for those who went over thanksgiving this year

[emmababy]

We are thinking of going over thanksgiving next year and had some questions.

1) Did you have any problem booking your rooms at 11 months? We want a standard studio for us and one for my sister's family?
2) How crazy were the crowds?
3) Did you go to a park on Thanksgiving? Which one? How busy?
4) Where did you eat at for Thanksgiving dinner?
5) Which Christmas stuff is a not miss?

 

[Deb & Bill]

Since no one has gone through the 11 month booking with the new booking rules, it's anyone's guess. But you'll find out pretty quickly later on this month.

 

[SSDonut]

1) Did you have any problem booking your rooms at 11 months? We want a standard studio for us and one for my sister's family?

We've gone the last 3 years over Thanksgiving (Thursday before -Sat after) and have never had a problem booking at 11 months out (BCV and AKV).

2) How crazy were the crowds?

The crowds always start to come in Sunday or Monday before Thanksgiving, but it's never stopped us! If you wait until "true" lunch time--12:30-2--in the parks, the counter service lines can get outrageous, and I would definitely recommend having TS ADRs too, but if you use FP and give some thought to how you're going to tackle the parks, you'll be fine.

3) Did you go to a park on Thanksgiving? Which one? How busy?

We did this year--we went to MK! With smart FP use, we had a great day. We arrived there around 9:30 and did the "left 1/2" of the park--Magic carpets, Jungle Cruise, Swiss Family Treehouse, Pirates, BTM, train ride all the way around the park, Splash Mountain, Tom Sawyer's island (including a couple rounds of checkers on the dock!), shooting gallery, Small World, Carousel. We had a CS lunch, and a nice relaxing snack and coffee from the bakery--we sat on one of the little side streets off Main St, and a CS dinner and then we even stayed for Spectromagic and Wishes! It was a great day, and, yes, it was crowded but we really got to do everything we wanted with no wait. Only exception was Peter Pan--we didn't get our FPs early enough, and by the time we went there the FP return time was 7:50 and the standby line was 70 mins!!

4) Where did you eat at for Thanksgiving dinner?

We were Very glamourous--we ate at Pinocchio Village Haus, overlooking IASW!!

5) Which Christmas stuff is a not miss?

I think I most love all the resort decorations. We went to sleep one night at AKL, and woke up to find the lobby totally decorated--hugh Christmas tree and all--that was some sort of magic! Osbourne Lights is wowzie--especially if you are there when the "flip the switch" and it snows too. I really liked the Candlelight Processional--our first year to make that-- too, which starts usually the day after Thanksgiving.

It was more cold this year than in previous years, but usually the weather is lovely. We just LOVE that time of year at WDW and highly recommend it!!

 

[emmababy]

Thanks!

 

[KelNottAt]

1) Did you have any problem booking your rooms at 11 months? We want a standard studio for us and one for my sister's family?

I booked four 2BR and one 1BR at BWV for Thanksgiving week. I called day-by-day and had no problem.

2) How crazy were the crowds?

Monday - Universal was delightful. Max 30 min wait.
Tuesday - Islands of Adventure was delightful. Max 30 minute wait.
Wednesday - Magic Kingdom was VERY crowded. FP sold out for Space Mountain. 60 min wait for BTRR. 30 min wait for Haunted Mansion. 45 min for Buzz. etc. We got to Hollywood Studios around 6PM and (since the park would close in an hour) only had time for fast food dinner and a 50 minute wait at ToT.
Thursday - Animal Kingdom was very crowded. But we did FP for EE and got on. Saw all the highlights (EE, Dinosaur, Bugs Life, Safari, and EE FP) by 2:30. No time for Kali.
Friday - no parks for us b/c DS came down with strep.

3) Did you go to a park on Thanksgiving? Which one? How busy?

Thursday - Animal Kingdom was very crowded. But we did FP for EE and got on. Saw all the highlights (EE, Dinosaur, Bugs Life, Safari, and EE FP) by 2:30. No time for Kali.

4) Where did you eat at for Thanksgiving dinner?

We at at Spoodles @ 4PM. Great buffet. We were a party of 22 and they gave us a kids table and an adults table right next to each other. Just like at home.

5) Which Christmas stuff is a not miss?

Everything was beautiful. Nothing stands out in my mind. Decorations were everywhere, music too. I think I remember remarking how each decorated tree in AK was themed nicely to reflect its portion of the world.

 

[mouseketeer70]

1) Did you have any problem booking your rooms at 11 months?
This was our first trip over Thanksgiving, and first time as DVCers. We didn't book until June! Our guide helped us. We had a dedicated 2 bdr at SSR.
2) How crazy were the crowds? Not nearly as bad as Easter week except for Thanksgiving day. We were there from 11/22-11/28. We always leave midday to go back to the resort and swim, rest, and this time since we had a villa we were able to eat also. This break really helped us miss crowds. The mornings at the parks were very nice and I guess the cold at night chased some people away.
3) Did you go to a park on Thanksgiving? Which one? How busy? People may think we are crazy but we went to MK on Thanksgiving day. But...We got there early and did everything we wanted with no problem. We literally walked right on Pirates, twice! We never stopped moving until we were sitting in a boat! We rode the Mountains, Buzz, Peter Pan, Pooh, got fps for later in the day, and had done everything we wanted by 11:00. This was a good thing because it had started to get really really crowded by then. Left for ADR at 1900 Park Faire. My DSs (14,13) wanted to come back to MK to use our FPs. When we got back it was just crazy crowded! We went straight to SM for FP, then stopped at Monsters Inc., then hightailed it outta that place!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We headed over to Epcot which was more crowded than the other days but was manageable. Just a note: we were traveling with 2 other families. One went to DHS and said it was just like the other days. The other family didn't get up and out until mid morning and they tried AK and left.
4) Where did you eat at for Thanksgiving dinner? 1900 Park Faire for last bfast seating and dinner at our villa (we used garden grocer and it was great)
5) Which Christmas stuff is a not miss? Everything was decorated and so pretty. We have done the candlelight processional and osborne lights on other trips. Also, we really enjoyed the storytellers at Epcot on previous trips.
All in all it wasn't bad but we have been the first week of Dec. before and also the week before Christmas and those were much better crowdwise with all the Christmas stuff going on too. If possible we would go then rather than Thanksgiving.