Thanksgiving Week - Extremely busy, but still manageable?

[TravelingTotMom]

I know Thanksgiving week is extremely crowded, but is it still manageable with a good plan?

Passholder and live 2 hrs. away... thinking about a day trip to AK next Tuesday - taking DS 1 1/2 by myself (!?!?!). It's a recommended park that day, and ideally DS would take his naps on the ride up and back.

FP+ for Kilimanjaro Safaris, Adventurers' Outpost and Festival of the Lion King. Height restriction rides out, so the only other things we may do are the animal trails, the Boneyard, train to the Conservation Station, TriceraTop Spin, and maybe additional character meets.

Is this doable next week, or will it just be wall-to-wall and not worth it?

Trying to figure out if this is just plain crazy... or crazy enough to work. Thanks!

 

[kevind2112]

We've gone on Thanksgiving week twice in the past. Keep in mind this was before the FP+ system. But, we had a great time. Earlier in the week the parks are busy but manageable. Towards Wednesday it starts to ramp up. And Thursday through the weekend is pretty insane. We spent Thanksgiving at Epcot both years, and we were fine. Busy, but we were still able to get on everything we wanted to. The first year we had Thanksgiving dinner at the All Star Music Cafeteria, which kids thought was a novelty, and hilarious. The dinner was actually not too bad! The second year we ate dinner at Rose & Crown. It wasn't a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, but fun none-the-less.

I can't imagine being in MK that day, but Epcot was definitely doable, and I'd assume you'd be ok at Animal Kingdom as well.

 

[siskaren]

Although I don't have any experience with going Thanksgiving week, I would think it would be doable to go to a recommended park and not do the headliners (other than KS, which you'll have a FP for).

 

[Music City Mama]

No, I don't think you're crazy. It will be manageable, especially since you have a plan. It might be summer crowded, but not more than that. Have fun!

 

[anniemae]

As long as you are aware it will be crowded and lines will be long. Personally I would do it. It's all in the attitude.

 

[TravelingTotMom]

Thanks everyone for your reassurances!

DS is going through a phase where he is fighting naps and getting into everything, so it may be easier to take him to Disney than try to run errands with him (plus the kid LOVES Mickey).

AND FL is finally getting a "cold" front. Orlando has highs in the 70s next week (which is pretty awesome for everyone).

 

[Egdisney]

I'm going next week, never been at this time. But it is a omg, we've never seen Osborne! Trip with my mom, so I'm not too worried bc rides aren't our thing. Happy to see the temps cooling off!

 

[TravelingTotMom]

You will have fantastic weather! Next week will be the first time it's really cooled off for Florida this fall.

We have a quick one-night family trip planned for mid-Dec to see the lights. So sad this is the last year!

 

[famy27]

We leave tomorrow. This will be our third trip this time of year. We love it. I've been a bit freaked out reading some of the recent crowd level posts, but I'm keeping a positive attitude. It is more crowded, but the parks have much longer hours and no evening parties, so you have more time available to get things done. We've found that AK is actually pretty empty on Thanksgiving itself. Our last Thanksgiving trip seemed more manageable than our F&W trip.

We have a three-year-old, and I think she will JUUUST be tall enough for the 40 inch rides, so this will be a big change for us this year to not have to do RS. I'm hoping that will be able to get a lot done, but I'm trying to keep my expectations reasonable at the same time.