The week before Thanksgiving 2019 (Nov 18-22)

[Bill in Atlanta]

I would think the crowds that week would be moderate, but touringplans.com has predicted very high crowd levels (8’s and 9’s the entire week).

I’ve always read that touringplans is the gold standard of crowd prediction; however, I question their estimate this time.

The historical (observed) crowd levels for the week before Thanksgiving for each of the past 4 years shows moderate (4’s to 6’s) crowds that week. If they’re counting on the opening of Galaxy’s Edge to make 2019 different, I don’t know why a) they’re showing HS to be the least busy park all week, and b) the week before (Nov 11-15) is predicted to be moderate (3’s to 6’s).

FWIW, other sites do not call for the week before Thanksgiving to be slammed. Undercover Tourist has it 5’s to 7’s except for a 9 on Friday. And Dad’s Guide to WDW actually picked it as the best week to visit in 2019:

“The week before Thanksgiving, November 17 - 24 gets my vote for the best week to go to Disney World in 2019. With Thanksgiving being late in 2019 there's a full week between the Veterans Day crowds leaving and the Thanksgiving crowds arriving. I think this will be the best week of the holiday season.”

Your thoughts?

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

We've gone close to that week before. The closer we got to TG the more crowded. Crowds were moderate up until the week of Th, getting more unbearable as the days went forward. We will never go that close to TG again.
However, you might be ok between Vets Day and late thanksgiving. You never know. I would just count on it being crowded at that time.

 

[Herdman]

My guess is the anticipation that Star Wars Land will be open and all of the fall will be much more crowded.

 

[nickys]

My guess as to the TP’s crowd calendars.....

Firstly, it’s probably too early to be able to predict, so the algorithms are going by the same week as last year, which ignores that this is the year that Thanksgiving “readjusts”.

That’s probably the main factor in their crowd calendars. They do use historic data,

Secondly, despite most people thinking that SW:GE won’t open until December, if they can they will open in time for Thanksgiving. So they may be factoring that possibility in. Either it’s open and crowds will be high, or people will book to avoid the mayhem, obviously thinking it won’t be open.

 

[Gaston's gal]

We went to WDW the week of Thanksgiving this past year. It definitely was crowded and got worse each day. HS was especially bad in the new TS area. If SW:GE opens before Thanksgiving, you won’t even be able to MOVE IN HS! Be careful

 

[mbroschak]

Hey Bill, I agree with nickys that something seems off on their end with that. By all logic, the week before thanksgiving should be pretty quiet, and this year because there are two weeks in between Veterans Day weekend and Thanksgiving, both should be pretty quiet. We were there just this past November from Nov 8-17, so left on the Saturday before Thanksgiving and the crowds on the Tuesday through Saturday were pretty light (which are the equivalent days give or take for the trip you’re planning for this November).
We also are going this November from the 12-21 and booked those days knowing it will be in those slower weeks between Veterans Day and Thanksgiving week. I’m sure touring plans will make adjustments, the calendar doesn’t usually fall this way.

 

[Bill in Atlanta]

For those interested, touringplans has updated their crowd calendar to much more reasonable numbers for that week.

 

[ninjaprincesst]

We always go the Thursday before Thanksgiving thru black Friday, and it is usually moderate crowds until about Tuesday of thanksgiving week.

 

[ctcdisneymama]

Should be fine. I went Jersey Week this past year. All I can say is avoid the parks during that time. The crowd level was insane.

 

[Dave B]

Star Wars will most likely be open by then