Ultimate Guide to Thanksgiving Dinner at Disney World
Are you visiting the Most Magical Place on Earth for Thanksgiving? Do you need to find a place that will serve a meal that will remind you of home, only without the familial in-fighting? Walt Disney World provides a marvelous escape from the real world, including that cousin you not-so-secretly can’t stand. Here are a few places where you can enjoy a happy Thanksgiving dinner at Disney.
A Few Quick Notes
A Few Quick NotesSomething that you must keep in mind about Thanksgiving is that you’re visiting Walt Disney World on one of the most popular park days. It will be extremely crowded since so many vacationers spend the holidays at Disney parks. Given the usage of Advanced Dining Reservations (ADR), some places are already booked. I’ve tried to weed those out from this list.
I’m still going to mention places that are currently booked, though. Here’s why. You still have the opportunity to pick up a last-minute ADR. Disney charges guests $10 per person when they forget to cancel ADRs and also don’t show up for the meal. To avoid this, guests generally cancel 48 hours in advance or longer. In other words, you’re just now in the window where a few Thanksgiving ADRs might appear in My Disney Experience.
Should you have no luck with ADRs, the old-fashioned way still works. Walk-up tables are available at many Table Service restaurants. Pick your favorite, preferably one close to where you are, and walk over to the check-in desk there. Ask the cast member how long you should expect to wait for a table.
In my experience, cast members are extremely honest when they know that they won’t be able to seat you. Since you have waited until the last minute, you should expect to wait a while for a table. It’s the reality of a crowded park day.
Thanksgiving Dinner at the Parks
A total of ten restaurants at Disney theme parks list some sort of Thanksgiving meal. Half of them are at Epcot. If you want to stake out a single park for a turkey dinner, it may seem like your best bet, but it’s not for reasons explained in a moment.
Since Magic Kingdom is the most popular theme park by far, we’ll start there. Cinderella’s Royal Table and Liberty Tree Tavern both list Thanksgiving meals. Neither of these places will be your best bet, though. Cinderella’s Royal Table is one of the most difficult ADRs at Walt Disney World. It generally books at or near the 180-day window, especially on major holidays like Thanksgiving.
Liberty Tree Tavern isn’t always crowded. The problem you face this week is that’s it’s a restaurant known for its…Thanksgiving dinner. Yes, Liberty Tree Tavern is all-in on turkey all year long. You can imagine the demand for this place on the actual Thanksgiving holiday. For this reason, I wouldn’t suggest Magic Kingdom as an option for your Thanksgiving meal. Unless an ADR drops in your lap, the absolute best case scenario is that you wait for an hour or more before being seated.
Three Options at Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom
I’m about to discuss three different restaurants that all have some availability according to what I’m seeing in the system right now. I wouldn’t describe these are the premiere options at Walt Disney World, but beggars can’t be choosers. Besides, almost all meals at Disney are better than you’d find at your average local restaurant.
The best of them is Tusker House at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. It’s one of the most popular character meals at Walt Disney World. Should you want to eat here, you should book an ADR immediately, as it’s nearly booked. While this is the least conventional of Thanksgiving meals since the restaurant is known for its exotic flavors, you’ll have fun here.
The other choice at Animal Kingdom is Rainforest Café. I would describe this as a good news/bad news situation. They have a lot of availability, so you’re likely to get a table here if you book now. The downside is that it’s a chain restaurant with what I would describe as substandard flavors for a Disney Table Service restaurant. They serve this Thanksgiving dinner at all of their locations across the country, and it’s apparently just so-so. This is your back-up plan if you can’t get anything else.
The most expensive selection is at The Hollywood Brown Derby at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. It’s a Signature Dining experience and will cost two Table Service dining credits on the Disney Dining Plan. Should you pay out of pocket, you should expect a meal for two to cost more than $100, possibly a lot more depending on what you order. You will get your money’s worth. Book quickly if you want to eat here, though. Availability is extremely scarce.
Should you wait to skip Table Service altogether, there’s a final backup option. Disney will serve a special Thanksgiving bowl at Satu’li Canteen. It mimics the traditional Thanksgiving dinner and is a quicker option than everything else listed here. It’s just a bit…unconventional.
The Epcot Five
There are four participating restaurants at Epcot that I would recommend to everyone. The flavors at each one are delicious, and I’m confident a Thanksgiving meal would be amazing. Then, there’s a fifth option that is better for the ambience than the food. Guess which four are currently booked and which one is available. Yup.
The four terrific restaurants listed in my order of preference are Akershus, Rose & Crown Dining Room, Le Cellier, and Biergarten. Biergarten would be somewhat untraditional, and it would be kind of odd to eat at a British restaurant on Thanksgiving. Otherwise, all of these places are exceptional.
I should point out that Le Cellier is a Signature Dining experience as well. It will cost the most or require two Table Service credits per person. I’m confident you’d love any of these meals. They’re currently showing as booked, though. You’ll need some luck with cancellations to eat at any of them.
Biergarten might be your best bet if you’re determined to eat at one. It showed some availability when I started writing the article. Sometimes, My Disney Experience is a bit inconsistent in displaying possible meal reservations.
This leaves the fifth option, Coral Reef Restaurant, one of the most divisive places on the Disney campus. Everyone loves the setting, as the place is effectively an aquarium where you eat the fish. That may be why people are conflicted about it. Anyway, Coral Reef’s menu features exceptional desserts and some generally mediocre entrees. It currently shows only two open time slots for ADRs, meaning that you need to book RIGHT NOW if you want to eat there.
Dining at the Resorts
So far, a lot of this might sound like disappointing news. You’re currently eating at Rainforest Café but had hoped to do better, right? Don’t worry! A few other restaurants serve Thanksgiving dinner, too. All of them are at Disney resorts.
Disney Springs doesn’t have many options, and most of them are already booked. From this point forward, I’ll only list restaurants that show availability.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge is a gorgeous facility that you should try to visit on your trip anyway. On Thanksgiving, two of their restaurants have Thanksgiving dinners with current ADRs available. They are Jiko – The Cooking Place and Sanaa. Jiko requires two Table Service credits as a Signature Dining experience.
Trattoria al Forno is easily accessible and doubles as a good back-up plan for Epcot guests. It’s located on the BoardWalk right beside Disney’s BoardWalk Inn. Also in the Epcot area is Boatwright’s Dining Hall at Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – Riverside. It has a few tables available right now, too.
The Turf Club Bar and Grill and Narcoossee’s are the final two standard Thanksgiving meals with availability. Narcoossee’s is a Signature Dining experience that comes with the hidden bonus of a possible fireworks view. The Turf Club is at Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa. Unfortunately, it’s the only thing in the Disney Springs area that has a special Thanksgiving meal and availability.
An unconventional choice that could be a lot of fun is Mickey’s Backyard BBQ. Disney offers three show times on Thanksgiving, all of which currently have availability. If you don’t mind a show with your Thanksgiving dinner, this somewhat more expensive option (it’s Signature Dining, too) is a potentially unforgettable meal experience.
With so many possible tables listed here, I’m confident you can find a Thanksgiving meal at Disney that will satisfy your turkey cravings! Have a wonderful holiday, my friends!
Wondering how so many restaurants are booked ?? Its not 180 days