Thanksgiving

[HappyCamper2016]

so we just returned from a 5 night 4 day trip (our first). The last 36 hours were amazing but the first few days we had some hiccups. Between stupid hot temps and a few rookie mistakes we felt stressed and frazzled a lot until the last 36 hours when we finally figured out that we needed to ditch the strict schedule and go with the flow. Also my 7 year old got sick so we lost almost a whole day of our 4 park days at the hotel dealing with that.

Ok so with all of that said, we left on a high note and are considering going back over thanksgiving to sort of redeem the first half of our trip lol. Between cooler temps and staying on the monorail loop I feel like a lot of what we dealt with the first time can be avoided. My only concern is the crowds. Just how busy is it the weekend after thanksgiving? Is it doable with a 7 and 3 yr old or would we deal with a whole new set of frustrations?

I should add we are FL residents and within driving distance.

 

[Bob Dolewhip]

It is very busy. One crowd calendar rates it 9 out of 10.
Fire up those fast passes!

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Extremely busy I would avoid it at all cost. FP are gone for most rides already and the wait times can be several hours for one ride. Since you are a rookie I would not do it

 

[Accident]

Ok so with all of that said, we left on a high note and are considering going back over thanksgiving to sort of redeem the first half of our trip lol. Between cooler temps and staying on the monorail loop I feel like a lot of what we dealt with the first time can be avoided. My only concern is the crowds. Just how busy is it the weekend after thanksgiving? Is it doable with a 7 and 3 yr old or would we deal with a whole new set of frustrations?

I should add we are FL residents and within driving distance.

the only time disney is more crowded than thanksgiving weekend is just before christmas until about 4-5 days after new years... The week after thanksgiving is usually one of the slowest weeks if that is an option but it sounds like school might be in the way.

With that said, if you can really go with the flow, and ok that your going to have some of the biggest crowds and longest lines, go for it! I think the reason you want to go though will be lost on that weekend.

 

[imthemamahere]

The weekend after Thanksgiving has typically been busy through Saturday. By Sunday, many visitors to the World are heading home, and the following week has typically been fairly quiet. If you're literally thinking of arriving Thanksgiving and staying through Sunday, you'll see pretty high crowds on Thursday/Friday/Saturday. Christmas/New Year's is definitely worse... but don't expect to have the parks to yourselves on those days. If you're willing to prioritize your must-dos and go with the flow beyond that, you can totally have a fabulous time over Thanksgiving weekend. (That said, your table service dining options will be limited at this point - if you'd want to reserve character meals and such, you're probably out of luck.)

That said, it's our favorite time of year to go, and we've found it doable with your son. We took our little guy over Thanksgiving at age 2, again at age 3, and for our upcoming trip, he'll be 7. The parks and resorts are just lovely all decked out for the holidays - the trees and the gingerbread displays in the deluxe resorts in particular are simply amazing. If you're staying on the monorail, it's possibly worth doing a little resort hopping to take a look, have a snack/meal/dessert, and enjoy the seasonal ambience. The weather runs the gamut - some years it's quite cold around then, other years it's been quite warm. But not summer heat, at least. I'd rather bundle up than sweat my face off...

 

[ConnecticutNonna]

Actually I just looked at ADRs for that week for 4 and there are quite a few decent ones, all over the map. Shockingly LTT was available the day after Thanksgiving!
I personally love Disney anytime!
My personal opinion would be to absolutely go, stay at one of the monorail resorts, plan to spend a resort day on Thanksgiving with a great meal, while enjoying pool and activities that day. Doing a park day on maybe Friday and Sunday, and using Saturday to maybe chill again at your resort. There are so many cool activities for the kids at the resorts and pools that it could be a great getaway.
It will be busy, but park hours are longer, FP is your friend, and you can take that nice midday break, and miss the crazy crowds and still go back for fireworks and cool nightime stuff!

 

[Elmo888]

We went in 2014, and it wasn't bad. We are going again this year.

If you go at rope drop and have a touring plan with flexibility, it can work. Yes, it is crowded. Just take a break if it is stressful - go back to your resort, etc. I just booked our FP on Thursday, and there were still high demand ones available yesterday (only later in the evening, but still available ). With young kids, I would plan on afternoon breaks, but you also might find that some kids can go rope drop until 5 or 6 pm. Go back to your resort and have dinner, swim, get to bed early. Even with older kids, we like to do this!

Christmas, Easter week, and 4th of July are all worse than Thanksgiving according to the crowd calendar. Thanksgiving is comparable to non-Easter spring break crowds.

My recommendation is to book one ADR for every day. It is a nice way to take a break from crowds and the counter service lines can get long. Don't forget about resort table service restaurants - also a nice break.