crowds after Thanksgiving weekend

[lattemomof3]

We've heard Sat & Sun of Thanksgiving weekend will be nutty, just wondering if the Mon. and Tues following will be much better. Would you recommend doing more of DCA on Sat, because of crowds, and doing DLP on Mon. and Tues when not so crazy? We are from a town in the midwest pop. 3,500 so we are thinking the slowest day at DLR will seem amazingly crowded to us!

 

[aprincess@mail.com]

haha, we will be there those exact days.
It has been a few years since we have done Disney at Thanksgiving, but from what I remember it was pretty crowded.
Just take it slow and soak in some magic.
I think your idea of going to DCA on the weekend was a good idea tho, that park is usually less crowded than DL.
Good Luck and Have a great time!

 

[pixiewings71]

I don't know, but we will be there too!! YAY!!!! See you Thanksgiving!

 

[alvernon90]

I would be curious to hear about crowd experiences and/or expectations as well. We are scheduled to arrive on Sunday and leave that Wednesday, but if it seems like the crowds will be overwhelming we will just cancel the trip. After what happened last time, it's just not worth it...

 

[HydroGuy]

I would be curious to hear about crowd experiences and/or expectations as well. We are scheduled to arrive on Sunday and leave that Wednesday, but if it seems like the crowds will be overwhelming we will just cancel the trip. After what happened last time, it's just not worth it...

Sunday before or after TG?

We have made a couple day trips in recent years on the Wednesday of TG week. In 2005 DL was still in 50th anniversary mode and it was way crowded. But in 2007 it was not too bad. Like a summer weekday.

 

[lattemomof3]

We'll be there Sat thru Tues. after Thanksgiving day.

 

[alvernon90]

Sunday before or after TG?

We will arrive the Sunday after Thanksgiving in the afternoon. We expect that Sunday to be crowded, and plan to just walk around enjoying the lights that evening. But if the crowds stay at summertime levels for the Monday and Tuesday after Thanksgiving it will be too much to bear.

Summertime crowd levels are fine in the summertime, when the park is operating at full capacity. But when the crowds are high and the park is on a low-crowd schedule, it's a real pain. Even if they manage to get the rides down to reasonable wait times, the fact that many restaurants are closed and stores have smaller crews just gives the parks an insane feeling.

From what I can tell reading these boards and others, this is pretty much a new and permanent state of affairs at DLR, at least partly because of the company's determination to put an AP in the hands of every man, woman, and child within a 400-mile radius. If we go on this trip and things are as crazy as last May, I think I'll be through with Disneyland for good.

 

[HydroGuy]

We will arrive the Sunday after Thanksgiving in the afternoon. We expect that Sunday to be crowded, and plan to just walk around enjoying the lights that evening. But if the crowds stay at summertime levels for the Monday and Tuesday after Thanksgiving it will be too much to bear.

Summertime crowd levels are fine in the summertime, when the park is operating at full capacity. But when the crowds are high and the park is on a low-crowd schedule, it's a real pain. Even if they manage to get the rides down to reasonable wait times, the fact that many restaurants are closed and stores have smaller crews just gives the parks an insane feeling.

From what I can tell reading these boards and others, this is pretty much a new and permanent state of affairs at DLR, at least partly because of the company's determination to put an AP in the hands of every man, woman, and child within a 400-mile radius. If we go on this trip and things are as crazy as last May, I think I'll be through with Disneyland for good.

Can't say from personal experience but if you look at park hours from last year (see http://www.mouseplanet.com/8620/Disneyland_Resort_Update#ParkHours) with DL at 9AM-8PM it is clear Disney does not expect huge crowds compared to the 8AM-Midnight hours of TG week. You should be good.

 

[jessejames]

Last year I went the Monday after Thanksgiving and it was by far my most favorite trip out of the 6 others we did last year. (Yes, it was a Disneyland year lol). It was not crowded and the holiday decorations were great. I am planning the same trip this year because I enjoyed it so much!

 

[alvernon90]

Can't say from personal experience but if you look at park hours from last year with DL at 9AM-8PM it is clear Disney does not expect huge crowds compared to the 8AM-Midnight hours of TG week. You should be good.

This sounds good, but I remain a little wary. For our May 2009 trip DL closed one hour later than the same period in 2008, indicating that DL knew to expect bigger crowds. Yet they clearly didn't brace themselves for what actually happened because they were behind the curve the whole week. It's like they expanded the hours but not the number of CMs needed to handle the crowds.

Last year I went the Monday after Thanksgiving and it was by far my most favorite trip out of the 6 others we did last year. (Yes, it was a Disneyland year lol). It was not crowded and the holiday decorations were great. I am planning the same trip this year because I enjoyed it so much!

Perhaps it is irrational, but this gives me hope. It seems logical that crowds would die down between the end of TG weekend and the beginning of winter break for the schools. Traditionally it has been one of the deadest times of year at WDW, though DLR is a different kind of place. I hope either what happened last year happens again, or the Disney people finally get a handle on estimating the bigger crowds this year.

 

[mommy2allyandaveri]

I hope it won't be too crowded, we will be there the whole week following Thanksgiving.

 

[Princess Row]

We will be there Monday-Friday over thanksgiving. Last year we did four days at teh same time and the crowds were absolutley wonderful. We were on and off rides no problem. We go 3-4 times a yar and thanksgiving seems to have the least amout of crowds compared to the other times we go.