Thanksgiving 2016...Anyone with me?

[asbyrneva]

Is it crowded during Thanksgiving week?

Very crowded! but we go every year and love it. But we do rope drop every morning and leave a little after lunch then hop to a resort for dinner. Its doable but you have to have a plan (and dinner reservations )

 

[magicalcouple]

We were there for the week of Thanksgiving in 2015; our first time to do so as we usually go the week after Thanksgiving to avoid crowds. But sometimes you Dis when you have to Dis... That being said, we found it very doable! Was it more crowded than we were use to? Yes. But we made good plans and it was a pain free and wonderful trip! We spent the morning of Thanksgiving and lunch at EPCOT and the afternoon at Animal Kingdom. We ate lunch at Marrakesh (Morocco) because they were serving a traditional Thanksgiving meal as well as their regular menu. There were only us and two other tables being served- so uncrowded and such a gem!

I think you'll have an amazing time!

 

[570traveler]

We will be joining you! We went over NYE last year and it was just way too crowded for us to even think about doing that again. My mother and I have to travel according to the public school schedule as we both work in high schools...so we wanted to try out Thanksgiving this time around. Here are our tentative plans...

Staying at Old Key West-new DVC owners (yay!)
Arriving Nov 22-parents driving in, will arrive around 4pm, the rest of us flying in and will arrive via Magical Express around 10pm. Plan is to probably walk around the resort, maybe catch a boat to Disney Springs

Wed Nov 23-Magic Kingdom; ADR is up in the air, but as of right now we are either eating at Crystal Palace or Narcoossee's for dinner. I am trying/searching daily for a 1900 Park Fare dinner reservation and if that can't be done, then we need to decide between staying in the park and eating or leaving the park to go back to the resort to "clean up" for a more fancy dinner.
Thurs Nov 24 (Thanksgiving)-Epcot; ADR is at Cape May Cafe...we loved dinner there last year and mom requested to have Thanksgiving dinner there, so we will just walk over from the park and maybe walk back after or check out the boardwalk.
Fri Nov 25-DHS and AK; ADR is either Narcoossee's or 1900 Park Fare...this is dependent upon the 23rds reservations. Since DHS is under construction and we have no clue about what is happening at AK as far as extended hours or nighttime entertainment, so we may do a monorail crawl or enjoy some Disney Springs time in the evening.
Sat Nov 26-Cocoa Beach; ADR is at Olivia's Cafe...we plan on spending the afternoon at the beach, then coming back for our dinner reservation. Again this is a tentative day, we may even just stay at the resort and have a pool day.
Sun Nov 27-Hop around day; ADR at 'Ohana...nothing really planned for this day as we were supposed to be going home this day, but extended the trip so we will just bounce around to wherever, which will be nice because this is a day where most of the Thanksgiving crowds have left.
Mon Nov 28-heading home...boooooo!

Do you recall what kind of items were at the cape may thanksgiving buffet? After searching for weeks, I was finally able to get a dinner reservation there.

 

[Karabear15]

Do you recall what kind of items were at the cape may thanksgiving buffet? After searching for weeks, I was finally able to get a dinner reservation there.

There is a fair amount of seafood items. From what I can remember, they had fish, crab legs, shrimp, paella, a carving station, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, the typical kids food, and a nice selection of desserts. I can tell you that we really loved it, and we all have different palates.

 

[trouttigger]

We're going to spend T'giving day in the parks, our only day this trip. We decided to snack around the World at Epcot after a morning at MK. No ADR for Thanksgiving.

 

[cgattis]

We're going to spend T'giving day in the parks, our only day this trip. We decided to snack around the World at Epcot after a morning at MK. No ADR for Thanksgiving.

Turkey leg!!!!

 

[JFox]

We will also be there Thanksgiving week, Sunday through Saturday. Spending Thanksgiving day at Universal Studios.

 

[570traveler]

There is a fair amount of seafood items. From what I can remember, they had fish, crab legs, shrimp, paella, a carving station, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, the typical kids food, and a nice selection of desserts. I can tell you that we really loved it, and we all have different palates.

Awesome! Thanks so much. I'm sure all of us will find something we like.

 

[Karabear15]

Awesome! Thanks so much. I'm sure all of us will find something we like.

Another thing...we found that it was pretty loud and if there are large parties, it can be quite crowded. So if dodging people with your plate full of yummy crab legs isn't really your cup of tea...then I would come up with some other plans.

 

[Coconuts]

Ok we are doing Thanksgiving week, 11/20 - 11/28, this year for the first time. I have to say I am a bit worried about crowds since we have never been there during high volume times. We have a 2yo so touring with a stroller I'm sure won't be easy and also we are never organized in the am to make it to EMH or rope drop. Add this on to the fact that the crowd calendars are a 10 for every park, every day of our trip (except for 11/27) and we are now having some serious buyers remorse. Previous years on the crowd calendars for Thanksgiving week were @ 5-6, except for Thanksgiving day and the day or two surrounding it. I am guessing with the FD promotion this year, crowds are expected to be bigger.

Anyone have any thoughts as to how you're planning on dealing with the crowds? I would love some feedback since this will be our first time dealing with them.

We have LTT early dinner at 3:45 on Thanksgiving day; do you all think MK is a really bad idea that day, considering all of the parks are projected to be a 10?

Glad I found this thread!

 

[570traveler]

Another thing...we found that it was pretty loud and if there are large parties, it can be quite crowded. So if dodging people with your plate full of yummy crab legs isn't really your cup of tea...then I would come up with some other plans.

Won't be a problem. We are use to crowds and kids are big enough (15 &17) to make their way on their own! Thanks so much for all the info.

 

[PoohCorner99]

We're braving it for the first time. We were pass holders circa 2000, so it has been a while and we were always blacked out for major holidays. We've done DL several times in January. I'm looking forward to seeing the holiday decorations for once.

 

[Accident]

I happened to notice today that the ADRS with a thanksgiving meal appeared on the website for anyone going on thanksgiving and looking for holiday meal at disney. there's no good spot to just get a list but once you find one place you'll see it says there are 27 places doing thanksgiving meals. I'm still sorting out where I want to do thanksgiving dinner I decided this first year living here I'm going to experience the parks on every holiday. Sure crowded but I've never done that and seems like something new to try.. I also think it'll help me appreciate the crowds when it's not the holiday..

 

[ScaryTales]

Won't be there for Thanksgiving but it's close. I arrive on the Saturday following. Gonna be a great time!

 

[sharadoc]

I happened to notice today that the ADRS with a thanksgiving meal appeared on the website for anyone going on thanksgiving and looking for holiday meal at disney. there's no good spot to just get a list but once you find one place you'll see it says there are 27 places doing thanksgiving meals. I'm still sorting out where I want to do thanksgiving dinner I decided this first year living here I'm going to experience the parks on every holiday. Sure crowded but I've never done that and seems like something new to try.. I also think it'll help me appreciate the crowds when it's not the holiday..

A lot of the restaurants are already booked for dinner so you should decide soon

 

[tblakely]

We will be there November 23-27th. This will be my second time there during Thanksgiving week, was there last year also. Looking forward to it. The key is making all of your dining reservations in advance as well as your fast pass. We really enjoyed the extra magic hours and had a blast around midnight. Yes, the parks were crowded and there was even one day that one of the parks met capacity. Keep this in mind if not staying on site.

 

[PirateD]

Ok we are doing Thanksgiving week, 11/20 - 11/28, this year for the first time. I have to say I am a bit worried about crowds since we have never been there during high volume times. We have a 2yo so touring with a stroller I'm sure won't be easy and also we are never organized in the am to make it to EMH or rope drop. Add this on to the fact that the crowd calendars are a 10 for every park, every day of our trip (except for 11/27) and we are now having some serious buyers remorse. Previous years on the crowd calendars for Thanksgiving week were @ 5-6, except for Thanksgiving day and the day or two surrounding it. I am guessing with the FD promotion this year, crowds are expected to be bigger.

Anyone have any thoughts as to how you're planning on dealing with the crowds? I would love some feedback since this will be our first time dealing with them.

We have LTT early dinner at 3:45 on Thanksgiving day; do you all think MK is a really bad idea that day, considering all of the parks are projected to be a 10?

Glad I found this thread!

This is my first time at Thanksgiving, but we are Christmas week veterans. I'm a little disappointed to see so many 10's this year too, but I know we will still have a great time. Most of my family is not big on getting up early for rope drop, but I finally convinced them this past Christmas to try it, and it was amazing how much we could get done in the morning. We have found other ways to beat the crowds, though, without rope drop. I highly the recommend Josh's cheat sheets on his easy WDW website and Touring Plans for strategies. We use both to help us come up with a strategic plan for the day and some back-up options. I think it's important to be flexible enough to change the plan when needed. We also try to shift gears after awhile and move from a more commando style to a sit back and enjoy the holiday decorations, entertainment, and ambiance when we hit the crowds mid-day. When we arrive later to parks, we do the reverse and are more laid back and then go more commando as the crowds start to dissipate later.

I have a feeling that MK on Thanksgiving Day is a bad idea but as it stands now, that is where we will be too. We have dinner at BOG at 5:00 which we are really excited about. We are thinking we will plan on doing all of the high capacity attractions we love to do and always say we will do but then often miss like CoP, Tiki Room, HoP, etc. Having 3 FP+ helps a lot too. I wasn't excited about the change to FP+ but it is nice on those crowd level 10 days to have that guarantee.

 

[AngiTN]

I just booked a trip for us to go over Thanksgiving. DD's AP expires in December and I really wanted to get in 1 more trip on her AP (won't be renewing hers).
Can't do it for Christmas break since it expires at the beginning of that so that left us with Thanksgiving. We all fly in on 11/22 (bright and early). DH goes home on Saturday morning but the girls are staying till Monday evening.
We go often enough that we can manage to not do everything. We'll be good with what we can FP and a few other things like large capacity shows, etc.
For meals, so far I've only booked something for Thanksgiving.
Right now I have several meals, trying to decide what we want to do.
I'm thinking we'll do AK on Thanksgiving day. Otherwise, not even sure what parks we'll do.
We are staying at POFQ

 

[ariane37]

Ok we are doing Thanksgiving week, 11/20 - 11/28, this year for the first time. I have to say I am a bit worried about crowds since we have never been there during high volume times. We have a 2yo so touring with a stroller I'm sure won't be easy and also we are never organized in the am to make it to EMH or rope drop. Add this on to the fact that the crowd calendars are a 10 for every park, every day of our trip (except for 11/27) and we are now having some serious buyers remorse. Previous years on the crowd calendars for Thanksgiving week were @ 5-6, except for Thanksgiving day and the day or two surrounding it. I am guessing with the FD promotion this year, crowds are expected to be bigger.

Anyone have any thoughts as to how you're planning on dealing with the crowds? I would love some feedback since this will be our first time dealing with them.

We have LTT early dinner at 3:45 on Thanksgiving day; do you all think MK is a really bad idea that day, considering all of the parks are projected to be a 10?

Glad I found this thread!

We were there last year and are going this year; last year the parks were all projected 9/10's, it must've been a few years ago they were 5/6's lol! Last year was our first time going at a "high volume" time and we were pleasantly surprised; crowded yes, but not like we thought. My 2 DS's had decided for that trip they didn't want to do RD so I let them have their way most days, but the days we DID do RD they noticed a huge difference in what we got done. This year we're doing mostly RD's with a couple late start mornings. I know you said you won't make RD but one of the 2 things I took away from our trip last year was to do RD! The other is not to try eating QS during peak mealtimes; do lunch before 11:30 or after 2, dinner before 4:30 or after 6:30. Those lines were longer than some ride lines

This is my first time at Thanksgiving, but we are Christmas week veterans. I'm a little disappointed to see so many 10's this year too, but I know we will still have a great time. Most of my family is not big on getting up early for rope drop, but I finally convinced them this past Christmas to try it, and it was amazing how much we could get done in the morning. We have found other ways to beat the crowds, though, without rope drop. I highly the recommend Josh's cheat sheets on his easy WDW website and Touring Plans for strategies. We use both to help us come up with a strategic plan for the day and some back-up options. I think it's important to be flexible enough to change the plan when needed. We also try to shift gears after awhile and move from a more commando style to a sit back and enjoy the holiday decorations, entertainment, and ambiance when we hit the crowds mid-day. When we arrive later to parks, we do the reverse and are more laid back and then go more commando as the crowds start to dissipate later.

I have a feeling that MK on Thanksgiving Day is a bad idea but as it stands now, that is where we will be too. We have dinner at BOG at 5:00 which we are really excited about. We are thinking we will plan on doing all of the high capacity attractions we love to do and always say we will do but then often miss like CoP, Tiki Room, HoP, etc. Having 3 FP+ helps a lot too. I wasn't excited about the change to FP+ but it is nice on those crowd level 10 days to have that guarantee.

Like I said above, last year all the days were predicted 9/10s and it only seemed that way at QS during peak mealtimes and in the afternoons, and not really until the day before Thanksgiving. First thing in the morning and later at night the parks were good. Right now we have not plans to do a park on Thanksgiving but last year we did AK for a few hours in the afternoon and it was fine. We did MK the day after from 8-1:30ish and that was good, too!

 

[tanyali26]

We will be there too from 11/23-27. Driving in early on the 23rd. My reservations for Thanksgiving are at Trails end and Whispering Canyon for lunch. Not sure which one yet. We only have two day hoppers. My Original plan was MK Thanksgiving and MK black friday morning and Epcot Friday night but now I am thinking Friday MK and Saturday ?? Park in the morning and Epcot at night. Any Suggestions? We are not worried about doing alot we have a 8 month old and have been 4 times. Last time 4th of July week so I am thinking the crowds are the similar?