Thanksgiving advice

[DisneyBill1971]

We will be going back home the week of Thanksgiving! We have never been on Thanksgiving (or any other major Holiday)

I would appreciate any advice on which would be the best parks to avoid and which would be the best to go to on Thanksgiving and the next day.

Thanks!

 

[Poprivet]

Hey Bill, we will also arrive on thanksgiving day... booked free dining for the following week and added a couple of days up front to the rip...
I know it w2ill be crowded, we may just lounge around the pool or looking at renting a pontoon boat and cruise the 7 seas lagoon.??
We also have never been on a holiday...

we are hoping air travel will be kind to us on thanksgiving?


see you there. ( pop )

 

[kniquy]

We haven't done thanksgiving but have done NYE -probably just as busy as turkey day- pretty much every park will be crowded, but with a good solid plan and TS reservations to get a break from the crowds you should have a great time. You are talking about a time where turkey day will be busy all the way up to the Monday after -- so just plan to hit what you want. No park is going to be low crowds and with toy story land being open the once slower HS will be busy. For us on NYE we went to Epcot -- it is a more spread out park so even with being busy it is still manageable - plenty of dining options there too.

Your 180 d mark is approaching so you hopefully have a plan for what restaurants you want to book for your trip. If your goal is to avoid crowds then that is next to impossible unless you are planning on staying at the resort. If you will hit MK on turkey day or any day of your trip I highly suggest liberty tree taven -- traditional thanksgiving feast and it is amazing start to finish.

Your best strategy will be to RD a few mornings - select FP starting late morning 10--10:30 then lunch and plan to leave the park for the afternoon. Once your 3 FP are done see what you can grab as a 4th for later in the evening. Your plan heavily depends on your traveling party - you may be going with kids who are near impossible to get moving in the morning or traveling with that one adult that just loves to sleep.

 

[magicalcouple]

We've been there for two Thanksgivings, this year will be our third. On those days of Thanksgiving and the day before/after, we rope drop and use the parks extra magic morning hours (so we were in a bus line last year at 5:30 a.m.) but it was so worth it. We were walking around those mornings saying "what crowds?" Take advantage of those early hours if you can! We avoid the parks with evening hours and we chose Animal Kingdom for Thanksgiving day.

 

[CynBeth]

The storytellers and CP start at Epcot on Black Friday so I recommend that park then. People will say to avoid there that day but we have been several times over the years with no issues. We do the CP dining package which usually gets released the end of June or beginning of July.

We have done AK on Thanksgiving before and was not bad but not sure if Pandora changes that. We love dinner at Boma!

What day do you arrive and what day do you leave?

 

[SaintsManiac]

We went to Epcot on Thanksgiving Day last year against the advice of crowd calendars.

We actually slept in, watched the parade on TV and then walked over from Beach Club in the afternoon. We had a really great day. We visited all of the Kidcot stations, watched Voices of Liberty and used FPs in Future World. We had dinner at Garden Grill, which was really fun and delicious. We feel we really made the perfect choice. The pace of Epcot was nice after a few really busy days in the parks.

 

[DisneyBill1971]

The storytellers and CP start at Epcot on Black Friday so I recommend that park then. People will say to avoid there that day but we have been several times over the years with no issues. We do the CP dining package which usually gets released the end of June or beginning of July.

We have done AK on Thanksgiving before and was not bad but not sure if Pandora changes that. We love dinner at Boma!

What day do you arrive and what day do you leave?

The storytellers and CP start at Epcot on Black Friday so I recommend that park then. People will say to avoid there that day but we have been several times over the years with no issues. We do the CP dining package which usually gets released the end of June or beginning of July.

We have done AK on Thanksgiving before and was not bad but not sure if Pandora changes that. We love dinner at Boma!

What day do you arrive and what day do you leave?

We arrive Nov 18 and leave Nov 24. We know all parks will be crazy busy but was trying to improve our odds

 

[Monykalyn]

We stayed offsite for thanksgiving last year. We either went early (RD) or late in afternoon for dinner and evening fastpasses. We did rope drop at MK on thanksgiving day and we did tons of stuff. Did our fast passes late morning and then headed out for late lunch- there was still lots of great fastpasses left for afternoon evening as well. We just chose more of a resort trip that week. Never felt traffic was bad either. Crowds did get noticeably heavier as week went on (we did Saturday befor today to Saturday after). Did Epcot Friday to see some storytellers an drew last year the Holiday around the world started before thanksgiving.
The parks were crowded but not as crowded as New Years.
Strategic fastpasses and having a sit down table service reservation at least once a day will definitely help

 

[Monykalyn]

I should add- loved loved being there during Thanksgiving- the Holiday decorations are up, and parks are sooo pretty at night- DHS really was gorgeous at night.

 

[disneygolfer1985]

The storytellers and CP start at Epcot on Black Friday so I recommend that park then. People will say to avoid there that day but we have been several times over the years with no issues. We do the CP dining package which usually gets released the end of June or beginning of July.

We have done AK on Thanksgiving before and was not bad but not sure if Pandora changes that. We love dinner at Boma!

What day do you arrive and what day do you leave?

Last year they started having the storytellers and the additional food items start Sunday before thanksgiving. Personally, before this change I would have avoided Epcot on Black Friday as it was packed. As other posters have stated, AK would be a great park to go to on thanksgiving. Personally, I would avoid MK. If you want to avoid crowds, I would recommend AK in the morning and dinner at a resort. We did Hoop Dee Doo in 2016 and it was great. They were already showing the holiday show.

 

[SaintsManiac]

I should add- loved loved being there during Thanksgiving- the Holiday decorations are up, and parks are sooo pretty at night- DHS really was gorgeous at night.

Yes it really was. The upped their game big time at HS for Christmas.

 

[Poprivet]

We arrive on the 22nd and depart december1st. adding the last half of thanksgiving is an extra... we figured, we are off work anyway, we will be eating thanksgiving dinner at home say, why aren't we at Disney? so we added Thursday and Friday to the trip.
UNFORTUNATLY our tickets are part of a package that starts on Saturday. we can activate the tickets when we arrive be we can NOT make FP's until we arrive and activate our tickets.

 

[SaintsManiac]

We arrive on the 22nd and depart december1st. adding the last half of thanksgiving is an extra... we figured, we are off work anyway, we will be eating thanksgiving dinner at home say, why aren't we at Disney? so we added Thursday and Friday to the trip.
UNFORTUNATLY our tickets are part of a package that starts on Saturday. we can activate the tickets when we arrive be we can NOT make FP's until we arrive and activate our tickets.

I take it you didn't book through Disney directly?

 

[sharadoc]

We've done Thanksgiving week three times. We like Hollywood Studios on Thanksgiving Day. Did you know they do a band parade there on Thanksgiving? Marching bands apply and march through the park, just like other cities have Thanksgiving parades.

We ate at Boma for a late Thanksgiving dinner, one of the latest seatings. The buffet was everything they normally have plus Thanksgiving food. It was great, they actually asked us if we were done before they started cleaning up the food, we closed the place down lol. We ate at Trail's End other trips and they took some things away for the turkey which was disappointing.

Overall, we try to avoid anything major in the parks that day. We watched the Macy's parade in our room, went to DHS for a few hours, swam in the afternoon, then went out to dinner. It was a fun day!

 

[gharter]

We have been to WDW several times over Thanksgiving, the last 3 years ago. It has never been as busy as we expected. It a nice time of year.
If I were to avoid any parks on Thanksgiving, it would be MK (alway busy) and AK (with the day off could be amny locals there just like weekends).
Just plan ahead with ADRs and your FPs and you should be good.
In the past, it was still warm enough to enjoy the pools as well.

 

[Shaun176]

We will be going back home the week of Thanksgiving! We have never been on Thanksgiving (or any other major Holiday)

I would appreciate any advice on which would be the best parks to avoid and which would be the best to go to on Thanksgiving and the next day.

Thanks!

I have done Thanksgiving Week 4 times. The weekend before is not bad. Crowds build Monday to Wednesday. Tuesday and Wednesday can be pretty miserable in MK. Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday before 1pm are not that bad. Then Saturday is crowded again.

 

[PPFlight75]

We never go to a park on Thanksgiving (husband's request) but we always go to Epcot the day after. We usually do MK the Wednesday before.

 

[camnhan]

We will be there with a party of like 17 for the week. we don't have many expectations knowing the parks will be busy. Thanksgiving day we plan on just hanging at the resort for the day [we will be off-site at Bonnet Creek]...the ONLY reason for going then is because our terribly spoiled DS will turn 21 on the 21st and wants to go to Jelly Rolls on the boardwalk for his bday. Will have to keep checking on the storytellers and CP at Epcot as that is on my list of things to do!

 

[Kelandsam]

My DD20 and I flew out of south bend on thanksgiving last year to WDW. The longest lines we stood in was Starbucks when my lovely DD figured out her favorite chai tea was a snack credit on the dining plan. Yep. She hit.every.single.one.at.every.single.park . Honestly, we utilized the 3 FPS and then added after use. And we hopped each day. So much fun! Heading again this year with my 71 year old dad and looking forward to less Starbucks lines

 

[Poprivet]

I take it you didn't book through Disney directly?

yes, we booked on Disney's web site...
I talked to multiple people and there is no way to activate FP's before the start date of the package. I could buy tickets for the 1st 2 nights of the split stay but I would be paying full price, not just adding days to existing tickets with is much cheaper. we will make whatever FP's we can when we arrive on thanksgiving and just hang out... No FP's at Disney beats sitting around at home waiting to come down on Saturday for our actual free dining package..