Week after Thanksgiving attendance?

[EnSkywalker]

My wife and I will be making our third annual trip to the parks but at a slightly different time. The last two years we have been there the week preceeding Thanksgiving and leaving either the day of or the day before Thanksgiving. This year due to availability of Disney Club discounts we are going the Monday following Thanksgiving. How big are the crowds or are the parks pretty sparse? Should we expect to run into any last minute refurbs for the Holiday season?

Also, after spending the last three trips in DL we are going to be staying in Wilderness Lodge. What should we expect if anything different from "upgrading" from DL to WL?

Thanks

 

[DisneyFreak]

The time from Thanksgiving till around the third week in December is their slowest times of the year. It will feel like you have the parks to yourself. My Wife and I have been down there in the 1st and 2nd weeks in December and we loved it.

Going from the DL to WL will be a huge difference maker. Not only the the atmosphere of the hotel itself but the location is far better. Staying at GF, Poly, Cont or WL makes you feel like you're in the heart of DW. You'll love it!!!

 

[WDW-Imagineer]

Originally posted by DisneyFreak
The time from Thanksgiving till around the third week in December is their slowest times of the year. It will feel like you have the parks to yourself. My Wife and I have been down there in the 1st and 2nd weeks in December and we loved it.

Going from the DL to WL will be a huge difference maker. Not only the the atmosphere of the hotel itself but the location is far better. Staying at GF, Poly, Cont or WL makes you feel like you're in the heart of DW. You'll love it!!!

I agree. For the past 3 visits, I have stayed during the 1st or 2nd week of December. Its a bit chilly in the mornings, but us Northerners can take it (I can't help myself but laugh at the southerners wearing sweaters on a 40° morning!!) Anyway, the crowds are minimum and you will be able to do whatever you want (rides, restaurants, shows, everything).

 

[EnSkywalker]

There's cold and then there's COLD! We were there last year for the record lows with the Canadian cold front. It made us sorry that we didn't wear our winter coats on the plane down as opposed to the fall jackets that we had brought with us.

It was a bit of a shock from the low 60's, high 70's that we had experienced the year before.

Two things we did notice last year was an uptick in the park attendance and the christmas decorations weren't going up as soon. In 99 we seemed to be able to wait no more than 20 minutes for any ride yet last year there were so many knee-biters in MK that we did PotC, Alien Ext, and JC and then left. Splash had an hour wait and FastPass was used up for the evening. Luckily DS and Epcot didn't seem to have as big of crowds.