Need some help -- Thanksgiving

[tiderule1]

We are planning on our second trip to Disney. We will be going Thanksgiving 2004. We will arrive the Sunday before Thanksgiving and leave the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Some books say the entire week will have large, unmanageable crowds and others say just that Thursday, Friday and Saturday will have these very large crowds. Can someone help who has visited during this time?

Also, we will be staying at the Port Orleans Riverside (because we are a family of five and they have the trundle bed). Have read some good and some bad reviews. What are the thoughts of the people on this board? Y'all seem to be extremely knowledgable on everything and I would apprecaite any comments on our choice of lodging. Last time we stayed off-site and that was the only regret of our first trip there.

One more thing, any restaurants our family should NOT miss?

Thanks in advance to all who can help.

 

[Kirby]

Hi! We stayed at POR Alligator Bayou last Thanksgiving for the same length of time you did. We arrived Sunday afternoon before Thanksgiving and left the Saturday morning afterwards.

We were in Lodge 25 near the West Depot, I believe, and never had much of a wait. It was never ever very crowded either there. We really liked POR and would stay there again. Check out the deluxe pizza (or whatever its called) in the food court. It easily fed our family of four that consists of two adults, one teen and one pre-teen. It was the best deal there that we found.

We also ate Thanksgiving dinner in the resort restaurant, Boatwright's. It was very good.

The only day that we thought was most crowded was the Friday after Thanksgiving. We went to Epcot that day. We went to the Magic Kingdom at the first of the week because we had heard that it gets more crowded there as the week progresses.

I think that the crowds are very manageable during that week. We would go to one park in the morning, usually taking advantage of the early opening, go back to the room for lunch and then off to another park for the rest of the day. Once we skipped going to a park in the afternoon and went to play miniature golf instead.

Just take your time and be flexible. Make a plan but be willing to change it if needed. If you have any more questions, I'll be glad to answer them if I can.

And have a great time!