How busy is Thanksgiving week??

[Twinprincesses]

We normally go in October but I really want to see Small World done up for the holidays. Can you let me know if we went Mon-Wed of Thanksgiving week how busy it is.

 

[Ross3half]

We went the Thursday before Thanksgiving week through the Tuesday of Thanksgiving week one year, thinking we'd miss the true Thanksgiving crowds that we assumed would arrive later in the week...not so! Thursday was perfect and Friday was good until mid-afternoon, and then the craziness began! It was PACKED Friday evening through the Tuesday that we left. Then again, we usually go during slower times, so maybe it's not as busy for some people who are used to Christmas or spring break type of crowds.

For us it was crazy crowded! That Friday night before Thanksgiving week was when the Christmas parade and everything officially began for the holidays, so it was packed like sardines and we got rammed with strollers about every two seconds.

We love the magic of the Christmas season, but much preferred our other Christmas trip the week after Thanksgiving....soooooooo much better! It's all fun though.

 

[DisneyMomma81]

From what I read here this past Thanksgiving week was crazy leading up to Thanksgiving ~ Thanksgiving day itself and the days after were quite nice.

 

[HydroGuy]

We normally go in October but I really want to see Small World done up for the holidays. Can you let me know if we went Mon-Wed of Thanksgiving week how busy it is.

Whatever happened during Thanksgiving week prior to 2009 is apparently no longer relevant. The rules of the game have changed because of the growth of AP holders. See the first two posts in this thread:

"Understanding AP Blockouts and Impact on Crowds" http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2365983

Frankly I would still have a hard time planning a trip for the weekend right after TG because I am so conditioned to avoid that weekend. But based on 2009 that weekend is the best time to go now.

 

[rangermom]

We went this last Thanksgiving and it was busy, but I would not say it was crazy. I guess it is all relative though. Since we go to DL and WDW regularly, we don't stress over having to see everything. We were there the entire week, including Thanksgiving day, and we never felt it was crazy busy. We were expecting a lot worse.

It really all depends on your touring habits. We go to the parks early and leave early. Sometimes we go back late in the evening. We walked onto several rides through out the week and used FP's. HM and IASW was walk on everytime we past by.

SM and SpM were pretty busy most of the time and the FP's were all gone early in the day. At DCA lines did get long for TOT, TSMM and CS during the middle of the day, but morning and early evenings were not bad.

I was also able to book Ariel's Grotto and Blue Bayou with in a month of our trip and got the times we wanted.

If the only time you can go is during that week to see the Christmas decorations then I would go, but if you can wait until the week after Thanksgiving, then that would be a great time to go. We went once the week after Thanksgiving and it was awesome. Really quiet and slow paced.

 

[disneyobsessed808]

I went to Disneyland over Thanksgiving weekend from Wednesday to Saturday. I would say that Wednesday was the busiest day whereas the holiday weekend was busy but manageable. Looking forward to going again next Thanksgiving.

 

[pixiewings71]

We went Tgiving weekend last year, it was not that crowded at all. We were in the parks Thurs-Sun.

 

[jennilouwho]

We went last Thanksgiving week. Hydroguy is correct, with his AP info. Monday and Tuesday were CRAZY. Thursday and Friday were much better. We weren't there on Wed, but heard it was tolerable.

That said if you are familiar with the parks and good with figuring out what fastpass to do when, you'd be fine. We were traveling with a 1 and 3 year old and still had a good time. If I were to do it again though, I would wait and go Wed-Sat of Thanksgiving week.

 

[Princess Row]

We went thanksgiving the past two weeks. Monday-Friday. Monday was absolutely packed, Tuesday it got better, Thanksgiving day indiana Jones had a wait of five mins.....theres how uncrowded it was. We were able to ride every ridea at least three times, the lines went pretty fast. Thanksgiving Dinner in the park is wonderful too, also the Friday after hardly anyone is there.