Going "Home" for Thanksgiving!

[jeanneg]

It's official....we just made our ressies for Thanksgiving week at OKW and I'm already starting to get excited! This will be our 6th Thanksgiving at OKW (every other year since '92) and I'm searching for new holiday dinner options. I don't want the catered meal from Olivia's and I'd prefer not to "cook" the prepared meals from Goodings. Any suggestions for a traditional dinner ? Any fellow Dis'ers going to be there at that time?

 

[nisiemouse]

I am hoping to be there as our first visit "home". We are waiting for a resale to close. I hope there will still be availability. I will follow any ideas from others about Thanksgiving dinner.

 

[Firefighter Mickey]

Well, you can order the complete prepared meal from a store like Albertson's.

What we did for Christmas was just to scale back a little bit. We went ahead and did the whole turkey, but used a disposable roasting pan. We had a couple of side dishes, but generally kept it fairly simple - green beans, mashed potatos (from a box), we even cooked up 2 different pies. Actually, the most challenging part was the ingredients, since my Mom has an allergy to corn products, and corn is everywhere...... Anyway, when we purchased things we geared it toward ease to prepare and ease to clean-up.

Anyway, because we kept it simple, we didn't feel like we spent the day slaving away in the kitchen.

Another option might be to dine out - it's certainly a change of pace, and then no one in the family has to prepare the food or clean up.

 

[mac_tlc]

We were at BWV last Thanksgiving.. Ate in Cinderella's Castle on T-day.. Sure beats cooking and cleaning.. This year we will be at OKW.. I think we will head for the Liberty Tree Tavern..seems appropriate for Thanksgiving...

mac_tlc

 

[jeanneg]

Well, we've done the Olivia's catered meal twice and found it to be not worth the price. Then we've done the precooked turkey dinner from Goodings 3 times....it's a great value and everyone enjoyed it, but it still involves alot of work with all the reheating, serving and shopping. I'm at the point now where I would like to get by with as little work as possible---my Disney time is valuable----yet still have a Norman Rockwell experience. Does anyone know of a restaurant that serves a very traditional (perhaps family style) Thanksgiving dinner. If so, please reply!

 

[Windjammer]

Boston Market has some pretty good turkey and sides for take out. I am not sure if there is one near disney though.

Hope this helps

 

[Deb & Bill]

We ate at Olivia's once for Thanksgiving dinner and found it to be not what we wanted. This past Thanksgiving we ate at the Yacht Club Convention Center. Very large room, but plenty of food to choose from. We had an early seating, 2PM, and found it to be excellent. We'd do it again. We were supposed to be at the Yacht Club Galley, but they closed it several weeks before Thanksgiving.

 

[Joan BWV98]

We have been at WDW for Thanksgiving for 3 years now and we are planning the 4th so this thread is a great idea. The first year we did Liberty Tree Tavern. I personnally did not like the food that much and the crowd at MK is overwhelming. The 2nd year we did the Luau at the Poly. It was great fun but this coinsided with a cold year so we needed sweatshirts at dinner. It was great fun. Last year we went to the Animal Kingdom Lodge (Boma), it was great fun. We went early to look out over their savannahs and to explore the hotel. Dinner was a buffet and included "standard Thanksgiving faire" but many other dishes. We are looking for another idea this year. Has anyone done the Hoop De Do? We have not been for about 6 years and I think it might be fun. Any other ideas?

 

[jeanneg]

I think my main concern is that throughout my entire lifetime I have always had a traditional sit down dinner and it would seem so strange to not have it. Personally, I don't think my kids or husband would care one way or the other, but I would feel like I was doing them a disservice by doing away with tradition. Does anyone else feel this way?
I know the Hoop de Doo is family style, but it's not exactly what I had in mind, although I also have not been there in about 10 years. (We must have done it 6 or 7 times when the kids were smaller)
I've got a feeling I'll be heating up that Goodings turkey again this year..........!

 

[mic_KY_mouses]

Another idea could be to do your Thanksgiving like we did. This past Thanksgiving was our first trip to Disney in 15 years and also the first visit for our DS (5).

We started a new tradition by eating the smoked turkey legs in the park while we enjoyed the parade. We giggled the whole time about our "Disney" Thanksgiving and clean-up was as easy as a hook-shot to a nearby trash can.

 

[Pluto4President]

We'll be there - 2nd year in a row. Going for "tradition status"

Last year we did the buffet at YCCC, nahn been there next??

Not really sure where we'll be this year, we ate at 4 last year, normally that's T'day dinner time - felt too early at Disney.

Time will tell.... but ressies have been made

 

[jeanneg]

I gotta laugh about that "turkey leg" idea.....my kids always joke that people look like barbarians eating them! But it's so far out, it just might work....except I don't think anybody in my family likes legs and WHERE'S THE MASHED POTATOES?!?
Tell me more about the buffet at YCCC....I don't think I've heard of it before. Is it open to all Disney guests and do you need ressies?

 

[ZerasPride]

If I'm able to change part of our HH ressie over to something on property, I'll need to think about where to eat dinner on T-day. I liked the idea of Hoop De Doo show but the food gets mixed reviews. Can I ask what YCCC stands for? I also thought about Liberty Tree but I really didn't want to go to a park that day. If we do, I was thinking about the castle, do you guys know if they serve a turkey dinner that day? Does anyone know if the Swan and/or Dolphin have a traditional turkey dinner? How about 1900 Park Fare?

Just looking for more suggestions on where to eat!

Lisa

 

[JonHM]

Since there are a lot of you here who have done a lot of Thanksgivings at WDW, very quickly, *how bad* are the crowds on that holiday weekend? Is it worth fighting off the extra people, or is it not that bad? Curious in scouting for future trips...

 

[jeanneg]

No doubt about it, the crowds are BAD over Thanksgiving weekend. However, since all our kids are in school and we usually stay home for Christmas, it's the only way we can experience all the WDW holiday hoopla, which is really quite extraordinary. If you have the ability to travel during the early part of December, I would certainly recommend that instead.
MK is mobbed on T-day...in fact, it usually stops admitting people at around 11am or so. We've found that Epcot is usually the least crowded and so we tend to go there. However, we've done the parks zillions of times (as most DVC'ers probably have) and so that really isn't our top priority. What's really special are things like the Osborne lights, Candelight vigil and just checking out the decorations at all the hotels. If you haven't done WDW at Christmas time, you can't imagine what you're missing. And as long as you prepare yourself for the crowds, it really isn't all that bad. It's just definitely not the right week for a first-time visit.

 

[chicago641]

Yes the crowds are unbelievable.We ate at the hoope dee do,I was dissappointed that the show in no way reflected the hoilday...just the usual show.

 

[ZerasPride]

Any comments on the food at the Hoop De show? It's awfully expensive so I would hope the food is good. I don't mind it not being the traditional fare because DH hates turkey but loves chicken. Thanks for any comments!

Lisa

 

[chicago641]

In my opion you are paying for the show at this one...not the food!This is standard disney fare,fried chicken,ribs,salad,baked beans...ALL YOU CAN EAT.I saw this show as a kid.a few times as a teenager and know twice with my kids.It has never changed one line.Never the less its nice to see every few years.

 

[ZerasPride]

Thanks. That helps a lot. I am giving consideration to Ohanas, Kona Cafe and 1900 Park Fare as well. We've got plenty of time to make a choice and like I said, it doesn't have to be the traditional dinner, I just want to make sure we have a ressie somewhere as I expect just about every nice sit down place will be crowded.

Lisa

 

[chicago641]

you are right the sit downs are very crowded.We stayed at akl and recieved a letter from the hotel 2 days prior to the holiday that the hotels resterants were totally sold out and that the only option would be to pick up food from the pool resterant and eat it in your room.Even room service was sold out!Dont forget that the hoop de do does seating based upon when you make your reservation.There is a main floor and a balconey.The balconey seating is a big let down and the same price.