Thanksgiving weekend check in?

[disneyfan328]

Looking for some info from the veterans or those that have been to WDW during the weekend following Thanksgiving as well as the following week. Thanksgiving this week is on 11/28 and we are looking at c/i on 11/30 or 12/1 for a stay ofr 6-7 nights.

How bad are the crowds that Saturday and Sunday?

What about the following week?

Are all of the Christmas Decorations up and are their special parades/light shows on the castle (the ice lights or osborn lights) ect up and running?

any and all help is appreciated. We were able to go in early January 2 years ago and unfortunatley due to a memory card maulfunction lost all of our photos so we are hoping to make this trip happen and recapture some of that magic!

[Spang88]

This is a great time to visit, right after Thanksgiving. Through our research over the years, most sites will rate this week as either the #1 week to travel to Disney or top 3.

We have a trip planned this year again. We usually arrive on Saturday after Thanksgiving, and use that day to get settled, hit the pool, go to Downtown Disney for dinner. Crowds that Saturday are still way up from the holiday. On Sunday crowds begin to thin some, and by Monday it is great. No park is really crowded that week, but we usually follow the method of going to a park after it had PM extra magic hours the night before for even smoother crowd levels.

We then head home the following Saturday (7th).

Christmas decorations are up in full force, and I believe its almost an overnight transition from Halloween to Christmas the first week of November.

One other note, last year we were at the MK when the Christmas parade was being taped (we did not realize that). As we arrived we panicked thinking we really messed up, but once you navigate past Main Street the rest of the park was empty. Many people were around the parade route, but we just avoided it and were fine. I think the taping is the 6th and 7th this year.

[BuddyL4]

We did it in 2000 and at that time the crowds were non-existant. We felt like we had the parks to ourselves.

I would try it again during that time frame but work schedules don't allow it now.

[disneymom15]

We've done that week several times, one of our favorite times to go. Crowds are managable and all the X-mas decorations are up.

[Fangorn]

We went at this time last year. We went down for our son's wedding and arrived on the Friday after Thanksgiving. We stayed at the ASMo, and it was busy, but not overwhelmingly so. We did not go to MK on Saturday. We had brought our 5 year old granddaughter with us and we went to AK. AK was busy, but again very manageable. We did spend a lot of time in lines at Camp Minnie Mickey to see the characters, and it was pretty warm. We had VIP seats for Festival of the Lion King (our about to be daughter-in-law was a dancer in the show) and after that we went back to the hotel and spent time in the pool. Surprisingly, we had the main pool nearly to ourselves for several hours. Generally, the flow of people on Saturday was out of the resorts, not in. Sunday was even lighter, and by Monday, the population density at the resort as well as the Parks was pretty light. We had family members coming in throughout the next week (wedding was on Dec 1st) and even though they were all on separate reservations, with separate check-in dates, the resort managed to put us all together in one row. So not real crowded.

Overall, it was a great time to visit. All the Christmas decorations were up and the festivities are in full swing. The week after Thanksgiving is definitely lighter, but if your schedule is such that you need to arrive on the Sat or Sun after, I wouldn't be too concerned about it.


Steve

[emerzmom]

This is a GREAT time to go to WDW! The weather is usually really nice and the Christmas decorations are up.
Hope you have fun!

Julie