The week BEFORE Thanksgiving-

[jeni1072]

How is it? I had started planning a trip for the week AFTER and then my husband informed me he cannot in an way shape or form have a single day off from Thanksgiving until New Years. Florida has done away with our October fall break for schools. So this seemed like a perfect time...I had REALLY wanted to see the holiday decorations, and the weather would be nice.

SO, is that week before really bad? Historically speaking, that is.

 

[NIkita]

I am hoping you get some replies because I am just as curious as you are. We arrive Nov. 18. Less than four weeks away! YIPEE!

Nikita

 

[spacemyster03]

We are going Nov. 10-17 . This week is better than JERSEY WEEK Nov. 3-10. Last year we did J.W. it was packed. And Thanksgiving is supposed to be crowded too. Historicaly the week before is supposed to be a good one. At I am crossing my fingers.

HAVE A MAGICAL TRIP

12 MORE WORK DAYS

 

[puppet]

I am hoping for relpies too. We arrive on the Monday before and leave the Monday after. This time of year is a first for us; we usually visit in either May, late August (which isn't really THAT bad) and December.

 

[Eeyore's Wife]

We visited during the week of Thanksgiving in 2003. We hit the parks when they opened, avoided the Extra Mayhem Hour Park, and then had a leisurly lunch/afternoon break swimming and then headed back for the best evening festivities.

On Thanksgiving itself we went to the Space Center. We had lunch with an actual astronaut. I believe we paid around $20.00 per person and were treated to a photo opportunity, a nice meal, and an excellent oration from the astronaut. The Space Center was nearly empty and we had a wonderful time!

We did the main Disney parks on Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, the water park on Wednesday and then the Space Center on Thursday. We hit a few favorite rides (with fast passes we picked up on the way out of the park on Tuesday), ate lunch at Downtown Disney and did all our shopping at the Disney Store, and then the Hoop-Tee-Doo on Friday and flew home on Saturday.

All of the Holiday Decorations were up, and we really enjoyed visiting the Grand Floridian's tree and gingerbread house. Epcot was amazing. We have been to Disney World during the "rush season" but that trip was far superior for enjoying the Christmas cheer.

I hope that gives you a few ideas.

--Eeyore's Wife

 

[aug16]

We are going the week before Thanksgiving for the third time. We have overlapped into Jersey week before and you can definitely see a difference in the crowd levels when all those Jersey folks leave. It really is a nice time to go.

 

[Magic2000]

We usually go the week AFTER Thanksgiving, and we LOVE it!!!! This year, though, we're going the week of Thanksgiving (actually, Nov 15 - 21)! We're hoping for some low(er) crowds and some nice, cool weather!!!! Disney at Christmas is wonderful!!!!!

We were just at Disney for two weeks for 4th of July - it was hot and crowded, but we had such a great trip!!!!

 

[chuckcasey]

We're attending a wedding on Nov 17 and going to the parks Nov 18 thru the 25th. This is my wife's and daughters FIRST ever trip. My wife and I worked at Disneyland, so this is a VERY special trip for us.

I love the thread but don't see any great answers yet !

Anyone have more details on crowds?
Are local schools on vacation?
Can anyone suggest which park to visit on Thanksgiving?

Thanks guys....

chuckcasey
Southern California

 

[newholidayx2]

I'll be at WDW 11/3-16 celebrating my 50th birthday !

Im planning on LOTS of Off Kilter

 

[Frantasmic]

In November 2005, my family and I went from the Saturday before Thanksgiving to the Friday following Thanksgiving.

It was a lot of fun. The Sat/Sun/Mon before Thanksgiving weren't too bad. We got into the parks, the crowds/waits weren't very long and we got to do a lot in those 3 days. After that, the crowds built a little each day. MK on Thanksgiving was doable, especially if you got there when it opened, but by mid afternoon, it was pretty packed.

For our trip then, it was nice and warm until Monday when a front and rain came through. It was very cool in the mornings after that, so other than getting drenched in the rain and being cold at EPCOT that Monday, the weather was great too.

Have a fun trip, and MAKE ADRS, especially for a Thanksgiving dinner.

 

[Desnik]

We have been the week before Thanksgiving many times and it is our favorite time to go. Here are some dates that will help you with crowd predictions:
NJ teachers convention Nov 8 & 9
Super Soap Weekend Nov 10 & 11
Vet's day Nov 12
Last day of F & W Festival Nov 11
Thanksgiving Nov 22

With those dates the full week before Thanksgiving and after all the events going on is Nov 12-16(Mon-Fri) The crowds for Thanksgiving will start arriving on the weekend before(Nov 17 & 18) The 3 days before Thanksgiving you will see a huge difference crowd wise than the week before. Nov 12 is the first night of MVMCP and the Osbourne Lights at MGM. So, those parks will be decorated for Xmas by then. Historically and from my experience the crowds are low during the week before Thanksgiving. A lot of rides are a walk on. Some have 10-15 min waits. The weather is great usually low 80's high 70's. We have always been able to go swimming. The resorts and the rest of the parks complete their Xmas decorations by the end of that week. Hope that helps some of you! We'll be there Nov 9-16th. The weekend of the 9th we plan on just hanging at our resort and then going to the parks Mon-Fri.

 

[Del]

We've gone many times the week before thanksgiving and usually leave 2 days before the holiday crowd comes in and it is a great time. Low crowds and decorations are starting to go up. Enjoy!

Del

 

[cattrix]

This information is great to hear as we are going Nov 12-17, looks like people have had a good experience with that week.

 

[Got Quattro?]

we did the week of TG last year...

sat....50% full
sun...40% full
mon...40% full
tues...60% full
wed...80% full
thurs TG...110% full
fri...100% full
sat ...80% full
sun 60% full
mon...40% full

my % full is just a relative observation for how crowed it was...not an actuall number versus capacity.

point being you can see it gets more and more crowed every day as people get in town....then drops off as people leave.

 

[becfehr]

Here is some great info. I used this 2 years ago and was pretty accurate! I hope it helps!!


http://www.*****************/tp2/UG2_index.php?PageID=14

 

[bjscheel]

The UG site crowd calendar is showing 9's for the Saturday before Thanksgiving through the Saturday after! But the week BEFORE that is 4-6.

I want to go TG week next year but I wasn't wanting 9's for the whole week. Had hoped the days before TG would be at least a little less!

 

[Got Quattro?]

it's not 9's the whole week.

sun, mon, tuesday are not that bad at all. it get crowded wed....thurs fri sat are crazy

 

[AlwaysEeyore]

We're attending a wedding on Nov 17 and going to the parks Nov 18 thru the 25th. This is my wife's and daughters FIRST ever trip. My wife and I worked at Disneyland, so this is a VERY special trip for us.

I love the thread but don't see any great answers yet !

Anyone have more details on crowds?
Are local schools on vacation?
Can anyone suggest which park to visit on Thanksgiving?

Thanks guys....

chuckcasey
Southern California

We're going to a wedding on Nov. 17 too. Where is yours
going to be? The wedding we're going to is at the Wedding Pavilion and the reception is at Boardwalk.

If anyone will be there over Thanksgiving join our official list here
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1304047
we have over 90 families so far.