Thanksgiving questions for WDW Veterans

[disney greenhorn]

I have a few questions concerning Thanksgiving in WDW. My family consisting of husband, 7yr daughter, father, mother and myself will be staying at the OKW from 11/24 to 11/29. This is our first time at WDW. I have checked on the other forums concerning Thanksgiving, but I thought I would check here where there seems to be more knowledge of the ins and outs of WDW. My main question is concerning where and when to eat a Thanksgiving meal. We plan on being at MGM Studios on the day of Thanksgiving. What is the opinion on that park with crowds compared to the other parks on this specific day? I thought about having PS to eat lunch either 11:30 or 2:30 at Hollywood and Vine but we do not want to spend an arm or leg for a Thanksgiving meal, or have to waste a lot of time waiting in line, would we at H&V? I also thought about maybe waiting until later in the day and eating a supper/ dinner meal at Olivia's back at OKW, opinions? Of the veterans that attend WDW over Thanksgiving can you give me a feel for waits for meals and lines at parks and will Olivia's be swamped during this week? Sorry so long but many questions from this first timer.

 

[nisiemouse]

This will be our first Thanksgiving at disney with dh, dd 8 and ds 4 . We will be at OKW 11/23-11/30. From other reviews I read people seemed pleased with Hollywood and Vine. A few seemed less than pleased with Olivia's. There are some Thanksgiving menus from last year on Deb Willis' site at www.wdwig.com and the OKW meal was 21.99 for adults. It did not list the price for Hollywood and Vine but I think the price would be similar to their regular buffet price. I think this sounds like a better choice and with more selection for the kids. Maybe some of the Thanksgiving regulars can give you some more info as far as crowds. Of course, MK will be the most crowded. Enjoy your trip!

 

[Deb & Bill]

I'd skip the Olivia's Thanksgiving dinner if I were you. We ate it two years ago and it was terrible. I'd go for something off their menu instead. The menu items are pretty good. The pre-plated TG dinner was yuck! We ate at the Yacht Club Convention Center last year and it was very good. But we got a deal on it since we had made PS at the Yacht Club Galley which closed in October. Very tasty with lots to choose from, but a bit expensive.

We might order a Christmas dinner from Goodings this year and eat in our home at OKW.

 

[Happy@OKW]

We did Thanksgiving once, and at that time you could have the meal delivered (folks dressed in colonial costumes, even carved the turkey). I think I've read this is no longer offered, but I would probably check with the local grocery stores to order a dinner for your family. We (adult, married daughter/good cook! and I) supplemented our meal with a couple of those all-blender pies in aluminum pie tins, and our favorite Indian pudding. The left-overs were wonderful, and just like everyone else, we had turkey sandwiches on Friday!

 

[Dean]

We've heard good things about the OKW catered meals. Several have previously said skip Olivia's but overall they have seen improvement in the last year or 2. We've eaten at Boatrights, Jiko's and Crystal Palace on T'giving. All were good in their own way. If you're worried about park time, eat in the parks. Just go when they open then use the meal time as a way to rest and unwind. Otherwise, a dinner out or delivered in is a good choices as well. The other advantage, as others note, is the leftovers.

 

[AZKathy]

We did Thanksgiving with extended family in 1998. We did MK on that day...big mistake! MGM is probably a good bet for your visit to a park that day!!! Just keep MK off your list for Thanksgiving Day!

We bought a turkey dinner that Publix sells when we arrived. It had all the fixings for the dinner with a big already cooked turkey. We just reheated it all that afternoon and our family ate together in the villa. It was great and we had lots of leftovers for the weekend. It was also a lot less than the catered thing although we had to do it ourselves and noone was dressed as pilgrims for that festive touch!

That holiday at WDW was one of the most memorable Thanksgivings I can remember! DH's family still talks fondly of the trip!

 

[Nanajo1]

We've done T'giving twice at OKW '99 and '01. We had the catered costumed dinner in '99 and it was great. I don't know why it was discontinued the next year. Last year we bought the Turkey dinner from Publix and it was great. We added desserts and cider and other a la carte sides. There were 10 adults, one 2yo and two infants. We brought the table in from the porch and put the two tables together and had a festive dinner. I brought candles and T'giving napkins from home. The leftovers are our family's favorite. We will do it again in 11/03.

 

[jeanneg]

We will also be spending Thanksgiving at OKW (11/27 thru 12/1).....it will be our 6th time doing this holiday there so i guess we're pretty much veterans. I strongly urge you not to do the catered meal in your unit. It is very expensive and not really that good. We did it twice: the first time was merely OK; then we tried it again another year simply for the convenience and had a really negative experience. I'm really sentimental about having a traditional T'day dinner and so I've found that the precooked meals you order at Goodings or Publix work out best for us. It involves a little bit of preparation as opposed to just going to a restaurant, but we enjoy it. You can check out the menus on the supermarket websites (just www.com whatever the name is) and order about 2 weeks prior. The best thing is that you can usually order as much as you like of whatever side dishes they offer and you can choose your own desserts, wine, etc as well. One note of advice: when you pick up your turkey, be sure to buy a small roll of aluminum foil to keep the leftovers nice and fresh.
If you've never been to WDW during the holidays, you're in for a great experience. All the parks have their decorations up by T'day and most of the holiday programs are available. the Osborne Light spectacle at MGM is not to be missed, and we love doing the Candlelight Processional at Epcot.
I'm happy to answer any of your questions, and look forward to seeing you at OKW!

 

[BraveMom3]

I'm currently planning a trip for myself, 3 children (10, 6,&5yo), my Mom, and her husband for this Thanksgiving. We'll be arriving at the BC on Wednesday, November 27 and departing on Monday, December 2. My children and I just returned from our annual 2 week trip, which is the time of year that we're used to going, so this is going to be alot different. This is the first time we'll be visiting during the Holiday season, and I want to make the most of our time there. Currently I'm considering the following for a very rough itinerary:
1. Wed - arrive at BC mid-day, check in, go to MK for a few hours, then return to the BC for a late-ish dinner at Cape May, return to room, put kids to bed, and unpack.

2. Thurs - up early, nice breakfast (location suggestion needed) together, head to MGM close to opening, get non-holiday lunch somewhere (like Sci-Fi Dine In), have Thanksgiving Dinner (around 5-ish, location suggestion needed, maybe at the YC or BC) then MGM for Fantasmic and Osbourne Lights.

3. Fri - EPCOT, CP Dinner Package (early, if available), Illuminiations.

4. Sat - Visit a few resorts(decoration viewing), then Downtown for evening.

5. Sun - AK, return to hotel for rest (maybe let kids swim - if water is warm enough), then to MK for MVMCP

6. Mon - Up early and head home, back to school Tuesday!



Any and all suggestions/advice will be greatly appreciated.

 

[chris1gill]

Bravemom3, I really like your itinerary. Thank you for reminding me we can do the Osbourne lights on Thanksgiving day!! We'll do that on Thanksgiving, do CP on Friday... Unfortunately we are already scheduled to leave on Sunday, so we won't be doing MVMCP this year, I'm really disappointed But I thought they'd have MVMCP the day after Thanksgiving... I planned wrong on that one...

But it seems you've really packed it all into a really nice (long) weekend!!

 

[nisiemouse]

BraveMom3: I really like your itinerary also. Since Yacht Club Gallery is open again that might be a nice Thanksgiving dinner. We are also hoping to do CP on Friday.

chris1gill: We had also hoped for an earlier MVMCP. We are leaving on Sunday also.

 

[BraveMom3]

chris1gill and nisiemouse, thanks for the responses and encouraging words. I had considered the Yacht Club Restaurant, but don't know much about it. I just made ressies last week, and initially I had us leaving on Sunday (so not to miss school), but when I thought about the first MVMCP being that Sunday night, I just could not resist calling back and adding a night. I will look further into information about Thanksgiving dinner at the Yacht Club. I think it'll be a good break from MGM, and not too inconvenient to get back and forth from (one of the main things I enjoyed about staying at the BC a couple of years ago).

 

[chris1gill]

Hmm, the thing about the Yacht Club for Thanksgiving Dinner, is I think they have a couple of alternatives. It appears that they set up one area with the traditional buffet dinner (Maybe a conference area? I'm not sure)... That buffet dinner is quite pricey (I'm thinking 40+ per adult)... Regardless it seems like too much money for me But, then there is the Yacht Club Galley that is opening back up... I wonder if they will serve just their regular menu? Or will they serve something different? Too bad there's no way to know until it's all announced by Disney what restaurant is doing what... Does anyone know when that info comes out? We've never done Thanksgiving at Disney!

I'm really leaning towards getting a dinner at Publix or Goodings like another poster suggested... I wish I knew more about either Grocery stores menu for Thanksgiving... I'm thinking I would like to have a resort morning/early afternoon that day & then maybe heading over to MGM/Osbourne Lights after Thanksgiving dinner(Thanks again BraveMom3!!)

Now we have to find out how busy MGM is on Thanksgiving, maybe I'll post the question on the Theme Park board?

 

[disney greenhorn]

What exactly are the Osborn Lights and the Candlelight Processional? Where are they located in their parks?

 

[chris1gill]

DisneyGreenhorn, follow this link to read the descriptions. Since you'll be there, you should definitely try to catch both events!

http://www.wdwig.com/holiday.htm

 

[nisiemouse]

chris1gill: I wouldn't do the YC convention center either. Alot of people got moved to that one when the YC gallery closed last year (I think they gave them a discount). I agree that one is too pricey but I think the YC gallery was going to be a buffet and was much more reasonable in price. Publix might be a good idea too. I don't remember when they came out with the Thanksgiving menus last year.

 

[jeanneg]

If you go to the main website for either Goodings or Publix you can find their holiday menus. They also list all the stores by area along with their phone numbers. That way you can order your meals a few weeks ahead of time. We've done it this way twice before and I'm pretty sure that's the route we'll go this year.
We also plan to do the CP on Friday.....anybody remember when they come out with the list of guest presentors?

 

[PJMPA]

We have been at OKW for the past 3 Thanksgiving and will be there again this year. You should make a Priority Seating reservation wherever you decide to eat. We've eaten a t California Grill once and Olivia's twice and will probably eat at Olivia's again this year. California Grill was very good although a bit fancy for most children's tastes. Olivia's meal has been excellent both times. Forget the Magic Kingdom on Thanksgiving Day. By noon it is very crowded. Your best bet is EPCOT because of the larger spaces which makje it easier to accomodate large crowds.

 

[jeanneg]

What's the earliest we can make dinner reservations and what's the menu like at Olivia's on Thanksgiving Day?
I agree that Epcot is usually the least crowded of all the parks on that day. In fact, MK usually gets so crowded that they stop letting people in around mid-day. As Disney guests, I'm not sure if those restrictions apply to us, but if it's that packed, I wouldn't want to be there anyway.

 

[Disnmike]

This past November my family and I had Thanksgiving dinner at Hollywood and Vine, the buffet was expanded to include some traditional Thanksgiving items, however I especially enjoyed the Acorn squash simmered in root beer. I want to say it was around 20.00 PP. Afterwards we walked down to the New York set, it was nice with Snow falling from the roof tops and the Osborne lights are incredible. In 2000 we had Thanksgiving dinner at Cinderella's Castle which was certainly worth the experience although reservations are difficult to get. I was surprised at how busy the parks are during the holiday. BTW we will be going home in August this will be the third trip this year, have to use those AP you know. Regards, Mike