Thanksgiving Dinner at parks

[derrickmom]

I was wondering if the parks reach capcity on Thanksgiving day? If they do are you able to still get into the park if you have a dinning reservation??

 

[daisyduck123]

If a park is full to capacity and no longer letting in new guests, you will not be allowed in just for a dining reservation.

 

[ThreeKMom]

They can reach capacity on Thanksgiving day, and if they do you will not be let in. However Disney closes the parks in stages - I'm not sure of the official terms but they will sometimes close to guests that are not staying on property but still allow guest that are staying at a Disney resort in. I think that they also re-open in stages too.

If I had an ADR at a park on Thanksgiving I would make sure to get there early and not leave! Or better yet make an ADR at a resort restaurant, go where I wanted in the am - go to dinner- then just hop to which ever park is still accepting guests.

 

[RMulieri]

There are phases of closure..However a Phase 4 means no one gets in, and that includes people with adrs( prepaid or otherwise).Get to the park early and plan on staying there

 

[travelitis]

I've been going to Disney on Thanksgiving and staying off site at our timeshare for the last 10 years. The only park we've encountered a closing on was MK, and that's not every time. That being said, we haven't gone park to park each time checking. We made sure we got to our park early in the day and stayed so we could eat where we had our ADR. We have shown up on Thanksgiving evening after having our dinner at our timeshare and gotten into MK. The day I'm most concerned about is NYE, because I've seen multiple parks shut down at the same time. However, I still wouldn't risk my Thanksgiving plans and would be at the park well in advance, celebrating the holiday. MK is typically the most popular on Thanksgiving, and AK the least. This year we're headed for the Studios and Prime Time.

 

[Praying Colonel]

When in doubt, make Thanksgiving an Epcot day. It can handle the largest number of people.

 

[derrickmom]

Thank you. We have a MK Liberty Tree reservation at 12:30pm. We also have a 7:30 reservation for Le Cellier in Epcot. We LOVE to eat

 

[Praying Colonel]

Wow, good work with the 7.30 Le Cellier reservation. Who'd you kill to get that one?

FWIW, LeCellier serves a great Tgiving meal, too so if you booked Liberty Tree to have Tgiving dinner, you don't have to worry.

 

[ThreeKMom]

When in doubt, make Thanksgiving an Epcot day. It can handle the largest number of people.

Good advise!

 

[Cinderella94]

Thank you. We have a MK Liberty Tree reservation at 12:30pm. We also have a 7:30 reservation for Le Cellier in Epcot. We LOVE to eat

Those plans sound great! Take me with you?

 

[NaturalLove]

Thanksgiving Day is our MK day. But we have dinner ressies at T-Rex. We also will be doing the Wishes Dessert Party (it's already paid for). Do I need to be worried that if we leave, we may not be allowed back in even for the Wishes Dessert Party?

 

[TDC Nala]

Thanksgiving Day is our MK day. But we have dinner ressies at T-Rex. We also will be doing the Wishes Dessert Party (it's already paid for). Do I need to be worried that if we leave, we may not be allowed back in even for the Wishes Dessert Party?

If the park reaches a Stage 4 closure you will not be allowed back in for anything.

The four closure stages are:

1. The parking lot is closed. Only guests using Disney transportation are admitted.

2. The ticket windows and vending machines are closed. Only guests who already have tickets are admitted.

3. Only Disney resort guests and annual passholders are admitted.

4. No one is admitted.

You have to worry the most if you are intending to drive to MK and park there.

 

[princessmom29]

We have been over thanksgiving the last 2 years and no park including MK has made it to stage 4. We are planning to do DHS, and hop to EPCOT for a La Hacienda for dinner and illuminations. If you are staying offsite you may encounter a parking lot closure. If it were me I would park at one of the parks that morining and use Disney transportation to move between parks.

 

[NaturalLove]

It looks like I'll only have to worry if we get to stage 4.

 

[RMulieri]

It looks like I'll only have to worry if we get to stage 4.

True, but a park can very quickly move thru the phases of capacity closure.