Originally Posted By zinaclinger Seems like I remember that the week of Thanksgiving is a great time to go. The crowds are light and the place is all decked out for Christmas. Can someone confirm? Also, last visit there was June 2005 for 50th celebration...it was jam packed (will never go again in the summer). We are use to goin in the off season and moving around easily...have there been any changes? I know that the HoJo has always been a fav on these boards but has that shifted? Clue me in guys!! Thanks!
Originally Posted By SuzieQ Typically, it's not too bad on the Mon./Tues. of Thanksgiving week. It starts crowding up on Wed. Thurs - Sun, it's jam packed!
Originally Posted By MickeyMommy We have gone the friday, saturday, sunday, monday and tuesday before Thanksgiving for the last few years. I think its a good time to go since the kids are out of school, but it isn't super crowded yet. SuzieQ is right, the later part of the week gets more crowded. But both parks and DTD is decked out for the holidays, and it really kicks off the season for us. Last year I booked the Grand thru Expedia with their "buy 3 nights, get one free" promotion, and I am hoping they have that promotion again this year. I believe I booked our November trip around mid-May, so I am getting anxious to see some deals! The HoJo is great - the year before last we stayed there Thanksgiving week for $45 a night with the Entertainment card rate! But they haven't been offering any rates like that for quite a while. But it is always a good choice. Two big heated pools, beautiful grounds, and friendly staff.
Originally Posted By wendebird Also, the Friday before Thanksgiving is when they film for the WDW Christmas Special. You could get a spot on the TV show. From the day before Thanksgiving to the Monday after Thanksgiving it's jam packed.
Originally Posted By zinaclinger So, you are saying that Thanksgiving day is busy...I am soooo surprized. I figured that everyone would be with their families around the big Thanksgiving day table. Guess not! I mean when you are a disney fan...you just go! We have CSAPs so we can ONLY be there that M-T-W BEFORE Thanksgiving day anyway. I would LOVE to stay at a Disney hotel...have never done that but I just CANNOT justify paying over $100 a night. I mean what makes them so special??????
Originally Posted By wendebird >>So, you are saying that Thanksgiving day is busy....<< Yup, it starts the day before, right when school gets out. Long weekends off from school=large crowds at Disneyland.
Originally Posted By dlkozy If you are lookin' for 10 minute waits on any of the rides the Sun-Wed before-forget it unless you are there right at park opening. We go every year during this time. Last year we were there the Sun-thru Wed and it is true it just gets worse everyday. But lots of people do not wait until Wed to head to the resort-they are there for Mon and Tues too!
Originally Posted By SuzieQ Right now it's hard to find anything in the resort area for under $100/night!
Originally Posted By Misty We went this past year, Sunday through Wednesday before Thanksgiving. It was VERY crowded. We went early and made the most of fastpass, so it was doable on Mon & Tues, but still waaayyy more crowded than when we went a few years ago. By nightime DL was packed. Wednesday was awful. It is a great time to go because of the Christmas stuff, but if you can wait until the week after Thanksgiving I would highly recommend it!
Originally Posted By wendebird I was there last year also. From Thursday-Monday am before Thanksgiving. I didn't think the weekend was any more crowded than a regular weekend. Monday am was very, very light in DCA. I'm sure as the day went on it got more & more packed though.
Originally Posted By Misty wendebird, I agree, DCA was not too crowded, although we saw 120 minute wait times on Soarin'. You went a bit earlier, which probably helped. Mon-Wed were our prime days and again, it was much more crowded than years past.
Originally Posted By ilvdland I was there the Monday-Friday - the day after Thanksgiving showed record crowds, at 1:00 no more tickets were being sold (please correct me if I'm wrong Darkbeer) and it was the busiest I had ever seen it. The days leading up to it were typical of any peak-season time.
Originally Posted By zinaclinger I think that we have to remember that last year were ALL record high numbers due to the 50th celebration. I went in June and it was an absolute mad house. So, I am hoping that being there Sun, Mon and Tues BEFORE Thanksgiving THIS year will not be AS bad. We dont REALLY have much of a choice, we go when there is a break. We live in Az and go to a charter school. We are lucky enough to be out that whole week while the public schools are not. We will just have to hope for the best. We ARE buying the park hopper BONUS. Maybe some of those early admissions will pay off.
Originally Posted By wendebird zinaclinger, that's a great attitude to have. But have the mindset that you could have large crowds & adjust accordingly. (Arrive early, get fastpasses, leave for a swim/nap at peak times, etc.) Have a great vacation!
Originally Posted By dlkozy That IS a good attitude to have zinaclinger-it IS manageable with the RIGHT attitude. Having gone the last 4 years during that time period-I can say it is crowded, but that still did NOT deter us!
Originally Posted By dlkozy Before that we used to go from Thanksgiving day through Sunday-we've decided we liked the before chaos time better than during the chaos time!
Originally Posted By dlkozy Also remember that if you are leaving LA on Wednesday so are THOUSANDS of other people! Leave early!
Originally Posted By zinaclinger dlkozy-havn't really thought of that. Good advice. I am sure a lot of people will be traveling that day and LA/Anaheim is already such a terrible place to drive in and out of. Oh, how I dread that traffic. Thanks for reminding me.
Originally Posted By dlkozy The trip home (Wed before Thanksgiving) took us an additional 3 HOURS-most of that between DLR and the grapevine.
Originally Posted By wendebird Oh, I once made the mistake of driving the day before Thanksgiving from Redding to Santa Nella. The stretch of road from where 580 meets 5 all the way to Santa Nella was a crawl. I've never seen traffic there! We spent the night in Santa Nella. Woke up on Thanksgiving Day to driv the rest of the way to Anaheim. We had that ground fog & the traffic was simply horrible the whole way. From Santa Nella no less. If anyone has driven down 5, you know that from 580 to the grapvine=no traffic, semis yes, but no traffic. It was horrible.
