Originally Posted By gwengee We're toying with going to Disneyland for Thanksgiving. Are the crowds REALLY bad? Has anyone had a Thanksgiving dinner there? Loved it/Hated it? Definitely on the fence for that time of year. Thanks for any info you can share!
Originally Posted By dlkozy We have gone a couple of times during Thanksgiving-we aren't doing that anymore! It is a madhouse! There was a place after Dumbo and before Storybook that was sooo mobbed with people that it was DEAD STOPPED. My children were scared because all they saw were a forest of LEGS! It did start to get uncomfortable because people started to push. I have had Thanksgiving dinner at the resort as well. Don't plan on eating there for dinner if you don't have reservations. By 1 pm there were no more reservations to be had anywhere-we saw lots of people being turned away from restaurants that we passed. Good Luck if you decide on going! :0)
Originally Posted By MickeyMommy We have gone the days before Thanksgiving for the last couple of years. The friday, saturday, sunday, monday and tuesday before. We usually drive home that tuesday morning. The crowds have not been bad at all, but from what I hear on the boards is that it starts getting crazy as the week goes on, and that from the day before Thanksgiving thru the weekend is a mad house. Having said all that, we have been during many holiday periods, and if you expect crowds, it is workable. For instance we always tour the parks bright and early, then head back to our hotel when the parks get full. If you want to spend all day in the parks, you may have a different feeling about it. After relaxing at the hotel, we usually go over to CA, which is always much less crowded. Disneyland at night is usually too crowded for us. As dlkozy said, you will want to have dinning reservations nailed down if you plan on going during a holiday period. And there is nothing wrong with being crazy. Its better than being boring!
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>It is a madhouse! There was a place after Dumbo and before Storybook that was sooo mobbed with people that it was DEAD STOPPED.<< My exprience as well (On Thanksgiving Day). It was wall to wall people just about everywhere. The most crowded I have ever seen it.
Originally Posted By fidoprincess We went last year and it was incredibly busy. We got there Tues night before Thanksgiving and Wed was okay. Crowded but we could do it. Thanksgiving and the Friday after were so busy, DL closed the gates at 10:30ish! It was mobbed with 120 minute waits. We were afraid to leave the park in case we could not get back in! We loved all the holiday stuff, it really was a great start to the holiday season but the crowds were just terrible. We left on Sunday and really did not do all we wanted but thank goodness we had plenty of dining reservations. DH said we know what to do when it is that crazy busy, EAT!-lol. Also our usually 7 hour drive on that Sunday turned into a more than 12 hour nightmare! We are going again this year but the weekend BEFORE and leaving in the eve the day before Thankgiving! Note also that the monorail, matterhorn, and screaming will all be closed during that time (I think.) One tip though I wish I had read before I went last year is to do all your home decorating before you go! I wished that we had done that, coming home was a let down after seeing all those beautiful decorations. Lots of people posted they did them before they left but I didn't see it until we were home. We usually do all the decoration on the weekend following Thanksgiving but this year, I will do it before we leave!
Originally Posted By gwengee Thanks, everyone! We just really wanted to squeeze one more visit in to Disney and Thanksgiving was the only time available for all of us. Now we just need to decide if we have the patience for wall-to-wall people or if we can wait for another chance at Disney magic. Thanks again!
Originally Posted By MickeyMommy Oh, one more thing. If I had to pick just one Disneyland trip a year, I would go during the dates I said above, or sometime during the time the holiday decorations are up. It is just so beautiful!!
