Thanksgiving week crowds?

[firstwdw]

When do the crowds get heavy and pick up? If we arrive the Sat before Thanksgiving (Nov 20) and flew home ON Thanksgiving day....should we avoid the worst of it? I imagine Thanksgiving and the fri, sat, sun after the holiday are the most crowded?

 

[Kyhome]

We went for a few days prior to Thanksgiving this last year-which may have been different because a lot of people were still not traveling b/c of Covid. We were in the parks Sunday afternoon/evening, all day Monday and Tuesday morning, we stayed at Hard Rock so had express passes. Sunday evening was pretty empty and then it did get progressively more crowded Monday and into Tuesday. We have been five times since last June (AP) and the Tuesday prior to Thanksgiving and our last trip on Memorial Day weekend were the most crowded we have seen it.

On that Monday/Tuesday prior to Thanksgiving, we had short waits due to express passes but there were just more people in Harry Potter areas, etc. Not sure if this helps and not sure how this Thanksgiving will be b/c I think more people are willing to travel more now.

 

[soniam]

It will probably start getting progressively worse Monday onward, with Wednesday and black Friday, and maybe Saturday, being the worst. That's what we have seen in the past, including last year. The Sunday after is usually dead in comparison. I think people tend to fly home and don't hit the parks that day.

 

[RocketCityMama]

I am interested in this as well. We arrive for the OI meetup on Friday and are mainly only going to the meetup on Fri evening and Sat evening and then park days Sunday and Monday. I am hoping it won't be too bad, but we are staying at Royal so we'll have express passes as well.

 

[firstwdw]

I am interested in this as well. We arrive for the OI meetup on Friday and are mainly only going to the meetup on Fri evening and Sat evening and then park days Sunday and Monday. I am hoping it won't be too bad, but we are staying at Royal so we'll have express passes as well.

We are staying at Royal as well and hopefully with express passes, that will help.

 

[cfoxga]

We've been to Thanksgiving 3 times (2017, 2019, 2020), and it is our favorite time of year to go to UO. While 2020 was very different because of Covid, there was definitely a pattern across the three trips. Sat/Sun we're the smallest crowds. Mon/Tues definitely were extremely crowded, with regular line rides at 60+ minutes by 10:30 am. Even EP lines got to 45+ minutes after lunch, and then things slowed back down in the evenings. We usually travel home on Wed, so we only had a couple hours in the morning, but I would expect more of the same crowd-wise.

I would consider EPs essential for this time of year, so staying at RPR is a great plan. If you don't have plans to buy APs, consider buying one to get the APH rate. Upgrading a ticket to an AP should be much less than the $100-150 per night you'll likely save with the APH rate.

 

[mikeyg1479]

I would expect it to be nuts the whole holiday week (kids usually start getting their days off from school earlier in the week, and off people go on their trips)

On the flipside, though, I have gone on both Disney and Universal trips several times the week after Thanksgiving (usually starting the Sunday after) and its generally been a wonderful time to visit. Lighter crowds the entire week (for Disney and Universal, never expect "dead" at these places, but FAR from anything resembling peak).

Yes, I imagine most who planned to stay over FOR the holiday, all probably ship out either Saturday or Sunday- back in time for kids to go back to school and such.

 

[Wandering Oaken]

I would expect it to be nuts the whole holiday week (kids usually start getting their days off from school earlier in the week, and off people go on their trips)

On the flipside, though, I have gone on both Disney and Universal trips several times the week after Thanksgiving (usually starting the Sunday after) and its generally been a wonderful time to visit. Lighter crowds the entire wee (for Disney and Universal, never expect "dead" at these places, but FAR from anything resembling peak).

Yes, I imagine most who planned to stay over FOR the holiday, all probably ship out either Saturday or Sunday- back in time for kids to go back to school and such.

Now you are making me want to shift our trip to the week right after Thanksgiving.....