How crowded is Thanksgiving week?

[Laralyn]

We have rooms on a courtesy hold by our travel agent for the period between Nov. 12 and Nov. 22. Nov. 22 is the Monday at the start of Thanksgiving weekend.

How busy do the parks get the weekend and Monday right before Thanksgiving? Would it be worth taking our trip starting Nov. 12th to try to avoid Thanksgiving crowds, or do they typically arrive later that week?

I love Disney World but haven't been able to go for about 5 years. Imagine the withdrawal symptoms! ;-)

My boyfriend has never been to Disney World and he hates crowds, so I'd like to avoid them as much as possible. I want him to enjoy the vacaction enough that I won't have to wait another 5 years to go back again!

Anyway, thanks for any advice you can pass along!

 

[goofy4tink]

We arrive on THanksgiving Day. If I remember correctly, most people will tell you that the crowds start building the week-end before Thanksgiving and then peak on Wed, T-day, thru the week-end and then die down on Sunday, the 28th. If I were you and had the option of when to go, I would go in order to be out of WDW by the Sat before T-day. So, 11/12-11/20.

Yes, we're arriving on T-day, but we certainly aren't going into MK that day!! We'll stick to Epcot and AK until after Sat.!!!

 

[GQQFY]

I would personally post-pone your vacation until the first two weeks of December. School is not out yet and all of the Holiday activities have started! You get more for your money!

GQQFY

 

[ellyn2000]

I've gone many years for Thanksgiving week and love it. It gets more crowded as you approach the actual holiday, so you should be great on your dates. Of course, these things can change at any moment so you may experience more crowds than I remember. I would go in a minute for that week. We'll be there 11/21 - 11/27. Have a great trip!!

 

[Rozzie]

We will be there nov 16-22 (countdown adj. for tampa trip so see dad first)
We always go in sept, but due to Ivan, this will be our first trip in nov. We plan to get the park favorites out of the way first few days of trip, and do spontaneous park hopping the 20th--21th. we are preparing for the worst, but I have gotten some pretty reassuring feedback on this board that we should be "ok".

just think of standing in line as a positive thing, my DH and I are trying to convince ourselves that we will catch up on deep discussions we haven't been able to have due to all the working to pay for trip. LOL, he can put a positive spin on almost anything....

 

[ellyn2000]

Just remember to use FastPass whenever available. We've come to love it and feel like we don't miss out on some rides like we have in the past. It should be only moderately crowded thru the weekend ending 11/21. I hope you have a wonderful trip!