(This page is one of a series explicating Walt Disney World lingo, abbreviations, and FAQ for first time family visitors to Walt Disney World.)
JERSEY WEEK AT WALT DISNEY WORLD
“Jersey Week” is a partly mythical, partly real crowding phenomenon in early November at Walt Disney World.
Each year, the New Jersey Educational Association holds a convention that includes a Thursday and a Friday, typically the Thursday and Friday that end the first full week of November.
New Jersey public schools are closed those two days; many families in response head to Walt Disney World for either that long weekend, or for the entire week.
Consequently, Walt Disney World is more crowded during Jersey Week than it is the weeks before and after. (This is the “real” part.)
In 2015, the convention is November 5 and 6.
(Over time, dates for the convention for future years will be published on this page. Thanks to Lori for pointing me to this page, and reminding me that Jersey Week is not always the first Thursday and Friday of November.)
Jersey Week will be the weeks beginning
- November 1, 2015
This noted, the impact on the parks is not disastrous–Jersey Week is nothing like Easter or Christmas weeks. This is the “mythical” part.
As terribly important as the great state of New Jersey is, it just ain’t big enough to really move the meter.
New Jersey visitors account for 3 to 5 percent* of Walt Disney World visitors.
Thus, even if they came at a rate five times higher than normal, they’d increase crowds only by 15-25% or so. This would be a big deal at other times of the year, but early November crowds start so low that this increase is not an insuperable problem.
That said, if you can avoid Jersey Week, do so–especially the days of the conventions themselves and the weekend that follows them. The weeks on either side of it are great times to go to Walt Disney World!
*Data like this is not available from WDW; I base it on the fact that 3.5% of the visits to this site come from New Jersey…
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41 Comments on "Jersey Week at Walt Disney World"
Amber neither is a great day, but the 6th will be better than the 4th. You can buy your tix online while in your My Disney Experience account and will be able to do FastPass+ then. See Josh’s cheat sheet here for how to spend the day.
Thank alot 🙂
Jason, Touring Plans is great at a lot of stuff, but their best/worst parks is almost always bettered by Josh’s stuff. See this.
I don’t keep the original hours, so can’t answer that question.
Thanks so much. I’m pretty sure I will avoid Wednesday. Was the original close time for that date (Tues Nov. 3, 2014) earlier?
I originally thought Tuesday would be best, until I read somewhere that it’s best to go to a park that has EMH the night before (Thursday morning 11/5).
I also was looking at the Touring Plans crowd calender and saw that Wed (even with EMS) and Thurs were predicted to have the lowest crowds that week?
I think you’re probably right with Tuesday being the least crowded day to go, but still confused…