# WDW during Thanksgiving Week - Crazy?



## VegasBella (Oct 28, 2017)

Thinking about doing Orlando during Thanksgiving week 2018. We would want to visit DisneyWorld, of course. Is that totally crazy? Will it be packed and insane?


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## mj2vacation (Oct 28, 2017)

It is not as busy as Christmas week, which is less busy than New Year’s week. 

Touringplans.com has good insight into crowds.  They offer some data for free, some paid for.  

It will be busy, but there are really not many truly slow times left.  Plan ahead, pack so,e extra patience, and have fun!


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## hhoope01 (Oct 28, 2017)

I've found the Undercover Tourist Crowd calendar to be as good (or better) than most others:  Undercover Tourist November 2018 Calendar.

According to their estimation the parks will be at 8 or 9 out of 10 for crowd levels for that week.  And yes, that is probably less than Christmas to New Years, but it will still be one of the most crowded weeks of the year.  So if you actually want to ride anything, you better get your Fastpass' as early as you can.  If you wait until the day before or the day you go to the park to get your Fastpass selections, you may find there are none left to get.  And expect multiple hour waits for anything else.


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## bendadin (Oct 28, 2017)

The week before Thanksgiving is absolutely fabulous and I would certainly choose that option instead of Thanksgiving. It is tucked between Jersey Week and Thanksgiving. Out of my 10 WDW trips in the past two years, that week was the absolute best for crowds and weather. 

Touring Plans for November 13-19: 5, 4, 5, 3, 4, 6, 7.
November 20-26: 9, 9, 10, 8, 9, 8, 6.

The week after Thanksgiving looks even better. So is hopping in before Thanksgiving and doing a mid-week to mid-week an option? Getting a dining reservation will be a different matter, though.


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## Talent312 (Oct 28, 2017)

As someone who's been many times before (live 2hrs away), I can say:

Insane? Yes... TG week is notoriously bad.
But you'll be in good company with hordes of equally insane peep (a/k/a unwashed masses).
IMHO, a better plan would be to visit the week after, on weekdays.

See: http://www.dadsguidetowdw.com/disney-world-crowd-calendars-2018.html

.


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## VegasBella (Oct 28, 2017)

We went last year during what schedules said was the least crowded week of the year - first week of December. But I’d really rather not pull our son out of school much so that’s why I was considering Thanksgiving. I can’t handle Summer heat so that’s out. Winter break is out now too for other reasons. 

I’m really good with the fast pass thing so that’s no problem - I’ll plan and schedule 

We are thinking we’d visit the Kennedy Space Center again as well. And actually enjoy the resort for a day too, which we didn’t do last time. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Luanne (Oct 28, 2017)

Worst crowds I ever saw, this was at Disneyland, were the day after Thanksgiving.


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## VegasBella (Oct 30, 2017)

Well I went ahead and booked it. Hoping we can do it. We booked a room at Hilton Grand Vacations Club At Tuscany Village for Thanksgiving 2018. 
I think my plan is to do Disney on Mon-Wed and do other local stuff the other days. And this time enjoy the resort for one day too, which we didn't do last time at Bluegreen Fountains.
Anyone know, will the pools be heated then?


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## silentg (Oct 30, 2017)

bendadin said:


> The week before Thanksgiving is absolutely fabulous and I would certainly choose that option instead of Thanksgiving. It is tucked between Jersey Week and Thanksgiving. Out of my 10 WDW trips in the past two years, that week was the absolute best for crowds and weather.
> 
> Touring Plans for November 13-19: 5, 4, 5, 3, 4, 6, 7.
> November 20-26: 9, 9, 10, 8, 9, 8, 6.
> ...


Go to MyDisney.com, you can make reservations now for fast passes and dining.Good Luck.


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## Sea Six (Oct 30, 2017)

silentg said:


> Go to MyDisney.com, you can make reservations now for fast passes and dining.Good Luck.


Not for 2018.  Dining starts at 6 months out, FastPass at 30 days unless you are at a Disney Resort, which they are not.


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## Talent312 (Oct 30, 2017)

I have FP's for next week: Wed at Epcot... Thur at MK... Fri at AK.
Today, DW says let's do AK another time (we have annual passes).
What? And give up those FP's? Too bad I can't sell them.


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## VegasBella (Oct 31, 2017)

Yes, we want to go 2018. I don't want to travel soon. We have an elderly cat who has been hanging onto life since the Summer, exceeding expectations. But we can't leave him now, nor can I euthanize him just to travel.


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## silentg (Oct 31, 2017)

Disney will be here. Enjoy your time with your cat..


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## Saintsfanfl (Nov 2, 2017)

Florida schools are all out Thanksgiving week and there are no blackout days during that time for the cheap Florida resident annual passes. This makes for quite a few Florida locals at the parks that week. Still not horrible though.


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## pedro47 (Nov 2, 2017)

Thanksgiving for us was the best time to visit WDW; crowds counts were lower and that Florida humidity was lower.
Please just enjoy your vacation at WDW.


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## Inhislove (Nov 3, 2017)

We did the resort day on Thanksgiving itself in 2014 and had a great day after at the Magic Kingdom, compared with friends who basically missed their Thanksgiving dinner due to crowds! We have eaten holiday meals several times at Port Orleans- around $15 for a plate of traditional goodies including dessert and without the crowds at lunch time.

Mon-Weds is also probably a good plan for parks!


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## bankr63 (Nov 3, 2017)

VegasBella said:


> Well I went ahead and booked it. Hoping we can do it. We booked a room at Hilton Grand Vacations Club At Tuscany Village for Thanksgiving 2018.
> I think my plan is to do Disney on Mon-Wed and do other local stuff the other days. And this time enjoy the resort for one day too, which we didn't do last time at Bluegreen Fountains.
> Anyone know, will the pools be heated then?


You might want to flip your plans around a bit, by watching the crowd calendars carefully.  EVERYBODY tends to do Disney in the same order, starting Sunday or Monday at MK and working their way through the parks.  Pick the lowest crowd days at each park you want to visit, and then work in the other attractions around that.
We tour regularly during March Break and I cannot stress enough how important watching the crowd calendars can be!  I can come home having been on all the rides I wanted to hit, with reasonable waits and low stress, and then hear about the horror stories from others who were there that same week, but in parks on the wrong days, following the huddled masses.  Disney, Universal, and Orlando in general take some thought and a plan of attack to be enjoyable.

ETA: Check out this year's calendar on UndercoverTourist to get an idea of what next year will likely look like.  Their best days for MK that week this year are Wednesday and Turkeyday.


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## puppymommo (Nov 3, 2017)

Luanne said:


> Worst crowds I ever saw, this was at Disneyland, were the day after Thanksgiving.



Worst crowds I ever saw, also at Disneyland, was 4th of July! Incredible. Not just lines, just so many people walking around. That day we mostly just went to the shows. It was OK because we were annual passholders and went about once a month. But a bad time to go for your only trip.


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## VegasBella (Nov 3, 2017)

bankr63 said:


> You might want to flip your plans around a bit, by watching the crowd calendars carefully.


Thanks, yeah I will keep watching. I think we only want to do Epcot and MK. We didn't really like Hollywood Studios much and we're not interested in Animal Kingdom or the waterpark. 
There's a lot of other stuff we want to do in the Olando area too so we might be forced to do WDW on the holiday since that other stuff will probably be closed.

My plan is basically to use the fastpass system like we did last time but essentially ONLY do fastpasses this time.


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## silentg (Nov 3, 2017)

Since you are staying at a timeshare, you can order your Thanksgiving dinner from Publix. Or if you enjoy making Thanks giving dinner buy a turkey and cook it in your kitchen. No crowds except for your family. We went to Disney MK on Thanksgiving once, long ago. It was very crowded so we don’t do that anymore. I agree with others go the day before or day after Thanksgiving. 
Check the MyDisney.com website later as your vacation gets closer. Then you can make dining and fast pass reservations.
Have Fun!
Silentg


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## my disney experience (Dec 21, 2018)

VegasBella said:


> Thinking about doing Orlando during Thanksgiving week 2018. We would want to visit DisneyWorld, of course. Is that totally crazy? Will it be packed and insane?


  How was Thanksgiving at WDW?  Did the Disney crowd calendar help you out?  I hope the crowds were nott too bad and hopefully you grabbed some good Fastpasses.


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## VegasBella (Dec 23, 2018)

I canceled that trip. So I still don't know what the crowds are like.


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## DrQ (Dec 23, 2018)

We went about 18 years ago during TG. The crowds were not bad during the early part of the week. At Wednesday afternoon the crowds picked up significantly.

As clueless tourist, we were able to get a seat for four on Thanksgiving Day at the Coral Reef Restaurant right by the aquarium glass without reservations! I would not recommend this, but we lucked out with a generous hostess!


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## Firepath (Dec 23, 2018)

We went TG week in 2014. Agree that the crowds built as the week progressed. We arrived before park opening each day and stayed only until mid day or so. After that the parks were very crowded. If you go, just make sure you are there plenty early. I'm sure it's even busier now than a few years ago, and more so with Star Wars Land scheduled to open about that time in 2019.


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## Colt Seavers (Jan 17, 2019)

If Thanksgiving at Disney World is crazy then call me crazy because we were there this year.  While it was crowded it was slightly less than I expected and significantly lighter than the busiest times we have seen at either of the Disney locations.

The best plan I found was to focus on earlier times for the FastPass+ reservations that you make online since you cannot add any other ones until all three are used.  Even if you have to pass on one ride that you really want with a later time it is better to free up the ability to get more passes at the expense of waiting in the line for the desired ride.  I also was able to improve our FastPass+ choices and even add dining reservations by checking frequently during the days leading up to our times at the parks

What surprised me most was that I kept tracking the wait times on the Disney app during the weeks after we were there and the times for the popular rides only went down a little if at all.  Another consideration is that we were told some rides would be closed the week after Thanksgiving for scheduled maintenance to avoid closing them during the busier periods.


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## pedro47 (Jan 17, 2019)

Correction. We visited WDW  several days after the Thanksgiving Holiday. The resort was not crowded, no lines.


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