Thanksgiving weekend crowds

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fenderhw77

New Member
I will be heading up to the World on Wednesday and was wondering if anyone can give me a good idea what the crowds will be like Wednesday thru Saturday. I've heard the day before and day of Thanksgiving, parks are usually dead, but busy the weekend days. Anyone have any insight into this?
Thanks in advance!
 
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mickeymatt

mickeymatt

Active Member
Who told you that? They must not like you at all. :) Not to discourage you but it is VERY crowded on Thanksgiving and around. I have been going this time of year many years and it is very crowded. Now you will still have a great time but you will need to be strategic as far as working your way araound and seeing everything. MK gets slammed but other parks esp. Epcot doesn't seem quite as bad. Go and have a magical time.
 
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mickeymatt

mickeymatt

Active Member
From Deb Wills' www.allears.net
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Disney states:

[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The Lowest Attendance[/FONT] --

  • [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]January (except New Year's Day) until just prior to Presidents' Week in February
    [/SIZE][/FONT]
  • [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]The week following Labor Day until the week prior to Thanksgiving
    [/SIZE][/FONT]
  • [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]The week following Thanksgiving until mid-December [/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]More [/FONT][SIZE=-1]Moderate Attendance:[/SIZE]

  • [SIZE=-1]After Presidents' week in February through early March[/SIZE]
  • [SIZE=-1]Late April through early June (except Memorial Day weekend)[/SIZE]
  • [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Columbus Day Weekend (October)[/FONT]
  • [SIZE=-1]The first part of Thanksgiving week
    [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Highest Attendance:[/SIZE]

  • [SIZE=-1]Presidents' week in February[/SIZE]
  • [SIZE=-1]Mid March through Late April ("Spring Break")[/SIZE]
  • [SIZE=-1]Memorial Day weekend[/SIZE]
  • [SIZE=-1]Mid June through Labor Day[/SIZE]
  • [SIZE=-1]Thanksgiving Day and weekend[/SIZE]
  • [SIZE=-1]Christmas week through New Year's Day[/SIZE]
 
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F

fenderhw77

New Member
Original Poster
It was actually a friend of mine who has gone up every year around during Thanksgiving, I'm actually going up with him this year. I can understand the weekend being busy, but the day before and Thanksgiving itself, you would figure families are home doing the traditional dinner thing.
 
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mickeymatt

mickeymatt

Active Member
The day before might not be to bad but T'giving day, believe it or not is pretty busy. I am always suprised by the crowds. My father lives an hour away so we would just go for a one day trip. We use to try to go on Thanksgiving Day to avoid the crowds. Each year we went that worked less and less. But hey, we still had fun and you will too!
 
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M

marypoppins68

New Member
I was at Animal KIngdom and the Magic KIngdom today and it was crazy busy! Everything had lines, even the bathrooms. Do not expect it to be dead before Thanksgiving or the day of.
 
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slappy magoo

slappy magoo

Well-Known Member
the locals might be home enjoying the holiday. But the resorts are packed with people taking advantage of a 4-day weekend for a mini vacation. Taking kids out for 2 or 3 days and making it a weeklong trip is not uncommon.
The one thing you have going for you this year is the gloomy economy-maybe it won't be as busy because people can't afford to go away, or they need to take advantage of kickbutt Black Friday deals for most of their shopping. Either way have fun.
 
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JediMasterMatt

JediMasterMatt

Well-Known Member
We have taken our anniversary trip the last week of January or the first week in February the last four years and I can easily say that the attendence is steadily rising over the time we've been consistently visiting. We've also take trips at a few other times when it was supposed to be busier and have noticed the Feb trip last year is slowly creeping up to being "busy". From what the locals have posted, there isn't much of a slow period anymore.

Of course, that won't stop me from making a trip at another slow time next week. ;)
 
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bgraham34

bgraham34

Well-Known Member
JediMasterMatt said:
We have taken our anniversary trip the last week of January or the first week in February the last four years and I can easily say that the attendence is steadily rising over the time we've been consistently visiting. We've also take trips at a few other times when it was supposed to be busier and have noticed the Feb trip last year is slowly creeping up to being "busy". From what the locals have posted, there isn't much of a slow period anymore.

Of course, that won't stop me from making a trip at another slow time next week. ;)
Click to expand...

There are no slow periods anymore of what I have been told just slower.
 
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M

marypoppins68

New Member
^ I would agree to that. I used to visit the day before Thanksgiving but gave that up a few years ago as it just got too busy. Also, more school districts are taking the whole week of Thanksgiving off. I know there are a few districts in central Florida who get the whole week off. I also saw lots of families with little kids too. There also seemed to be quite a few people who were using the Dining Plan for the first time. Free Dining definitely had an impact.
 
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RiversideBunny

RiversideBunny

New Member
On Thanksgiving day itself it seems like all the Orlando area locals, and their neighbors, and their friends all finish their Thanksgiving dinner and then head for WDW, particularly to the Magic Kingdom.

Add all the resort guests to that and you have the makings of a very crowded theme park.

The days before Thanksgiving Day and the week after Thanksgiving, starting on Monday, see smaller throngs.

:)
 
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bugsbunny

bugsbunny

Well-Known Member
mickeymatt said:
From Deb Wills' www.allears.net
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Disney states:

[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The Lowest Attendance[/FONT] --

  • [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]January (except New Year's Day) until just prior to Presidents' Week in February
    [/SIZE][/FONT]
  • [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]The week following Labor Day until the week prior to Thanksgiving
    [/SIZE][/FONT]
  • [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]The week following Thanksgiving until mid-December [/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]More [/FONT][SIZE=-1]Moderate Attendance:[/SIZE]

  • [SIZE=-1]After Presidents' week in February through early March[/SIZE]
  • [SIZE=-1]Late April through early June (except Memorial Day weekend)[/SIZE]
  • [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Columbus Day Weekend (October)[/FONT]
  • [SIZE=-1]The first part of Thanksgiving week
    [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Highest Attendance:[/SIZE]

  • [SIZE=-1]Presidents' week in February[/SIZE]
  • [SIZE=-1]Mid March through Late April ("Spring Break")[/SIZE]
  • [SIZE=-1]Memorial Day weekend[/SIZE]
  • [SIZE=-1]Mid June through Labor Day[/SIZE]
  • [SIZE=-1]Thanksgiving Day and weekend[/SIZE]
  • [SIZE=-1]Christmas week through New Year's Day[/SIZE]
Click to expand...


Thanksgiving week and Xmas week are INSANE. If you don't get to parks by Noon, you might not even get in! I'm not trying to put a scare in you, but there are plenty of people that will tell you this can happen. Just in general, the weekends are always busier no matter what simply becauser you get so many locals streaming in.

I go the week after Thanksgiving highlighted above. Been doing that for 10 years now. Nobody there and its not a high stress day in the parks fighting crowds.
 
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