My Disney World Thanksgiving Trip Report

Things I would do again:
- Getting the stroller from a 3rd party so you can have it at the resort. Plus, the rented ones in the park look extremely uncomfortable. We went with a double BOB and that thing was amazing. Only issue it folding it up on the busses was a pain. Even folded, it was huge. Be prepared to apologize a lot to people.
- Getting breakfast and snacks delivered with Amazon Prime Now. This saved us both time and money. My family usually does light breakfasts at home, so this was no real routine change. Girls had Cheerios and muffins and my wife and I had bagels and cream cheese. Also ordered diapers which saved luggage space. Being able to do quick breakfasts put us ahead of all the people fighting lines in the food court in the morning.
- Hoop Dee Do Revue. Such a great show for both kids and adults. It is a pain to get there. We had to take a bus to the MK and then a boat to Fort Wilderness. Splurge for the Category 1 seating if you can. Our table was right up front and grabbed the kid’s attention right away. Fried chicken and sides were great. The ribs I could do without. And the bottomless beer and sangria is a plus. After the show, we opted for a Minnie Van.
- Minnie Vans. Because Hoop Dee Do finished so late (11:00), we didn’t have the energy to drag the kids back on the ferry to catch a bus. So, we opted to get a couple Minnie Vans. Requested it as the show was letting out and the vans showed up within 5 mins. He had car seats for the kids and set them up for us. Best $30 I’ve ever spent.
- Snack more in the parks rather than do meals. Some of the best things at Disney are the snacks. I budgeted for each of us to have 2 snacks a day and we didn’t come close to that because we ate so much at the table service meals.

Things I wouldn’t do again:
- Not as many table service meals. First, they are incredibly expensive especially for the kids. My 5 year ate mac and cheese the entire trip. Also, they are time consuming. We had to cut time in the park to get to a dining reservation. Looking back, Akershus and Ohana were probably not worth it. Akershus is just your normal breakfast fare and the princesses were not very personable. Ohana was just poor planning on my part. I was desperate to get a reservation, so we were stuck with 4pm. Completely killed our day at Hollywood Studios.
- Avoid the shows at the parks, like Frozen, Beauty and the Beast, Nemo, etc. The girls really didn’t take to them. Plus, it’s hard to keep them engaged for 30-45 mins. Also, it’s a big time hog because even if you have a FP, you still end up waiting 20 mins for the show essentially taking up over an hour of your day.
- Animal Kingdom. I just don’t see the appeal of this place. The safari is just a zoo tour. The shows are meh. And don’t get me started on DinoLand. Flight of Passage and Expedition Everest are the only things worth doing here. I could see us skipping it next time easily.

I’m happy to answer any questions. I did a lot of preparation for this trip including reading The Unofficial Guide to Disney World and getting a TouringPlans.com membership. I’d highly recommend both!

How were the crowds overall throughout the week? Did you have to bring the lids back to the resort for a mid-day break or were they ok resting in the strollers?

I agree, if planned right, Disney is doable even during peak crowd times

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Only issue it folding it up on the busses was a pain. Even folded, it was huge. Be prepared to apologize a lot to people.

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Been there. It's miserable. It is why I'll never stay at the far away resorts again.

I thought Art of Animation was pretty crappy.

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Avoid the shows at the parks, like Frozen, Beauty and the Beast, Nemo, etc. The girls really didn’t take to them.

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Interesting. My daughter loved all of these shows. She was 3.5 when we went.

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Animal Kingdom. I just don’t see the appeal of this place. The safari is just a zoo tour. The shows are meh. And don’t get me started on DinoLand. Flight of Passage and Expedition Everest are the only things worth doing here. I could see us skipping it next time easily.

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Completely disagree. It was easily our favorite park.

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I thought Art of Animation was pretty crappy.

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I somewhat agree. The appeal was the food court. The food options were really good and everyone commented on how good everything was. But if they don't update the rooms by the next time we go, we are going to do the updated rooms at Pop Century.

And the walk to the Little Mermaid rooms was rough.

We went last year during Thanksgiving but mostly Universal and only one Disney day. I see that the kids in your krewe are younger than mine so Disney probably made more sense.

Staying at a Universal property and having the pass that works for every ride, along with how spread out the park is never felt crowded at all. Max wait time/ride was 15 minutes over three days and even the lines have interesting stuff to watch. Disney always seems to feel crowded (comparatively) whether it's a peak time or not (IMO).

I don't have anything against Disney but happy we've done that a couple of times and won't have to again. I actually learned from the last trip that I enjoy Universal myself, in addition to my kids liking it. We are going to do it again next Thanksgiving (one final time) before the kids start high school. They relate more to the Universal characters also.

I just got back last week. We arrived 11/15 and left 11/20. We did parks the 16th through the 19th. The first 2 days were nice.... I guess the thanksgiving crowds hadn't arrived. The Sunday at MK and Monday at HS was crazy crowded. I heard several people mention that they had never seen HS that crowded before. We stayed at Pop Century and it was pretty nice. The rooms were smaller than I expected though. My kids (4 year old twins) had a blast. It was an exhausting vacation for sure. I'd go back, but want to wait 3 or 4 years before I do. I don't get people who want to go multiple times a year.

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Staying at a Universal property and having the pass that works for every ride, along with how spread out the park is never felt crowded at all

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The Potter sections are really the only ones that get Disney crowded for the most part. I've been several times where you can barely move in there. Been lucky to go to a few closed events there too where you get to ride repeatedly on the good Potter rides and get food buffets.

I love Universal and I go there far more often than Disney because of free tickets from relatives that work there, but until recently Disney quality has been way above Universal. Potter changed that, Universal is starting to see the benefit of going above and beyond in making the environment top notch quality. For instance Marvel Island is really dated and basically blows arse in design, but now that Disney owns Marvel, we won't get to see them update it. Disney will let them keep that dated design and laugh.

I can't wait for Nintendo, that part is going to get Disney crowded as well.

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I'd put Hollywood Studios, with Toy Story and upcoming Galaxy's Edge, at a 2 day park now.

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Yeah I haven't been since they added Toy Story. Depends on SW IX if I spend more time at Galaxy's Edge, Piss me off to be reminded of that garbage film right now.

The reason I like the shows is they are generally enjoyable for adults with adult humor and entertainment, but because they are a nice break from the elements to sit down and relax. When it’s 85 out and you’ve been sweating balls for 6 hours I’ll take a 45 minute AC’d show. They aren’t all amazing, but I think they are really good.

If you have little kids that nap, it’s a great thing to do around their nap time as the cold dark room will usually put my kids to sleep. Half the time they pass out before the show starts.