Just HOW crowded is it really before Thanksgiving?

[mrd7896]

Hello!! This is my first thread on DIS--So very excited.
I have a million dollar question. I've been to WDW during Easter, any month during the summer, the middle of December, the second week of January etc. etc. etc.

BUT I've never been to Disney the week leading up to Thanksgiving. Is it worse than Easter?
I'm going this November with my SO and he's never been so (naturally) I can't keep thinking that I've made a HUGE mistake in booking a trip the week of Thanksgiving. (We are coming home on Wednesday morning...)

I keep going back and forth with the "i've been to WDW more than the average person so I will be able to navigate around the crowds I'll be fine" to "what if my SO absolutely hates every minute of it because it is wall to wall packed''

I guess there really isn't much I can do now since we are booked and ready to go but I wanted some true opinions for those who have been there before/recent. We booked pretty late in terms of ADR and even at 120 days out I was able to snag some great reservations for popular places which made me excited!


109 days to go!!!!

 

[Klayfish]

I can't compare it to Easter, as I haven't gone then. But I'm a many time summer vet and have done two recent Xmas weeks, as well as Thanksgiving ('15 and '17). It's significantly busier than June/July but nowhere near as busy as Xmas. It gets more crowded as the week goes on but is still not horrible. The only park that was really crazy was MK on Thanksgiving itself.

 

[jeff_h]

We've gone 2x the week after Easter and 4x the week of Thanksgiving - both are busy but I think Thanksgiving week is slightly less crowded, IMHO.

 

[SaintsManiac]

We were there 11/14-11/24 last year. We did MK on Thursday, 11/16, HS on Friday, 11/17 and Epcot, Saturday 11/18 before going to Universal for a day. There was a noticeable difference in crowds when we went back to WDW on Monday. It was very busy Mon-Thurs, but we did everything we wanted to do and we had a great time.

I think it's a great week to go.

ETA: I'm a little unclear about when you arrive. At first I thought you were doing the week before Thanksgiving week.

 

[Delirium]

We'll be there (4 of us), so it's going to be very crowded.

 

[dmband]

I have done 4th of July a few times and this will be the first Thanksgiving.
Crowd calendars seems to more or less match but if anyone has an opinion on those weeks in comparison I would appreciate it.
Thanks

 

[mrd7896]

We were there 11/14-11/24 last year. We did MK on Thursday, 11/16, HS on Friday, 11/17 and Epcot, Saturday 11/18 before going to Universal for a day. There was a noticeable difference in crowds when we went back to WDW on Monday. It was very busy Mon-Thurs, but we did everything we wanted to do and we had a great time.

I think it's a great week to go.

ETA: I'm a little unclear about when you arrive. At first I thought you were doing the week before Thanksgiving week.

We will be there the the 16th leaving on wednesday the 21st . I am mainly more concerned about mon-weds as that is probably when most people will be arriving for their vacation

 

[SaintsManiac]

We will be there the the 16th leaving on wednesday the 21st . I am mainly more concerned about mon-weds as that is probably when most people will be arriving for their vacation

Yep it was packed at MK and AK, but I found Epcot the most pleasant. Lots of space

 

[Klayfish]

I have done 4th of July a few times and this will be the first Thanksgiving.
Crowd calendars seems to more or less match but if anyone has an opinion on those weeks in comparison I would appreciate it.
Thanks

Do you want an opinion on crowd calendars?

Oh, wait, you mean on opinion on the week of July 4th vs Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is busier, especially from Thur-Sun. It's still not horrible, IMO, but it's busier than 4th of July (except for MK the night of July 4th).

 

[FSU Girl]

I went to Disney for Thanksgiving last year for the first time. It was my first major holiday at the park and I didn't find it terribly crowded. We went into Epcot after our Thanksgiving dinner at our hotel and the wait times weren't crazy high. We used fast passes for everything though. We stayed through the weekend and found everything pretty manageable, I will definitely go again. Having fast passes definitely helped and we made TS reservations for lunch and dinner to have a place to relax.