Flying to WDW Thanksgiving day - maybe!

[Minniekins]

We may be adding a day to our trip and switching our SW Black Friday morning flight to fly out of Chicago on Thanksgiving afternoon at about 3 pm or 4:30 pm. Anyone have any idea how the airports are that day? Are they very crazy crowded? And, the parks - if we get a chance to go in late like 9, maybe 10 pm,(MK is open til 1 a.m.), are they much less crowded by then or still crazy with holiday guests? Any thoughts or experiences are appreciated!

 

[siskaren]

The airports aren't going to be busy on Thanksgiving because people want to get to their destination before Thanksgiving (Wednesday will definitely be busy). If you're talking about your flight arriving at 9 or 10 pm, I wouldn't consider trying to go to a park, even with a closing time of 1 am. You'd maybe get a couple hours, and personally, that wouldn't be worth it to me.

 

[hearts8701]

We left on thanksgiving day last year from o'hare no crowds in the airport we left in the early AM the plane was half empty

 

[Mickeygolf]

Best flying day of the year. Won't be busy at all at the airports. Black Friday would have been terrible!!!

 

[LadyBeBop]

A few thoughts.

I wouldn't consider trying to go to a park, even with a closing time of 1 am. You'd maybe get a couple hours, and personally, that wouldn't be worth it to me.

Not sure if this will make a difference or not (and it won't if you're staying offsite). But wouldn't your FP+10 timeframe open a day earlier for you if you go to the parks on Thursday? That might be the difference between getting an Anna and Elsa FP or not.

Best flying day of the year.

That and Christmas.

Won't be busy at all at the airports.

Everyone is already at Grandmas's house.

Black Friday would have been terrible!!!

I'm going to disagree there. Most people stay at Grandma's house through the weekend. Wednesday and Sunday are bad. Thursday, Friday and Saturday are slow. In fact, when I was flying non-rev (free...my daughter worked for the airlines), I was able to get a last minute flight on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Plane was half-empty.

 

[Minniekins]

The airports aren't going to be busy on Thanksgiving because people want to get to their destination before Thanksgiving (Wednesday will definitely be busy). If you're talking about your flight arriving at 9 or 10 pm, I wouldn't consider trying to go to a park, even with a closing time of 1 am. You'd maybe get a couple hours, and personally, that wouldn't be worth it to me.

Well, depending which flight we take, we'd land at either 6:45 or 8:15. The first time would be better for having any time in a park. This trip we have AP's that are good until Dec 7th, so not a waste going to a park for a few hours. Otherwise though, and in our usual situation, using a ticket for a day in that way would be waste, I agree! But I like the idea of getting even a few more hours use of our AP's if possible, lol!

We left on thanksgiving day last year from o'hare no crowds in the airport we left in the early AM the plane was half empty

Going on SW, so that's out of Midway and I hope they are the same, that sounds good to me!

Best flying day of the year. Won't be busy at all at the airports. Black Friday would have been terrible!!!

I like the best flying day of the year!

A few thoughts.

Not sure if this will make a difference or not (and it won't if you're staying offsite). But wouldn't your FP+10 timeframe open a day earlier for you if you go to the parks on Thursday? That might be the difference between getting an Anna and Elsa FP or not.

That and Christmas.

Everyone is already at Grandmas's house.

I'm going to disagree there. Most people stay at Grandma's house through the weekend. Wednesday and Sunday are bad. Thursday, Friday and Saturday are slow. In fact, when I was flying non-rev (free...my daughter worked for the airlines), I was able to get a last minute flight on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Plane was half-empty.

Well, we love Frozen, but it's just me and my DD24, so I don't think we'll be getting A&E, but if they had Olaf we definitely would do m&g, lol! It would be fun to meet and get pics with the princesses, and show them to my nephews who love Frozen, but probably won't take up a spot a little girl could have instead since they are so hard to get.

Yeah, I had read black friday was a pretty good day to fly, but wasn't sure about Thanksgiving day.


Thanks for all the help/advice dissers - appreciate it!