How is driving into Orlando Thanksgiving weekend??

[NightAngelX]

Hi! We don't have a trip officially planned yet but we are thinking of the first week in December. We live in Iowa but my hubby has a fear of flying (he says its a fear of crashing...), so we drive. I hated the drive last time but DH claims to have enjoyed it and is willing to drive the entire 20 hrs if it means he doesn't have to fly.

Anyway, since we are thinking the first week in December I thought that sounded great because it gives us more time to drive and get to Disney! However DH pointed out that traffic will be horrible and more accidents, etc. I realize not everyone is driving from Iowa to WDW, but in general how do you find the traffic in and round WDW Thanksgiving weekend? Super bad? What days would be better than others? Short of leaving on Thanksgiving we could drive any day that weekend. We usually take 2 days for the drive, but if all at once makes better sense we could do that too (thought that means I would be driving some. ). I've done some googling and avoiding Atlanta seems like a good plan, but still unsure on which days, etc.

Thanks for any insight on this 'issue'.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Thanksgiving is very crowded at Disney so that should give you and idea what the traffic will be like in and around Disney.

 

[NightAngelX]

Well I don't plan on going ON Thanksgiving, but rather the following week, so I guess Saturday or Sunday after Thanksgiving. From all the crowd calendars (from previous years) the first two weeks of December have low crowds, then tons of crowds!
I guess most years Thanksgiving isn't the last weekend of the month though...

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Well I don't plan on going ON Thanksgiving, but rather the following week, so I guess Saturday or Sunday after Thanksgiving. From all the crowd calendars (from previous years) the first two weeks of December have low crowds, then tons of crowds!
I guess most years Thanksgiving isn't the last weekend of the month though...

If you will be the Sat and Sun immediately following Thanksgiving expect huge crowds and heavy traffic.


But a week later will be low crowds and low traffic

 

[Sunnywho]

The worst traffic day of the year is the day before Thanksgiving. Traffic spikes again on the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend. The Friday and Saturday shouldn't be as bad. The best driving is on Thanksgiving itself.

 

[Mary T in PA]

When we did the drive 3yrs ago, we got up and was on the road by 7am the Friday after Thanksgiving. We had smooth sailing, and hardly any traffic on I95! It was great.. so great that we just kept on going, and ended up in DtD area around 12:30am Sat,, found a hotel in DtD area and slept good. Got up, and walked over to DtD and just took it easy..we came in a day early as we weren't to check into our resort until the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

Our trip took us 17-18hrs with brief stops.

Over the years, the parks have gotten more busy the week after T-Day, mainly due to the fact that they no longer block it out for Free Dining. But even then, it's not summer crowds, but it's not as empty as it once was.

It is a great time of the year to visit!!