Slim Pickings this Thanksgiving

[Mac4life30]

Thanks for those who gave me the ideas and feedback I was looking for...

 

[LuvOrlando]

did you really show up on thanksgiving with a big family without an ADR and expect them to accommodate you? There are lists all over the internet of what Disney did last year for thanksgiving. Virtually every restaurant with an already mostly american style menu adds turkey to their menu. if having turkey is your priority, put in a little effort and see what they have done in the past and book it. If you just want a nice sit down meal then you can easily book that. But to just show up on thanksgiving day with a large group and then be upset you only have QS available to you is not really reasonable. Planning a great disney vacation takes a little effort.

To the OP, a quick google showed me this list of thanksgiving choices at WDW restaurants. Pretty much what I said plus a lot of others, and the suggestion is to try to book lunch over dinner at this late date.

https://www.undercovertourist.com/blog/thanksgiving-dinner-at-disney-world/

That would've been an easy answer except, I did have reservations, I did call and I did ask and I was told, "I'm sure they'll have something." Maybe you're not too familiar with making reservations at Disney World but in general especially for holiday situations you have to book as far out as humanly possible,and I did with the best information that was available at the time and even the weeks before I couldn't get a straight answer out of anybody on the phones. So my "put(ting) in a little effort" wasn't the problem, but thanks for trying to put the blame on me

Every time I stop back in this place to poke around and see what's going on I'm reminded why I tend to stay away

 

[Lisa F]

That would've been an easy answer except, I did have reservations, I did call and I did ask and I was told, "I'm sure they'll have something." Maybe you're not too familiar with making reservations at Disney World but in general especially for holiday situations you have to book as far out as humanly possible,and I did with the best information that was available at the time and even the weeks before I couldn't get a straight answer out of anybody on the phones. So my "put(ting) in a little effort" wasn't the problem, but thanks for trying to put the blame on me

Every time I stop back in this place to poke around and see what's going on I'm reminded why I tend to stay away

so what? i'm just curious what happened. you showed up at your reservation and they had no turkey? If it was THAT important for me to have Turkey ON thanksgiving and I wanted a guarantee then I would go for a restaurant that always serves turkey. Liberty Tree Tavern has been serving turkey for at least the last 15 or 16 years... I remember going there for the character dinner back in the day. Garden Grill I believe has always served Turkey as well. Depending on how long ago you went, the internet might not have had as much information like menus all over the place and of course everyone knows Disney call center CMs don't know anything.

But nowadays, with a quick google search it is easy to see what restaurants add turkey and which ones don't.

 

[LuvOrlando]

So what? OK so it's a plain you don't care about other people's opinions but it happens yes it is that important and since it's not free and I'm paying for it I expect to get what I want. Maybe you're OK with not getting what you pay for, nothing to do with me, but as for me and mine I'm not so good with it

We paid for dinner and I was not pleased- my feelings were not because I made a bad decision but because I wasn't given a straight answer. It wasn't ages ago lol, maybe 10-12 years back - we had Google and menus were available but nothing had turkey so I asked pointed questions of the CM's who answered reservations.

If I remember correctly I paid about $50 a head for whatever we got

 

[Lisa F]

So what? OK so it's a plain you don't care about other people's opinions but it happens yes it is that important and since it's not free and I'm paying for it I expect to get what I want. Maybe you're OK with not getting what you pay for, nothing to do with me, but as for me and mine I'm not so good with it

We paid for dinner and I was not pleased- my feelings were not because I made a bad decision but because I wasn't given a straight answer. It wasn't ages ago lol, maybe 10-12 years back - we had Google and menus were available but nothing had turkey so I asked pointed questions of the CM's who answered reservations.

If I remember correctly I paid about $50 a head for whatever we got

I'm sorry, I meant... "so what happened?" because you left the story unfinished... all you said is that all you were offered were turkey legs. So where did you go for dinner and did they or didn't they have turkey? and then you complained to someone and they told you to go find a turkey leg? I'm just truly curious what happened... and I didn't mean "so what" like you are complaining about nothing.

The phone CMs on the dining line don't seem to know anything about anything. A lot of disney restaurant pages mention if they will have turkey on thanksgiving right now though.

 

[cgattis]

I find that interesting.

Disney is one of the few places that I know that post their prices.

I'm not talking about fast food, but nice restaurants. I've actually been to restaurants where even the menus don't have prices.

No, they DON'T post their prices for these meals or even tell you what they're serving until well into the timeframe where they're probably completely booked. I'm sorry, but there are very few places centered around a theme park who do that. Regardless of what the Disney bubble leads some of us to believe, this is not five-star dining. We shouldn't be asked to be happy about having to reserve at 180 days and a premium price and not even know the menu. V&A is the only place on property that comes close. I just believe you are flat wrong if you think that is the norm.

 

[LuvOrlando]

I'm sorry, I meant... "so what happened?" because you left the story unfinished... all you said is that all you were offered were turkey legs. So where did you go for dinner and did they or didn't they have turkey? and then you complained to someone and they told you to go find a turkey leg? I'm just truly curious what happened... and I didn't mean "so what" like you are complaining about nothing.

The phone CMs on the dining line don't seem to know anything about anything. A lot of disney restaurant pages mention if they will have turkey on thanksgiving right now though.

OK thanks for the explanation. I booked the reservations and my flight about a year and advance and I've been going to WDW since 1993 so I knew the drill & started planning out on my reservations between year to six months before I got there. It was very frustrating that nobody seemed to have holiday specials which I kind of expected to be there considering we were in the US and it is the quintessential American vacation spot. I think I had reservations all over the place for the whole week pretty early on but as we got closer and closer to Thanksgiving I started calling with more frequency trying to figure out where I could get the all American dining experience- I wanted that be part of our Thanksgiving visit. I grew more and more alarmed as time got closer, I mean here I was in a situation where I convince my entire family to come with me to Florida and everybody was expecting turkey. With absolutely no information coming from any CMs I think I settled on Mickey's barbecue because in my head I thought it's so expensive and a buffet so how could they not have turkey somewhere as an option... well they didn't. I actually remember being in Disney World that day and being so concerned that I called Disney dining to ask them where I could even get like a turkey sandwich because I couldn't imagine not having anything with turkey on it for Thanksgiving and nobody could direct me anywhere. I even went to guest relation's at the resort and got nothing of any help. The best I got from anybody on Thanksgiving was if I wander around Magic Kingdom I could get a turkey leg, and very literally that's what I was told. To hear that I could get a turkey leg and would have to eat it like a Viking... not what I was looking for & not really my cup of tea so I didn't get it thinking that the barbecue would absolutely have something there. And so the only Thanksgiving I've ever had my life without turkey is the one I spent in Disney World- I was not happy and maybe it's not a big deal to some people but I've got to say it ruined my day.

Nowadays, from what I understand, Disney has bent to the pressure of having turkeys on Thanksgiving ( i'm guessing more people than I had the same experience and hollered at customer relations) so that's good to know and maybe I might consider going there for this holiday in the future.

Now I get it's not the end of the world but here's the thing. If you're in the US and your business is associated with being a quintessential American experience and you are family focused how in the world do you not accommodate the thing about 90% of American families want which was a family Thanksgiving dinner. I'm glad that current day Disney has corrected this but I'm not getting that Thanksgiving back & even now it irks me to think about it...

 

[Lisa F]

OK thanks for the explanation. I booked the reservations and my flight about a year and advance and I've been going to WDW since 1993 so I knew the drill & started planning out on my reservations between year to six months before I got there. It was very frustrating that nobody seemed to have holiday specials which I kind of expected to be there considering we were in the US and it is the quintessential American vacation spot. I think I had reservations all over the place for the whole week pretty early on but as we got closer and closer to Thanksgiving I started calling with more frequency trying to figure out where I could get the all American dining experience- I wanted that be part of our Thanksgiving visit. I grew more and more alarmed as time got closer, I mean here I was in a situation where I convince my entire family to come with me to Florida and everybody was expecting turkey. With absolutely no information coming from any CMs I think I settled on Mickey's barbecue because in my head I thought it's so expensive and a buffet so how could they not have turkey somewhere as an option... well they didn't. I actually remember being in Disney World that day and being so concerned that I called Disney dining to ask them where I could even get like a turkey sandwich because I couldn't imagine not having anything with turkey on it for Thanksgiving and nobody could direct me anywhere. I even went to guest relation's at the resort and got nothing of any help. The best I got from anybody on Thanksgiving was if I wander around Magic Kingdom I could get a turkey leg, and very literally that's what I was told. To hear that I could get a turkey leg and would have to eat it like a Viking... not what I was looking for & not really my cup of tea so I didn't get it thinking that the barbecue would absolutely have something there. And so the only Thanksgiving I've ever had my life without turkey is the one I spent in Disney World- I was not happy and maybe it's not a big deal to some people but I've got to say it ruined my day.

Nowadays, from what I understand, Disney has bent to the pressure of having turkeys on Thanksgiving ( i'm guessing more people than I had the same experience and hollered at customer relations) so that's good to know and maybe I might consider going there for this holiday in the future

yeah I'm sorry, my conversational style and expressions did not translate well at all. totally my fault

I get it now. They definitely have improved and I'm sure you could get that info now. For example here is grand floridian cafe's page with a blurb about thanksgiving and it mentions turkey at 28 locations.

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/grand-floridian-resort-and-spa/grand-floridian-cafe/

So it sounds like they have improved. I understand wanting to do the traditional thing and I'm sorry you were so disappointed under all of that pressure to plan for your whole family! Seems there are lots of choices now both for people who want it traditional and for people who want something different. I own DVC and I remember reading about all of the people who just have it catered from publix to their room. Sounds like if you are game you could give it another try and have a much better experience. If not there are plenty of other amazing times of year to go to WDW and have the turkey at home!