Thanksgiving

[Mudhut]

I have booked my holiday for the 18th for ten nights so I actually leave on thanksgiving could anyone who has any experience of this period say when it is likely to get busy for example I was looking to go to universal on the 24th and 25th and the premium outlets on the 26th are the Americans on holiday all of the week of thanksgiving. ?
Thanks. 😎

[Kraken]

Compared to us Brits, Americans get very little annual leave from work - but they do have more public holidays than us. Even with annual leave + public holidays added together, we get far more time off.

Given that Thanksgiving is always a Thursday (4th one in November), expect many Americans to take the Friday off work. Many will also take the Tuesday or Wednesday before off too, so they can travel to meet relatives. Thanksgiving is bigger than Christmas in the USA - families make the effort to meet up for Thanksgiving in preference to Christmas.

The weekend the OP asks about will certainly be getting busy in Orlando as Americans start to arrive for family vacations / meet-ups. Doing Premium Outlets on Tues 26th is probably a good call - it can be impossible to park at Premium Outlets quite often on a weekend, even in low-season. The holiday sales will be on in most stores with good discounts. Many Americans / other visitors will be holding out for Black Friday when the really crazy bargains will be available.

One plus - if the OP is flying home on Thanksgiving, they may well find MCO a bit quieter than normal & the staff cheery as many will doubtless be going home to a family meal of some kind at the end of their shift.

[geniefan]

I am there 19th-26th Nov so am interested in this thread ...

[derek1973]

We have been twice over Thanksgiving week and it does feel busier, very like a British Bank Holiday. The parks were definitely busier the first time we went so the second time we tried Busch Gardens and Clearwater on Black Friday which wasn’t as bad although we did have a slightly longer wait at Frenchys in Clearwater
In saying that though I did like Thanksgiving dinner, Xmas dinner a month early 😊😊

[mojo.121]

We went last year and found that from the weekend before thanksgiving it got busy did Disney on the Saturday before thanksgiving and it felt busier than August. From the Sunday after thanksgiving crowds went down again.