Park advice for Thanksgiving Week

[jewils08]

Hi there, our family has been to Disney World a couple of times for Thanksgiving, but it's been 3+ yrs since we have. We are planning on visiting 11/16-23 this year and are staying at the Yacht Club. Our family tends to be morning people and the kids are 10+. Below is what we have planned, and we don't use Park Hopper.

Question 1) With Expedition Everest refurb looming, considering doing AK on 11/16 since MK closes at 6:00. AK is one park we don't require tons of time at. Thoughts? Are the dates out yet for Exp Everest?
Question 2) In the past we've done Thanksgiving Day at Epcot and the crowds are very light. Considering doing MK (though dining reservations are booked). Thoughts on how full crowds are on Thanksgiving day?
Question 3) General thoughts on how to best coordinate parks to maximize lowest crowds on a highly crowded week?

11/16- We drive in around noon, and traditionally visit MK.
11/17- MK
11/18- HS
11/19- AK
11/20- HS
11/21- MK
11/22- EP
11/23- Disney Springs and departure

Thanks in advance!

 

[JohnyKaz2078]

1) The Everest refurbishment dates haven't yet been announced. It is good to do AK in your first day since it closes at 8pm and if you get there around 4pm and have strategically planned your FP+ then you should be able to do all the rides.
2) There are many many people in the parks on Thanksgiving Day and according to the crowd calendar of Undercover Tourist (pretty reliable) the crowds will be 9/10. I'm surprised that crowds were low in Epcot since Epcot tends to be quite popular during holidays.
3) First of all, be in the parks early. Thanksgiving Week is one of the busiest weeks of the year for WDW and arriving in the parks early makes it easy to hit some of the most popular rides when the crowds are the lowest. Second of all, plan your FP+ according to your touring plan. For example if you are in MK and you want to rope-drop Tomorrowland then there is no need to Fastpass Space Mountain since waits aren't high early in the morning. What instead you want to have a FP+ for is Seven Dwarfs Mine Train since it accumulates 60 minute+ waits on busy days early in the morning. It all depends on how you want to spend a day in the park.

By the way, HS is really not worth 2 days right now. It is barely worth 1 but 2 is a very high amount for a park with only 6 rides. I would rather spend a 3rd day at MK than another full day in DHS.

 

[GotEarsSayCheers]

Hi there, our family has been to Disney World a couple of times for Thanksgiving, but it's been 3+ yrs since we have. We are planning on visiting 11/16-23 this year and are staying at the Yacht Club. Our family tends to be morning people and the kids are 10+. Below is what we have planned, and we don't use Park Hopper.

Question 1) With Expedition Everest refurb looming, considering doing AK on 11/16 since MK closes at 6:00. AK is one park we don't require tons of time at. Thoughts? Are the dates out yet for Exp Everest?
Question 2) In the past we've done Thanksgiving Day at Epcot and the crowds are very light. Considering doing MK (though dining reservations are booked). Thoughts on how full crowds are on Thanksgiving day?
Question 3) General thoughts on how to best coordinate parks to maximize lowest crowds on a highly crowded week?

11/16- We drive in around noon, and traditionally visit MK.
11/17- MK
11/18- HS
11/19- AK
11/20- HS
11/21- MK
11/22- EP
11/23- Disney Springs and departure

Thanks in advance!

I would recommend only 1 day at HS, Toy story land is not huge and the amount of total rides/attractions in the park can be done in a day easy. Once star wars land opens that's a totally different story. I would maybe go to AK for a second day as Pandora is usually crowded and can snag up most of your day.

Also if you plan accordingly, Everest usually has no wait time right around when rivers of light starts. We rode 3 times in a row during this time with no wait and no fast pass.