Yeah, I have heard very good things about the week before thanksgiving.
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Last time we went we almost had our very own personal Cast Member to guide us around...the Parks were that slow from Sunday afternoon till early Thursday morning.

mmaddog
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If I didn't have to pull my kids out of school I would give that week a try. I don't know that I will ever get a chance to see Disney at Christmas though.
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I disagree. They've made some vast improvements in Disneyland, starting with eliminating the parking lot and turning it into another theme park (California Adventure).

Some rides are also better in Disneyland, namely Pirates Of The Caribbean (longer, more rooms, two drops, and an entry-area called the Blue Bayou with a restaurant, very similar to the inside of EPCOT's Mexico pavilion's boat ride), It's A Small World (the outside architecture), and Space Mountain, not to mention the difference in The Haunted Mansion (New Orleans theme instead of horror-castle). The whole New Orleans Square area kicks ass on Florida's Liberty Square, IMO. Plus they have the Matterhorn. (However, Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain are better in Florida.)

The thing about WDW that makes it special, though, is the whole separation from reality you get. Walt was horrified to watch gas stations, motels, and restaurants pop up all around Disneyland, ruining the ambience with giant signs you could see from the parking lot. When he built WDW he purposefully wanted to separate the visitor from reality with multiple barriers (long highway with no signs, then parking, then a tram to the ticketing, then a monorail/boat to the park).
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Just thought I'd add, Animal Kingdom is pretty cool if you've never been. Love those park hopper passes where you can hop from park to park.
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Disney isn't that busy until right before Christmas. And with Christmas Eve falling on a Friday, I doubt too many people will even be there until that day or maybe the day before. It's always busiest when kids are out of school (i.e. from Christmas to New Year's).

And you're better off going before Christmas than after it; I've gone down on New Year's Eve, which is cool 'cause it's crazy-busy and you get to enjoy the New Year's Eve festivities and then the parks empty out for the first week of January, but they also tend to shut major rides for maintenance. I've literally gone in on 1/1, ridden something cool like Pirates, Splash, or Haunted, and come back on 1/2 to find it shut down for maintenance for the rest of the week. :-)
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Last time we went, we stayed on-property for 4 days. I broke it up mid-day based on which park opened/closed later. So one day would be AK/MK, next day would be EC/MGM (sorry, I know they don't call it that any more), etc.,. Always nice to run to a park and do its major rides, then break midday for lunch, a nap, a swim, sex, whatever, LOL, then go back into a different park for the night time.
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I've stayed at the animal kingdom lodge. Pretty freakin cool. And if you can afford it's best to stay on property.
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I would always avoid the extra magic hour parks. It allows you to really avoid the crowded parks that way. The last two times I went I followed that strategy and it worked perfectly. There were a couple days it felt like we had the whole park to ourselves.
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so, how bad WILL it be during the 17th to 24th?
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ahh, didn't see this. I was assuming it would be busy, but not freakishly busy. and the avoiding the extra magic hours park is always a great strategy.
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Sounds like what a newbie or amateur would do...:-)

Actually once you have been to Animal Kingdom and spent the whole day there, you never need to spend another full day there. AK has one problem and that is that the only attractions there that bring you back more than once is the Matterhorn, the Kali River Rapids and the Safari Ride.

mmaddog
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I misread your original post. The week leading in won't be like the week after but I don't think it will be slow by any means either. From what I have heard, you want to avoid the week after like the plague as it is almost as bad as spring break to Easter.
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Not bad at all probably....it will get a little busier on the 23rd, but will get crazy starting the 24th and running until after New Years.

The only codocil to that will be if Disney's fall/early winter bookings are not that good and they decided to offer special deals.

Are you staying on-property, and if so, where?

mmaddog
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I would include Everest and Dinosaur in that. But yeah, I can be in and out of Animal Kingdom in four hours and have ridden everything once and some twice. Hell, last time we went we even managed to ride Everest 4 times before we left at 1pm.
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