ADR - Thanksgiving

[acder12]

My family and I have traveled to WDW many times since we joined the VC in '93 but I have never experienced a situation like this. We are planning a large (for us) family gathering over Thanksgiving week. There will be 9 of us and I can't find a restaurant anywhere on Disney property for Thanksgiving, even when we split up into two or even three different tables. In fact, ADR for most of the week is completely full. I have checked Liberty Tree, Chef Mickey's, Crystal Palace, Donald's Breakfast Safari, Backyard BBQ & Hoop Dee Do Review and they are virtually 100% booked for the duration of our stay.

Can anyone help me with the following:
1) how far in advance do you need to plan dining these days?
2) An alternative option for Thanksgiving?
3) Alternative on-property restaurants that are less popular and might be able to accomodate us during our stay? I am traveling with 5 adults and 4 children. Some of the adults have pretty simple tastes so we are looking for "moderate" priced restaurants.
4) In your experience, is it possible we can do stand-bye and still get a table or is that a waste of time?

Thank you!

 

[Freyja]

I called on Sunday for a party of 7 and they still had lots of availability, although maybe not at the character meals you mentioned.

I was able to get Marrakesh for Thanksgiving evening and the CM said she had openings for every day of the week. I could choose from various different dining times. I also managed to get Coral Reef for lunch (dinner was also available) and I also got Kona café (dinner), Tusker House (lunch) and Tony´s (dinner).

 

[Minnie824]

You could try Trails End at Fort Wilderness. Some friends of ours had trouble getting a reservation last year and went there and liked it. Just ask the CM what options there are for the time and number of people you have...start with any in the parks if you want, and go from there. Another that we had in the past is Captains Grill at the Yacht Club. It was an awesome buffet and has traditional Thanksgiving stuff.

 

[mitchwebb]

Both the resturants we went to on Thankgiving were not taking walk-in. Cape May for breakfest and Spoodles for dinner. I would get a reservation for Thankgiving at any place and then keep calling to see if you can find one of your top choices.

 

[kyirish25]

I would do the opposite when calling Disney Dining and state that you have a party of 9 and could they give you a list of any restaurants that have availability for your party size for Thanksgiving dinner.

One lesser known place is at the Swan. In 2006, they had a buffet Thanksgiving dinner setup in there conference/convention ballrooms. The food was very good and they also had character meet & greets setup within the room. I'm not finding this option for 2008 but you still might want to consider this character meal at Garden Grove http://www.swandolphin.com/dining/pdfs/GG.pdf