The week before and during Thanksgiving

[Ajbro44]

Just how crowded is this time? Right now I'm looking at a stay from November 16th-24th.
Flights, less school missed for the kids and the possibility of taking advantage of free dining all factor in to the selection of these dates.
From what I have seen so far the crowds may be manageable for the first few days and increasing through our stay.
What can I expect from this time of year?
Weather?
Would Pools still be accessible?
Thanks in advance.

 

[Robo]

The weather can be suitable for the pool... or not.

 

[MouseMama11]

It could go either way weather wise. We went a few years ago the week leading up to Thanksgiving and there were days where it was 70s and sunny, which were great pool days, and then we had a couple days 50s, rainy and cold. So lets just say we did lots of laundry since we weren't prepared for it being so cold for half the trip haha.

With the exception of Thanksgiving Day and the day before Thanksgiving there were NO crowds in the parks! It was fantastic! We had Fast Passes but for other rides there were only like 10 minute wait times or no wait times at all! Then the day before Thanksgiving crowds picked up and Thanksgiving Day it was EXTREMELY crowded! We had dinner ressies at Tonys Town Square and that was the only time that day we entered any of the parks. We went in, ate dinner, then went back to the pool

 

[ariane37]

We just went Thanksgiving week last year, and we're going again this year Definitely the most crowded trip we've ever taken BUT, not nearly as crowded as we thought it would be. We arrived the Friday before and left the Saturday after. We didn't feel it was overwhelmingly crowded except at MK in the afternoon on Black Friday with a couple other exceptions:

-if you tried to eat QS during peak mealtimes, you'd be looking at ridiculous lines. Like longer than ride lines.
-While walking around the crowds didn't seem bad, it was impossible to get more FP's in HS/Epcot after your initial 3 after 11:00. At MK it was a little better if you weren't looking for any of the "thrill" or more popular rides.
-people at TS restaurants without ADR's were being turned away left and right, which didn't surprise me one bit.

The weather was great: most days it was in the 70's to mid '80s while the nights were low '60's to low '70s. Only a sprinkle here and there. As far as Thanksgiving day I unfortunately came down with the stupid stomach bug so our plans were all messed up, but DH did take older DS to AK for awhile and they said while it wasn't dead in any way, it was very manageable and that was mid-afternoon/early evening.

The one thing I'll say is, if you like to re-ride your favorites or want to get a lot of rides/attractions done, RD is very important that week. Oh, one more thing: the Christmas decorations are beautiful

 

[Ajbro44]

Great! Thank you all for the insight! Doesn't sound as bad as I was anticipating.