AK Crowds Thanksgiving Day

[tjls]

Want to spend time at the pool in the morning/early afternoon and then head to a park sometime in the afternoon on Thanksgiving. Is AK typically really crowded on Thanksgiving Day? How about HS? Trying to decide and assuming MK and Epcot would have much larger crowds. Have a 7:20 dinner at Whispering Canyon. Any advice on my plans would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[SaintsManiac]

Epcot is probably your best bet, IMO. Plenty of room to spread out. Went there on Thanksgiving Day 2 years ago and it was great.

 

[Delirium]

Last year, we did HS in the morning and MK in the evening. Both were very manageable. Just go in with a good plan. We used FPs at MK that night (used HS FPs on 2 other days).

 

[tjls]

That's great to hear. We are considering going to MK by boat after eating at Whispering Canyon that night.

 

[Memorymakerfor4]

I've heard when MK reaches capacity, they bus people who can't get in to AK. I doubt that any park will reach capacity that day, but it's a good indicator that AK would be a good place to be. We'll be at Epcot that day, but when we've been there before the morning is usually pretty empty and it fills up starting around lunchtime. We'll see you at WC for dinner!

 

[tjls]

I think we will change plans a bit and hit up AK or HS in the morning and then try MK at night after eating at Whispering Canyon. How long is the boat ride from WL to MK?

 

[cgattis]

I think we will change plans a bit and hit up AK or HS in the morning and then try MK at night after eating at Whispering Canyon. How long is the boat ride from WL to MK?

I think that’s a better plan. When we were there for Thanksgiving year before last, the weather was glorious but some mornings were downright cold. Might not happen but afternoon will almost certainly be warmer than morning. Boat to MK at night is alwYs extra magical to me anyway

 

[ArielSRL]

I don't have much to offer as I haven't experienced Thanksgiving at WDW yet. However, we will be there from the 27th - 1st this year. We are planning MK for Thanksgiving day. We'll arrive early, then we have a reservation at Liberty Tree Tavern for lunch, then we plan to take a break. We also have an early dinner at Whispering Canyon reserved and will head back to MK afterward for the HEA dessert party.

BTW, we love the boat from WL to MK. We have spent our last three June trips at WL. and the boat to MK is one of our favorite things.

 

[Aimeedyan]

We did AK for Thanksgiving last year and I thought it was great! I always judge crowds based on bottleneck locations, lines at the restrooms, and ability to snag additional fastpasses. I never waited in line, we didn't get stuck in any tight spots, and we rode FOP 3x due to additional fastpasses (all 3 pulled that day back to back).

We arrived around lunch and stayed most of the afternoon (before our HDDR dinner). That's when the crowds at the worst and I thought it was extremely manageable.

 

[NYCgrrl]

I didn't do AK last Thanksgiving Day. We stayed at BWI and walked to HS; the convenience is beautiful. Had the FPs we wanted and hung around the park until around noon. Had a mani/pedi appt at GF in the early afternoon and when finished, it was time to get dressed for dinner at V+A. Don't think that the fact that I had to return to the other side of the park to get dressed didn't strike me as counterproductive. Still it was a great and memorable day and think it would have been no matter what park we went to as long as we had early FPs.

 

[thor369]

I have a couple threads going on about going to Disney the thanksgiving week.
I have bookend from the 23-28th and some people are suggesting it’s very crowded and I should go the week before if I can and others saying if I plan for FP take afternoon breaks etc. I should be fine. I will be traveling with kids under 5. Since you guys are talking about thanksgiving I thought I could use some more opinion and confuse myself even more.

 

[CynBeth]

We have been on several Thanksgiving Week trips including last year and have found it manageable. We are adults with no kids and 2 of my family members have food allergies so we pretty much eat all our meals at TS. We are at the parks most days from open to close and find the time spent at lunch and dinner is when we relax and recharge. One night we spend at Disney Springs having dinner, going in some shops, and walking the Christmas Tree Trail. We booked ADRs and FPs right when they opened online and did just about everything we wanted to in the 9 days but we are not big roller coaster people although we love the motion simulators. Our favorite Thanksgiving dinner is at Boma. We enjoy seeing the resorts decorated and the holiday Storytellers and Candlelight Processional. We would go that week again.

 

[Christinecinti]

Not sure if still checking thread- but we did AK last Tgiving and it was a dream- before that we always did AK the Fri after which also was manageable but way more crowded than Tgiving was... Maybe it was a fluke but that was our experience. I'm curious about MK on Tgiving day and how crowded that is, as all the 'crowd calendars' have it as a preferred park?? !

 

[Memorymakerfor4]

Not sure if still checking thread- but we did AK last Tgiving and it was a dream- before that we always did AK the Fri after which also was manageable but way more crowded than Tgiving was... Maybe it was a fluke but that was our experience. I'm curious about MK on Tgiving day and how crowded that is, as all the 'crowd calendars' have it as a preferred park?? !

I've heard that about MK on Thanksgiving too and don't understand either. Maybe they think everyone will be going to HS? We're avoiding both this year.

 

[SaintsManiac]

I switched our plan from Epcot to AK. We shall see!!!

 

[eeyoreandtink]

We have done thanksgiving many times. We never do MK thanksgiving day. Way too crowded for us. We have had the best luck at AK or Epcot.

 

[tjls]

Not sure if still checking thread- but we did AK last Tgiving and it was a dream- before that we always did AK the Fri after which also was manageable but way more crowded than Tgiving was... Maybe it was a fluke but that was our experience. I'm curious about MK on Tgiving day and how crowded that is, as all the 'crowd calendars' have it as a preferred park?? !

We are trying AK and then possibly HS at night after dinner.