Hi! We were in Disney from 11/20-11/27 for Thanksgiving and I figured I'd post a recap with the good and bad!
We arrived on 11/20 after the world's easiest flight. We left a few minutes early and arrived half an hour early making it an hour and a half flight from Houston. LOL, we would pay for this later. At any rate my cousin who lives in Orlando picked us up, took us by Publix, and we were checking in to the Grand Floridian by 1:30 PM. We were in our room by 1:45 and in Magic Kingdom by 2:30. This was a mistake. If we do holiday time again I will not go into the parks on the first day. Even with our fast passes it was just too hard to get anything done in the afternoon! We had our first FP for Peter Pan at 3, then waited 45 minutes for Ariel, used our next FP for Dumbo, waited 20 minutes for the People Mover, went to BOG for our dinner reservation, and then used our final FP for the Tomorrowland Speedway. Dinner was great. The new BOG menu is a huge improvement IMO. After the speedway we headed back to our hotel because we were exhausted and had an early start the next day.
11/21: Hollywood Studios day. We splurged for the Early Morning Magic and I am so glad we did. We got to HS a bit later than I wanted to....they were having bus issues. We still entered Toy Story Land by 7:35 though and headed straight to Alien Swirl Saucers. We rode this 3 times with zero wait and then headed over to Toy Story Mania. DD and I rode it once with zero wait while DH headed to Slinky Dog. He waited maybe 10 minutes. Then we switched and I waited maybe 5 minutes. Super fun ride! I absolutely loved it. Very smooth and easy. DD has no interest in thrill rides so she passed. After this I rode it one more time while DD and DH did Aliens. Then we all rode Alien Swirl one more time before gettingin line for Jessie and Woody. That line just doesn't move so we gave up and headed over for breakfast. We could see the rope drop crowd coming in and OH.MY.GOODNESS. I was so glad we experienced Toy Storyland with very little crowds. Breakfast was fine. Not great but fine. After eating we walked over to Rock and Rollercoaster and used our fast pass. It was already a two hour wait at 9:30 am! HS felt very, very crowded. It was the one park we could barely move in all week. We decided to cancel our other two fast passes and use them at Epcot instead. We were out of HS by 10 am but had to wait 45 minutes for a bus. After lunch and relaxing in our room for a bit we headed to Epcot and used our last two FP's on Living with the Land and Figment. DD loves both. She is strange, lol. I mean I do, too, but most 8 year olds don't! After our FP's we went to dinner at La Hacienda. Nope. This place has gone downhill drastically. We got the seafood platter and it was not very good. Our least favorite meal all week. After dinner we did Donald's boat ride, walked onto Figment again, walked onto Nemo and then left. Good day!
11/22: MK day. I was very disappointed the park only opened at 9 am all week. It made it hard to get a lot done. We did our best though! We walked onto Buzz at rope drop and then headed over for Ariel and walked onto that. Then we used our FP's for Winnie the Pooh, It's a Small World, and maybe Dumbo? I can't remember. We had lunch at Crystal Palace. The food was great but it took so long to see all the characters. After lunch we headed out and relaxed before dinner at Narcoose's. It was good but not worth the money. We did go back to the park after dinner and did Buzz with a FP and the Peoplemover. Then we left.
11/23: AK day. This park was also super crowded. We had breakfast at Tusker House during park opening though so that contributes to it. We all like Tusker House though so we decided we didn't care. After breakfast we used our FP for the Safari, did the Gorilla trail (very fun! We never do it during the summer so it was our first time.), used our 2nd FP for the river journey, and then headed out. I booked our 3rd FP for Jungle Cruise while on the bus. After we got to the hotel we ate lunch, swam in the pool (it was finally warm enough), and got ready for dinner. We ate at Ohana and it was very good! After that we headed to MK to use our FP, ride the People Mover at night, and then headed out.
11/24: Epcot day. First we had breakfast at O'hana and then walked over the TTC to get on the monorail. We walked onto Spaceship Earth, used our first FP for Test Track (DH and I liked Radiator Springs Racers in DL way better but it was still fun. DD hated it and cried the whole time.), walked into the character spot easily, used our second FP for Living with the Land, walked onto Figment, and then headed out. We had a FP for Spaceship Earth but didn't feel like we needed to do it again so we canceled it. We swam again after lunch and then got ready for dinner at Sanaa. This was my favorite meal last time and was again. We all loved it. DD didn't like the kids steak but she loved my braised beef and DH's pork so next time she will just order off the adult menu. After that we just called it an early night.
11/25. MK day. This was probably our most disappointing day. I was expecting lighter crowds with the Christmas party but didn't get them. It was very crowded! We did get a lot done the first hour though. We rode Buzz, then DD and DH did the Tomorrowland Speedway while I used a FP for 7DMT. Then DH used a FP for Splash Mountain while DD and I rode Dumbo, Ariel, and met characters. After that we were still waiting on DH (it took forever for him to ride SM) so we used our next FP for Winnie the Pooh without him. We met up for Peter Pan and then went to lunch at Casey's. We headed out for more swimming and then had dinner at Disney Springs with my Florida family.
11/26. Breakfast at 1900 Parkfare. Best breakfast of the trip! The characters and food were amazing. We were supposed to go back to HS but DD wanted to go back to Epcot instead. It was her birthday so she gets to decide! It was a mistake though because we couldn't get great fast passes and didn't get much done. She did her favorites though and had a great time so it's all that matters. Dinner was at Garden Grill. It wasn't very good this time. After dinner we attempted to go back to MK but a cold front came through and it started pouring. We just went back to the hotel instead.
11/27. Departure day. After breakfast my cousin picked us up and took us to the airport. We got there a little too early for our noon flight. After getting on and pushing back we just stopped. The PA system went down. We ended up back at the gate and sat for an hour. Then another hour. Then another 30 minutes. Then they kicked us off and told us they'd get another plane. We FINALLY boarded again at 4 pm and took off at 4:45 pm. So, FOUR HOUR AND FORTY FIVE MINUTE delay. All because of a PA system. What an awful way to end our trip. We finally got home around 6:30 and then had to rush to grocery shop and shower and eat dinner because we all have school and work today.
Final thoughts: I love Disney during the holidays. It's beautiful and the weather was amazing! It was so nice to not sweat like we do during the summer. The parks just didn't open early enough though. After the first 30/45 minutes you are packed in like sardines. I don't think we would do Thanksgiving time again. It was still Disney though and we still had fun! We will probably take a break for a few years until DD is ready for more intense rides.
Post by minniemouse on Nov 28, 2018 12:09:07 GMT -5
Sounds like a great trip! We went the week after thanksgiving in 2016 and 2017. I agree the park hours are short this time of year. Our next trip is in April (if I can find flights..ugh) and I’m excited to go when the days are longer and better park hours.
Great trip report! Thanks for sharing. My DD also loves figment and the land rides. One trip to Epcot we rope dropped Figment and were the only ones on the entire ride.
Did you like the Grand Floridian? We want to try it on our next trip.
Great trip report! Thanks for sharing. My DD also loves figment and the land rides. One trip to Epcot we rope dropped Figment and were the only ones on the entire ride.
Did you like the Grand Floridian? We want to try it on our next trip.
Haha we have rope dropped The People Mover before so I get it!!
We did love the Grand Floridian. It's so pretty at Christmas with the huge tree and gingerbread house. The lobby always smells amazing, too. Lots of food options. Great location. The only downside is it really does take awhile to get to Epcot but being so close to MK was worth it. After getting on the monorail we would be on main street 5 minutes later. Can't beat that!
One thing I forgot about my report: Disney pixie dust strikes again. On our 2nd full day DD somehow lost her magic band. We don't know when or how. She scanned in for Buzz Lightyear and then shortly after the ride it was gone. I had no idea what was going to happen. I figured we'd get sent to Guest Relations to sort it out and lose the rest of our FP's that day after waiting forever. Nope. The cast member working at Buzz said no one turned in a magic band but he gave us a certificate for a free magic band at any location. So DD got to pick out a pretty light blue one and the whole thing was resolved in 10 minutes. It was truly nice of him to do that for us.