Thanksgiving Trip

[SPJoeG]

My family (me, wife, 11yo twins, and my parents) have a Trip booked for this thanksgiving Tuesday - Sunday in the two room volcano view Cabana Bay suites!

We have vacationed in UO and stayed at CB in 2017, so I know there is quite a lot less advanced planning compared to Disney, but we went during a way less crowded time and obviously pre-pandemic. Any tips, especially for a big Holiday weekend would be appreciated but I also have a few questions.

1) I see that dinning reservations are becoming available online (I booked toothsome for our final dinner on Saturday), but I don't see any of the Harry Potter restaurants, I thought they were taking advanced reservations due to COVID? Any tips related to these restaurants welcomed.

2) When does universal usually release details on special Thanksgiving Dining? I'll probably book us a table at NBC Sports, and adjust if we see some better options.

3) Is a trip to Disney Springs worth it considering crowds? I'm thinking of going over there maybe on Friday but considering it will be black Friday I'm concerned.

4) What's different about the holidays that I should consider? Any tips on handling the holiday crowds appreciated.

 

[cfoxga]

We've done 3 Thanksgiving trips. One thing I can say for sure is that it will be very busy and lines get very long in the afternoon. It starts out slow on Saturday and gets progressively more crowded. Without EPs, be prepared for 60+ minute waits after 11 am for pretty much everything. Even with EPs, the waits can get very long in the afternoon. So I'd recommend hitting the parks at rope drop and riding the more popular rides first. When the park gets crowded, transition to shows or maybe head back to CityWalk/resorts. Then in the evening, things tend to clear out in the parks and lines shrink...

 

[SPJoeG]

Thanks! Where have you had Thanksgiving diner? Any places you would recommend for advanced reservations?

 

[cfoxga]

Two of the trips were Sat-Wed, and we were home for Thanksgiving. Last eyar, we decided we didn't want to be near family after going to the parks because of Covid, so we stayed Sat-Sat. For Thanksgiving, we went to Islands at RPR for their buffet. I'm sure if it had been an normal time, it would have been ok, but it definitely didn't feel like Thanksgiving with each plate being saran wrapped, with no one carving a turkey. If we end up there again over Thanksgiving, I'd probably try to go to something in CityWalk like BigFire.