Going for Thanksgiving:) Some questions please help.

[alldiz]

Hi,
So I bought WLV to stay during holiday decorations, and I will finally be home when they are up Only was able to get a day or so during holidays last minute in past.
We are traveling Wed-Mon over thanksgiving break...so excited!!

When do decorations go up? Do they literally put them up overnight. I thought I read that.

Do parks open at 7am during this busy time?

Best place for Thanksgiving Dinner?

Can you go to Top of the World if not staying at Contemporary?

I know they had a special Thanksgiving dinner at Contemporary last year was that any good?

If I book afternoon/ evening fastpasses....can i get there early and get more? At a different park?
Do they still have machines?

Any other tips would be great.
Funny I feel like so much has changed since I was there....will be almost 2 years since last trip when we leave and it feels like forever.

Also Discounts does DVC discount include all restaurants and for Dinner. Debating on TIW card but I know Thanksgiving is not included in that.

Also does the Dis still have the calendar to figure out my 180 day mark?
Thanks
Kerri

 

[DenLo]

Hi,
So I bought WLV to stay during holiday decorations, and I will finally be home when they are up Only was able to get a day or so during holidays last minute in past.
We are traveling Wed-Mon over thanksgiving break...so excited!!

When do decorations go up? Do they literally put them up overnight. I thought I read that.

The holiday decorations at WDW are all complete by the week of Thanksgiving. They start making changes by resort or the parks overnight. The parks are done first, MK is decorated before the first MVMCP. I know we were at a MVMCP on November 15th and after the party when we returned to AKV Jambo House they were parking the trucks of holiday decorations in front of the lobby entrance. When we entered I spoke to a couple of CMs that were really excited that they were going to see the decorations go up that night after midnight. The next morning the decorations were up. That really make it seem magical! We did a monorail resort hop on that weekend an most of the resorts were decorated. Note the MK does not it's Christmas tree up until after the filming of the Christmas show usually on the first full weekend in December.

Do parks open at 7am during this busy time?

I doubt it, we have not been there on Thanksgiving itself, but last year the day after onward, the earliest MK opened was 8:00 AM for EMH. There were late night closings especially on Saturday nights--they were open until 2:00 AM.

Best place for Thanksgiving Dinner?

Can you go to Top of the World if not staying at Contemporary?

If you are a DVC member staying on property, yes you can go to TOTWL. Bring your MB and DVC member card. You must take Disney transportation to go to BLT. See the DVC member website for dates that are restricted.

I know they had a special Thanksgiving dinner at Contemporary last year was that any good?

If I book afternoon/ evening fastpasses....can i get there early and get more? At a different park?
Do they still have machines?

From the My Disney Experience site:
In advance, you can reserve up to 3 FastPass+ experiences per day at one theme park. After you use all of the initial FastPass+ experiences on the day of your visit (or your arrival windows have passed), you can select one additional FastPass+ experience to use that same day (based on availability). The additional FastPass+ experience is a rolling FastPass+ experience—each time you use an additional FastPass+ experience, you can select a new one.

Additional FastPass+ selections must be made at a FastPass+ kiosk within the same park as the FastPass+ experience that you wish to select, and they can be made at a different park from your previous selections.

Any other tips would be great.
Funny I feel like so much has changed since I was there....will be almost 2 years since last trip when we leave and it feels like forever.

Also Discounts does DVC discount include all restaurants and for Dinner. Debating on TIW card but I know Thanksgiving is not included in that.

Also does the Dis still have the calendar to figure out my 180 day mark?
Thanks
Kerri

Sorry I can't answer all of your questions. Hopefully someone else will come along with more information.

 

[Deb & Bill]

There were posts on the DIS about the Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner sponsored by DVC and both gave negative reviews. Basically not worth the cost. DVC has limited dining discounts, not every dining location. We have had a nice Thanksgiving meal at the YC convention center many years ago. But Olivia's? Not so much. We also had a holiday dinner at the Captain's Grille at the YC, but we heard afterwards that they ran out of food later on in the evening. We had an early seating and had plenty of food. Most of the restaurants will offer some sort of Thanksgiving dinner if they don't have a special event.

Or you could just buy a premade dinner from Publix or another grocery and cook it yourself in your villa (as long as you don't have a studio). We did that one year for Christmas and it turned out pretty good. You just have to pick it up before the holiday.

The only holiday decoration that might not be in place is the MK Christmas tree since that isn't put in place at the beginning of Main Street until after the filming of the Christmas parade.

 

[alldiz]

There were posts on the DIS about the Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner sponsored by DVC and both gave negative reviews. Basically not worth the cost. DVC has limited dining discounts, not every dining location. We have had a nice Thanksgiving meal at the YC convention center many years ago. But Olivia's? Not so much. We also had a holiday dinner at the Captain's Grille at the YC, but we heard afterwards that they ran out of food later on in the evening. We had an early seating and had plenty of food. Most of the restaurants will offer some sort of Thanksgiving dinner if they don't have a special event.

Or you could just buy a premade dinner from Publix or another grocery and cook it yourself in your villa (as long as you don't have a studio). We did that one year for Christmas and it turned out pretty good. You just have to pick it up before the holiday.

The only holiday decoration that might not be in place is the MK Christmas tree since that isn't put in place at the beginning of Main Street until after the filming of the Christmas parade.

Sorry I can't answer all of your questions. Hopefully someone else will come along with more information.

Man I can't figure out how this multi quote works now....grrrr

Anyhow thanks for all the great information

 

[JessLCH]

We've been 3 out of the last 4 Thanksgivings and will be back this Thanksgiving as well. The Xmas decorations go up in early November I believe. Everything is fully decorated for Xmas well before Thanksgiving. We did the DVC Thanksgiving meal last year and were quite underwhelmed. It felt like a business conference luncheon and was very overpriced for what it was. We like Artist Point and will probably go back to that this year. We are a party of 9 so TIW is worth it even with the Thanksgiving black out and black out for a couple other places.

 

[alldiz]

We've been 3 out of the last 4 Thanksgivings and will be back this Thanksgiving as well. The Xmas decorations go up in early November I believe. Everything is fully decorated for Xmas well before Thanksgiving. We did the DVC Thanksgiving meal last year and were quite underwhelmed. It felt like a business conference luncheon and was very overpriced for what it was. We like Artist Point and will probably go back to that this year. We are a party of 9 so TIW is worth it even with the Thanksgiving black out and black out for a couple other places.

Yea thats disappointing about the Thanksgiving "special" event.
I am a party of 4. So 5 days for thanksgiving and then 4 more in May pre/post cruise 2016. So I am debating DVC AP and TIW.
Thanks
Kerri

 

[drusba]

The Christmas decorations will be up long before you get there (they start going up the second weekend in November with parks going up first, and resorts the next weekend).

The way fastpass plus works now is that you can get three in advance. Then, after you have used those three, you can get one more, and after using that one another, etc. The ones after the first three can be for a different park and you can actually get that first extra one for another park in the one you will be leaving. Be aware, however, that getting those extra FP's is not easy. You cannot just go to your MDE site on your iPhone and get them. You have to go to one of the spots in the park where they have some computer screens set up to get them and the lines for those can get very long.

As to park openings, it is a time of year when Disney has previously extended hours including opening parks at 8 if Disney believes the crowds will be large, and you can get one park opening at 7 to on site guests that has extra magic hours.

 

[alldiz]

The Christmas decorations will be up long before you get there (they start going up the second weekend in November with parks going up first, and resorts the next weekend).

The way fastpass plus works now is that you can get three in advance. Then, after you have used those three, you can get one more, and after using that one another, etc. The ones after the first three can be for a different park and you can actually get that first extra one for another park in the one you will be leaving. Be aware, however, that getting those extra FP's is not easy. You cannot just go to your MDE site on your iPhone and get them. You have to go to one of the spots in the park where they have some computer screens set up to get them and the lines for those can get very long.

As to park openings, it is a time of year when Disney has previously extended hours including opening parks at 8 if Disney believes the crowds will be large, and you can get one park opening at 7 to on site guests that has extra magic hours.

Thanks. I remember xmas week it opened at 7 MK anyway for EMH. So I was hoping for Thanksgiving as well.
I didn't know about being able to get another fastpass for another park as I am leaving so that is great news.
When I went last xmas and this was all new it was sooo nice. Only time in history I was able to work the system. Had my fastpass plus, Was able to get more fastpass with my AP and roomkey card that they gave as well as magic bands. No flames please. Usually not a rule breaker but xmas week crowds all bets were off.

Should be interesting to see now that it is all worked out and if there is a long line for additional fast passes I probably won't wait for that.
Thanks
Kerri

 

[drusba]

I assume you mean you went xmas in 2013, not 2014, and got FPs using AP card or room key. Those dispensers for giving paper FPs have now been gone for about a year. Unless Disney goes to allowing one to add the extra FP's via a smartphone, I doubt the lines for extra FP's will improve much. It is simply an issue of how fast each individual in line can go through the process of adding an FP using their MDE account, and that takes some time even for those who already know the system well and much longer for many of the thousands who are making their first trip to WDW using the system, and there will always be many thousands making their first trip to WDW.

 

[alldiz]

I assume you mean you went xmas in 2013, not 2014, and got FPs using AP card or room key. Those dispensers for giving paper FPs have now been gone for about a year. Unless Disney goes to allowing one to add the extra FP's via a smartphone, I doubt the lines for extra FP's will improve much. It is simply an issue of how fast each individual in line can go through the process of adding an FP using their MDE account, and that takes some time even for those who already know the system well and much longer for many of the thousands who are making their first trip to WDW using the system.

Yes it was 2013 they were just starting the computer kiosks I think and had already removed paper ones from AK.
There were no lines though.

 

[thepops]

We were there last Thanksgiving and just about everything was up in terms of decorations. We did Cracker Barrel for Thanksgiving dinner (actually we went and got it and brought it back). They did a very good job. Very tasty and more than enough food for all of us.

 

[alldiz]

We were there last Thanksgiving and just about everything was up in terms of decorations. We did Cracker Barrel for Thanksgiving dinner (actually we went and got it and brought it back). They did a very good job. Very tasty and more than enough food for all of us.

How far is cracker barrel. I won't have a car but good to know for next time
Thanks
Kerri

 

[thepops]

My nephew drove, but i think it was about 10 -15 minutes away