Who was there over Thanksgiving?

[cgattis]

So I'm planning a trip for next Thanksgiving, starting the Saturday before, staying a few days at Disney, one or two at Uni, then the beach. Anyone who was in the Universal parks on Turkey Day and Black Friday, how were the crowds? Kids want to squeeze in a water park too--would think Thanksgiving Day might be low crowds there, too (of course, it might also be too cold to go!). Thoughts??

 

[cbsnyber1]

I'd like to know as well. We are going next year arriving the day after TG, staying five nights. I've read that the parks are crazy the Friday and Saturday after TG, pretty quiet starting Sunday. Can anyone confirm?

 

[kohlby]

I'd like to know as well. We are going next year arriving the day after TG, staying five nights. I've read that the parks are crazy the Friday and Saturday after TG, pretty quiet starting Sunday. Can anyone confirm?

Though we arrived in FL on Thanksgiving, we didn't do Universal until Sunday and it was quiet. I was thinking there would still be some Thanksgiving crowds left and we didn't have express that day - but it was easy - as in, Minions was a walk-on when we arrived and FJ's wait was under 10 minutes when we did it later that day. We went to Disney Springs that Saturday and it was mobbed. (And Kennedy Space Center the day after Thanksgiving and it was no where near the crowds I expected - I'd say moderate crowds for there that day).

 

[LittleDreamer]

I was at Universal Studios on Black Friday. I arrived about 2pm they were parking up on the top level of the garage at that point. I walked through IoA (checking out Kong & Hulk construction) then trained over to Studios. The crowds were not that bad. The ride times were slightly higher, but not ridiculous. I feel like they were less then a standard Summer day. This was also a concert night, I don't think that effected the crowd level much though.

 

[cgattis]

Bump....any DIS'ers there on the actual holiday? Planning for next year! Thanks!

 

[Court475]

We will be there Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday this year and would love to hear from others who have BTDT.

 

[dididaycare]

We were there this past Thanksgiving and plan to go back next Thanksgiving. This past trip we arrived the Friday before Thanksgiving and the park was not crowded. We went and did Sea World parks for 2 days and returned to Universal on Monday. It was crowded. We came back early evening Tuesday and it was crowded. We returned Wednesday and it was crowded. That being said, we were still able to do everything (no small kids so didn't do much in Seuss) without express passes.

 

[klo1335]

We are also planning a trip Thanksgiving 2016. We will be there Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. We were there last summer in August while we were at Disney. Only did 1 day. Got there at park opening and did all the HP stuff plus Jurassic and Suess. Crowds I can handle but the heat in August was horrible!! Hoping November is better.

 

[yaddakal]

We are also planning a trip Thanksgiving 2016. We will be there Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. We were there last summer in August while we were at Disney. Only did 1 day. Got there at park opening and did all the HP stuff plus Jurassic and Suess. Crowds I can handle but the heat in August was horrible!! Hoping November is better.

We also plan to come this Black Friday 2016 we are doing Disney and universal thinking universal first

 

[janicept]

I was there Black Friday last year and it was more busy than the following Monday but nothing compared to high season. Really busy Saturday and Sunday compared to what I'm use to but I don't have kids so I usually go when school is in session. I think Orlando area is out of school the entire week of Thanksgiving.

 

[vtiffany]

Anyone have a traditional Thanksgiving meal on property? Was one offered at any of the resorts? Thinking about going this year and apparently this is important to us. Thanks!

 

[gacompguy]

We stayed at the Royal Pacific from the Wednesday before Thanksgiving through Sunday. Wednesday night when we went to find something to eat, we were really surprised at how quiet City Walk was. We were expecting a lot more people.

We slept in Thanksgiving morning and had an early traditional Thanksgiving lunch at the Islands Dining Room. They had all the traditional Thanksgiving food items along with things like shrimp, sushi, etc. If I had to do it over again, we would have skipped it. For what you get, I really felt like it was overpriced. I wasn't very impressed with the quality of the food compared to just a typical restaurant I would find at home. Publix sushi is better than what they had. The turkey was just average. I don't remember the exact price, but it was steep.

We went to the parks Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Saturday. With unlimited Universal Express, we didn't notice the lines at all except for maybe in the Harry Potter areas of the parks. The crowds were completely manageable otherwise. Most of the Harry Potter waits were well under an hour. Waiting with Universal Express was usually less than 15 minutes. We had a total blast and will definitely consider doing it again in the future.

 

[laughinplace199]

Glad to hear Thanksgiving isn't too bad. We're planning on going this year, doing WDW for a few days and Universal for one day. If we buy the express pass for Universal, I'm hoping we'll be ok. I know we won't see and do everything in both parks, but we hope to do the Harry Potter stuff as well as a few other things.

 

[ruthies12]

I arrived in Orlando last Thanksgiving. Went to US on the first Saturday after thanksgiving. We arrived super early and they let us in before official opening at 9 even though we were not staying on property. We were able to ride Minions right away with no wait. By the time we went back out front to get our stroller the line was out into the extended que. We then did gringotts and got on that in a reasonable 20 minute wait. Then we did diagon alley and by the time we wanted to go over to hogsmeade the wait for Hogwarts express was at 45 minutes so we left instead.

We went back to US/IOA the following Wednesday (dec. 2nd) and it was very, very NOT crowded at all. We got to do everything we wanted to on that day. I can't advise about the actual day of Thanksgiving as we were traveling that day. I will say our drive down was nice and easy with no traffic!

 

[CMAG38]

Anyone have a traditional Thanksgiving meal on property? Was one offered at any of the resorts? Thinking about going this year and apparently this is important to us. Thanks!

I asked this very question and it was suggested that Liberty Tree Tavern was the place to be on Thanksgiving. I think that is what we will do.

 

[macraven]

I asked this very question and it was suggested that Liberty Tree Tavern was the place to be on Thanksgiving. I think that is what we will do.

It would be very time consuming to leave the darkside, drive to the motherland and do one meal at the magic kingdom that day.

 

[cgattis]

It would be very time consuming to leave the darkside, drive to the motherland and do one meal at the magic kingdom that day.

Definitely! Any suggestions for a Thanksgiving day meal elsewhere in Orlando? Or near Cocoa Beach? Guess there's always Cracker Barrel in Titusville.

 

[macraven]

do you want a traditional turkey feast or a place with good food and ambiance?

 

[cgattis]

do you want a traditional turkey feast or a place with good food and ambiance?

I'm thinking traditional feast, since we'll miss the one at my in-laws'. But I may change my mind, since it will be my first Thanksgiving without either of my parents . I may just want something completely non-traditional. KWIM?

 

[CMAG38]

It would be very time consuming to leave the darkside, drive to the motherland and do one meal at the magic kingdom that day.

That busy? Any other suggestions for a traditional feast at any parks?