the “best” side, obviously.)

This should be a great time to visit Walt Disney World in 2024. The one thing you need to be aware of, though, is that crowds this time of year can change overnight. Meaning that they don’t increase or decrease gradually–it’s like flipping a switch from good to bad (or vice-versa) based on school breaks.

To that point, crowd calendars peak the following week thanks to Thanksgiving on November 28, 2024. This is one of the worst weeks of the year and definitely the worst week of November 2024 on the Walt Disney World crowd calendar.

If at all possible, avoid this holiday–it’ll be a week of 10/10 crowds. We expect Thanksgiving week to be one of the 5 busiest weeks of 2024. Hardly a bold prediction, as that has been the case for the last several years. (It was 10/10 and the fifth-busiest week last year.)

Thanksgiving crowds will start arriving on Friday, November 22, 2024 and continue for the week that follows. They typically peak on Monday or Tuesday, but it varies by park. In particular, avoid Magic Kingdom on days with full operating hours that are nestled between multiple days of early closures due to Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. (We don’t have the schedule for that yet, but there will probably be a 4-day stretch with 3 parties. Do NOT visit on the one day it doesn’t have a party–crowds will be bonkers.)

The following week (beginning November 30, 2024) marks a return to more moderate crowds, and this is also our very favorite week of the year to visit Walt Disney World. We base this on a mix of crowds and seasonal offerings, as this is the best mix of Christmas and crowds.

This is not off-season, but it should be really good. Whether it’s higher or lower than the previous valley really depends on the year. For both of the last two years, it’s been in the 3/10 range. However, we do not necessarily expect a repeat of that–3/10 is low by historical standards, and 5/10 or 6/10 is more on par with what’s normal for this week.

That week is mostly in December due to Thanksgiving falling late, but it does technically start on November 30–we’d recommend that as an arrival day if airfare prices aren’t too terrible. Crowds tend to head home fast following Thanksgiving, so that Sunday (December 1, 2024) is a great first day in the parks!

There are also roller coaster crowds throughout each day in November 2024. Epcot will be significantly more busy on weekends, especially when Florida colleges like UCF have away football games. Epcot’s attendance will be lightest on weekdays before 4 pm, with heavier crowds after work as locals turn out to graze at the festival booths.

Disney Springs, resorts, restaurants, and bars at Walt Disney World all are busier during the Christmas season. This is due to a mix of holiday dinners and locals wanting to enjoy the free Christmas decorations and entertainment. Be sure to make ADRs for any fine dining outside the parks, and be aware that you’ll encounter heavier crowds in Disney Springs.

On Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party nights, Magic Kingdom closes to regular ticket holders at 6 pm. Consequently, the park is less busy during the day time hours on dates when MVMCP is held, and more busy on non-party days. This might seem counter-intuitive, but it’s because the party is separately-ticketed.

Last year, Magic Kingdom crowd levels were 8/10 to 10/10 most non-party days in October and November, whereas crowd levels were 3/10 to 4/10 on party days. That amounts to an average wait time differential of about 15-20 minutes per ride, which adds up over the course of the day to the point that you can accomplish more in the party-shortened days when Magic Kingdom closes at 6 pm.

Once again, we strongly recommend doing Magic Kingdom during the days shortened by MVMCP, and then hop to another park by ~4 pm. Even with 4/10 or 5/10 crowd levels, you’ll still come out ahead by avoiding Saturdays, Mondays, and other non-party days. (So long as you’re fine skipping fireworks or evening in Magic Kingdom–but you can always Park Hop over on a different evening!)

Although Magic Kingdom closes earlier to regular guests on MNSSHP days, it also opens earlier. This is a huge advantage, as covered in Photo Report & Strategy: Magic Kingdom Early Entry at 7:30 am on Party Days. We’ve also covered the upside to the full day at Magic Kingdom on the shortened days in our new My “Party Day” at Magic Kingdom WITHOUT Genie+. Those are specific to the Halloween Party, but the exact same idea applies with Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party.

This should all underscore why we don’t really care for traditional color-coded or numerical Walt Disney World crowd calendars. None of the above trends could be adequately conveyed by a simple graphic, and it’d be easy to become frustrated if we simply had an November 2024 crowd calendar vacillating between 7/10 and 10/10 days.

Instead, we’ve explained the how and why of November crowd flow so that you can plan accordingly. While you’ll still encounter congestion and long waits, by zigging when others zag, you should have a pretty pleasant visit in November. This strategic park hopping advice is more practical than a numerical crowd calendar.

November Discounts & Pricing

Prices are all over the place in November 2024, tracking with the holiday spikes and lulls discussed above. If you’re visiting during one of the slower windows, expect prices only one level above off-season lows. If you’re visiting during Thanksgiving, you’ll pay pretty close to holiday peak pricing–only Christmas and New Year’s Eve are worse!

The good news is that there are a number of special offers now available, and these are significantly better than last year. See All Current Walt Disney World Discounts. Although it’s not available yet, we’re also anticipating a second wave of Free Dining during November 2024. It won’t cover the entirety of the month, but we’re expecting it for a big chunk of November and December 2024. You can also save with last-minute deals on DVC point rentals.

If you’re booking a room-only discount, you can decide for yourself which hotel might be best by reading our Walt Disney World Hotel Reviews. If you’re looking to save money on airfare, visit ITA Software to search for the best prices.

November is one of the best months of the year to visit Walt Disney World if you’re comparing it to every month of the year, especially those two sweet spots of low crowds. The downside is that some Christmas offerings don’t kick off until around Thanksgiving, which makes that week right after Thanksgiving (straddling both November and December) the very best time to visit. It has all of the upsides of a November visit in terms of crowds, discounts, weather, and it has a better slate of Christmas entertainment.

Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!

Your Thoughts

Do you like Walt Disney World in November? Planning a November 2024 trip to see WDW during the holiday season? Which month is your favorite for Walt Disney World vacations? Do you prefer December or November? Agree or disagree with our assessment of November at WDW? Any questions? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!

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