Crowds the eek beofre Thanksgiving

[lisabetty]

What are the crowds like the week before Thanksgiving? Will it be crowded? Are the decorations going to be up for Christmas?

 

[Tamie]

Hi. In 1991 we went to Disney. We arrived the Friday before T-day and left the Friday after. The crowds were non-existent up until Wednesday then it got steadily busier. I want to say the lights were up but I think that they light them on Thanksgiving, but dont quote me on that part.

Have a great time.

 

[scanmom]

we were there last year the sunday-wed. before t-day. It was not empty, not packed. You should be fine with fastpass and a little planning. We spent t-day and black friday at Universal because we stayed at the HRH and had FOTL access. That was SUPER!!!! balck friday was packed, but we rode everything at IOA many times over!!!! We enjoyed the best of both worlds, the festive feeling of crowds, and no waiting for rides!

 

[pixiemomma]

We went in 2001 for the 4 days before Thanksgiving. (Sunday-Wednesday) I would decribe the crowds as moderate. Animal Kingdom was empty until 11am. Epcot was a ghosttown except Test Track, which had an hour or so wait. MGM and MK were crowded but not unbearably. TOT, Rock and Roller Coaster, Space Mountain had lengthy waits. Everything else was a 20 minute or less wait except for t hose few rides that load superslow and in that case it had nothing to do with the crowd. All in all it is a really nice time to go. have a great time!

 

[Desnik]

We have been the week before twice. I think the above posters are saying they went the week of, a couple of days before Thanksgiving? Please correct me if I'm wrong.
I have found the full week before to be very much not crowded at all. We have never needed to use FP. Also, the X-Mas decorations start going up at the resorts that week before Thanksgiving. Lights and all. We watched the decorations being put up at the GF durung our stay there. They did it all night, I couldn't stat the whole time. When we woke up in the morning the transformation was incredible!!
We love going this time of year, the weathers really great too!

 

[tymegjus3]

Thanks!! We are leaving Saturday (yay!). We have one very impatient child! So, I'm hoping its not too busy

 

[jc]

we've gone the week before thanksgiving for the last 3 years and love it. It's very quiet in the beginning of the week but does pick up by Thursday or Friday (still not very crowded but you do notice a difference in crowds).

We are also leaving on Saturday but this time we are going on the 4 day wonder cruise on Sunday (our first cruise).

 

[Chess]

We're heading down Wednesday night as Thursday, Nov. 20 was the last day you could check in to receive the Pay for 4 days get 3 free. My in-laws are coming on Thursday evening. I wonder if this promotion will equate to more crowds. I'm hoping not.

Also I wanted to see my count down timer so I could do my happy dance.

 

[christianweecare]

DH & I were at WDW last year the week prior to Thanksgiving week. Crowds were very low. We did not use fast pass the entire week. We stayed at POFQ and while we do rise and eat breakfast early(around 7 a.m.), we were at the food court each morning with the same 8-10 people each morning. Very relaxing!

 

[rngclick]

For our first trip we went the week before the week of Thanksgiving. There were NO crowds at all. In fact, we stayed in our boat for the PoC and went around again as there was no one waiting to board!!!

 

[nuala]

we just arrived back from our trip Nov. 21 -Nov.30. The crowds were unbelieveably huge!!! Perhaps there was the incentive that Chess indicated. I have never experienced these large of crowds in the last 12 yearly trips that I have taken. i hope it settles down for anyone travelling now.

 

[Maverick]

OK.... Here are my thoughts about crowds from our trip (11/20-27. 2003).

This was our third trip in a row to go around Thanksgiving and this was clearly the largest crowds of the three. I'm convinced the economy and FTP had something to do with that.

Thursday and Friday before Thanksgiving were a breeze. No lines, no issues. Walked onto just about everything and took naps in the early afternoon. No wait for Mission Space at 5:00 PM on Friday. About 20 minute wait for TT, but we did the single rider line with no wait.

Saturday was busier, but manageable. We did NOT go to MK on Saturday. We went to MGM and AK. We were at AK for only about 3 1/2 hours in the afternoon and saw virtually everything except for Kali River Rapids.

Sunday we did not go to parks, BUT we did go by MK on the monorail and found the crowds to look very big. Not sure exactly how big, but it looked very busy.

Monday we went to IOA / Universal (Third year in a row, same day). Crowds were small in the morning at IOA and large in the afternoon at Universal. This was typical of what we had seen in previous years, but the crowds were bigger. Again, we saw everything we wanted to see, but it was definitely busier this year than in 2001 and 2002.

Tuesday saw BIG crowds at MK in the morning. Long lines by 10:00 on most every ride. No park Tuesday evening.

Wednesday morning we went to AK early and saw huge crowds, but were able to do a few things before lunch. (Mostly shows and the walking trails) Wednesday evening was very busy at Epcot with a 120 minute wait for Mission Space standby line and 50 minute wait for single riders. This wait lasted well into the evening.

We headed home on Thanksgiving day around noon, but the bus stop and food courts were HOPPING and busy before we left. Can't imagine what the parks were like.

Even though the crowds were bigger, I didn't find them unmanageable or unbearable. We started early, hit quite a few things, took a nap, went to another park in the evening where we soaked in the magic.

Hope this helps!

Maverick

 

[Chess]

I agree with Maverick the crowds on Thursday and Friday before Thanksgiving weren't bad. Saturday at MGM I felt it was crowded. My DH waited for the Great Movie ride for about an hour an this was at around 12pm when I figured everyone else would be eating lunch. We left at 1:30 for the pool and game back for FDP at 4:15pm. We only had time to eat dinner and get seats for Fantasmic. We went in half hour before showtime with our reserved seating and I was amazed at how filled the reserved seating side was.

Sunday was TL which was nice and not too crowded. My SIL went to MK that morning and said they only got half done of what we had gotten done on Friday. Sunday night we did go to MK and watch the parade. We got to MK at 7:20p and were able to get seats right in front of the train station on the curb which surprised me. After Spectro we were able to hop over to Epcot for Illuminations.

Monday we did AK which I felt was crowded but spent the whole day and got most of it done.

Tuesday we did downtown Disney and Cirque. I thought DTD was crowded outside but the lines in the store were not bad.

Wednesday we did Epcot in the am and in the afternoon went to hit the few things at MGM we wanted to do and back to Epcot for the show.

Thursday we did MK and it was crowded. We mainly walked around and did a few rides until dinner at Chef Mickey's at 3pm. Lots of empty tables at CM while we were there and we didn't leave until4:30pm. Went back to MK and saw the tree lighting and Cinderella's show, SM with FP's we had gotten earlier in the day and finished with Peter Pan which was a 50 minute wait at 7pm. Left at 8pm and returned to POR where we went back to the airport to sleep for our 7am flight on Friday.