Advice for Thanksgiving week staying on site

[Jbausch]

We are going for the first time during Thanksgiving week. We will be there a total of 4 days and staying at the Pacific Royal. It will be me and my two 13 year olds. I would love love any advice - we have gone to WDW several times during Thanksgiving.

 

[Grumpy92]

Pre-Covid we were there for Thanksgiving. Like you we had always done it at WDW. It was really fun! We did make reservations for dinner at Islands, they had a special Thanksgiving dinner. Pretty much all the resort restaurants had a Thanksgiving meal. One of things that was great was they had the Xmas decorations and shows going. So we got two holidays in one. I think you will really enjoy it.

 

[Skywalker3]

BUSY, but fun! We're usually at Disney during Thanksgiving, but did Universal in 2018 (and several prior years, in the early 2000s.) Same as Disney, rope drop to make sure to get on lots of rides before it gets too crazy. Diagon Alley (and Hogsmeade) will be very crowded, like similar to Fantasyland at MK. Lines can get long for snacks, food, ice cream, if you're doing the wand experiences, etc, but if you're used to that at Disney, it'll be fine!
EP will help SO, SO much, and RP is so close/convenient, it'll be easy to come/go during the day, and enjoy the hotel/pool. In 2018, we still had a few rides w a wait. Rip Ride Rocket for some reason still took about 30 mins first thing in the AM. Seuss Trolley still backs up a bit. The HP trains, can sometimes back up a bit. Velocicoaster and Hagrid's do not take express, so plan accordingly. Get familiar w the Hagrid's VQ process. Although our last Columbus day trip, it didn't go virtual, but it may during the busier Thanksgiving week.
we LOVE traveling to the Orlando theme parks at Thanksgiving, especially due to the cooler weather. Universal does a fabulous job decorating for Christmas, and there are several holiday themed things to see/do. There should be a holiday themed show at Hogwarts. Seuss land, and the Marvel stores have incredible decorations, as well as the main thoroughfare in US, and throughout the Wizarding World,
have a great trip!

 

[cfoxga]

Going to our 4th UO Thanksgiving this year. We typically go Sat-Wed. There were definitely similarities to the trips, even during Covid. Crowd levels definitely increased every day and by Monday the parks would be extremely crowded in the afternoon. Bad enough that we saw many 45+ minute waits in the EP lines! So we typically go in to the park early (though not always for EE) and do a loop around one of the parks to ride everything we wanted to do. We'd grab lunch around 1:00 and head back to the resort for a nap/swim. We'd head back to CityWalk/parks around 5:00 and things seemed to die back down for EP lines.

Evenings in the parks are fantastic. It you are a HP fans, you can't beat Diagon Alley at night. I love just sitting there at the end of the night when it is almost empty. The Seuss train ride gives an excellent view of the park as you slowly ride 20 ft in the air.

With 4 parks days with EPs, you will be able to do a lot. So there is no need to rush from ride to ride. Take a look at all of the shows to see what you might be interested in. I highly recommend the Horror Make-up Show; we try to go every trip. For HP fans, there are lots of small side shows to do at both parks.

 

[Pooh's World]

We are going for the first time during Thanksgiving week. We will be there a total of 4 days and staying at the Pacific Royal. It will be me and my two 13 year olds. I would love love any advice - we have gone to WDW several times during Thanksgiving.

Friday and Saturday have the highest hotel prices.

Then sunday to wednesday (dec 3rd) they are really low before going up again.

 

[Pooh's World]

Going to our 4th UO Thanksgiving this year. We typically go Sat-Wed. There were definitely similarities to the trips, even during Covid. Crowd levels definitely increased every day and by Monday the parks would be extremely crowded in the afternoon. Bad enough that we saw many 45+ minute waits in the EP lines! So we typically go in to the park early (though not always for EE) and do a loop around one of the parks to ride everything we wanted to do. We'd grab lunch around 1:00 and head back to the resort for a nap/swim. We'd head back to CityWalk/parks around 5:00 and things seemed to die back down for EP lines.

Evenings in the parks are fantastic. It you are a HP fans, you can't beat Diagon Alley at night. I love just sitting there at the end of the night when it is almost empty. The Seuss train ride gives an excellent view of the park as you slowly ride 20 ft in the air.

With 4 parks days with EPs, you will be able to do a lot. So there is no need to rush from ride to ride. Take a look at all of the shows to see what you might be interested in. I highly recommend the Horror Make-up Show; we try to go every trip. For HP fans, there are lots of small side shows to do at both parks.

 

[PantherPete]

We are heading there on 11/20 for Thanksgiving year 6 at Universal. It is very crowded, but with EP, you won't have much of a problem. The crowds only bother me in "bottleneck" areas like around the Kong ride.

The best advice I can give you is to make dinner reservations asap. Universal isn't like Disney where you have to make your reservations at midnight 6 months before you go. But for Thanksgiving week, the restaurants will be extremely busy. Almost no chance of getting in during peak dinner hours (say 5pm to closing). Also, another tip - if the parks aren't hitting capacity, don't be afraid to leave the parks and go to the City Walk for lunch. You will walk more, but it will probably save you time and it is a lot more relaxing sitting at Red Oven pizza vs waiting at Fast Food Blvd.
As others mentioned, going early is always a good plan, but staying late is also a good plan and since it will be decorated for Christmas and since it gets dark so early, you will really enjoy it there late. And IOA gets really dead except for everyone cramming into Hogsmeade for the castle show.

Let me know if you have any other questions. After 5 years of Universal Thanksgivings, I feel I'm pretty much an expert.

 

[Jbausch]

We are heading there on 11/20 for Thanksgiving year 6 at Universal. It is very crowded, but with EP, you won't have much of a problem. The crowds only bother me in "bottleneck" areas like around the Kong ride.

The best advice I can give you is to make dinner reservations asap. Universal isn't like Disney where you have to make your reservations at midnight 6 months before you go. But for Thanksgiving week, the restaurants will be extremely busy. Almost no chance of getting in during peak dinner hours (say 5pm to closing). Also, another tip - if the parks aren't hitting capacity, don't be afraid to leave the parks and go to the City Walk for lunch. You will walk more, but it will probably save you time and it is a lot more relaxing sitting at Red Oven pizza vs waiting at Fast Food Blvd.
As others mentioned, going early is always a good plan, but staying late is also a good plan and since it will be decorated for Christmas and since it gets dark so early, you will really enjoy it there late. And IOA gets really dead except for everyone cramming into Hogsmeade for the castle show.

Let me know if you have any other questions. After 5 years of Universal Thanksgivings, I feel I'm pretty much an expert.

Thank you! I have made a reservation at one restaurant for late afternoon each day of our trip and we have Thanksgiving dinner reserved. ( we barely got that - whew!) All but one are on Citywalk.
My plan is to hit the parks early and then around noon - 1 head back to the resort. Play in the pool or relax until 3:30-4 ish.. eat a early dinner and then head back to the parks until closing. I figure if we get hungry there will be plenty of snacks around to fill us.
I booked the VIP Hoilday Tour so I am hoping that will check off most of the holiday shows we will want to see.
My daughter is a huge HP fan and I booked the Harry Potter package so we have reservations for breakfast at both Broomsticks and LC.We also have appointments at shutterbugs.
With all of this and EP I am hoping we will be able to ride all the HP stuff at least once.
Do you see anything wrong or a don’t do with my plans? We are aware we might not be able to do it all in one visit - we get that. We just want to hit as much as we can without killing ourselves or anyone else. I am not going to be obnoxious and run people over - they’d not our style. We would rather skip it.
thanks again for your help.

 

[PantherPete]

Thank you! I have made a reservation at one restaurant for late afternoon each day of our trip and we have Thanksgiving dinner reserved. ( we barely got that - whew!) All but one are on Citywalk.
My plan is to hit the parks early and then around noon - 1 head back to the resort. Play in the pool or relax until 3:30-4 ish.. eat a early dinner and then head back to the parks until closing. I figure if we get hungry there will be plenty of snacks around to fill us.
I booked the VIP Hoilday Tour so I am hoping that will check off most of the holiday shows we will want to see.
My daughter is a huge HP fan and I booked the Harry Potter package so we have reservations for breakfast at both Broomsticks and LC.We also have appointments at shutterbugs.
With all of this and EP I am hoping we will be able to ride all the HP stuff at least once.
Do you see anything wrong or a don’t do with my plans? We are aware we might not be able to do it all in one visit - we get that. We just want to hit as much as we can without killing ourselves or anyone else. I am not going to be obnoxious and run people over - they’d not our style. We would rather skip it.
thanks again for your help.

I think you should be able to see/do everything you want. Between already having reservations and having express pass, you should be in great shape. Only thing I'm a little unsure about is Hagrid's. They changed the virtual queue since I was there last year. Last year, the VQ was awesome. Rode it several times that week. You should be able to ride Forbidden Journey and Gringott's multiple times. Whether or not you get to do everything in one visit will depend on what you really want to do. You may find it tough to do every attraction and see every show. I suggest prioritizing the shows based on your interest level.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

Evenings in the parks are fantastic. It you are a HP fans, you can't beat Diagon Alley at night. I love just sitting there at the end of the night when it is almost empty.

Yes!! This!
Also, our experience (pre-Covid 2019) is that they don’t clear you out of Hogsmeade very quickly at the end of the night. They shut down the shops and restaurants but you can linger and do spells or just soak up the atmosphere well after most people are gone. They started moving people out of DA as soon as the park closed but were much more chill on the IOA side.