Jersey Week at Walt Disney World
By Dave Shute
(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 at least 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 2019, the convention is November 7 and 8. In 2020, it will be November 5 and November 6.
(Thanks to Lori for reminding me that Jersey Week is not always the first Thursday and Friday of November, but rather those at the end of the month’s first full week.)
Jersey Week will be the weeks beginning
- November 2, 2019
- November 1, 2020
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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48 comments
Thank alot 🙂
Thanks so much for putting this together, very informative. I’m trying to get an idea of what the 6th might be like. I haven’t been in over 20yrs, and I’m taking a friend who’s never been at all, unfortunately we only have time to do 1 Day and we’re only going to go to the Magic Kingdom. We can go Nov 4 OR Nov 6, which do you think it would be better crowd wise? It’s too late for us to order tickets for delivery before the trip so FastPass is out, I’m just trying to figure out which day stands a better chance of us getting to see/ride most everything. Thanks for any insight you can provide 🙂
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.
NJ school districts are starting to post their 2017-2018 school calendars and show the NJEA days as one week later than you indicate (Nov. 9th and 10th)
Thanks Marion, but that is what I have had since last year–Jersey Week from 11/4 to 11/12…
I also looked into JW. I spoke with NJEA directly, who confirmed the convention to be Nov 9th & 10th. So the week would indeed be Nov 4 – 12. However, many families fly out that Wednesday (Nov 8th in this case) and often fly home on Monday. It’s less school to miss, and mid week flights are cheaper.
I plan on taking my girlfriend from Nov 1st to 6th of November. Would the crowds be OK during that time?
Tony – November 1-6 should be a great time at Disney. The crowds will not be bad, especially early in the week. You may see a spike in crowds starting on the 5th as this looks to be the start of Jersey week.
I appreciate this website. And also, everyone who commented it was very helpful. I am now confident about my family’s first vacation to Disney! For 2017 Oct.29th-Nov.5th.
Great, Yvonne! Come back and let me know how it goes…
Hi, I would like to go on the 4th do it think that would be horrid or slower than other dates that week
Saturdays are often busy at WDW, but there won’t be much Jersey week effect on November 4th. Most of the effect is later that week, and those skipping out of school early will largely be traveling on Saturday, rather then in the parks.
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