Thanksgiving Day Meal

[MommyJKM]

Sweet husband just surprised us with a trip to DLR Wed the 26th to Saturday the 29th.

I was starting to get stressed about hosting/meals, etc. My cousin and her husband and 2 kids (11 and 6yrs old) were initially flying up for the week and will now meet us in DLR for that time -- staying at The Grand.

My only problem is where to have our Thanksgiving meal.
I still want it to seem "Family Oriented". Napa Rose was too formal for the kids (my DD is 4) and Big Thunder Ranch seemed too casual.

Has anyone had their Thanksgiving day meal in the parks? I was thinking of maybe doing Catal and their special menu but wanted to see if anyone had done one of the park restaurants...

 

[sc426]

Personally I recommend doing a thanksgiving meal on Friday. I wen to DL a couple years ago and they ran out of food very quickly. By the time 1pm rolled around and my group was sitting down for lunch, they said that they didn't have a lot of options. So I have not been back since on thanksgiving day itself. I usually go the day before or the day after. The crowds are still huge, but they at least have food for you. I would also recommend making a reservation ASAP. I am quite sure that their reservation for thanksgiving day are few and far between at this point in time.

These are just a couple suggestions based upon personal experience. But good luck with wherever you decide.

 

[MommyJKM]

Personally I recommend doing a thanksgiving meal on Friday. I wen to DL a couple years ago and they ran out of food very quickly. By the time 1pm rolled around and my group was sitting down for lunch, they said that they didn't have a lot of options. So I have not been back since on thanksgiving day itself. I usually go the day before or the day after. The crowds are still huge, but they at least have food for you. I would also recommend making a reservation ASAP. I am quite sure that their reservation for thanksgiving day are few and far between at this point in time.

These are just a couple suggestions based upon personal experience. But good luck with wherever you decide.

It never occurred to me they would run out of food! Thank you for the tip! I just didn't want everyone to be dissapointed... Maybe we'll just eat at Ruth's Chris off site instead.

 

[sc426]

A very, very good choice!

 

[crystal1313]

How fun MommyJKM! What a sweet husband =)

Ruth Chris sound delicious! Another one that popped into my head that my kids love is Cheesecake Factory/ I'm sure whatever you choose will be fantastic! Have a wonderful time!

 

[Sherry E]

Sweet husband just surprised us with a trip to DLR Wed the 26th to Saturday the 29th.

I was starting to get stressed about hosting/meals, etc. My cousin and her husband and 2 kids (11 and 6yrs old) were initially flying up for the week and will now meet us in DLR for that time -- staying at The Grand.

My only problem is where to have our Thanksgiving meal.
I still want it to seem "Family Oriented". Napa Rose was too formal for the kids (my DD is 4) and Big Thunder Ranch seemed too casual.

Has anyone had their Thanksgiving day meal in the parks? I was thinking of maybe doing Catal and their special menu but wanted to see if anyone had done one of the park restaurants...

A couple of popular choices for Thanksgiving (that people have reported on in the Christmas/Holiday Superthread) are the Blue Bayou and Storytellers Café at the GCH. A lot of people also do the big Thanksgiving Feast at the Disneyland Hotel. Jazz Kitchen is also a popular choice, and something a little different.

 

[southlake]

I'd venture to say it's possibly too late to get a Thanksgiving Day dinner reservation at Disneyland. We booked ours exactly 60 days out. My friend did hers a few weeks ago and the Disneyland Hotel Ballroom only had a 12pm slot left for her. You may need to go offsite this late in the game!

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

I'd venture to say it's possibly too late to get a Thanksgiving Day dinner reservation at Disneyland. We booked ours exactly 60 days out. My friend did hers a few weeks ago and the Disneyland Hotel Ballroom only had a 12pm slot left for her. You may need to go offsite this late in the game!

I agree.

 

[dizzymomx4]

We went to Disneyland for Thanksgiving 2012 and will be going again Nov 25-30th! I am beyond excited that I do not have to cook for the 30+ people that I normally do and get to enjoy the parks instead. When we went we ate at the Plaza Inn on Main Street. They served the traditional dinner of Turkey, Stuffing, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans and Cranberry Sauce. They also had Pork Loin, Pasta, Fried Chicken. It was a very nice choice ! We didn't have trouble with food running out. This year we are taking it casual..I don't even care if we enjoy a Corn Dog..Its going to be magical!! This is the turkey that was displayed at The Plaza Inn...

 

[southlake]

We went to Disneyland for Thanksgiving 2012 and will be going again Nov 25-30th! I am beyond excited that I do not have to cook for the 30+ people that I normally do and get to enjoy the parks instead. When we went we ate at the Plaza Inn on Main Street. They served the traditional dinner of Turkey, Stuffing, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans and Cranberry Sauce. They also had Pork Loin, Pasta, Fried Chicken. It was a very nice choice ! We didn't have trouble with food running out. This year we are taking it casual..I don't even care if we enjoy a Corn Dog..Its going to be magical!! This is the turkey that was displayed at The Plaza Inn...

I agree.. having been at DLR on Thanksgiving Day in 2012 and 2013, not once did we ever hear food was running out, at any restaurant we ate at. We had Thanksgiving Dinner at Napa Rose at the GCH both years and it is exceptional.

 

[Malcon10t]

We are doing Storytellers. It is one of our favorites for this type of meal. We also grabbed (and have given up) reservations at the Thanksgiving Feast.

We have never had them run out of food, so don't worry about that.

I would make reservations asap as they are running out of those.

 

[PixiDustDears]

A few years ago we had Thanksgiving dinner at Storytellers. We really enjoyed it and it made for a special trip (we usually only do counter service at Disneyland...always on the go). This year we will be having dinner at the Surfs Up buffet. Dh liked the sound of the food there I think. And while I know it's not a character meal, we have enjoyed breakfast there before so I'm hoping this will be just as good.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

Personally I recommend doing a thanksgiving meal on Friday. I wen to DL a couple years ago and they ran out of food very quickly. By the time 1pm rolled around and my group was sitting down for lunch, they said that they didn't have a lot of options. So I have not been back since on thanksgiving day itself. I usually go the day before or the day after. The crowds are still huge, but they at least have food for you. I would also recommend making a reservation ASAP. I am quite sure that their reservation for thanksgiving day are few and far between at this point in time. These are just a couple suggestions based upon personal experience. But good luck with wherever you decide.

We have been there on Thanksgiving 2 years in a row (2012 & 2013) and I didn't hear about any food running out. It certainly didn't for us.

OP, we ate at Big Thunder our first year (we were looking for non traditional) and Blue Bayou last year. Both were a lot of fun! Storytellers would be next on my list - it has good food and a cozy, family style atmosphere.

 

[SplashMo]

I would rope drop the parks on Thursday. It could be the lightest crowd day. Then I would consider a 5 PM Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen Dinner. If it looks good to you...

 

[VShields]

We will be in Disneyland for Thanksgiving also! We are doing something a little different though; we are dragging our fifth-wheel from Oregon and I am making a 'make-shift' Thanksgiving dinner in our trailer We are having sliced turkey, stovetop stuffing, premade mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and brown and serve rolls.

I'm so excited I can hardly stand it! My four-year old is counting down the 'sleeps' until we leave. Her big brother is stationed in Oceanside, so he will be joining us. What could be better than Disneyland and my Marine for Thanksgiving!!

 

[SnowBelleAlice]

We've spent two Thanksgivings at DLR, 2010, and 2011, both of our dinners were off site, at Mimi's, down by the HoJo, have fun!

 

[MommyJKM]

We went to Disneyland for Thanksgiving 2012 and will be going again Nov 25-30th! I am beyond excited that I do not have to cook for the 30+ people that I normally do and get to enjoy the parks instead. When we went we ate at the Plaza Inn on Main Street. They served the traditional dinner of Turkey, Stuffing, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans and Cranberry Sauce. They also had Pork Loin, Pasta, Fried Chicken. It was a very nice choice ! We didn't have trouble with food running out. This year we are taking it casual..I don't even care if we enjoy a Corn Dog..Its going to be magical!! This is the turkey that was displayed at The Plaza Inn...

Thank you everyone for the ideas! I should have known to ready SherryE's SuperThread too.

We're going to do Storyteller's Cafe on Thanksgiving Day itself, but that Plaza Inn Meal looks GREAT!

 

[Malcon10t]

Thank you everyone for the ideas! I should have known to ready SherryE's SuperThread too.

We're going to do Storyteller's Cafe on Thanksgiving Day itself, but that Plaza Inn Meal looks GREAT!

We are there too!

 

[pixiewings71]

We went a few years ago, probably 2009 or 2010, may have been 2008....I really don't remember. The crowds were low, we ate at the Jazz Kitchen, it was amazing!!! I had a traditional turkey dinner, DBF had the turducken, the kids were able to get items from the regular menu if they chose, one had chicken, one had turkey. It was a really good meal, made better because we were in DL. Enjoy!