Thanksgiving trip advice

[Psudisney]

Thinking about a trip starting on thanksging day 2012 for 6 nights and staying at the dolphin. 2 adults a 5yo and a 1.5 yo. Any thoughts or advice? Should we take our double stroller or 2 singles.

 

[Metro West]

 

[MoonpieMomma]

Welcome!

 

[tyniknate]

I will have to tell you, we have always been big fans of going to WDW at Thanksgiving.....until this year. The parks were horribly, horribly crowded and didn't seem to thin out until the Wednesday after Thanksgiving. We were there from black Friday morning through the following Sunday and I've never seen crowds like this past year. Don't want to discourage you, but if you think it's a slower time to visit, it's not anymore. And with the parade taping on Friday and Saturday and the Pee Wee cheerleaders coming into town.....we will be finding a new time to visit. Probably sometime in October would be nice. Good luck with your planning. Best thing I can tell you is to read, read, read up on the subject. The Disboard is a great place to start!

 

[Mr Jack Sparrow]

The only thoughts I have on the strollers is if you are planning on taking the buses a lot then it is sometimes a tight squeeze during the early morning and at night. The double stroller might take up more room but it might be more difficult for the both of you to handle two strollers and two kids especially on a crowded bus.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

but if you think it's a slower time to visit, it's not anymore.

Was Thanksgiving itself ever a 'slow' time? I don't think so. Thanksgiving is on a Thursday. A few years back, the Monday after Thanksgiving was not a very busy time, but Thanksgiving itself has been fairly busy.

But always it depends how things fall: discounts, parade taping, holiday parties, etc.

On any given week, it also depends how you rolll with the crowds. If you follow the crowds all week (starting with MK on Saturday, mostly go to the parks from 11am to 3pm, go to MK the day of the parade taping) then even the slowest weeks will seem busy. If you zig when crowds zag however - hit AK on Thanksgiving Day instead of MK or Epcot, use late night hours and early morning hours - then even busy weeks can be quite doable. I'm not saying the above poster did either. I'm just saying, sometimes two folks can come back with differing reports.

When it comes to strollers, light weight, portable, and easy to use are king. If the stroller handles are too short, it can be torture. A big wheel jogging stroller is never a good idea. I'd also skip the $2000 designer strolller (I exaggerate.)

A double stroller is a pain in gift shops, but two single strollers means you need two adults at all times (more or less). You kind of can't do child swap, and leave one adult with the stroller/kids. If you have only two adults then you also can't send one person as a fastpass runner. (i.e. send one person to get fastpasses for EE while the other adult takes the kids some place different.) One factor with the single double question is perhaps the gender of the kids and restrooms. I would think if you have two grils or two boys then that another strike against two singles.

 

[DisGirl1971]

Thanksgiving has never been a slow time to visit Walt Disney World. It has always been one of the busiest and most crowded weeks of the entire year.

As for strollers. We have 5 kids and we always just rented the Disney stroller so we didn't have to worry with carrying it on the buses.

 

[petals]

I will have to tell you, we have always been big fans of going to WDW at Thanksgiving.....until this year. The parks were horribly, horribly crowded and didn't seem to thin out until the Wednesday after Thanksgiving. We were there from black Friday morning through the following Sunday and I've never seen crowds like this past year. Don't want to discourage you, but if you think it's a slower time to visit, it's not anymore. And with the parade taping on Friday and Saturday and the Pee Wee cheerleaders coming into town.....we will be finding a new time to visit. Probably sometime in October would be nice. Good luck with your planning. Best thing I can tell you is to read, read, read up on the subject. The Disboard is a great place to start!

I was in Disney same time last year. We arrived on the 24th and were there until 8th December. I was in Animal Kingdom on Black Friday and it didn't seem to crowded at all. Magic Kingdom on the Satruday was fine until later in the evening but it was open until midnight and I guess it was open the longest because it got busier the later it got into the evening. Other thana the saturday evening though crowds were never a huge bother that week.