Planning Thanksgiving week with kids 9-11

[Surgie2]

We are planning to visit Thanksgiving week 2023 (Potential park days Monday through Friday). Staying at Windsor Hills. Planning the MK Christmas Party on Tuesday if it is offered that night so that will be the only opportunity we choose for MK. Want 1-2 non-park days. Is there any reason to choose a certain day for HS and AK? We will likely skip Epcot on this trip unless we buy hopper tickets. I know it will be very busy at all the parks.

 

[g-dad66]

Looking at Lightning Lane availability for Thanksgiving week last year, it looks like Friday was the least busy day at both HS and AK, and Thursday (Thanksgiving Day) was the second least busy day.

HS has more to do than AK was, so if there were no other considerations, I would probably select Friday for HS and Thursday for AK.

 

[CynBeth]

Not sure how long your trip is but with it possibly being short and it is a busy time to be there I would not have any rest days and do as much of the parks as you can. We usually visit every 2-3 years arriving the Friday before and leaving the Sunday after so have 2 days at each park and a day at Sea World. I would add Epcot to your plans and do it on either Black Friday or Saturday if you are still there because usually that is when the storytellers in the deferent countries and the Candlelight Processional begins. We usually do AK on Thanksgiving Day and have dinner at Boma.

 

[Surgie2]

Thanks for advice. We arrive on Saturday or Sunday and leave the following Saturday. The days "off" are possibly for Universal TBD. I'm the Nana trying to collect the information and the parents will ultimately decide the WDW days. Each of the two families will have to determine their own schedule but we want some overlap - one of which will be the MK Christmas party. Appreciate knowing about Epcot and the Candlelight Processionals.

 

[Tk0021]

We are going the same week and this is our first time at thanksgiving. I am definitely taking notes on the data that was provided above on what parks had lighter lighting lane days. My kids are 10 and 12. We just went Christmas week 2022 and I did not find it to crazy busy. We roped dropped every day and had G+ also for every park. We did skipped AK because of the lack of rides.

 

[Surgie2]

We did skip AK because of the lack of rides.

This is what we are considering. My son and family want to do 3 parks that week - one per day with no hopper. He thought maybe EP would be the one to skip due to his kids ages 9 and 11 but maybe he needs to look again at what AK offers.

 

[Memorymakerfor4]

We were there last year for Thanksgiving week. Epcot can be a wonderful park with kids if you do the KidCOT game. We had a great day winding our way through the less busy parts of the different countries and fitting in scheduled rides as they came up. So many people balked at the $30 price we found Genie+ easier than expected.

If you're planning a park day on Wednesday, I'd make it AK or Epcot as you'll be tired from the night before and I don't think it's necessary to rope drop (especially if you're willing to pay for LL). The parks get busier the closer to Thanksgiving day so I'd recommend HS for Monday.