Best place for a boring Thanksgiving dinner

[disnutt]

My DH wants a Thanksgiving dinner like his granny used to make. That means no spices other than salt and pepper.

We will be arriving Thanksgiving Day and staying offsite that night so I'm looking at something at DTD or one of the resorts. Found some old menus online and it looks like some of the offerings at Ft. Wilderness or Wilderness Lodge may be the most traditional (*cough boring cough*) Thankgiving offerings.

Has anyone eaten at Ft. Wilderness, Trails End or Whispering Canyon for Thankgiving? Can you confirm that there are no exotic additives in the dressing such as fruits/oysters/flavor? Is finding a lump the only thing exciting about eating the mashed potatoes? Are the green beans boiled down to complete flaccidity? If so, that's where I'll spend my Thanksgiving!

 

[DVCconvert]

This isn't on Disney property....but you DH might enjoy Thanksgiving dinner at the Bay View Retirement Home

 

[disnutt]

This isn't on Disney property....but you DH might enjoy Thanksgiving dinner at the Bay View Retirement Home

He would! I'll call to see if they're taking ADRs!

 

[disnutt]

I forgot to mention that his cranberry 'sauce' must still have the can marks on it.

Thank goodness I didn't marry him for his palate.

 

[DaisyMaisie]

I hope you find your flaccid green beans. Thanks for the laugh. : )

The cranberry sauce is easy. Just bring a can and can opener with you.

 

[DaisyMaisie]

BTW my husband actually is a pretty adventurous eater, appreciates all my attempts at exotic meals etc. but come Thanksgiving he insists on making a dish (yes he makes it himself) that consists of canned green beans (I actually grow delicious fresh green beans in my garden) cheeze wiz and bacon. Just talking about it makes me nauseated, but everyone else does eat it as well.

 

[wishicouldgomoreofte]

Golly, how long have you been married?
Why haven't you expanded his palatte yet?

Did his grandmother recently pass, so it is fond memory time?

I put celery and onion in my dressing. Would that be too exotic for him?

If he's worth it, give him a break and let him enjoy his Thanksgiving meal as he likes. Perhaps the restaurant you settle on will have something you like too. Surely you don't have to eat the same identical fork by forkfull food.
You'll have other meals to spice up and explore.

 

[LisaTC]

I don't know about there, but here, many of the higher end groceries have Thanksgiving Dinner to go (if they are open)...maybe that is an option. Otherwise, I'd recommend Liberty Tree Tavern based on the oodles of comments on the board about the typical homestyle menu:

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/media/wdw_nextgen/CoreCatalog/WaltDisneyWorld/en_us/Media/InternetMediaType/Dining/LibertTreeTavern/liberty-tree-tavern-menu-dinner.pdf

 

[disnutt]

I hope you find your flaccid green beans. Thanks for the laugh. : )

The cranberry sauce is easy. Just bring a can and can opener with you.

That is actually what my DH suggested. He really likes that stuff.

 

[disnutt]

Golly, how long have you been married?
Why haven't you expanded his palatte yet?

Did his grandmother recently pass, so it is fond memory time?

I put celery and onion in my dressing. Would that be too exotic for him?

If he's worth it, give him a break and let him enjoy his Thanksgiving meal as he likes. Perhaps the restaurant you settle on will have something you like too. Surely you don't have to eat the same identical fork by forkfull food.
You'll have other meals to spice up and explore.

We've been together 18 yrs and I love him dearly! He indulges my love for Disney but never wanted to travel over a holiday so I am actually trying to give him the best Thanksgiving that I can to repay him for what he's giving up.

However, I do enjoy making fun of what I see as his one weakness.

Every other day of the year he will try new restaurants because I love them. The one day he asks for something familiar is Thanksgiving. While I'd be happy with some jazzy rendition of spicy turkey and fruity dressing he just wants a basic Butterball, mashed potatoes and green beans.

Sage and onions in the dressing would be acceptable but that's it! If we decide to do a park we were thinking about Liberty Tree. I might go with that just because I think they have the Stouffers dressing and I figure that's as close to what he's hoping for as I can come.

So, rest assured that I am trying to do this out of love!

 

[disnutt]

BTW my husband actually is a pretty adventurous eater, appreciates all my attempts at exotic meals etc. but come Thanksgiving he insists on making a dish (yes he makes it himself) that consists of canned green beans (I actually grow delicious fresh green beans in my garden) cheeze wiz and bacon. Just talking about it makes me nauseated, but everyone else does eat it as well.

I might actually eat that because of the bacon! However, my husband might think the cheeze wiz was too radical for Thanksgiving.

 

[Vegcentric]

The Liberty Tree is the only place that I can think of in Disney that would probably meet that criteria. I recall the food there being pretty close to a very typical, low-key Thanksgiving dinner.

 

[ThreeAngels]

We were there in DW this past year for Thanksgiving. Believe it or not, we got a great, traditional Thanksgiving meal at Riverside Mill at Port Orleans Riverside. We had actually eaten lunch at Le Cellier. My boys (15 and 19 at the time) loved Le Cellier, but were a little disappointed this was supposed to be their dinner for Thanksgiving. Well, when we got back from the park, they were hungry again (teenage boys, you know). We went into Riverside Mill and they were able to get their traditional dinner. DH, DD11 and I all opted for a personal pan pizza instead! Everyone was happy. And it was only a CS credit on the DP for the dinner! Highly recommend it for your DH!

 

[Girlie1]

I ate at WCC Thanksgiving 2009 and Trails End Buffet Thanksgiving 2010. At WCC we got a skillet full of food (turkey, ham, fried chicken, yams, potatoes, green beans) and there was corn bread to start with a very good salad. There was pumpkin pie for dessert. I really was not a fan of this dinner. Everything was kind of mushed together in the skillet and my kids were not really happy with what was offered.

However, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal in 2010 at Trails End Buffet. I was actaully a little concerned when we made the reservation but I was pleasantly surprised. They had a buffet with all the traditional Thanksgiving foods but they also had ribs, fried chicken and various other items so you did not have to eat Thanksgiving food if you did not want to. I think I was the only one who ate turkey with the fixins. My kids were very happy with all of the choices that they had as well. Dessert was a pumpkin chessecake that was absolutely delicious but they also had cookies and brownies

 

[bobrex]

My DW and I are traveling to Disney this Thanksgiving. While we would like a turkey dinner, we are more adventurous and were wondering if people had any recommendations for a good turkey dinner. We don't particular care for buffets.

 

[Ro Z]

I don't know where you can get this meal but let me know if you find it! I would love to have the same type of meal. Sorry! I am a very picky eater! BTW I don't even eat cranberry sauce, canned or otherwise!:rotfl I did like the turkey dinner at LTT I had a few years back although the gravy was too garlicky. SORRY!!

 

[si-am]

We have eaten at Trail's End for Thanksgiving. They have their normal fried chicken/ribs buffet, PLUS an extra buffet table set up with traditional turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, etc.

A nice extra was that each table got their own pumpkin pie brought out for dessert!

The food was good.

We ate at WCC a few years ago for Christmas dinner (menu very similar to Thanksgiving) and it was terrible. I love their regular bbq stuff, but the holiday special was blech.

 

[disnutt]

I don't know where you can get this meal but let me know if you find it! I would love to have the same type of meal. Sorry! I am a very picky eater! BTW I don't even eat cranberry sauce, canned or otherwise!:rotfl I did like the turkey dinner at LTT I had a few years back although the gravy was too garlicky. SORRY!!

It would be great if I could help other families through my search.

 

[disnutt]

Disney kind of decided for us. Despite my desire to avoid eating in a park that night, I tried for LTT because of some recommendations here and on other threads. Today was the earliest I could try and Disney shot me down. At 6 a.m. this morning there was nothing available that day at LTT from 4-8 p.m.

I went to my original fall back locations and went with Whispering Canyon because they were the only one that didn't mention cornbread stuffing. I copied the menu off another site to show to those looking for a similarly bland Thanksgiving diet:

Whispering Canyon Thanksgiving (Wilderness Lodge) - Regular menu will not be offered. 1st Course - Fresh Field Greens tossed with Apples, Candied Walnuts, Blue Cheese, Dried Cherries, and Creamy Maple Mustard Vinaigrette Dressing; Entrée - Smoked House Breast of Turkey, Maple Glaze Ham, Oven-roasted Chicken, Traditional Stuffing, Yukon Gold Mashed Potatoes, Candied Brown Sugar Sweet Potatoes, Giblet Gravy, Seasonal Vegetable, Cranberry Relish and Corn Bread; Dessert - Pumpkin Pie. Children - Same as above. Non-alcoholic non-specialty beverages are included.


DH wants Traditional (white bread) stuffing. I am worried about what he'll say about that overly festive salad offering. In his world walnuts should be serious and not all candied up. I pray that the menu doesn't change much from previous years.

Thanks for everyone's input. Like a PP mentioned Whispering Canyon sounds like a retirement home name so I think my DH will be very happy.

 

[disnutt]

We ate at WCC a few years ago for Christmas dinner (menu very similar to Thanksgiving) and it was terrible. I love their regular bbq stuff, but the holiday special was blech.

Your posting gave me pause. I have to hope that we have a better experience. I just can't risk the cornbread stuffing at the other places. It would cause too much confusion. Where we're from originally (deep down in WV) cornbread goes with beans and greens. That's meant for your simple weekday meals. The thought of stuffing it a holiday turkey just seems silly.