Thanksgiving or Christmas

[disneyfreak71]

We are trying to decide if we want to go during Thanksgiving week or Christmas week. We would arrive either way on Sunday and leave on Saturday. Which week do you think will be more crowded? TIA!

 

[MrsBooch]

Christmas week will be the most crowded. Historically Thanksgiving has never seen capacity at the parks but Christmas has.

 

[tvsdisney]

Christmas is INSANE! I would go Thanksgiving unless you are early risers and don’t mind rope dropping everyday than it’s a lot lore doable.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Thanksgiving was packed last year, but very manageable. The weather was fantastic.

DO NOT GO TO EPCOT ON BLACK FRIDAY. I failed to follow the dire warnings on here and it was miserable.

 

[disneyfreak71]

Thanksgiving was packed last year, but very manageable. The weather was fantastic.

DO NOT GO TO EPCOT ON BLACK FRIDAY. I failed to follow the dire warnings on here and it was miserable.

Thanks everyone. We had that planned actually. Luckily its early enough to switch around.

 

[Unvoiced_Apollo]

Without having been on either times, I would say Christmas is more crowded. Here's why (this is all theory btw):

I've been to the parks at the tail end of thanksgiving (but not for either Thursday or Friday). As mentioned, it's crowded but manageable. The thing about Thanksgiving is that it's a uniquely American holiday. So while WDW is still a worldwide tourist destination. I would argue that a lot of the crowd influx you see for Turkey Day weekend is going to likely be mostly American.

Christmas on the other hand is a far more international holiday, with many Latin & European countries also recognizing that time of year. As such, you're going to get an even higher crowd count because of international visitors also celebrating the holiday on top of Americans also celebrating.

 

[cgattis]

Going at Thanksgiving gets you almost exactly the same things as Christmas with lower crowds. A few exceptions....the Xmas parade will only be running during MVMCP until right before Christmas (maybe a week prior?) when it becomes the 3:00 parade. BUT there are no parties from the Friday before until the Monday after Thanksgiving. Also, the storytellers in Epcot don’t start until the Friday or Saturday after Thanksgiving as well.

If you don’t have to follow school schedules, I’d recommend the first full week of December instead, where you have all the Christmas activities but lower crowds than either holiday. Love going that week.

 

[Praying Colonel]

Would you rather get hit in the head by a brick, or a large rock?

Seriously, I've been during Thanksgiving week and found it manageable. If you've been to WDW before and know basic touring protocol (RD, have a plan, etc.) you'll be OK.

 

[Tormania]

Were doing USO on the Wed/Thur/Fri around Thanksgiving, then switching over to WDW for a full week there AFTER the Thanksgiving crowds leave.

 

[disneyfreak71]

If you don’t have to follow school schedules, I’d recommend the first full week of December instead, where you have all the Christmas activities but lower crowds than either holiday. Love going that week.

That is our favorite time also. We now have school schedules and work conflicts the first week of every month.

 

[ArielSRL]

We went Thanksgiving week (Wed-Sun) last year and found it fine. We go several times a year and honestly it didn't seem much busier than any other time we have went. I will say that the Christmas Tree Trail on Wednesday night was probably the most insane busy I have seen. It, to me, was busier than MK on Thanksgiving Day. Like I said, we were at MK Thanksgiving Day and there was a time by Magic Carpets where we did not see another soul (yes, we rope dropped). We hung out until about 2pm and headed out as it was starting to feel busy then. Came back around 8pm, I think, and did the Dessert Party though I don't really think it was necessary. We did AK and Epcot on Friday and HS on Saturday and again, no issues at all. We did the Candlelight Processional dinner package and The Jingle Bell Jingle Bam dessert party and thought those were worth it. The really only bad time was the drive home to Atlanta on Sunday. A normal 6.5 hour drive took 11 hours. We are totally planning to go back again this year but shifting our dates to leave for home Friday or Saturday.