Thanksgiving Crowd Level Notes - Others??

[costpenn]

Our crowd observations (stayed at the Poly)

Sat 18 (MGM) arrived at 5:00 PM for Hollywood & Vine Fantasmic package. Weather was crisp - while waiting for dinner was still able to get a FP for ToT (return at 7:30) Only one Fantasmic showing - there were still fairly good seats available when show started

Sun 19 (Epcot) - Great day - crowds manageable all day - only waited 15 minutes for new Nemo ride after getting in line at 11:30 AM

Mon 20 (MGM) - Life is still good - was able to ride both Tot and RnR two times each between (using FP once) between 9:00 and 10:15 AM.

Tues 21 (MK) - got to the park at 9:10 AM after 1900 Park Fair. Crowds were impressive, but sticking to our schedule we still had a great time.

Wend 22 (Hung around the Hotel in AM - Epcot for a 1:30 PM ADR at Marrakesh) Bad day to hang around at the Poly - It was cold !! Hit the park at 1:00 - got a FP for TT with a 4:30 return - noticed a 70 minute orange team standby wait for Mission Space at the same time - we hit it later in the day with about a 15 standby wait.

Thurs 23 (MK) - Crowds most of the day were HIDEOUS. I and DS got to the park entrance at 7:00 AM for the Magic of our Steam Trains tour. By 7:25, I noticed people line up 40 deep at each of the bag check stations and by 7:45 there was a sea of people (at least 150 long at every gate) POC was almost an hour wait at 11:30. Fantasyland was gridlock all day - I saw queue areas open up I didn't even know existed for It's a Small World. However, crowds seemed to thin out in by mid evening - temp. was pretty cool but warmer than Wend.

Friday 24 (AK) - an absolute ZOO (literally and figuratively) Granted, we got to the park about 9:30 AM and that didn't help. Went straight to EE for a FP- return time went from 1:05 to 1:30 while I was in line - that's how fast the FP's were going - they all gone before noon. Killiminjaro Safaris FP were all gone by 11:05 - my time to get another FP was 11:04 - whew!! Ate at Restorauntosaurus - were in line 30 minutes just to order. We gave up and left at 2:30 PM without doing Killiminjaro Safaris - it was just madness.

Maybe we're used to light crowds (we normally go in early December) but the kids are too old to take out of school now.

Any others note unusual queue areas opened on Thursday at MK?

 

[Heather]

We found the crowds last week to be absolutely hideous. We've been Thanksgiving week before and never seen it like this.

Sunday: Not too bad

Monday: Getting worse -- couldn't figure out why things were taking so much longer than in previous years.

Tuesday: Morning EMH at AK on Tuesday was a complete zoo -- we got fastpasses for Everest first thing and the return time was nearly two hours later. The Nemo show line was hideously long over 45 minutes before the start time, and then it broke down after we'd waited in the line for over 30 minutes, so we never got to see it. The crowds were so awful, we gave up and went to Epcot.

Wednesday: Also very crowded, but at least not quite as cold.

Thursday: We skipped the parks that day, but heard they "surprised" the MK and opened it an hour early. We went to breakfast at Chef Mickey's instead, and were still surprised by the sheer number of people boarding the buses to the MK, even as late at 10:30 am. Downtown Disney was also quite crowded.

Friday: The fastpasses to Soarin' were all out by about 11:30/11:45 am, with return times just before regular park closing. The evening EMH was so packed that the standby line for Soarin' was still 90 minutes at the start of EMH. Mission Space was easier, green side at least, but Test Track was also a very long line. My little one conked out by 10, so we left, but the other one and her dad weren't able to ride much before giving up around 11.

Never seen crowds like this!!! And if you didn't have dinner reservations, wow! Most places we checked (we had made some but thought we'd see if we could get another here or there when we got there -- no big deal for us to eat at a food court instead, but for those who like their sit-down meals -- MAKE THE ADRS!!!) were fully booked for the day. You couldn't even get a seating at an off time like 2 or 4. Again, fortunately we had the ressies we wanted but heard alot of people unable to find something.

 

[stapply]

I was there also during Thanksgiving week.

Fri. 11/17 - Epcot- Very manageable, no waits for any rides including Soarin', Mission Space, and Test Track!!

Sun. 11/19 - MK - Very crowded!! We probably made a mistake coming here on a Sunday but it was my daughter's b'day and this is her favorite park. With this being our 3rd trip here, we've done most of the rides so we just picked our favorites: Space Mtn., Phillharmagic, POTC, Haunted Mansion, Splash Mtn., & Buzz. We had time to kill before Spectromagic and Winnie the Pooh had a 20 min. wait (had never rode this one), so we got in line but it was really a 50 min. wait. Most of the wait times this day were an hour or more.

Wed. 11/22 - MGM - Also very crowded. Waited an hour for RnR, used fastpass for TOT (wait time was 2 hrs. by midday). Rode Great Movie Ride, (30 Min.), saw Lights, Motors, Action-good thing we got there an hour early, place was packed. Also, we hit Catastrophe Canyon at the right time, only a ten min. wait.

 

[Happy4Disney]

Us too!

Nov 15 - 18 - Fantastic! No lines at Epcot, MGM or MK. Went to the party on Nov 17, sold out crowd but there were short lines for the attractions and we rode Space Mountain over and over again with no lines and same for Big Thunder RR, no one was in line at all. My girls got picked for a shooting competition in Frontierland and the CM opened the range just for them. At Epcot got tons of photopass pictures with Mickey and friends in Character Connections, the CM practically begged us to come in, no one there!

Nov 19 AK - Wall to wall people! We did see the Nemo show (loved it) but we waited in line a long time to see it and the kids liked it but were antsy after 30 minutes. We did eat at Flametree but again a huge line and nowhere to sit. Our food was delicious but the family next to us had ribs that were not fully cooked, they could not even get back to the counter to get their order fixed. We had to leave AK, it was too crazy for us.

Nov 20 Epcot - Very crowded but somewhat manageable. Did a lot of things in Innoventions and World Showcase, off the beaten path. Fastpasses for the popular rides ran out early.

Nov 21 AK - Just as bad as the 19th so we did a few things we missed then hopped to MK. MK very crowded, waited for Pirates of the Carribean 30 min then the ride broke down. Guests were very cranky about the long lines.

Nov 22 MK - Cold! Very crowded at rope drop, a sea of people all day. Only went on the rides with waits 30 min or less. Had a pretty good day but even Small World had a 60 min wait! Who would wait an hour for that ride?

Nov 23 Epcot - Busy but not as cold. Lunch at Norway took us 30 min to get to the podium for our reservations. Maitre d' told the throngs of hopefuls that there was no possibility of getting a reservation until Monday (and this was Thursday). People were mad and shouting at him, for a moment we were concerned that a huge fight would break out. One family decided to go inside anyway to see the princesses and they were escorted out and they were not happy, yelling that WDW ruined their holiday. Unreal. Spent most of the day in World Showcase then used our fastpasses for last rides on Soarin and Test Track before we left.

We enjoyed our trip although I will not go on Thanksgiving again. Since we were there the week before the holiday I felt that we got all of the big stuff in before the crowds came.

 

[Steven41782]

There from November 22 to 26... I really think the trick was to arrive at park open and go strong till lunch. Then return at mid evening. I thought Animal Kingdom on Saturday was the absolute worst crowd I have ever ever seen. It was unbelievable. We did EE, ITTBAB, Rafiki's Planet Watch, Finding Nemo's musical, and we got out of there. Went over to MGM and it was like night and day with the crowds. Much more manageable at MGM. After MGM, we headed to downtown Disney. Car and Human Traffic was gridlocked.

The worst thing was dining. If you didn't have reservations, you pretty much were not going to get a table service meal. We had reservations, so no prob for us... but many people were frustrated.

All things considered, we will NEVER go back at Thanksgiving.

~Steven

 

[stapply]

I had to laugh at Happy4Disney's post about Small World-"who would wait 60 min. for this ride". I have been to MK 3 times now and have never been on it. My family absolutely refuses to ride it because they hate the song. Oh well, I guess I can go on Utube to see what's inside this ride, doesn't look like I'll ever go on unless I go by myself.

 

[abamick]

We were there: 18-24.

The worst day for us was Sunday (19th) at MK. There were 2 hour waits at SM and TMR. SM was as bad. There was a 50 min wait for Dumbo! Throngs of people everywhere! I know we shouldn't have gone to MK that day, but it was the first trip for most of the people in our group. And MK is where they wanted to start.

The rest of the trip was manageable, although we won't go at Thanksgiving ever again.

BTW, Soarin broke down twice that I know of while we were there. Some people had been hanging around Epcot all day waiting to use their FP and then the ride broke down about an hour before closing. I have never seen such mad people at WDW before.

About the ADRs. We had them. But like the previous poster said, a lot of the restauraunts were telling people they had no availablity until Monday (today).

 

[mewwesty]

We were there between the 18th and 24th and we couldn't believe how crowded it was. We were there Thanksgiving week two years ago and it wasn't nearly as bad. It was more crowded last week than it was when we were there Easter week in 2002.

Stappy- we were on the same MK and MGM schedule as you. MGM on Wedensday was just not enjoyable for us. It is a very hard park to do efficiently to begin with and standing for the Indiana Jones show (which we have already seen four times) just wasn't cutting it.

Our kids are older and we were in the parks late a couple of times and I couldn't believe how many people with little kids were still in the parks, I don't think anyone had a choice.

This was our eighth visit, but the first time I really felt like we were just slogging through the parks. We were able to do almost everything we wanted, but with maximum effort and minimum magic. We won't ever go for Thanksgiving again.

 

[abamick]

Our kids are older and we were in the parks late a couple of times and I couldn't believe how many people with little kids were still in the parks, I don't think anyone had a choice.

Yes, we were also amazed at how many really young kids were at MK at 1:00am. But, I agree that if you wanted to do the popular rides, EMH was the only way do them without a 1.5-2 hour wait. When we did the EMH a few years ago, it wasn't nearly as crowded.

 

[luvhockey]

We're going next year from the Fri after thanksgiving through the following week. I knew it would be packed the first few days we're there and will take it easy with the hope that the following week will be much more light & pleasurable. Angela

 

[costpenn]

This was our eighth visit, but the first time I really felt like we were just slogging through the parks. We were able to do almost everything we wanted, but with maximum effort and minimum magic. We won't ever go for Thanksgiving again.

Mewwesty - you pretty much said what we felt on Thursday & Friday

A couple more observations I didn't post last night

A. A CM told me AK was expecting "at least 30,000" last Friday

B. No walk ups/standy diners were being taken at the following restaraunts (at least when I asked - most of them said they were booked solid all week)

A. Le Cellier
B. Chef Mickey's
C. Sci-Fi
D. The Italian Place at WS
E. San Angel Inn
F. LTT (Dinner) don't know about lunch

Places that were:
Marrakesh
Biergarten

I saw a lot of adults flabbergasted (and a lot of dissapointed kids) at the fact they couldn't even get on the standby list - we tried to spread the word about using The Dis as a planning tool as much as possible for future visits.

C. We had dinner on Thanksgiving at CRT during Wishes - had a great table close to the windows. The amount of people waiting still to be SEATED at 9:15 PM was amazing.

 

[BamaFan121s]

We were there last week and the only time we really could complain about the crowds were Thurs and Fri.
Of course, we KNEW that MK would be packed Thurs and Fri, so we made plans to do everything we could there BEFORE and not even try to go on Thurs.

 

[janica]

Sat. 11/18 - MK - Moderate crowd - We were able to ride the Teacups, Small
World and Snow White with 10-15 mins wait and watch the fireworks without
being packed in a crowd.

Sun. 11/19 - AK am - Packed crowd - We managed to do everything we had
intended, but the crowd was so heavy it made moving around difficult.

Epcot pm - Crowds not too bad here.

Mon. 11/20 - Epcot am and pm - Again, the crowds weren't too bad. With Fastpasses and a good plan we managed to get everything in. Moving around
was not difficult.

Tues. 11/21 - MK am and pm - Crowds are building but still managable.

Wed. 11/22 - MGM am and pm - Packed crowd - Area around RR and ToT was
a madhouse. Cut our am schedule short because of the crowds. Still crowded in pm.

Thurs. 11/23 - AK - Packed crowd. Area around EE was a nightmare. CM working EE said that crowd level was greater than Disney had predicted. Fastpasses were being handed out by CM's for EE without having to put
your ticket in the machine in order to move the very long line more quickly.

PM - Stayed away from the parks and had dinner at Boma. Packed as well.

Fri. 11/24 - MGM am - Very crowded but not as bad as on Wednesday.
MK pm - Very crowded but managable.

Overall I would say this week was much more crowded than was predicted by
TGM and UG and more crowded than previous Thanksgivings. The Animal
Kingdom was a madhouse both times we visited. I think the crowd draw of
EE has been underestimated.

We were, however, able to do everything we wanted and never stood in line
for more than 30 minutes anywhere and usually it was 15 minutes or less.
I strongly believe that this was due to careful advance planning following the
advice of UG, TGM and this forum. I know those without a plan found
themselves standing in long lines. If I had to describe the crowd level, I would put it similar to the peak of the summertime crowd and then a bit more at AK. Fortunately, we did not have to deal with the heat. I would go
again at Thanksgiving, but the Animal Kingdom was a nightmare. I'm not
sure what we would do there in the future.

 

[Heather]

I just want to add that we aren't novices -- we use all planning tools we can find (this forum being invaluable!!) and have always had not only a plan but a backup plan, but nothing prepared us for the crowd levels. You literally couldn't move at some points. In the past I've been very successful utilizing what used to be Early Entry, but that secret is apparently long out -- it was useless, and we had far better luck doing the day-after-EMH-park plan.

Two notes: sending my DH to get Fastpasses for Soaring at Epcot then back to the gate to meet the kids and I did NOT WORK -- you must actually be in the park for your ticket to get a Fastpass (we had park hopped and he left with our passes from a very crowded MGM while I stayed behind in an autograph line then took the next bus). I had read that tip here and we thought we'd try it, but it did not work.

Second, if your kids want character autographs, sign up for a meal. The lines in the parks were ridiculous -- I let them do Toontown one morning and it was a 50 minute wait for the princesses. We lucked out once at MGM and had a five minute line, but every time we tried at Epcot, they closed the line down just before we got there. Fortunately, I bribed them to get over the autograph thing!!!

I can't reiterate enough how shocked I was at the crowd levels. In all our trips, I've never seen anything like it. The Disney Dining plan is sheer genius, as all the restaurants were PACKED!! We heard lots of very upset people at Epcot who couldn't get in anywhere on Wednesday and Friday. By the way, the food court at the Land is quite a tasty alternative (and cheaper) if you can't get your first choice table service meal. They had several interesting options that were VERY fresh and delicious. Not very mainstream (sushi, sliced beef on mixed greens and flatbread, garlic chicken soup, etc) but very good.

 

[MICKEEP]

My DS who is a CM told me that they stopped entry into the MK for a while on Friday 12/24, because they had reached maximum capacity. I thought that was something that only happened on Christmas, New Years Eve and the Fourth of July.

 

[janica]

A security guard at MK told me that they had 65,000 in the park on Friday after
Thanksgiving, compared to 13,000 the week before.

 

[disbigsis]

We loved our trip last week. We were only there Tues.-Sat, but we had a great time and thought we managed things well. I will say that we didn't ride any of the "big" rides...only me, DH, and DD 2 1/2. If she couldn't ride, then none of us did, so that eliminated a lot of wait time. We enjoyed MGM on Wed. (saw the parade and Osborne). We spent Thurs. a.m. at MK for EMH in Fantasyland and Toontown, then headed to Epcot around noon. We got to ride everything we wanted to and stood in line to meet characters (never waited more than about 20 minutes). We ate lunch at Princess Storybook, and daughter loved it! On Friday we headed back to MK, spent the morning, took a break and went back around 4:00. We didn't have dinner ADR, but walked up to LTT and were able to be seated within 10 minutes. We watched fireworks and second parade on curb in front of the castle. We headed home Sat. We usually go the week of/after 4th of July, and we loved this time much better. Not only to you get to experience the holiday decor, but the heat in the summer can make the crowds seem much worse. We had a great trip!!!

 

[jwfla422]

I have to give you all credit that braved WDW through the Thanksgiving holiday. From what I hear from the locals here, it has gotten busier and busier every year during this time. Also the FL resident Seasonal APs are not blacked out then so that only adds more to the crowds. Hope you all were able to have some fun during your trip though. The week before Christmas last year was packed also, so I can only imagine how much more packed it will be this year.

I'm not sure I understand why WDW made the area by EE so small. I recall back in May how horribly crowded it was (and this was "off" season), right by the EE area. It got so bad, by the time we got over to the Tusker House area we headed right for the exit because we just couldn't deal-you could barely move, never saw AK so crowded! We even skipped AK our last trip. We hope to get back there in January to see the new Nemo show (which we may "not" if the scene is similar to the EE area)...

 

[janica]

I don't understand either. The area around EE was packed with people. The
standby line and the fastpass distribution line spilled out into the main walkway
area making 'just passing through' difficult. The same was true in Africa around
Tusker House and the Safaris area. It would seem that since this is the fourth theme park that it would have been better designed. Moving around was very difficult. One of the CM's told us that future plans call for expanding the Africa area out toward
conservation station and back around to Asia. If that is true, then maybe in the
long term plan of things, traffic flow in the park will be much better, but for now, it's very congested!

 

[01Sweetpea]

We were there as well...11/18-11/25, stayed at the Poly.

Sat. 11/18 - arrived at the Poly by 12:30, room ready...Tokelau 3933, and were at Epcot by 1:30. Things weren't to bad. Soarin was a 60 minute wait, not sure why we didn't Fastpass it. Le Cellier at 4:30. Rode TT and MS with no waits after dinner. Great spot for IllumiNations.

Sun. 11/19 - MK by 9am. Rode everything with little to no wait. Kids swam for 1/2 hour at the volcano pool, but it got to cold for them. Dinner at Kona, and then back to MK for Spectro.

Mon. 11/20 - Went to Epcot....C-O-L-D! Had to buy sweatshirts & gloves. Rode TT again, and did both Innoventions & Disney Visa meet & greet. Boat to MGM to see Osbourne and ride RnR and TOT.

Tues 11/21 - COLD AGAIN! MK...again little to no waits. Dinner at WCC.

Wed 11/22 - COLD AGAIN! I didn't need to leave NY for this type of weather. MGM...waits getting a little longer, but got everything done we wanted. RnR, TOT, GMR. Ate at MM with Fantasmic package.

Thurs 11/23 - AK day. Busy, but manageable. Rode Dinosaur, then Primeval Whirl. By the time we got to Everst at 10am ...the FastPass return was for 3pm! Didn't get to do safari, but that was our fault. Read the FP retrun time wrong. Dinner at HDDR. Stopped in the MK after HDDR...long waits for Buzz & Space. Got ice cream and left. Main street was very busy,

Fri 11/24 - Finally warm enough to swim. Slept in late, swam for an hour or so, got to Epcot around 2pm. IT WAS PACKED! No fastpasses to be found ANYWHERE! We walked around World Showcase, ate at Coral Reef before CP, and then beat feet out of there.

Sat 11/25 - In MK by 9:15...no lines ANYWHERE! We rode Buzz twice, Space, Splash & BTM twice all before 11am! Got busier by 12:30, and wait times were growing. Left by 2pm to head home.