After-Thanksgiving crowds

[Dennman]

We are planning our trip for Early December 2022. Do the Thanksgiving crowds stay thru that Sunday or is that a good day to arrive?

 

[Figgy1]

Paging @lentesta

 

[networkpro]

We are planning our trip for Early December 2022. Do the Thanksgiving crowds stay thru that Sunday or is that a good day to arrive?

In our experience, Sundays and Mondays still have had lots of spillover from Thanksgiving. But that has been normal years, this year it's a whole new ball game with too many factors in play: pent-up demand, for those who stayed employed accumulated vacation and funds, as well as the vaccines being readily available.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

Many Thanksgiving guests will be leaving on Sunday.

However you should be warned that early December is no longer the quiet time it once was and of course this year its bound to be a bit busy.
I have been a number of times over Thanksgiving week and a number of times within the first 10 days of December.
The past couple of Thanksgivings we went were not terribly busy and yet the last couple of early Decembers have been more busy than previous ones.

This year we are leaning towards the week prior to Thanksgiving.

 

[DisneyDelirious]

We have arrived many a Sunday after Thanksgiving. We hit DS that night and start hitting the parks on Monday. Crowds have been quite manageable in our experience.

 

[JIMINYCR]

Over the past pre covid years many people were targeting the weeks before Christmas week to try getting in before the building crowds. It has gotten more popular and attracted more to WDW. Parents were not hesitating taking kids out of school. Still will be better that during the holiday weeks.

 

[lentesta]

We are planning our trip for Early December 2022. Do the Thanksgiving crowds stay thru that Sunday or is that a good day to arrive?

In 2019 there was a dramatic slowdown after Saturday. On the TouringPlans 1-to-10 scale of park business, here were Magic Kingdom crowds for the week of Thanksgiving:

• Mon 11/25: 10
• Tue 11/26: 10
• Wed 11/27: 10
• Thu 11/28: 9 (Thanksgiving)
• Fri 11/29: 9
• Sat 11/30: 8
• Sun 12/1: 3

There was a similar pattern in 2018. So Saturday seems to have been the last day with holiday crowds that week.

 

[Dennman]

In 2019 there was a dramatic slowdown after Saturday. On the TouringPlans 1-to-10 scale of park business, here were Magic Kingdom crowds for the week of Thanksgiving:

• Mon 11/25: 10
• Tue 11/26: 10
• Wed 11/27: 10
• Thu 11/28: 9 (Thanksgiving)
• Fri 11/29: 9
• Sat 11/30: 8
• Sun 12/1: 3

There was a similar pattern in 2018. So Saturday seems to have been the last day with holiday crowds that week.

Any idea of the following week? Does that 3 on Sunday continue? Staying thru the following Saturday. Thank you so much!

 

[lentesta]

Any idea of the following week? Does that 3 on Sunday continue? Staying thru the following Saturday. Thank you so much!

The next week you run into MK scheduling the MVMCPs, so crowds are distributed around the parks depending on whether the MK has an event:

Sun 12/1: MK: 3 **MVMCP (first since 11/24)
Mon 12/2: MK: 1 EP: 6 HS: 8 AK: 7
Tue 12/3: MK: 3 EP: 5 HS: 4 AK: 3 **MVMCP
Wed 12/4: MK: 9 EP: 2 HS: 1 AK: 2
Thu 12/5: MK: 3 EP: 4 HS: 4 AK: 3 **MVMCP
Fri 12/6: MK: 3 EP: 5 HS: 5 AK: 4 **MVMCP
Sat 12/7: MK: 8 EP: 5 HS: 2 AK: 6

So on that Wednesday and Saturday, when there's a break in the MK party schedule, people go to the MK.

I think it's almost certain that Disney will run at least a lite version of MVMCP in 2021, you know, Mickey's Magical Holidays or whatever. Depending on how that affects MK park hours, you may see patterns similar to 2019.

 

[Stevek]

We're going 11/30 (Tuesday) - 12/8 (Wednesday) which has typically been one of the better times to visit given it's immediately after the Thanksgiving crowd leaves. Saturday during that trip will be our down day, visit Disney Springs, Pool Day, etc. As Len stated above, the only issue really becomes the Christmas party cutting in to MK hours.

 

[Dennman]

We're going 11/30 (Tuesday) - 12/8 (Wednesday) which has typically been one of the better times to visit given it's immediately after the Thanksgiving crowd leaves. Saturday during that trip will be our down day, visit Disney Springs, Pool Day, etc. As Len stated above, the only issue really becomes the Christmas party cutting in to MK hours.

I am pretty sure we will GO to the Christmas Party. So on that day, we considered MK for rope drop, leave around 2pm for a rest period and then back for the party after 4pm. So am I correct that party nights are good days to choose for MK in general? I appreciate all the knowledge!

 

[Stevek]

I am pretty sure we will GO to the Christmas Party. So on that day, we considered MK for rope drop, leave around 2pm for a rest period and then back for the party after 4pm. So am I correct that party nights are good days to choose for MK in general? I appreciate all the knowledge!

Based on Len's comment above regarding crowds, yes. It seems like folks avoid MK on those days due to the reduced hours. Our last visit around the holiday's was 2010 and we did the holiday party (won't do it this time) but I honestly don't recall anything about crowds as we did the party on our non-park day...meaning, we didn't visit any park during the day, just did the party.