How busy is Thanksgiving Day at either park?

[pepe3penelope]

hi, fellow DISers!

We are going to both parks for the first time on thanksgiving day. Just wanted to know everyone's experience with how busy either park gets. Do they ever close admissions because it's too crowded? Thanks!

 

[Malcon10t]

hi, fellow DISers!

We are going to both parks for the first time on thanksgiving day. Just wanted to know everyone's experience with how busy either park gets. Do they ever close admissions because it's too crowded? Thanks!

It will be very busy. And yes, it will close if it hits capacity. Fire marshal sets the limits.

 

[pepe3penelope]

Wow! We will still go and plan to get there closely after the park opens. Thanks!

 

[Malcon10t]

This is the first year in many we will not be at DIsneyland for Thanksgiving. We are used to the crowds. If you exit and get in the middle of the turnstile closure, go to the other park, or go to DTD. If you don't have meal plans already, I would suggest you time meals to eat off the normal schedule to avoid major lines at restaurants.

 

[pepe3penelope]

A couple weeks ago I was only able to book Tortilla Joe's in DTD around 5pm. Other restaurants were already booked or were too early like 3pm or late like 9pm. That won't work w/a 4 yr old and 8 yr old. We plan to disneyland, California adventure, dinner then home since I have to work early the next morning.

 

[juliekzp]

How was it?? We are thinking about a Thanksgiving week trip next year, and I would think it'd be really crowded, but the crowd predictor website that I use says only a 4 out of 10!

 

[mich311e]

Our family of 3 went on Thanksgiving day and while it was crowded we loved it! We've always gone after Thanksgiving but this trip we started Wednesday afternoon.

We arrived Thursday morning about 20 minutes early. I didn't feel the line was too bad and the line to get through bag check was just fine. We were at the rope drop for Tomorrowland. After we got in and got our HSM fast pass I ran to DCA for RSR fast passes. I was amazed at the line to get in then! Just 20 minutes after the park opened the lines to get in were much longer. I had a little bit of a wait to get in DCA and was able to get a RSR FP in about 10 minutes. By the time I headed back to DL it was just a 5 minute wait to enter.

Tomorrowland was definitely packed every time a day we were there. But on Thanksgiving day we got a lot done at both parks. We left the park for about 3 hours to relax at our hotel and returned about 6. We had 7:50 Blue Bayou reservations for the F! package. We had awesome seats for the 10:45 show. I loved the whole day and night and would do it again in a heartbeat!

So, my suggestions are be at the park at least a half hour early and make some dining reservations. It is definitely crowded but not unbearably so. I thought Wednesday afternoon/evening and Sunday morning were the most crowded times of our trip.

 

[pepe3penelope]

Hi! OP here! I forgot to post our Thanksgiving day experience.

We were at the park's the entire day. We had a slightly late start cuz I overslept. The parks were busy but insanely busy. Pretty manageable. As a result, we just knew to pick and choose which attractions to go to. We didn't want to wait too long.

Would I go again? YES! Lesson learned though...didn't know Plaza Inn served Thanksgiving turkey during lunch. The line to get in was so much longer than usual. Would definitely line up earlier.

Make your ADR's as soon as possible! We made our dinner reservations about 3 weeks beforehand and could only get dinner at Tortilla Joes in DTD at 4:30.