Disneyland visit during Thanksgiving week?

[Baloo2003]

In order to take advantage of a friends' birthday at Disneyland, we would need to go to Disneyland the week of Thanksgiving. Her birthday is the Monday before Thanksgiving.

We would go from the Saturday before Thanksgiving to the Sunday after Thanksgiving. What is your opinion on the crowds during this time? Will it be so unbearably crowded that we wouldn't be able to enjoy our trip?
Would it be busy the whole week OR just the 4-day Thanksgiving weekend?

Originally we had planned on going Dec 05-13, but we are thinking about changing to the week of Thanksgiving.

Also, do you know when they typically taped the Disneyland portion of the Christmas Day parade?

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[remfam5]

We were just there Thanksgiving 2008!
We arrived the Thursday before T-week. The park was EMPTY all day Thurs. & Friday morning. Because Fri night was the first night for holiday fireworks... it was PACKED!!!
Just keep in mind that starting on Sat. the days will get progressively more crowded. We left on Tues. so I can't comment on the rest of the week.

Just get all your favs done at DL, then head over to DCA- where it is far less crowded!

In case you were planning to go to any other parks.... We went to Sea World on Thanksgiving day and we had the park to ourselves! It was wonderful! And the Thanksgiving buffet for Dining with Shamu was one of the best buffets we've ever had between WDW & DL.

Have FUN!! It is such a wonderful time of the year to go!!

 

[Baloo2003]

Thanks for the input. Were you in Disneyland on Monday? You may have already answered this, but I'm hoping the whole trip won't be completely crowded.

Also has anyone been on Thanksgiving Day? What are your thoughts on crowds during Thanksgiving week?

 

[remfam5]

Thanks for the input. Were you in Disneyland on Monday? You may have already answered this, but I'm hoping the whole trip won't be completely crowded.

We were there FIRST thing on Mon. morning! Stuck to our plan to do our favs and left the park around 11am and headed to DCA. The crowds were fine in the morning, but of course by 10-11 it was definitely starting to pick up.

 

[cccdisney]

We were also there this past year during that time. We arrived the Saturday before Thanksgiving and were in the parks until the following Tuesday. We drove home the day before Thanksgiving (which was a bad day to travel, btw!)
The parks were busy but manageable in my opinion. We usually go during busy times so we know to get there early and utilize the FP's.
We would go again during this time of year. Haven't made plans yet for this year but just might since my kids have the whole week of Thanksgiving off from school!