Crowds after Thanksgiving week-end?

[GMS]

Any reports on crowd size this week after Thanksgiving? How about MVMCP so far- seem crowded? We'll be there in 3 days! WOOO HOOO! _Gail

 

[crow11ad]

I want to know this as well?

 

[QuickGold]

On Monday (Nov 29), Epcot & MGM were pretty empty.

 

[angielynn10]

Anytime we can schedule it we always try to go the week after Thanksgiving. This year we're going one week later than that (3 DAYS!!!)

The crowds are minimal compared to other times of year. It's such a pleasure to walk around and take your time to enjoy everything without having to fight the crowds you do on holidays or in the summer.

Have fun!!

 

[Lives4Disney]

We just returned from our first ever Thanksgiving stay. May be the last.... I expected crowds for Tues - Sunday 11/28, but the UOG book puts monday and tuesday 11/29 and 11/30 at a 1 or 2 level (the lowest) It was horrid crowded at the MK Monday. We couldn't do anything. We were OK earlier in the trip as we had other things planned than parks. Had fun with boats, parties, etc. We were really looking forward to the crowds thinning and they didn't. I don't know where the UOG gets their crowd info, but it seems my guess is as good as theirs. The fun part was that the MK was open til Midnight. We would show up after wishes and the crowds were nonexistent. We had tons of fun late night. We did the MVMCP on 11/28. It was a ZOO. I don't want to be a downer, but be prepared. Just a Zoo. We stayed for the late parade figuring we'd be OK with a spot. NO SPOT even 20 minutes early. This is at 10:45. Some very nice people scooched and made room for my two little girls. People didn't leave the party so we did. Tuesday 11/30 at MGM crowds seemed a bit down and my two daughters were begging me to extend our stay (the weather was FABULOUS) I tried calling CRO for any deluxe and could only get 3 more nights at WL - that's it. I wanted 4 nights somewhere - nothing available at all. Bummer. So we returned to 4 inches of snow and 26 degree weather late last night.

It was fun, but crowded and I feel like there is so much we didn't do. We will be back, though in a low season. I really feel bad for the people going to the sold out MVMCPs. They are in for a major crowd. We never got our cookies and cocoa, never had the family photo. It took so long just to walk from one area to another fighting crowds the whole way. We saw one show and part ot wishes, due to an extremely slow waiter at LTT. I really was disappointed in the amount of tickets Disney is selling for each party. Doesn't seem to really be much of a limit. We were there in August and this expensive party was much, much more crowded. We went to a halloween party in 2003 and had a much better time. Lot fewer people and more things to do/see.

Have fun, but be prepared for crowds. Maybe you will be pleasantly surprised. I hope so.

 

[jwfla422]

Glad you enjoyed your trip anyway. Low seasons at WDW have been hard to come by lately. This week is usually "LOW" crowds but I'm hearing different this year. Not to mention the resorts being filled to capacity. Lucky for us, dd is not a big MK fan so we don't spend much time there. I know when we are there it can be quite busy. Guess we'll be seeing Ariel and Cinderella EARLY!! Thanks for the "heads up" but I expect crowds for our trip.

 

[lindym]

It shows how people look at things differently. We did not think the 28th Xmas party was crowded. Got on everything many times, waited 5-10 mins for our picture, got a spot for late parade very easily. WE loved it. Have been to many Halloween parties that were much more crowded. Also on Monday we felt the parks were much less crowded. WE would definitely go again during Thanksgiving.

 

[goofy4tink]

We just got back last night. Got there on T-day. The parks were crazed until after the week-end!! We did CP on Monday night and it was pretty crowded. We did the late show and then walked back to the International Gateway the long way, past Mexico. Yikes, it was a zoo. But, on Tuesday it was empty. We went over to MK later on Tuesday aftenoon for MCMCP. Got in quickly at 4:00. But there were much bigger crowds than the night I went last year. We did a a mid-Dec one on a Sunday night and it was much less crowded. But, I did get to meet some great DIS'ers, so I'm not going to complain!!! If I were to go at this time again, I would arrive on the Monday after T-day and stay through the next week-end.

 

[mac_tlc]

We just returned from WDW, were there from Thursday 11/25 through Tuesday 11/30. This was our seventh Thanksgiving-time visit and 10th MVMCP. Some observations:

1) Crowds on Fri/Sat were big, but not as bad as we have seen on some other visits.
2) Crowds on Mon/Tues were very low, at least where we went. In fact, many MK attractions were not using the FastPass's (Stitch, Buzz, ) on Tuesday 11/30. Zero wait mid-afternoon for Space Mountain..
3) MVMCP on 11/28 was fairly crowded, although typical for our 10 trips. However.... Disney has consistently reduced the number and frequency of the "special" attractions and locations for the family photos and cocoa/cookies. This makes it seem a lot more crowded. Only two photo spots and two cocoa/cookie locales.
4) On MVMCP nights, MK never "closes" between the normal day and the MVMCP. This appears to give the impression of more people. On Sun. night, we went into the MK at about 6PM..only Tomorrowland was open and only for the MVMCP people (green wristbands required). Again, this compresses all the people into a smaller area...seems very crowded.. And the photo line gets very long, very quickly..
5) My personal petty gripe ... they did not give each MVMCP attendee the annual MVMCP pin that they used to ... It's a small token but one that adds to the tradition and "history" of our annual ritual. I'm sure they had (or will have) a pin for sale !!!
6) Fewer Christmas-party-only shows also at the MVMCP. Again, adds to the feeling of crowds.

All in all a great trip, but with the continual reduction in the MVMCP activities and ever-increasing price, I begin to wonder about our plans for future years.

mac_tlc

 

[kaguilbeau]

We were also there T-day till last night. While I wanted to enjoy the
Disney atmosphere, I didn't want to fight the park crowds, so we did non-park activities until Sunday. We had a blast visiting different resorts, swimming at pool, did a water park, Downtown Disney and the Boardwalk and ESPN Club. Sunday - Wed were our park days. We stayed away from the early entry park, took a break mid day, used fastpasses when necessary. chose not to spend the extra $ on MVMCP (have seen it before). I thought crowds seemed heavy, however most attractions were a walk-on or a nominal wait. Sure, I'd like to go the entire week after Thanksgiving, too, but this is my compromise. This way the kids only missed three days of school, instead of an entire week.

 

[Gupsmom]

We were on the Wonder for Thanksgiving. We arrived in WDW on Sunday 11-28. My family walked on to ToT at 1pm. I could not believe it. I expected the crowds to thin out as the week went by but I never figured they'd be thin on Sunday.

Jess

 

[dvcgirl]

Well, I honestly think it's hit or miss right now. I was at MK yesterday and it felt fairly busy to me for early December anyway....30 minutes for Splash, Space and Buzz...

But tonight at MGM...ToT and RnRR were 5-10 minutes and Osborne Lights was wonderfully *un* crowded. Maybe some folks extend their Thanksgiving Day weekends? I don't know...but I had a much better experience today than I did yesterday....

And it's all so lovely in the parks right now....30 minutes is well worth it....the weather rules, Christmas is *everywhere....*.....

It's all good...

 

[crow11ad]

I hope it is low wait times for tomorrow through next week. It will just add that much more.