Opinions needed

[Spartan]

OK, here's my situation. We're arriving on the Friday morning after T'Giving. I know crowds will be huge, so we were originally planning on not going into the parks until Sunday because we'll only have 5 day hoppers and will be there for 8 nights. 5 days is enough for us because we've been there many times. We have tickets for MVMCP on the 2nd, so our plans were to skip the parks on our first 2 days plus the 2nd. We have PS for Chef Mickey on the Sat., and thought about going to see Celebration and doing DTD on the Friday we arrive. Now I'm starting to think that spending 2 full days when we arrive without going into a park is going to be tough. We have a 3yo, and he's probably not gonna be too keen on not getting into a park until Sunday (which we planned on being Epcot thinking crowds may still be higher than the rest of the week). That means 4 days until we take him into his favorite place (MK) on Monday.

I see that MK is open until 11 on Saturday. He's a night owl and a late riser - I'm wondering if we should use one of our park days for that first Saturday at the MK and fight the crowds, or will it be so crowded that we won't even enjoy it anyway?

Another idea I had was to go ahead and try it on Saturday, skip Chef Mickey (he's done this when he was 2 and enjoyed it, but I'm sure would rather be in a park), and put the money towards another MVMCP on the 4th. That way we could skip the parks on the 4th during the day, and go to the party in the afternoon when they start letting in. We've been to one MVMCP in the past, and thought it was a highlight of the trip.

Any opinions? How bad is that Saturday after Thanksgiving, and would you use one of your park days on it if you only had 5 day hoppers? Thanks.

 

[Eeyore1954]

My experience has been that Saturdays at MK are a "zoo" -- crowded beyond belief. I've never been on the Sat. after Thanksgiving, but I've been on a number of other Saturdays (yes, I am a slow learner). Long lines, long waits -- for everything -- even the fast pass lines. After making this mistake too many times, I would go to any other park on Saturday -- or maybe do a day trip to SeaWorld.

 

[jerseydizdreamer]

I'm arriving on the Saturday after Thanksgiving for a week at POR. In the past, I've found that you're right, the Saturday after Thanksgiving is pretty crowded in most of the parks. Despite that, I AM planning to go to the MK Saturday, because it's the only time during my visit that it will be open until 11, and the only night during my stay that they'll have Spectromagic. So I may avoid the park during the day, but that night I'll head over.

While the parks will probably be a madhouse on Saturday, by Sunday afternoon they should be emptying out (I find a lot of people come for Thanksgiving and leave on Sunday afternoon, rushing about to get one last ride on their favorite attraction, or do that last minute shopping). And I generally find that the park that's least crowded on that Sunday is Epcot and the Animal Kingdom (my theory: more people want to ride the MK mountains or the TOT and Rockin Roller Coaster than want to go over to AK or Epcot, although that could change with Mission:Space).

I don't know about your three year old, but so many people I know have found it fairly easy to stay away from the parks as long as they give their child something to keep him entertained, such as going to Downtown Disney or hanging at the pool or something along those lines.

Richard