Thanksgiving

[twinmomplus2new]

I was wondering if anyone has any crowd advice for Thanksgiving? This is my situation... I have decided first and second week of December is my new fave time to go. We typically do at least one other week at Disney. Somtimes alot more4-5 trips. now that the older kids are upper school age Only one trip during school am I comfortable with.
Soooo My DS9's 2 best friends are traveling to disney Thanksgiving week and are talking about making this a yearly trip. DS( is upset. ) He wants to go when the other boys go. I was thinking if we took that same week and spent Thanksgiving week and then the first week in December. Is it totally busy and crazy???? If it is it just is not worth it. How does it compare to say.. School vacation or New Years? Any feedback is most appreciated.

 

[TiffJ]

We were there last Thanksgiving. This was our first trip during peak season. Never been during summer. It was VERY crowded. Most rides had 60-90 min wait & fastpasses for Space Mtn were for 1:00 when we got them at 10:00 am. And we werent there on Thanksgiving day. We went Mon & Tues B4. However, if you use fastpasses, get there EARLY & dont expect to do everything in a day you will be fine. We loved the Christmas decorations. We went with friends that had never been before and even with crowds were still able to get most things in we wanted to do & they had a magical 1st trip to WDW(although I found out later we embarrased her 15yo DS by rushing from one thing to the next tryiing to beat the crowds

 

[BigDisneyKids]

Over the past 2 years we've gone from Dec. 6th through the 16th.

As far as crowds, we didn't really think it was all that bad. The DW researched the net and these weeks are supposed to be less crowded.

Only big event we noticed was in both years we were there, Disney hosted a cheerleader competition. In '02, the dreaded stomach virus went through the cheerleaders like crazy, but missed us all together. (Something to think about...)

In '02, the only ride the DK's had to wait more than 15 minutes for was Mickey's Speedway (go-cart track). Other then that, we used Fast Pass when we could and had no problems at all.
We did notice that around our departure date, the crowds seemed to increase.

We like that time of the year, after Thanksgiving the parks are decorated for the holidays. And they really go all out and certainly put you in the holiday spirit. However, once we got home and reality set in, it was depressing. I would highly recommend you decorate your home for the holidays before leaving. Last year I actually put up the outside lights on Nov. 1st. The neighbors laughed, but I got the last one driving off to Florida.

The weather is excellent as far as we're concerned. Coming from Northern Maryland, even the high 60's were welcomed. But overall I think the temps were in the low 70's with very little rain.

Good Luck!!!!

 

[tink2]

We have been 3 times during Thanksgiving week. THe first year was just after 9/11 and crowds were non-existent. Two years later in 2001 the crowds were OK- very managable and pretty low the beginning of the week. This year the crowds were so much worse! We changed our whole schedule b/c of crowds. We did EMH a couple of days and then left that particular park immediately! There were long lines for everything! It was comparable to an August trip I took as a child. We were there Mon- Friday. Every day at MK was crowded. Thursday was an absolute zoo at MK- which we knew it would be. If you are used to the beginning of Dec. crowds, from what I've read about that time- THanksgiving will be extremely crowded! The rest of my family vowed never to go during Thanksgiving week again- I didn't make this vow as I'll never vow not to go to Disney no matter what time! Anyway, it can be done- with lots of planning, strategy, FastPass, and EMH. Without FastPass and EMH, we wouldn't have done half the stuff we did. If you are prepared, it won't be that bad.... good luck!

 

[Grumpy92]

The crowds are pretty heavy the week of Thanksgiving. IT builds and beginning Thursday is extremely busy. If you are not planning on staying at a Disney resort you will have a rough time. You also will need to make PSs at the 90 day mark. If you wait your choices will be very limited and wait times long.

You can do it, just dont expect the same experience as you would have the following week. Do early mornings, then leave before or right after lunch. Have a midday break at your resort with a nap, swim or lunch. Pick your top attraction choices and do them then the rest is just extra. Utilize the FP option as much as possible. The parks are open late so you can always go back in the evening. Take some time to sit and enjoy the atmosphere.

Most of the xmas festivities begin that Friday.

 

[Dogslider]

We went this year over Thanksgiving and the first week of December. This was our first non-summer trip, so that might help in thinking the crowds weren't that bad. We certainly noticed a steady decline after Thanksgiving and the 2nd week was great crowd and weather wise. We did avoid MK on Thanksgiving and the day after as I had heard it gets crazy.

I think these 2 weeks would work out good for you. It's nice taking it easy the first week knowing that you will be able to do anything that there are lines for the 2nd week and your son would have a great time.

Pam