Thanksgiving help!!!!!

[wdwnutze]

Just sitting here reading the boards and realizing I need a fix of WDW. Don't know if I'll make it this year (lots of house projects and son graduating HS and starting college.)

Just wondering how to plan out my next trip. 2 DD's still in school and I would be driving. Was thinking of arriving the night before Thanksgiving and staying at FW cabins for a couple of nights so we could cook dinner in the cabin. Would like to switch to Poly(hopefully) Sat. or Sun and stay through Thurs. We would not bother with the parks while we were at FW due to crowds and the fact that we would like to have some R & R. We will do DTD, enjoy the grounds etc.

Has anyone else done this? Would I be better off staying off site for the first few days since we wouldn't be doing WDW? How are the crowds right after the holiday?

 

[MJames41]

I think it sounds great (of course it's almost identical to what we are doing). This year, we are going down to visit my dad for Thanksgiving (he lives near Ocala) and then going to Disney World the Saturday after. We're expecting somewhat heavy crowds on Saturday, but by Sunday they should be smaller. When were there in 2000 we did the same thing, and the crowds the week after Thanksgiving were so small.

As for staying off site or not, that would be up to you. For me, my last experience off site was really bad (and at a extremely fancy hotel at that), so I'm much more comfortable on site than off. We stayed at Fort Wilderness one time and loved it - would gladly go there again. If cost is the major thing though, you might consider the All Stars or a moderate. The food courts there help to hold down the cost.

 

[wdwnutze]

bump

 

[Maverick]

I don't think we would ever stay off site more than one day, but you'll have to decide!!!

We were there last Thanksgiving from the Friday before Thanksgiving until the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. (11 nights)

Crowds were very manageable from the Friday arrival through Tuesday. Since we normally only go in the offf season, Wed-Sat were maddening and packed to us. (100 minute wait for RNRC within 30 minutes of opening on Thanksgiving day.)

Sunday got a bit better. Monday and Tuesday after Thanksgiving were back to normal off season touring.

Our next trip will be Thanksgiving 2003, but we'll fly home on Thanksgiving day as we don't want to fight the crowds that weekend again.

Hope this helps!

Maverick

 

[B3LM]

We were at WDW last year at that time. We arrived on the day after Thanksgiving and stayed through the following Saturday. The parks were packed on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, but by Monday, it had really thinned out. We stayed at CR.

We also went over Easter break this year - now that was really packed! We stayed off-site for this trip to save money. I wouldn't recommend staying off-site unless you have a car to get around. We were only 5 minutes from Downtown Disney.
Would I stay off-site again? Yes, but I'd rather stay on-site.

Beth