Universal on thanksgiving

[Bird003]

Hello we are planning to do split stay Disney and universal week of thanksgiving. We will be switching over to universal for thanksgiving and day after staying at portofino to get express passes. Anyone have experience using express on actual holidays? Thank you !

 

[georgina]

Hello we are planning to do split stay Disney and universal week of thanksgiving. We will be switching over to universal for thanksgiving and day after staying at portofino to get express passes. Anyone have experience using express on actual holidays? Thank you !

Well it’s been 5 years, so no Hagrids or Velocicoaster yet, but we took our adult kids in 2018 for Thanksgiving. We had a great time with EPs. Not sure how things may have changed since then though.

 

[IzzyBella]

We arrived last year on the night before Thanksgiving and stayed at Hard Rock. Prepare for lots of crowds but with Express Pass it’s great. Minimal waits outside of Hagrids, generally under 10 minutes.

 

[Skippyboo]

Get to the hotel early to check in so you get your room keys which are your express passes. Everything other than Hagrid’s is on Express so it should be pretty quick line wise.

 

[Skywalker3]

We were also there Thanksgiving , 2018, and used to often go to Disney for Thanksgiving. It’s such great weather! It will be super busy though, so as long as you’re prepared for crowds, like at bathrooms, butterbeer lines, food queues, and just overall people everywhere, etc , it’ll be good. Having express will be wonderful to save time! Have a great trip!

 

[kbelle8995]

We went on Thanksgiving. Black friday, the parks were slammed. But the day after black Friday was great. We went to Ice at Gaylord palms on Thanksgiving and just sort of hung out at Cabana Bay. A great time to go

 

[PantherPete]

I've been there for Thanksgiving every year since 2017 (except for last year). Planning to head back this year.

It is a very busy week. The weekend before is pretty busy, it drops off a bit on Monday and then builds every day for the rest of the week. Thanksgiving will be crowded. But black Friday will be the worst. With EP, your wait times won't be that bad. I've found that it isn't an early crowd on Thanksgiving Day. The crowd arrives a little later than usual. So you might be able to do a lot in the morning. There will be long waits and a seating crunch at the counter service meals and major bottlenecks at certain areas of the parks. Near Kong at IOA and Harry Potter will be the worst for that in IOA, Area between F&F and Chez Alcatraz at USO and Diagon Alley are the worst there.

If you go with the attitude that it is a holiday at an amusement park and try not to let the idiots bother you (and there will be plenty of them), you will be fine. I've become adept at tuning them out, although I do admit to getting a little frustrated by families who insist on walking 4 & 5 abreast in tight areas and people who just stop in the middle of a walking area and stand around and talk. That behavior should be grounds for automatic dismissal from the parks without refund.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

You can head around behind the back of the Owl Emporium (near where Hagrids lets out / near the stage) and around the backside of that building, down to the Hagrids entrance to bypass the worst of the Hogsmeade crowds.

 

[schumigirl]

This was the line we experienced to get to the security check at the side of Margaritaville early on Thanksgiving in 2021. We were amazed how long the line was so early.

Everyone dispersed but certain areas were as busy as you`d expect.

We were glad of EP but left before lunchtime.

We`re back this year for Thanksgiving, so expecting similar.

 

[PantherPete]

This was the line we experienced to get to the security check at the side of Margaritaville early on Thanksgiving in 2021. We were amazed how long the line was so early.

Everyone dispersed but certain areas were as busy as you`d expect.

We were glad of EP but left before lunchtime.

We`re back this year for Thanksgiving, so expecting similar.

Yikes. I've always found that by the time I wake up and get to the parks on Thanksgiving morning that the line to get in is much shorter than other days that week. Maybe everyone who is going on that day does the rope drop and that there isn't quite the heavy flow of people after that. I usually get there around 1030am because that is water ride day for our family. That is the only day we do those. We put on our swim trunks and swim shirts, ride them 2x each (sometimes 3 because I love Dudley Do Right) and then head back to the resort, hang at the pool then get ready for Thanksgiving dinner at The Kitchen and then head to the City Walk for mini-golf and then maybe go into one of thge parks for a couple of our favorite night rides (the few outdoor ones are always better at night). One of my favorite days of the year.

 

[schumigirl]

Yikes. I've always found that by the time I wake up and get to the parks on Thanksgiving morning that the line to get in is much shorter than other days that week. Maybe everyone who is going on that day does the rope drop and that there isn't quite the heavy flow of people after that. I usually get there around 1030am because that is water ride day for our family. That is the only day we do those. We put on our swim trunks and swim shirts, ride them 2x each (sometimes 3 because I love Dudley Do Right) and then head back to the resort, hang at the pool then get ready for Thanksgiving dinner at The Kitchen and then head to the City Walk for mini-golf and then maybe go into one of thge parks for a couple of our favorite night rides (the few outdoor ones are always better at night). One of my favorite days of the year.

I think that was just after 9.30am as we never do EE when we stay, I was surprised as we expected most of the crowds to already be in since we expected it to be busy. We started off further back before we thought to take a picture.....doh!! But the line did move reasonably fast.

Yes, it is a lovely day to be there, we only stayed a little time as it was busy, but that`s normal for us on a normal day too.

I agree, some of the outdoor rides are much better at night!! I`m still not sure we`ll go to the parks this Thanksgiving during the day, doing the Brunch again and then we`ll decide if we want to head in later, I think IOA is open till 9 so might be worth a mooch in