Hi Mamas, I know it is still a while before we get to Thanksgiving at Disney but I am going to tell you about the benefits of traveling ON the actual day of Thanksgiving.
1) The obvious-no stress of the holiday at your house! I love hosting events and holidays at our house but they are stressful no matter how organized or how simple you make it. Toss that stress away and tell your family you are going to Disney instead!
2) The airports are EMPTY. Totally empty. We’ve flown on Thanksgiving day and I was truly shocked with how empty everything was. We allowed extra time thinking there would be last minute travelers. We twiddled our thumbs waiting on our departure. The security lines were the shortest I have ever experienced. There was plenty of room to spread out on the plane too.
3) It is cheaper to fly on Thanksgiving than the day before or after-a lot cheaper. For this Thanksgiving, direct flights are coming in 43% cheaper out of our city to Orlando than the day before or after. That should make the Scrooge in your family very happy!
4) While the parks are busy, the resorts are a lot of fun to explore on Thanksgiving day. The restaurants usually offer special Thanksgiving meals too. We had a really nice meal at Citrico’s when we traveled on Thanksgiving Day. It was perfect to leave the cooking and cleaning to someone else.
There are a few things to consider though heading to Disney on Thanksgiving. If Disney releases a discount, Thanksgiving is always excluded. I recommend you do a room only reservation for the nights that are excluded. This year, the discount resumes on November 30th, so Thursday and Friday would be room only. As mentioned the crowds are higher on Thanksgiving Day. We have found that by Saturday night it lightens and by Sunday it is perfect! The only other tidbit I have for flying on Thanksgiving to make sure you have a reservation for wherever you park your car at the airport. Often times those places will get booked for drop ins on holiday weekends.
Leave the turkey cooking to Mickey and enjoy a break.