How crowded? Week before Thanksgiving Tuesday to Tuesday week of.

[Boomerdog]

I know it has been asked but My spouse and I are going to Disneyworld from 11/17-11/24. That is the Tuesday a week before Thanksgiving week to the Tuesday of Thanksgiving week. So we will leave 2 days before Thanksgiving day. I, like most of you, know how to work the fast passes and try my best to duck and dodge the biggest crowds, but, still, I am wondering just how crowded it will be. Luckily, we have made our reservations to all of the restaurants we love most.

I assume that that Tuesday 11/17 to Friday 11/19 will be wide open. But, do the crowds quickly rise the Friday before Thanksgiving? That Weekend? Or, does it take until Mid-Week of the week of Thanksgiving to notice the difference?

Thanks in advance.

 

[siskaren]

http://www.easywdw.com/category/calendar/11-november-2015-crowd-calendar/

 

[Cee]

I think you'd be okay until the weekend before Thanksgiving where each day the crowd level would increase.

 

[disneyseniors]

I know it has been asked but My spouse and I are going to Disneyworld from 11/17-11/24. That is the Tuesday a week before Thanksgiving week to the Tuesday of Thanksgiving week. So we will leave 2 days before Thanksgiving day. I, like most of you, know how to work the fast passes and try my best to duck and dodge the biggest crowds, but, still, I am wondering just how crowded it will be. Luckily, we have made our reservations to all of the restaurants we love most.

I assume that that Tuesday 11/17 to Friday 11/19 will be wide open. But, do the crowds quickly rise the Friday before Thanksgiving? That Weekend? Or, does it take until Mid-Week of the week of Thanksgiving to notice the difference?

Thanks in advance.

Hi boomerdog: Yes, my husband and I went last year the week before Thanksgiving, 11/18 to the 26th(day before TG). So we did experience the exact same time as you are going. The 18th and 19th were great, I think crowd levels of 2 to 4. THEN, the Friday before the crowds started going up dramatically!!!! The crowd guide plans called for a 6 on Friday but it was at least an 8. This progressed from weekend to the day before with crowds being at 8,9 or even 10 the day before TG!!! It was miserable to try to do anything with those crowd levels, for us. I know that others will post saying it was okay and they did a lot. BUT for US, it was not okay. We will never go back that time of year again! The only reason we did was because the daughter and grandkids got time off school and work and it worked out for that time of year. I repeat, even if that happens again, we will not go that time of year. For example, 2 hours before the nightly parade, Main St. was shut down due to crowds and we were shunted through the back behind crystal palace. This happened twice on the evenings we tried to enjoy the MK at night. Never did get to due to crowds. So, as it got closer to TG, the crowds got progressively worse, but IMHO, I couldn't tell the difference from Sat to the day before TG in crowd levels - which were much too much for us. Maybe the fact that we always go during "off" times and are used to manageable crowds at those time has played a big factor in this, maybe not. I hope that all goes well for you. We, however, will not go at that time again! We are going 2 weeks before TG this year and know that time of year is better for us. But the whole thing is objective. One family may find it ok and love it, and others like us might not. It is Disney, so have fun

 

[TiggerTrigger]

We went around this time in 2012...checked in a week before Thanksgiving and checked out the day before Thanksgiving. I didn't feel the crowds start to build until that Tuesday and it wasn't until Wednesday when it really started feeling crowded. Still, it was very manageable even when the crowds did build.

 

[itchin2go]

Hi boomerdog: Yes, my husband and I went last year the week before Thanksgiving, 11/18 to the 26th(day before TG). So we did experience the exact same time as you are going. The 18th and 19th were great, I think crowd levels of 2 to 4. THEN, the Friday before the crowds started going up dramatically!!!! The crowd guide plans called for a 6 on Friday but it was at least an 8. This progressed from weekend to the day before with crowds being at 8,9 or even 10 the day before TG!!! It was miserable to try to do anything with those crowd levels, for us. I know that others will post saying it was okay and they did a lot. BUT for US, it was not okay. We will never go back that time of year again! The only reason we did was because the daughter and grandkids got time off school and work and it worked out for that time of year. I repeat, even if that happens again, we will not go that time of year. For example, 2 hours before the nightly parade, Main St. was shut down due to crowds and we were shunted through the back behind crystal palace. This happened twice on the evenings we tried to enjoy the MK at night. Never did get to due to crowds. So, as it got closer to TG, the crowds got progressively worse, but IMHO, I couldn't tell the difference from Sat to the day before TG in crowd levels - which were much too much for us. Maybe the fact that we always go during "off" times and are used to manageable crowds at those time has played a big factor in this, maybe not. I hope that all goes well for you. We, however, will not go at that time again! We are going 2 weeks before TG this year and know that time of year is better for us. But the whole thing is objective. One family may find it ok and love it, and others like us might not. It is Disney, so have fun

We went 11/22 - 11/28, so Saturday to Friday of Thanksgiving week. Our MK days were Sunday and Tuesday. Tuesday was the only time we were in MK at night, and we did not experience anything resembling what you describe above BUT it was a horribly stormy, rainy day, so that probably affected things. Main Street was not gridlocked at all. We did one evening at Epcot (the Saturday before Thanksgiving) and crowds were really manageable - no issues. Thanksgiving night, we went to DHS to see Osborne Lights. It was crowded, especially in the area of the lights, but I still didn't think it was bad at all. And we're used to travelling in January and October, so low crowd times.

I went strictly by best parks from easywdw, and we really had no problems other than weather.

 

[disneyseniors]

We went 11/22 - 11/28, so Saturday to Friday of Thanksgiving week. Our MK days were Sunday and Tuesday. Tuesday was the only time we were in MK at night, and we did not experience anything resembling what you describe above BUT it was a horribly stormy, rainy day, so that probably affected things. Main Street was not gridlocked at all. We did one evening at Epcot (the Saturday before Thanksgiving) and crowds were really manageable - no issues. Thanksgiving night, we went to DHS to see Osborne Lights. It was crowded, especially in the area of the lights, but I still didn't think it was bad at all. And we're used to travelling in January and October, so low crowd times.

I went strictly by best parks from easywdw, and we really had no problems other than weather.

Like I said, not everyone will have the same perspective, experience that we had The nights we tried MK it did not rain, so must have been another time. The other parks weren't too bad, but MK was a disappointment and is the one most people think of as "Disney". I have never had such a crowded experience in all our travels to WDW (8 or 9) recently and it soured our perspective on that time of year FOR US. My daughter,SIL, grandkids will never go back at that either. It was miserable. I'm glad you had a great time and hope both our experiences will help the OP.

 

[GWhitten98]

We went last year the week before Thanksgiving week Nov 15(sat) to Nov 23(Sunday). We thought the crowd levels the entire trip were very great. We did have some yucky weather which may have kept some away early in the week. We did MK on Sunday, Tues and Sat. Sat was by far most crowded, but waits were still not terrible except Peter pan(but that was opening weekend of the new Que and bad planning on my part) and it was by no means wall to wall. I would suggest sticking with a park other then MK on that Monday/Tuesday if possible and you should be fine!

 

[itchin2go]

We went last year the week before Thanksgiving week Nov 15(sat) to Nov 23(Sunday). We thought the crowd levels the entire trip were very great. We did have some yucky weather which may have kept some away early in the week. We did MK on Sunday, Tues and Sat. Sat was by far most crowded, but waits were still not terrible except Peter pan(but that was opening weekend of the new Que and bad planning on my part) and it was by no means wall to wall. I would suggest sticking with a park other then MK on that Monday/Tuesday if possible and you should be fine!

Sounds like we followed the same crowd calendar I think that's key when visiting during a busy time of year.

 

[Boomerdog]

We went last year the week before Thanksgiving week Nov 15(sat) to Nov 23(Sunday). We thought the crowd levels the entire trip were very great. We did have some yucky weather which may have kept some away early in the week. We did MK on Sunday, Tues and Sat. Sat was by far most crowded, but waits were still not terrible except Peter pan(but that was opening weekend of the new Que and bad planning on my part) and it was by no means wall to wall. I would suggest sticking with a park other then MK on that Monday/Tuesday if possible and you should be fine!

Thanks everyone! That is exactly what I was thinking Gwhitten98. We are going to get are magic kingdom fill on Wednesday of the week before thanksgiving (for late magic hours) and Friday ( Very Merry Christmas Friday night) so that we can avoid the crowds the following week. I'll just stick to the easywdw chart. Although, EasyWDW does claim red for MK on that Wednesday Nov 18, the week before, but my guess is it won't be all that bad that day.

 

[itchin2go]

Thanks everyone! That is exactly what I was thinking Gwhitten98. We are going to get are magic kingdom fill on Wednesday of the week before thanksgiving (for late magic hours) and Friday ( Very Merry Christmas Friday night) so that we can avoid the crowds the following week. I'll just stick to the easywdw chart. Although, EasyWDW does claim red for MK on that Wednesday Nov 18, the week before, but my guess is it won't be all that bad that day.

Red compared to the other parks that day, but probably far superior to how the MK will be the following week.

 

[Boomerdog]

Red compared to the other parks that day, but probably far superior to how the MK will be the following week.

Good point. Thank you.