Week after Thanksgiving, HOW CROWDED?

[chip91]

Yesterday while sitting around with my family, watching the Disney Parade & re-living the great memories (happy tears and all!) we (dh agreed!) to GO BACK, and DH said we could stay ON-SITE!! ( )

We are planning to go Nov 25 - Dec 1 (Sun - Sat) 2007 (it's never to early to plan IMO!)..

Just wondering if there is anyone else who has been there the week immediatly following Thanksgiving, is it REALLY crowded? It's considered "value" season, so I'm hoping it's not too bad b/c people wouldn't want to take their kids out of school the week after, but instead the week of? We will visit the parks M-F, hoping to catch MVMCP on one of those nights.. We went Oct 2-9, this year and maybe it was just me being a newbie to the magic and all, but man did it seem CROWDED! I did contribute some of that to a. free dining b. MNSSHP c. F&W Festival, but it was still more people than I ever imagined!

ALSO, I read on here or allears, that Holiday decorations go up virtually over night, the weekend after Thanksgiving..
Is this true? Is it to the full extent or just a "sneek peak"? Mostly interested in viewing the Osborne Lights Display (God willing it still be there)..

TIA for any in-sight!

Chip
(I'm in Heaven because we are going back to see Mickey in 2007!)

 

[Minerva]

We were there that week this year. We arrived on Saturday and went to the parks Sunday through Saturday, left on Sunday morning. All the decorations were up, they start putting them up in early November. Osborne lights were showing and were beautiful, the extra Christmas ending of Illuminations was wonderful. You'll have different opinions on how crowded it was but we didn't think it was crowded. We wen to the parks at opening and were able to do everything we really wanted to do within the first couple of hours with no or little, as in 5 minutes or less waits.As the day goes on more people show up but even still other than Soarin in the afternoon we never saw waits of more than 30 minutes posted and we did ride BTMR with a 30 minute wait posted, it was actually about half that time. Saturday the Pop Warner crowd arrives and we did notice a difference both at the resort and in MK that evening. It's a great time to go and I wouldn't hesitate to plan a trip for that week again.

 

[Stacerita]

We arrived the sunday after thanksgiving and stayed till the following sunday. We went to the parks sunday-saturday and the crowd levels varied. I personally didn't think they were that crowded. I will say they were more crowded than I thought they would be especially from what I heard other DISers say about how empty the parks are during that time. Waits were never too long except for the headliners and such. We never waited more than 20 mins for anything that I recall. We were there at almost every opening and had a game plan to move through everything. It was easy for us to get everything we wanted to done. MK was almost always crowded though. And yes, decorations were all up everywhere we went. I couldn't believe it myself. I would definately plan to go during that week again.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

It was our lst time this year going this time frame and yes we did pull all our kids out of school but it was only because dh had a conference at the Swan. I am glad we made all our adr dining reservations ahead of time for the popular places. It was too cold to swim, we did the christmas party and the candelight processional package. Sometimes it was standing room only on the busses and monorails. If you plan well you will have a good time. We did take advantage of the extra magic night hours since we have teens. We are thinking of going again maybe next year but not for the whole school week to miss, maybe a wed-sun type thing.

 

[Minerva]

It was too cold to swim,

There's another matter of opinion. <g> My kids swam 4 of those days including Friday night when it was 52 degrees out and they weren't the only ones in the pool!

 

[gilesdad]

We too were there the week following Thanksgiving, and we too went swimming. But I'll agree it was a bit chilly. Just not cold enough to keep kids from central Illinois out of the pools in late November. (I had to join them for about a 20 minute swim at the Fort Wilderness pool, NO chance getting mom to join us though)
We only visited Magic Kingdom. We were in the park on Extra Magic Hours Wednesday and with this being our first trip didn't know what to expect for crowds. One man's "crowded" is another man's "empty". Personally I was thrilled with the crowd level. We got there at opening and for the first 1-2 hours we walked on to everything. Then by using Fast Pass and skipping some lower priority rides we hardly ever waited in a line. The longest line we stood in was 15 minutes for Astro Orbitor; and that was due to the slow method of getting riders on and off that particular ride. We also took a Kindergartener and a 3rd grader out of school for the week. There is NO WAY we would attempt to do Disney during a school break. My sister was there the day after Christmas 2 years ago with her family of 5 and had time to ride about 1/3 the number of attractions we rode. I think you'll be very happy with the week after Thanksgiving.

 

[dragonfly75]

We went the week after thanksgiving a while ago, and it was practically perfect; all the xmas decorations were up, the parks weren't crowded hardly at all, and it was warm enough to swim. It worked out great!

 

[jamzots]

I am planning on going the same week next year. I can't wait already!!!

 

[babar41]

DH and I were there from Sunday Nov 27 through Wednesday Dec 7. Great time to go. Different days at different parks effect the crowd levels, but with some advance planning we avoided most crowds. The big exception is Saturday. Don't think there is any park that isn't crowded on Saturday.

Great time of year to go if you don't like the heat, which we don't. Although there were a couple of days it was around 80, most days high was 74. Evenings can be a bit cool, but hey, isn't that what sweaters and jackets are for?

Go. You'll enjoy it! You'll love the Osborne Lights, the decorations, the singing, the shows.... Have a great time!

 

[blessedby3]

This is my new favorite week. We were there the Friday after Thanksgiving (25th) this year until Dec. 3rd. Exactly the same time frame OP is looking at. I can say you will definately be happy. We stayed at POP and the kids swam the first 4 days with no problems. It was very warm, low 70's. The last few days were cooler, but not cold. We wore a sweatshirt over a shortsleeved shirt or took a jacket and could put them on when needed. We wore shorts the first 4 days or so and then went to jeans for the last 4. The only time we had lightweight gloves on was on our last park day at Epcot on Friday the 2nd. It was a bit nippy, nothing bad though. The crowds were nonexistant from what we saw. We did AK on the 27th. Walked onto everything. No waiting at all. The only thing we watied for was character photos and that was with only 4 or 5 families in front of us. The rest we just walked right onto including Kali, Safari, and Dinosaur. It was great. We did MK on the 28th. Same here. We walked onto most everything. Maybe waited 5-10 mins on a couple of things. The only thing we waited for 12-20mins was SP and Buzz. Must have been a rush on Tomorrowland, because it was only those two things once. We did the MVMCP on the 29th and the place was deserted at 4:30pm. We came in at 4:00 and took the train to Toontown and there was no one there or in Fantasyland. No line at Goofys Barnstormer, Teacups, etc. We rode a couple of things and went to Frontierland and rode BTMR over and over 4 times without getting off. There was no one to reload the ride. We then did SP the same way. The party was great. Not crowded except for the parades. I did think the line for the picture was long too, but thats about it. We did MGM on the 30th. This was a little crowded in the pm, but not bad. DD and friend rode TOT with only a 15-20 min wait and we rode RNR with maybe a 10 min wait. Did this a few times. Our Fast pass that we got earlier (in case it got crowded) took us to the same place as the regular riders. Not needed- no long lines. Did MK again on the 1st and again we had no longer wait times than 10-15 mins. Epcot on the 2nd was the only busy day. There were LOTS of school kids there and it was crowded. We did get there right at park opening and were able to ride Soarin in standby and got a FP before we got in line in case it was too bad later. We rode Soarin with about a 15-20 min wait and then rode Living with the Land and came back to Soarin to use our FP and rode it again. Did TT with only a 15 mins wait also. Later in the day we went to get another FP for Soarin and it was crazy by then. Wait time was 1 hour and 15 mins and our Fp was for 4 hours away. We did do Soarin again later that night with FP and the standby line was way long then.
We had a blast and got to do so many things because of the low crowds. I know that you will have a great time during that week!! WE are going the week before Christmas next year and I am worried about that. Its the only time my DH's family could go though. Guess we will make the best of it.

 

[wdwfan1]

We have gone that week several times and it was just great. Expect large crowds on the weekend, but it gets light during the week.

This year we were lucky to get WL and were upgraded to concierge. What a wonderful trip!

 

[Sydnoahmom]

We are planning to go back this same week in 2006. We arrive on Sunday and leave on Saturday. Sunday night we will do a character meal, most likely Chef Mickey's as this is the kids' favorite. Monday, crowds at MK have been what I call heavy, but mostly in the evening since has been the only night that Spectomagic has been offered d/t MVMCP. But it was still managable. I would most definately recommend MVMCP. We go on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. The crowds have virtually been nonexistant. We did miss this year, but it's the first in several we haven't been the week after Thanksgiving. With the changes in EMH, I don't know how that has affected MK crowds on Monday. Have fun planning! I am about to try out the CD-ROM that came with the vacation planning kit!

 

[lizanne]

This year we arrived on the Friday after Thanksgiving and left on Saturday, Dec 3rd. Saturday and Sunday was crowded compared to Mon thru Fri - but we're used to going in the summer and to us it didn't seem crowded at all. We were able to everything we wanted to do in each park without any problems. RnR in MGM was the one thing we couldn't do but not because of the crowds, it was because each time we went it wasn't working for some reason.

I'd love to go back this same time each year. All the decorations were up and lit; and all the christmas shows were available.