A couple ?s for those who have done the World during Thanksgiving. How bad are the crowds during the week before Thanksgiving? Is it wall to wall/you're gonna have trouble moving b/c its so busy packed? Will it be hard to maneuver a wheelchair or ECV around?
We went the weekend before Thanksgiving through the weekend after and had a great time. Not that bad up until the day before Thanksgiving. From that Wednesday through the weekend it was crowded. All of the parks weren't really that bad except MK.
It was horrible on Thanksgiving Day. The area between Peter Pan and Small World was absolutely packed. Literally shoulder to shoulder. The wait for Peter Pan was near 2 hours by noon. It was Crazy. But we still had fun. Just make sure that you see what you want to see before then and just take it easy through the parks during the busy times. Schedule some meals and get in line for the parades.
I think the Osbourne Lights may even start on Thanksgiving night. Check with a CM in MGM when you get there.
We are planning our first Thanksgiving Week trip as well, and have heard conflicting reports about crowds. We are going to plan for huge crowds and count ourselves lucky if it turns out to not be so crowded. We will be in the parks Saturday-Wednesday. All the talk about crowds convinced me to move our plans up a day and avoid parks on Thanksgving Day and later.