Crowd levels around Thanksgiving

[Eeyore4337]

I've checked all the sites that have crowd calenders, but want some "real-life" experiences from the group. We're planning a 2013 trip starting either the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, or the following Saturday. I realize crowd levels Thanksgiving weekend are brutal. How fast do they return to low crowd levels? Would we be better off waiting the extra week or are they bearable again already by the Monday after Thanksgiving? Thanks all!

 

[alicia080979]

We arrived last year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving and we are planning to do it again this year. We do not go to the parks that Saturday and only go for a couple of hours on Sunday because we know it is crowded. However, we hit the parks Monday and thought the crowd levels were very managable the entire time we were there. The Christmas decorations are up and the weather is incredible! I think if you wait another week, you hit the Pop Warner football stuff and I heard that can be kinda crazy.

 

[guccilove]

we're going to be there this thanksgiving 2012 for the very first time~! hope the crowds are manageable and the weather isn't too cold!!

 

[laughinplace199]

We were there this past Thanksgiving. We arrived the Monday before and left the Monday after. The crowds were big, but it never felt unmanageable to me.

That said, the Sat after Thanksgiving was moderately crowded and Sunday and Monday were awesome! We went to MK on Sunday and pretty much walked on to everything. We also went to MVMCP that night and the crowds were low then as well.

If you can, plan to arrive the Sat or Sun after Thanksgiving and you will be fine.

 

[Eeyore4337]

Thanks all for the help. Your responses make me feel a little more relaxed. I thought crowds would be crazy busy.

 

[softballmom3]

we're going to be there this thanksgiving 2012 for the very first time~! hope the crowds are manageable and the weather isn't too cold!!

We went this past Thanksgiving an it was crazy busy!!! It was way more busy than spring break but we still loved it!! DHS was the absolute worst. Elbow to elbow. I used the unofficial guide and touring plans for plans and they helped but the closer it got to Thanksgiving the worse it was. We went to AK that day and the morning was great. By afternoon congested but I expected this so wasn't surprised by the crowds. If you have a plan of attack for that week it should definitely be manageable . Weather was awesome!!!! Loved that.

 

[goofy4tink]

We've arrived on Thanksgiving Day...and I have to say that I have never, ever seen such huge crowds in DHS. We finally got tired of being shoved and pushed...so went back to our resort. Had dinner at Chef Mickeys that night.
The next day??? Headed over to Epcot. We were at BW so it was nice and easy to just walk over. Crazy crowded. My dad and step-mom joined us. I have never seen the kind of crowds I saw that day in WS!!
The crowds were a bit better by Sunday night, but not good enough. It wasn't until Tuesday that we felt better. By Wednesday things had calmed down significantly. Too bad we went home on Thursday!!!! Won't ever do that time of year again. Have gone back to my early Dec trips.