2018 Week After Thanksgiving

Hi everyone! We are planning a trip to Disney November 25-December 1 (the week after Thanksgiving) this year and I have seen mixed opinions on crowd levels during that week. Do any of you have opinions about the crowd levels the week after Thanksgiving? And perhaps weather based on previous years. We have a 3 yr old and a 1 yr old, so wait time and weather are huge factors and we can theoretically go anytime (kids not in school or daycare). We definitely want to go during the Christmas decoration season.

we have been that week a couple of times and crowds have been great and Christmas decorations in full swing. Weather was fantastic–hoodies in the am/pm and great the rest of the day. We like to swim at night and it was a bit chilly for that (although my kids did not care one bit-LOL) but afternoon swims would probably be no problem if average weather.

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We’re going 11/24-12/2 with our 2 & 5 year olds. Everything I’ve read is it’s a good week to go other than high airfare flying down the weekend after thanksgiving

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that was the week I went last year, and it was amazing! Aside from our last day, a Saturday, when the Magic Kingdom was oppressively crowded. We had little to no wait for anything all week long so that last day was a bit of a shock. I am sure a good touring plan would have helped, but we went in thinking we’d just hit some highlights before getting on the Tragical Express… next time I’d plan pool time instead :slight_smile:

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We went Nov 26 - Dec 3 last year. It was myself, my 2 year old and my mom. I thought the crowds were very reasonable and the weather was PERFECT! It was cool at night and in the morning but then mid 70s during the day. Hot enough for shorts and t-shirts and we went swimming some too! We normally go in October for F&W and Halloween, but we wanted to see the Christmas decorations. I will say our MVMCP did not sell out, but the one before it and after did. The crowds at the party were (in my opinion) ridiculous! We weren’t doing a lot of the “Big” attractions - lots of characters and shows and I don’t think we waited long for anything and FastPass availability really wasn’t an issue. The only hiccup we had was our own fault (really my moms haha) and not getting to Epcot early enough to get on FEA without a FastPass, but it wasn’t a super big deal. If we weren’t so in love with Halloween and Food and Wine I think we would go this week or the first week of December every year. Hope that helps!

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What day if the week did you do MVMCP?

We have gone during Thanksgiving break week twice in the past and it is kind of a nightmare as far as crowds all the way up to the day or so after Thanksgiving!

We have finally learned to plan our trip the week AFTER Thanksgiving this year from Nov 24-29 and you will find that it is still going to be busy but not as crazy for sure. The Day we arrive will be insane, as will the next day but I expect the rest of the time to be very tolerable. But based on past experience we decided it is worth taking our kids out of school for a week.

The first time we went at Thanksgiving the weather for us was perfect as it was high 70’s - low 80’s during the day and low 70’s to high 60’s at night. Then again we are from Upstate New York so that kind of weather was a dream for us considering the snowy weather waiting for us back home. Most locals were wearing jackets and we were wearing full blown summer gear like tank tops and shorts diving into the pools while the lifeguards looked at us like we were insane! LOL. But we love the weather at that time of the year as it sure beats Florida in the summer for sure! If you bring a sweatshirt with you for when it get’s chilly at night, at least for us was all that was needed.

However, the last time we went at Thanksgiving it rained almost every day and it barely reached 70 the entire trip, but again we are from Upstate NY so even that was not to bad for us. But any way you put it cold and wet are not fun. We would usually pack sweatshirts for going into the parks each day and ended up buying some ponchos from Epcot, that we got our money worth on. I think the worst part was the wet and cold feet for that trip.

All in all though based on what I have seen in the past and what the Touring Plan Crowd Calendar says the highest overall crowd day for that week is a 5. But even then make sure you use the touring plan tool, it has helped us so much! Even during the busy Thanksgiving break last time we went.

With all that said since you are going around the same time as us, I noticed people asking others in this forum about sharing the Memory Maker? I have purchased this in the past on my own and love it, but never shared a plan with someone before. I am still looking into it to see if it is a hassle or worth saving the money to do so. If you’re interested let me know, maybe we can work something out?

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We went on a Tuesday.

I am going from 11/26 to 12/4 this year, and am also interested in a memory maker share, so let know if you want to talk more @card1one ! I’ve participated in a share in the past and thought it was well worth it, and if no one else feels up to it I’d be willing to lead the share as well this time.

Seems like we are all going the week after Thanksgiving :slight_smile: We are going 11/26 to 12/05.

Hopefully that doesn’t mean it will be busy since so many liners seem to be going! :smile:

Exactly!:joy:

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When you say the party was ridiculous, do you mean ridiculously crowded or not crowded.

Ridiculously crowded. This was my first MVMCP, but I have done multiple MNSSHP before and it was nuts. Granted this was on Main Street and in direct vicinity to the Hub, but unless as soon as you got there you staked out a spot as soon as you entered the park for the first parade or even the castle show you might as well forget about it. We had to use the overflow entrance on Main Street to even get to other parts of the park because so many people were already camped out for the first parade. The lines for all the photopass magic spots were 20-30 minutes long so we missed though as well. I don’t know if the Christmas parties are always like that, but we won’t be going to another until my little guy is older. However, we will be going to a Halloween party this year. This could be that Disney has just upped the amount of tickets they are selling. We did NOT ride any attractions. We go more for the unique characters and the entertainment so I can’t speak to how the lines there were.

Thanks for the info. That’s very discouraging, as it is so expensive! I’m debating if it will really be worth it. We would mostly do rides. But it’s so late we wouldn’t be able to rope drop a park the next day.

Maybe at some point it would be worth creating a new thread asking if there was a party during that week that wasn’t as crowded. I am pretty sure the answer will be that they all were busy. We have thought about attending as well, but I definitely don’t want to do it if it’s going to be miserable.

Yes considering the price I left feeling pretty disappointed. I always plan on the day after the party to be a rest or late to the parks kind of day, but still kind of leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Like I said, we didn’t do rides so I can’t comment on lines for those, but maybe they wouldn’t be too bad as I felt everyone in the park was on Main Street haha

@dunegirl @card1one We are going December 2-12. I’ve already purchased MM and have it linked in my MDE account. How does sharing it work? I’d be willing to share if it’d work out but honestly I’m a total newbie (haven’t been to Disney since 2000) I don’t know how it works. We also have a large party so I’m not sure if that influences things (11 of us using it already).

@polskamichelle The size of your party doesn’t really matter in terms of doing a share, but the fact that you’ve already purchased the memory maker may make it more difficult to do. I will send you a DM with more detail.

I might be interested in more information as well. We are hoping to go Nov 25-Dec 1.