Jersey Week at Walt Disney World

(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…