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View Full Version : Thanksgiving or Christmas at the parks?



Surfingstitch
08-01-2004, 02:32 PM
I am think of going to the parks during one of these times.

What would you recommend as the better travel time.

Does anyone know of which one is busier?

Thanks.

SallySkellington
08-01-2004, 02:41 PM
My last trip to DLR was the week before Christmas. It was a mob scene. Adventureland was a complete bottleneck. However, with fastpass, single-rider, and five days at the parks, my family and I got to see almost everything, and got to see our favorites more than once.

I also went the day before Thanksgiving five years ago, and it wasn't busy at all. I saw practically everything in less than a day.

So I would imagine (as a rule of thumb) that Christmas is busier than Thanksgiving. So unless there's something you're dying to see that's only happening around Christmas, I'd go at Thanksgiving.

Hope that helps. :)

Surfingstitch
08-01-2004, 02:45 PM
Thanks.

I don't have a lot of vacation time left, but I wanted to go for a couple of day so Christmas and Thanksgiving seem the best times.

My new favorite ride it the Tower of Terror.

Suburban Plankton
08-01-2004, 07:26 PM
We went the week of Thanksgiving last year, and are doing the same this year. Monday - Wednesday were very quiet. Thursday and Friday were as busy as I have ever seen in Disneyland. On the plus side, DCA was still not too busy on Thanksgiving day. If you enjoy the park (as we do) stay at DCA on Thursday and Friday,and do Disneyland the rest of the week.

Dlandmom
08-02-2004, 08:18 AM
I know this isn't exactly what you're asking, but if there's any possible way you can go the week after Thanksgiving, that would be optimum between the two. If you only have a few vacation days, perhaps you can arrive the Friday or Saturday after Thanksgiving (though that will be crowded) and stay until Tuesday or Wednesday (which will be much less crowded). Crowds are much lower, and all the Christmas decorations will be up. Between the two actual holiday weeks, though, I'd pick Thanksgiving.

Pat-n-Eil
08-02-2004, 02:39 PM
We went the week of Thanksgiving last year, and are doing the same this year. Monday - Wednesday were very quiet. Thursday and Friday were as busy as I have ever seen in Disneyland. On the plus side, DCA was still not too busy on Thanksgiving day. If you enjoy the park (as we do) stay at DCA on Thursday and Friday,and do Disneyland the rest of the week.

Hmm.. funny how two people can see things totally different. We went during Thanksgiving week last year as well. While I agree that Thursday and Friday were as busy as I'd ever seen it, I also thought the days prior were exceedingly busy. We went during the last week of June this year and it seems about 1/2 as busy as last Thanksgiving. We were amazed.

I agree with the DCA part though - it is usually pleasant whenever we go there.

We wanted to see (and ended up liking) the holiday version of Disneyland, and because we have kids we had to take advantage of their school vacations to go.. but we won't do that again. We may go during the holiday time again, but definitely NOT the actual week of Thanksgiving (nor Christmas). If you can go in one of the in-between weeks, I think you'd fare much better as far as crowds go.

ralfrick
08-03-2004, 09:12 AM
I, too, thought it was quite busy Sun-Wed before Thanksgiving last year.

olegc
08-03-2004, 11:28 AM
When you go also depends on what level of Holiday events you want to see. Usually the final parts of the whole offering (whether it's parades, santa, etc.) don't come until Thanksgiving Thursday but the decorations, ride overlays, and souvenirs/treats are all in place. I don;t think the HolidayTime tour starts until Thanksgiving Day as well.

As others have said - the time between Thanksgiving weekend and December 20th or so is the best to go. All of the elements will be in work and the crowds not so bad - this way you can take advantage of all that the parks have to offer. Any other time and you have to be creative with your selection of things to do as well as your schedule and timing..

Surfingstitch
08-04-2004, 08:43 AM
I didn't think about the week after Thanksgiving, but I think that will sound like fun too.

Thanks for all of the input.