Thanksgiving week is going to be packed

[1GoldenSun]

We used to go every year for Thanksgiving week and never minded the crowds much. I have such wonderful memories of those times! We definitely didn't get to do as much as we did on other visits but it was so nice to see the parks and resorts all decorated and families wearing their Christmas t-shirts and such. The people watching is never better than Thanksgiving week!

With the new annual pass tiers I just couldn't justify spending the extra to avoid the Thanksgiving blackout dates, so this will be the first year (except for the closure) that we won't be there. It's kind of sad for me, but at least we won't be adding to the crowds!

We're going the second week in December instead. Should be pretty busy then too, haha!

 

[Chuck S]

We were constantly crisscrossing. G+ actually suggests you go to close things, like Lightning McQueen or the Beauty and the Beast show, but we obviously aren't doing that when we paid for G+. You have to keep scrolling down, and you have to know what is worth booking. We were at over 12 miles every day with G+ on the Fitbit. I hadn't really thought about it that way, but yes, it was a lot of crisscross.

For less experienced users, Genie will make you build a droid or ride barnstormer. Maybe that will help the crowd?

So they could add exercise and physical fitness to the G+ marketing?

 

[soniam]

Park passes are pretty much gone
Hotels / DVC are sold out
ADRs are non existent

Yet the hours remain untouched.

It is so frustrating how they just drag their feet on the hours.

I see varying availability on park reservations for that week. I see theme park and resort availability for most days. I see AP availability too. However, if I try to book anything for that week on my husband's AP, it shows no availability. Weird. How are you looking?

 

[soniam]

Nevermind. It looks like it had just got reloaded. I think the no availability for AP when trying to book is because we already have park reservations during that week, except those are on tickets, not AP. Oh well.

https://www.disboards.com/threads/disney-news-discussion-an-element-of-fun.3838908/post-63507454

 

[_19disnA]

Disney probably has a sense of how busy it might be based on park reservations, but they aren't going to share that with anyone ahead of time. Travel might still be lower due to reduced international travel or those staying closer to home while covid remains an issue. I imagine those who lost their job/business during covid aren't going to be going on any pricey vacations soon. Travel industry tries to hype up huge increases in travel mostly to get people to book their plans, somewhat like watching late night TV infomercials were you have to buy right NOW so you don't miss out.

 

[RoyandWalt]

Hoping everyone leaves by Sunday, I come in the Monday after Thanksgiving!

Same here. We will wave to you.

 

[Spankymclovin]

We are flying in Thanksgiving morning. Our first park day is the next day on Friday. We will be in the parks from the 26th to the 5th. I know the first few days will be insane, but hoping the following week will be a lot less crowded.

 

[Lsyves]

Disney probably has a sense of how busy it might be based on park reservations, but they aren't going to share that with anyone ahead of time. Travel might still be lower due to reduced international travel or those staying closer to home while covid remains an issue. I imagine those who lost their job/business during covid aren't going to be going on any pricey vacations soon. Travel industry tries to hype up huge increases in travel mostly to get people to book their plans, somewhat like watching late night TV infomercials were you have to buy right NOW so you don't miss out.

There are a few parks already sold out Thanksgiving week. I am not sure where I saw that...probably on Twitter...

 

[TiggerBouncy]

So they could add exercise and physical fitness to the G+ marketing?

Except that G+ tries to minimize cross-park activities. The poster you are responding to was ignoring G+'s recommendations and scrolling down to find the activities they wanted to do instead of the ones it suggested that were intended specifically to be near your current location.

The problem is that G+ wants to divert you to things that are open - but things that are open may not be the things that experienced Disney goers want to do. (Less experienced guests may not know what these activities are, and since it will be a first or rare time for them will benefit from these things).

 

[_19disnA]

Well certainly if you try to make a park reservation for a specific day and none are available you can also figure out it is sold out. However, not sure if Disney is back to 100% capacity though and they never talk about that. If they are only at 85% capacity (for example), then park reservations for a specific day will be gone sooner.

 

[persnickity]

Reservations have been blocked out and then magically available again several times at this point, implying it's quite likely they have been deciding they can squeeze a few more in and raising capacity. (It could also be that cancellations don't immediately become available again, so they have a bucket of those that they periodically dump back into the availability calendar, but I'm a little skeptical.)

Given that we've already seen some pretty crowded days in the past couple of months, I don't think it's much of a leap to assume it's going to be even more packed Thanksgiving week. I feel like I need a support group.

 

[BrotherCraig]

We are flying in Thanksgiving morning. Our first park day is the next day on Friday. We will be in the parks from the 26th to the 5th. I know the first few days will be insane, but hoping the following week will be a lot less crowded.

Week after Thanksgiving is amazing. We love that week. Have fun.

 

[JakeAZ]

It looks like they've refilled the park passes for that week (except for HS on Thanksgiving). Great! More people and still no update to the hours.

Also, ADRs for that week have been scarce for over a month now. I hope they have upped the capacity for the QS spots...

 

[princesspiglet]

Park passes are pretty much gone
Hotels / DVC are sold out
ADRs are non existent

Yet the hours remain untouched.

It is so frustrating how they just drag their feet on the hours.

i disagree! I just booked today for arrival on Thanksgiving day and departing Sunday. I had 7 resorts to choose from, all the parks had reservations open ( except for DHS on tday) and I was able to get plenty of ADR’s! Im not sure what your talking about.

 

[JakeAZ]

i disagree! I just booked today for arrival on Thanksgiving day and departing Sunday. I had 7 resorts to choose from, all the parks had reservations open ( except for DHS on tday) and I was able to get plenty of ADR’s! Im not sure what your talking about.

Park reservations were refilled today. There's a post about that right above your post. My guess is more hotel rooms were released in conjunction with that too. ADRs still look very scarce with basically nothing for a party of 4 in the parks the entire week for dinner. Sure DS and hotels have some spots, but that's just what's left over after the desirable places / times were booked up.

My post (from Monday) is primarily about it shaping up to be a crowed week, but hours haven't been adjusted.

I'm happy you were able to grab what you wanted, but that doesn't change MK closing at 9pm on Thanksgiving and the holiday weekend being inadequate for the expected crowd levels.

 

[MrsPete]

It is so frustrating how they just drag their feet on the hours.

Cynical me thinks this is about saving money.

AND people (like us) rescheduling to that week from 2020.

Yes, I think this is a huge factor: Holidays have always been heavy-crowd days, but now we also have the people who put off last year's trip.

 

[JakeAZ]

Cynical me thinks this is about saving money.

Nothing cynical about it. It's very logical, based on everything else they are doing to either save or fleece us more.

I do think they will extend hours, but are obviously in no hurry to do it.

 

[Grumpy by Birth]

So they could add exercise and physical fitness to the G+ marketing?

Additionally, looking out for the health and fitness of guests by not bringing back parking lot trams!

 

[JakeAZ]

Additionally, looking out for the health and fitness of guests by not bringing back parking lot trams!

The trams will probably come back as an IA$

It's really funny how much (deservedly so) bad press this cost saving measure is getting.

 

[StageTek]

Hoping everyone leaves by Sunday, I come in the Monday after Thanksgiving!

I come in on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. Last time I did that was 2009 and the crowds were low but built up by the weekend.