The week of Thanksgiving...is it insanity?

[CampbellScot]

We are trying to avoid taking the kids out of school for more than a couple of days...but there is no point in being at Disney if there are wall to wall crowds and parks filled to capacity. I've heard good about this week and very bad. I've also heard the Monday following thanksgiving and through that week are much more manageable crowd wise. (I don't think there is any such thing as a low crowd time of year anymore!).

I'd love to hear from anyone who has traveled during that time. Advice and opinions would be much appreciated!

 

[CampbellScot]

In research i found that this is not the best week to go. We will likely go teacher's convention week aka Jersey Week. So I answered my own question. I would still love to hear from anyone who has gone thanksgiving week or spent thanksgiving in the parks.

 

[BigAlsGal]

We are trying to avoid taking the kids out of school for more than a couple of days...but there is no point in being at Disney if there are wall to wall crowds and parks filled to capacity. I've heard good about this week and very bad. I've also heard the Monday following thanksgiving and through that week are much more manageable crowd wise. (I don't think there is any such thing as a low crowd time of year anymore!).

I'd love to hear from anyone who has traveled during that time. Advice and opinions would be much appreciated!

We go every year that week. Last year it seemed crazy slow. The year before seemed about right. Its a nice time to go. Weather is usually mild/sunny.

 

[Karabear15]

Although all of the calendars show that it is a high time to go, we have heard that it is actually one of the better "school break" times. Family friends of ours has traveled during that week, and they have said that the weekend everyone gets out of school through the Wednesday before Thanksgiving seems to be pretty busy, but then it dwindles down because people want to get home for the holiday with their families. We will find out as we will be arriving Tuesday before and staying through Thanksgiving until Sunday.

 

[chocolateavocado]

We went Thanksgiving this year and didn't find the crowds bad at all. We went for the exact same reason- so ds wouldn't miss much time from school (only missed 1.5 days). The weather was beautiful and we had a great time. Hope you have a wonderful time- which ever week you chose!

 

[DYOBL0305]

DH and I were there back in 2007 during Thanksgiving week, it was the only week that worked with his work schedule and my school schedule, and although we did find it to be very busy, it wasn't too bad. Of course this was before we had kids so the wait times didn't bother us too much and we skipped a lot of the attractions that most families with younger kids would hit and stuck with rides and attractions for older kids/crowds. Weather was great too, started a bit cool in the mornings, comfortably warm in the afternoon, and back to cool at night. I think it only rained once while we were there, and only for a few minutes. We are contemplating going during the holidays next year and I've also heard good and bad, but I think as long as you keep in mind that it's one of the busiest times of the year and strategize a bit in regards to FPs and which rides to hit first, second, third, etc it won't be too bad.

 

[CampbellScot]

I appreciate all the responses. I keep going back and forth on jersey week vs. thanksgiving week. I would love to spend Thanksgiving at Disney World! I getting the feeling that it CAN be very busy but not say...Christmas or New Years Eve busy. We used to go in August every year and after being at Disney in November one time I said we would NEVER do august again. February this year (for the Princess Half) was absolutely GLORIOUS weather wise. Though the crowds were fairly insane, especially at MK, most of the days. The big kids will be 17 and 13 and our littlest will be 16 months. We also want to sneak in a 10 year anniversary vow renewal. (I'm actually in the process of planning that now). It would be lovely to have the Christmas decorations up!! I'm always happy to be at Disney world, big crowds or not. Thanks again everyone for the responses!!

 

[caliope]

We were there Thanksgiving 2013 and though it seemed busy and crowded, it was not unmanageable. I don't recall any lines being too, too long, but we also had our then 16month old with us, so we were catering mainly to his needs. We stayed offsite in a condo with a kitchen, so we didn't have our Thanksgiving meal in the parks. Christmas decorations were up and added to the festive atmosphere. I'm glad we made that trip, though normally I prefer to be home for the holiday.

 

[imthemamahere]

Ha! I wouldn't go during Jersey week - I figure I can see my neighbors at home, why follow them all to Disney?

We've gone around Thanksgiving twice, previously, and are planning another Thanksgiving-ish trip for this coming fall. It's our favorite time to go! Let's see, we were there right after Thanksgiving 2011, and arrived on Thanksgiving Day 2012. So we weren't there the week leading up to Thanksgiving, which I understand is pretty darn busy, but I can't speak from personal experience on those. Both of those years, the parks were definitely pretty busy Friday/Saturday right after Thanksgiving, but by Sunday/Monday, the crowds had eased, so that following week leading into early December wasn't bad at all. I wouldn't say the parks were empty, of course - there's no true "low" time at Disney anymore - but it wasn't uncomfortably crowded by any means. (In contrast, we went over Halloween 2014 and the parks were overall a bit busier then, with EPCOT insane on the weekend thanks to Food & Wine.)

The parks are awesome all decorated for Christmas. Loved all the decor in the parks and in all the resorts that we visited. So pretty. And Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party was a blast. (Expensive, but a blast.) Like I said, post-Thanksgiving is our favorite time to be in the World. Though I should probably start encouraging people to go during Jersey Week to cut down on crowds during my favorite time!

 

[Mousemommy1]

We were there Thanksgiving week 2009. Our trip was Saturday (before Thanksgiving) to the Sunday after. Up until about Wednesday, the crowds were ok, but then the crowds EXPLODED. I mean, 400 minute wait time for Soarin' I remember. We decided that we would not do Disney that week again, lol.

 

[Elmo888]

Hi, CampbellScot!
I remember reading very amusing your trip reports "back in the day" - my daughters are of a similar age (now 16 and 11). Nice to see you again. Congrats on you little one!

We went the week of Thanksgiving 2014 (Saturday to Saturday), and it wasn't bad. I remember bracing myself for the crowds, but, as a WDW veteran, it is very manageable. It is more important to be there at rope drop, have a touring plan, and plan your FPs well than at a low crowd time, but you probably already do that!

I absolutely loved going at Thanksgiving, and we are going again this year. I am not a big fan of the holidays in general, so it was nice to get away from the holiday expectations. And I would rather fight the crowds than the heat of August. DDs have the entire week of Thanksgiving off.

My big tip is to have ADRs for those really busy days like Thanksgiving day and the day after Thanksgiving. It was nice to sit down and eat and get away from the crowds. Lines for CS food looked really long. I almost canceled our ADR at Biergarten for the Friday after Thanksgiving, but I am so glad that I didn't in the end. Another food tip that I read - do not order the special "Thanksgiving plate" at any of the restaurants. It is offered simply because people think that they need to eat standard Thanksgiving food, but it isn't very good. I convinced my husband not to order it (we had our Thanksgiving dinner at BOG!), and he was so glad that he didn't!

My other surprise was how the park hours changed leading up to Thanksgiving. We had our BOG ADR on Thanksgiving (we just wanted a BOG ADR, and I just took what I could get - I didn't really care what day!), and THEN the MK park hours changed to 7 AM EMH. Holy cow! I wasn't sure that our family wanted to be that early, but we did and it was worth it (and we then napped in the afternoon). I am not sure that we will plan on going to the MK on Thanksgiving day again. I think that everyone wants to be at MK on Thanksgiving day, so we might plan on a different park for that particular day.

Have a great trip!

 

[mrsjoannh13]

If you have the option to go Jersey week I would go then compared to Thanksgiving. That weekend has the F&W marathon but the crowds are only predicted at 6 out of 10. Thanksgiving is at least 8 out of 10 on the crowd calendar.

We were there last week for Jersey week and didn't find it that bad. The only rough day for us was the following Wednesday which was Veterans Day and a Christmas party night.

 

[ariane37]

We are trying to avoid taking the kids out of school for more than a couple of days...but there is no point in being at Disney if there are wall to wall crowds and parks filled to capacity. I've heard good about this week and very bad. I've also heard the Monday following thanksgiving and through that week are much more manageable crowd wise. (I don't think there is any such thing as a low crowd time of year anymore!).

I'd love to hear from anyone who has traveled during that time. Advice and opinions would be much appreciated!

Hi there! We went last year for Thanksgiving week, arrived the Friday before and stayed until the Saturday after. It was far from our first trip to Disney but our first at a "busy" time and we were prepared for high crowds, but were pleasantly surprised. It was crowded of course but VERY manageable and we had a great time! Weather was perfect; we really only felt "crowded" in a couple instances. Trying to eat at any CS place during normal lunch/dinner hours saw LONG ridiculous lines. Like backed up lines going out the doors of indoor CS places. Also (and of course this isn't just for Thanksgiving week!) RD is really important as ride lines did build by late morning, but by using FP wisely and doing some late nights we still got a lot done. My boys were 10 & 13 and like to sleep in so I told them we'd try a couple mornings of NOT doing RD, and they really saw how much it stunk getting there around 11 as far as getting on fewer rides with little to no wait.
We felt the crowds were greater in the beginning of our trip and not so bad by the day before through Saturday.
You also can't beat seeing all the holiday décor in the parks and at he resorts! If you choose Jersey Week I'm not sure if any of it will be up-possibly some, but definitely not nearly as much as if you go for Thanksgiving. We did do the week after Thanksgiving in 2012, arriving Thanksgiving day and staying for 10 days. The crowds were REALLY low come the Monday after, but the kids were younger and missing a week of school wasn't an issue.