Thanksgiving Day - Hollywood Studios or Magic Kingdom

[cindilouwho76]

We are headed to Disney Thanksgiving week and now that I am finalizing my FP+ choices, I'm starting to doubt my initial plan.

Initially I was planning to go to Hollywood Studios on Thanksgiving since it was later in my trip, so I would have a better chance at getting a FP+ for Slinky Dog. TouringPlans is projecting HS to be crowd level of 10. But, looking closer at the crowd calendars, HS is a 5 on Tuesday 11/20.

If I do change my HS day to earlier in the week, would I still have a decent chance at a SD FP+?

I guess it really comes down to - would you rather do a 10 crowd day at HS or a 8 crowd day at Magic Kingdom on Thanksgiving Day? (Magic Kingdom is an 8 either Tuesday or Thursday that week)

 

[disneygolfer1985]

I can tell you from experience that MK will be at a 10 no matter what they say. That will be the first park that would potentially have the phased closings. We have been many times over Christmas and Thanksgiving and have always avoided MK on both of those days after bad experiences. We would typically go to AK instead during the day and then go to a resort for dinner. We have had Thanksgiving Day dinner at 50s Prime Time which was pretty good. Personally, I would avoid MK.

 

[Delirium]

We're actually doing both parks on Thanksgiving day, though it should be said that Thursday is not our primary day in either park, so we're not overly concerned with crowds. Basically rope-dropping one ride (not Slinky) at HS and then doing a lot of shows until early afternoon and then hopping over to MK for a Liberty Tree ADR and our 3 FPs.

As far as your question about Slinky, a lot depends on your arrival day. What day do you arrive? If you are arriving any later than Saturday, I would expect it to be very difficult to get a FP for Slinky on Thanksgiving day, let alone Tuesday. Now, all of that is said based on the posted hours. If/When Disney extends hours for that week, additional FP opportunities will become available, but you'll need to jump right on them if you take that approach.

 

[DisneyMaleficent50]

Keep His later in stay. Usually day 4 or 5 before you can get SDD. MK will be a 10. If any park closes for capacity it will be MK. Try to avoid the parks from 11-3 they will be at high crowds then.

 

[cindilouwho76]

Thanks everyone! I'm just going to keep my original plan. I'm going to go to do our 2 days at MK earlier in the week before the crowds get crazy and keep my HS day for Thanksgiving and hope for the best on my FP+s.

 

[vfalkner]

I have seen multiple crowd calendars (all the free ones) recommend MK on Thanksgiving day so that was our plan. Is that not accurate or are you guys just saying all the parks be maxed on Thanksgiving day?

If they have to close the park for capacity and you go back to the hotel in the afternoon with the intention of coming back - are you allowed in because you were there in the morning or are you shut out once you leave?

 

[disneygolfer1985]

I have seen multiple crowd calendars (all the free ones) recommend MK on Thanksgiving day so that was our plan. Is that not accurate or are you guys just saying all the parks be maxed on Thanksgiving day?

If they have to close the park for capacity and you go back to the hotel in the afternoon with the intention of coming back - are you allowed in because you were there in the morning or are you shut out once you leave?

I don't know if they are correct or not, but I know from past experience that MK will be the first park that would have phased closings. Personally, I have never put faith in the crowd calendars, but I avoid MK on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. Now Thanksgiving is not as bad as Christmas Day, but it is possible. If the phased closing does occur, it will most likely be from about 12-4 and it should only apply to 1-day passes. If you are staying onsite, then it would have to go a higher level to exclude onsite guests. Personally, I think AK or Epcot are the best for crowded days as they are largest and absorbed the most guests. We went to Epcot last year on Christmas Day in the evening and it was a ghost town. Now it was cold for the week, so that may have had something to do with it.

I don't think all the parks will be maxed out, before Pandora opened up, AK was always the least crowded on Thanksgiving and Christmas and that is where they would bus people to who were trying to get into MK when MK started to have phased closings.

 

[Abbie485]

I have seen multiple crowd calendars (all the free ones) recommend MK on Thanksgiving day so that was our plan. Is that not accurate or are you guys just saying all the parks be maxed on Thanksgiving day?

If they have to close the park for capacity and you go back to the hotel in the afternoon with the intention of coming back - are you allowed in because you were there in the morning or are you shut out once you leave?

We are visiting the week of Thanksgiving as well. I was very skeptical when I saw the MK was recommended across the board on all the "free" Crowd Calendars. To me, MK would be the park to avoid on the actual holiday. When we visited a few years back over Easter, we did AK on Easter Sunday so we were thinking of doing the same for Thanksgiving day.

 

[cindilouwho76]

We are visiting the week of Thanksgiving as well. I was very skeptical when I saw the MK was recommended across the board on all the "free" Crowd Calendars. To me, MK would be the park to avoid on the actual holiday. When we visited a few years back over Easter, we did AK on Easter Sunday so we were thinking of doing the same for Thanksgiving day.

That was my initial approach as well. I figured that I didn't want to be anywhere near MK on Thanksgiving, so that's why I was planning to go to HS. Now that I am finalizing my FP+ choices, those crowd calendars were throwing me off when they were showing lower numbers for MK.

 

[charminnie]

We were there two years ago for Thanksgiving week. The crowds were manageable until Thanksgiving day. We were in MK and left before lunch because the crowd was so bad. We decided to spend the rest of the day at Typhoon Lagoon. Best decision we made! I would not recommend MK on a holiday.

 

[Crystal824]

We were there two years ago for Thanksgiving week. The crowds were manageable until Thanksgiving day. We were in MK and left before lunch because the crowd was so bad. We decided to spend the rest of the day at Typhoon Lagoon. Best decision we made! I would not recommend MK on a holiday.

Agreed. We were there then too. I agree the crowds were manageable until Thanksgiving day. We also went to MK that morning. We did our FP, played the interactive game in Adventureland, watched Move it Shake it, and left. We went back to the hotel pool for the rest of the day. We had lunch by the pool and then our reservation for dinner. I would stay away from MK on any holiday.

 

[pixie08]

I am confused by the crowd trackers. For T-day they say 8 at MK but 10 at the other parks? that seems odd to me. I went with my gut and made EPCOT for the morning . It is an EMH (which I know can make it busier) morning but we will just go, do a few things have lunch at GG and then go back to the resort for dinner.

What is also odd to me is the day before Tday. It shows AK and HS at a 10 and MK at a 7? I know the parks will be busy. Don't get me wrong but I have never been to WDW in all my times (many, many times) and have not seen MK to be the busiest park with the first closing. Maybe now with Toy Story land and Pandora it is shifting the crowds? that is my only thought.

 

[fairestoneofall]

We were there last year for Thanksgiving week. We just had a DS/resort day on Thanksgiving. The crowds the entire week were pretty high. We even waited over two hours for Dinosaur (man. I love my son a LOT!).

Being in the parks super early or super late seemed to be the best option for managing the crowds.

And I've been to WDW during many crowded times in the past. This one was the worst we've ever seen.

 

[pigletgirl]

If you do choose MK, be prepared to be there the entire day. If you leave, you may not be able to enter again due to closures. Are you certain you want to be in a park for Turkey day?

I would have a relaxing day, and maybe go see a movie at DS. (Lot's of good movies coming out around T-day!)

Do you have dining reservations?

 

[cindilouwho76]

If you do choose MK, be prepared to be there the entire day. If you leave, you may not be able to enter again due to closures. Are you certain you want to be in a park for Turkey day?

I would have a relaxing day, and maybe go see a movie at DS. (Lot's of good movies coming out around T-day!)

Do you have dining reservations?

We already have a non-park day scheduled for Wed (day before Thanksgiving). Wednesday is right in the middle of our trip, so I know we will need a break by then.
Yes, we have reservations in HS at Sci-Fi for dinner on Thursday.

 

[pigletgirl]

We already have a non-park day scheduled for Wed (day before Thanksgiving). Wednesday is right in the middle of our trip, so I know we will need a break by then.
Yes, we have reservations in HS at Sci-Fi for dinner on Thursday.

Ah, gotcha. I would stick to HS then.

 

[lahobbs4]

I've been going back and forth on my Thanksgiving day plans, too! I was about to schedule MK but I'm glad I found this thread. We are also taking a break day on Wednesday (going to DS to see Wreck it Ralph 2!) but Thursday may end up as one, also.

We really want to watch the Macy's parade in our room so it may be too crowded after that at any of the parks. We are doing dinner at Hoop Dee Doo

 

[Delirium]

MK is recommended by the calendars, not because it will be less crowded, but because it handles crowds better than the other parks.

 

[jaceraden]

We went to MK 2 days after US Thanksgiving (so, the Saturday) last year. I did not enjoy it. But, to each their own.

 

[ariane37]

We did Thanksgiving week in 2015 and 2016 and are doing it again this year, we really enjoy it. We've done both AK and HS on Thanksgiving day; in 2016 we wished we'd done MK as friends were sending us pictures of a surprisingly low-crowd park and HS was not very fun after 11! There haven't been any phased closures on Thanksgiving in years so no worries about that, but it doesn't mean the parks won't be super crowded.
This year we'll be in AK after our 3pm dinner at Boma; haven't decided yet if we'll RD a different park or not. We've also done MK and Epcot on Black Friday, MK gets real busy by early afternoon but we've found Epcot, at least WS, to be manageable.