Thanksgiving Day at WDW

[msmama]

We're actually going to be on a Disney Cruise, that has one day at WDW, which happens to be Thanksgiving Day. I've heard that Thanksgiving itself is actually less crowded than the days around Thanksgiving?

I mean, I know it'll be crowded, but will it be park closures crowded?

My tentative plan is start at HS (do TSMM and Star Tours - my sons favorites) then boat to Epcot for Frozen (which we haven't done yet) and probably lunch and then head to MK for...whatever. Really just want to see the Xmas decor at MK, don't care so much about the rides and will be happy with whatever we ride.

I'd love to make it to AK but don't think the rest of the group could handle 4 parks in one day (and the FPs don't work on Pandora).

Is that a terrible plan? I don't know what HS is like now that more than half the park is closed, but I figure most people would be going to ToT and RR so I was hoping to do our 2 rides without a FP (We get 3 anytime FP's as part of our cruise admission). We'd use 1 at Frozen and then still have 2 at MK (we don't do the big rides anyway).

I don't care about Thanksgiving dinner - mickey pretzels and ice cream are a perfect thanksgiving dinner as far as I'm concerned. We were regular WDW goers when my son was younger but haven't been there in over a year and a half. Anything else I should plan on/know about Turkey Day at WDW?

 

[AngiTN]

We've done Thanksgiving at Disney.
MK is significantly crowded.
We choose to go to AK and it was not bad at all. Granted, this was before Pandora opened, since it just opened this year and all so who knows what that will do to the crowds there.
Traditionally AK has been the best park to hit on a holiday. We've been on NYE also, and it was again, easy to navigate.
We used our Landry's Card to get seated at Yak and Yeti for our Thanksgiving meal. We aren't Turkey fans so none of us wanted traditional Thanksgiving food and it worked great for us. Got seated in less than 5 min.

 

[Klayfish]

Yep, MK is very crowded on Tday, especially after noon. The rest of the parks are busy, but not insane.

 

[disneygolfer1985]

We usually avoid MK at all costs on Thanksgiving Day. We would typically tour AK for the day and maybe do dinner at a resort to avoid the parks.

 

[eeyoreandtink]

We will NOT go to MK on Thanksgiving Day anyomore. It's just too crowded. AK is our park of choice for Thanksgiving day.

 

[Skily]

Good to know. We are planning our thanksgiving trip, and will definitely avoid MK on Thanksgiving day.

 

[cassie58]

We have been at MK twice on Tday and Black Friday, and found Black Friday much more crowded. We went early, and had lunch ADR at LTT once, and 1900PF ADR for dinner the other, allowing us to leave later if crowded. But we did not have a problem, as compared with Friday, which got very crowded early - felt maybe people avoided on the holiday or arrived Thursday nt/Fri morning and hit MK.

I would still normally say go to MK early to enjoy decor on Main St when quieter, but sounds like you want to do HS for those rides 1st and head to Epcot by boat for FEA FP. And guessing you want to be at MK at night to see castle lit for Christmas. Since you don't have anything specific you need to do and have FPs for a few rides, just be prepared it could be very crowded. You could check out Jingle Cruise, unique to this time if yr. , since you don't do big rides. Doing just QS and snacks would give freedom to do more, just try to eat at off times.

IMHO, seeing castle lighting at this time is one of the most magical moments, so I would not miss MK if you have not been during the holidays before! I would plan to find a spot in the hub area at least an hour to hour and a half before lighting (usually around 6:15). You can grab yummy snacks from Sleepy Hollow while you wait!

 

[PrncessA]

We found Thanksgiving at WDW to be extremely crowded during the day. We spent the morning at DHS and by noon it was wall to wall people. We spent the afternoon at the resort and had dinner at HDDR before heading to MK around 10pm. At that point the crowds had dissipated.

 

[cgattis]

Last year we checked out on Thanksgiving Day, and as we left from WL after lunch (prob around 2), the MK parking lot was much less crowded than I expected. Other DIS'ers reported it was a little less crowded than usual. Maybe that will be the case for you this year as well. Sounds like a great day, and if I could watch the castle lighting with a Mickey pretzel in my hand, I'd take that over a turkey dinner any day!!

 

[pinkgirlmommy]

The crowd calendars show it being less crowded on Thanksgiving than the day before and day after so we are going that day as well! It sounds like everyone has had different experiences so I guess we will have to see! We have an ADR at LTT for lunch. I have never wanted to eat there before and I can't wait to eat there on Thanksgiving day!