If you will be spending Thanksgiving Day at Walt Disney World this year, you likely have ADRs at a restaurant inside one of the parks or resorts. Since my family and I have enjoyed many Thanksgiving dinners at WDW, I wanted to share some reviews of the dinners we have tried. There are many choices for Thanksgiving dinner at WDW as a number of restaurants add traditional Thanksgiving favorites to their normal menus that day; and there are a number of places we have not tried but here is a look at some with which I am familiar.
50s Prime Time Café – Disney’s Hollywood Studios (food pictured)
The food here was quite good. We were served traditional Thanksgiving fare of turkey and stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans and carrots, cranberry sauce and rolls. After dinner, we chose our dessert from a view-finder which was fun for the kids. The dinner also included a non-alcoholic drink. The only down-side was that when my DH looked at the plate, he said “this is it?” This was the reason for the reservation at the all-you-can-eat buffet the following year.
Hollywood & Vine – Disney’s Hollywood Studios (twice)
In addition to the regular buffet, we enjoyed carved turkey breast, cornbread stuffing, roasted seasonal vegetables, cranberry sauce, rolls and other food choices. I found the Thanksgiving dinner here to be quite good; in fact, it was much better than the normal buffet on any given day. The dinner also includes a non-alcoholic drink. For dessert, we enjoyed a variety of treats including a delicious Pumpkin Cheesecake. We all ate until we were stuffed!
Thanksgiving at the Fort, Fort Wilderness Campground (at the home of Mickey’s Backyard Barbecue). This dinner was served as an all-you-care-to-eat buffet and you are seated in backyard barbecue style (with long tables seating many guests at one time). It includes soup, salads, cornbread, turkey breast, Honey-mustard-glazed Ham, mashed potatoes, candied yams, green bean casserole, squash, corn bread stuffing, country turkey gravy, and cranberry sauce. This dinner also included iced tea, lemonade, coffee, beer and wine. For dessert we had Pumpkin Pie and ice cream novelties.
The best part about this experience is the live entertainment, character greetings and dancing with Mickey.
The Wave – Disney’s Contemporary Resort
This was a delicious traditional Thanksgiving meal. The best part of having Thanksgiving at The Wave was that we were a party of 11 and we were staying at the Contemporary so it was extremely convenient. Above all, the service was exceptional. Our waitress was so attentive, fun and kind that we wanted to take her to the park with us after dinner. Oh, and the Pumpkin Crème Brulee was super delicious.
Quick Service at Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Several years ago we were on a super-budget trip with no big plans for Thanksgiving dinner. My kids and I all enjoyed Coney Islands (chili cheese dogs) from Toluca Legs Turkey Co while my hubby had a giant turkey leg. He teased us all day about not having turkey on Thanksgiving but, what can I say, we love conies! Besides, to me the importance of Thanksgiving is more about sharing it with the family I love than what is on the menu.
Wherever you will be spending Thanksgiving this year, I hope it will be a wonderful time with family and friends, as well as some good food and great dessert – giving thanks!
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Brenda is a native Texan born and raised on the Gulf Coast. She visited Disney World twice as a teenager and always dreamed of growing her family Disney. She took her first-timer husband and their three children to Disney World in 2000 and they now spend every Thanksgiving there. Brenda writes with a comedic twist on various Disney topics. She will be sharing tips she has learned during her travels and also hopes to enlighten people on little-known freebies that Disney has to offer. She wishes she could have met Walt Disney and considers herself to be a student of Walt. In parallel to his dream it is her wish that everyone would take at least one trip to Disney World in order to share in its magic with their families.
