Week before or after Thanksgiving

[jsmommy]

Hello everyone,
I've read these forums for years but rarely post. A timing issue has brought me out of hiding. My family has gone to Disneyland many times the week after Thanksgiving but this year we made our plans for the week before Thanksgiving. We were hoping for lower crowds but still all the holiday activities. With the delay in announcing the start of the holiday season we are considering moving to the week after.

I have a younger daughter who would be very upset with not seeing Santa, snow after fireworks, etc but on the other hand my parents who would do much better with lower crowds. Then there's my teenage son who wants to ride as many rides as possible. Out of six of us we are split 50/50 on when to go.

So I guess I'm asking everyone - please help me decide. If we were going back soon it wouldn't be such a decision, but we won't be back for at least two years and at that point we have to go over the holidays because of high school. We have a week until we have to finalize work schedules so I'm hoping you wonderful people can help my head figure something out.

Thanks!

 

[Matty B]

Hello!

We did the week before Thanksgiving in 2011, it was awesome. We stayed at the Cabins at Ft Wilderness, great experience. My daughter was 7 and my son was 9 months and it was great for us.

Crowds, the only day it was slammed was Thanksgiving day in Magic Kingdom, we did the Princess Dinner in the castle and they served traditional Thanksgiving Dinner and I must say it was great.

We are from South Louisiana, so the weather is pretty much the same but it was still shorts wearing weather but the air was far less humid and the nights were cool.

We are doing this same trip in 2015, cant wait!

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Matty B, I believe the OP is asking about DLR, not WDW.

For the OP, my sister visits DLR almost every year during Thanksgiving week (the days right before, the holiday, and up through the weekend right after). It has been increasingly more crowded every year. She would rather go the week after, but school schedules don't allow for that. So if you can, the week after might be better overall -- not so crowded and all the holiday festivities going on. Hope this helps.

 

[jsmommy]

Thanks both! Yes I was talking about Disneyland sorry for not being clear. I'm voting to move our trip the week after but the family wants to give it another week to make sure Disneyland doesn't announce the holiday dates. Fingers crossed!

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Usually, Holiday Time at DLR begins around Veteran's Day and runs through the first week of January. So you should be good with either of your choices.

 

[LongTimeFan]

I hope they announce the holiday happenings soon!

I have never been to DL the week of a half marathon, so I don't know if it makes for larger crowds, but there is a half marathon on Sunday, Nov 16th. Maybe others know if it makes that week busier than usual or not.

 

[Jenasweetemotion]

I love the week following Thanksgiving. We have gone during this time for 5 years. Last year our schedule made us move to the second week in December and after we did that and saw increased crowds we made sure to go back to the following week after Thanksgiving (which is what we are doing this year). I haven't gone the week before Thanksgiving so I can't compare. I have noticed since cars land opened that there are more people during what used to be a slow time.
I am also waiting for the Holiday stuff to be released.

 

[Just Peachy]

Took the family the week prior to Thanksgiving in 2013. As, an earlier poster said, the Christmas theming and shows are in full swing that week (in the parks). The hotels have not switched over decorations to Christmas yet as they seem to do that right after Thanksgiving. However, the big tree was up and decorated in the lobby of the GCH.

We had an awesome time

The crowds were about the same as any summer vacation time we have spent in the parks, where Thanksgiving day was really light.

All our vacations up 'till now have been around the vacation schedule of the public school system. So, we learned how to adapt to bigger crowds and plan accordingly.

 

[Sherry E]

Let me clear up what will and will not be up and running, or what could possibly be up and running early for the holiday season (this is what I do, which is why I am at the helm of the Disneyland at Christmas/Holiday Season Superthread!).

Last year, the hotels were decorated (at least all of the trees had gone up) 9 days before Thanksgiving (earlier than usual). The gingerbread house in Storytellers Cafe was up before Thanksgiving. I would expect that a similar thing will happen again this year because, again, we have a late Thanksgiving. All 3 hotels received some form of new décor last year, and I can't see that Disney would spend the money on that if they didn't plan to start getting the hotels ready sooner than they used to.

However, Santa and the carolers will most likely not appear at the hotels until Thanksgiving -- if they did appear early, it would be brand new this year.

Downtown Disney may not be in full holiday mode until after Thanksgiving as well.

Santa will be at his stations in Disneyland (at the Jingle Jangle Jamboree) and in California Adventure (at Elias & Co.) as soon as the holiday season officially starts.

Many -- dare I say, most -- holiday things will be in place over Veterans Day weekend, because the Christmas Fantasy Parade taping will take place right around that time. So the fireworks and snow should (unofficially) begin somewhere around 11/7 or 11/8 -- unless Disney has, for some reason, planned some other event that will interrupt the schedule. The Bell Ringers will be ringing over this weekend. The Buena Vista Street tree lighting will take place. It's a Small World Holiday will be open. Jingle Cruise will probably be going strong. The Jingle Jangle Jamboree may even be open.

However, if the season has not officially begun yet, then it is not guaranteed that the fireworks and Christmas parade will run nightly.

After the official start date of the season, it's game on. Everything in the parks that is supposed to be happening for the holidays should be happening then, or within a couple of days after it.

Disney will not start the holidays (officially) any later than 11/14, I am fairly certain, and they could start them as early as 11/12 or even 11/10.

So...the week before Thanksgiving will offer the full array of in-park holiday fun and Santa, and a good possibility of the trees and other décor at the hotels being up as well.

Some food items and merchandise items may not appear until Thanksgiving and beyond, and the Storybook Land Canal Boat ride (which will have teeny decorations on the cottages, etc.) sometimes is not open until after Thanksgiving.

Personally, I would go the week after Thanksgiving because I wouldn't want to risk missing even a single hotel decoration. It's a good time to go because a lot of people clear out after Thanksgiving break and head back to work and school before Christmas break.

However, many, many other people don't need the hotels and Downtown Disney to be in full holiday mode as well, nor do they need every single food item and merchandise item to be available, so they are fine with going pre-Thanksgiving.

If it's just an issue of not wanting to miss Santa or miss the fireworks and snow, you won't miss those things if you go the week before Thanksgiving. Santa will be in the parks, and the season will have officially begun.