****Official Thanksgiving 2020 Thread****

MrsBooch

DIS Veteran
Joined
Mar 13, 2019
I didn't see anything for this and I thought it would be a nice addition to gather us all together for this year's planning etc.
We are heading down Nov. 25-30, staying at Wilderness Lodge. This will be our first time celebrating Thanksgiving in Disney. We are planning on a mostly resort stay with one park day (HS), Disney Springs time and one Christmas Party which historically they have been held the Sunday following Thanksgiving so we are banking on that holding true for 2020.

I'm actually looking forward to taking it easy and seeing some other stuff that we never get to normally:
*Disney Springs itself
*Taking a boat over to Fort Wilderness and doing the Chip and Dale Campfire and the horse drawn carriage through the campsites to see decorations
*Taking advantage of the resort's daily activities
*Taking a boat over to the Contemporary and doing the resort monorail loop to check out the Christmas decorations at Contemporary, Grand Flo and Poly (also pick up some dole whip)

Is anyone else planning a Disney thanksgiving? Where are you thinking of having Thanksgiving dinner?
We thought our obvious choice would be Whispering Canyon because we're already there but I dont know anymore. There are so many restaurants doing special menus.
 
We just rescheduled for Nov 22-29. We were on rented points for late March and got lucky that our member was kind enough to reschedule us. We were at AKL and had to move to Saratoga springs, but we are just glad to be going!

We have done thanksgiving several times, but not since DD16 was small. We like to do a non Thanksgiving dinner and will likely do someplace like Sanaa thanksgiving day. We are excited to try Topolino's Terrace as well.
 
We just rescheduled for Nov 22-29. We were on rented points for late March and got lucky that our member was kind enough to reschedule us. We were at AKL and had to move to Saratoga springs, but we are just glad to be going!

We have done thanksgiving several times, but not since DD16 was small. We like to do a non Thanksgiving dinner and will likely do someplace like Sanaa thanksgiving day. We are excited to try Topolino's Terrace as well.

I am looking forward to Topolino's too - I'm thinking Breakfast is more our speed - are you guys thinking breakfast or dinner?
 
We just rescheduled for 11/22-11/29 as well at Wilderness Lodge. Are the parks open on Thanksgiving Day? Is it just insane with crowds? Are the Christmas decorations up yet? I've never gone in November before, much less Thanksgiving, so I'm a total newbie on this one.
 


We just rescheduled for 11/22-11/29 as well at Wilderness Lodge. Are the parks open on Thanksgiving Day? Is it just insane with crowds? Are the Christmas decorations up yet? I've never gone in November before, much less Thanksgiving, so I'm a total newbie on this one.


The parks are 100% open that whole time - and it is definitely crowded but if you are comparing Christmas to Thanksgiving - Thanksgiving is a winner - Christmas has seen parks reach capacity - and closing - as early as 10am to any additional guests.

As long as you go into it with fast passes and dining reservations and frankly, expectations for what you might be looking at crowd wise, you will be fine.

Christmas decorations are definitely up, I heard that by the time Thanksgiving rolls around they are up at the resorts as well as the parks which is great - especially at Wilderness Lodge. Also there typically wont be a Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party that week however they do usually have one the Sunday prior to and after Thanksgiving.

I just had to cancel our March trip to Hilton Head - so I'm going into full plan mode on the November trip.
 
We just rescheduled for 11/22-11/29 as well at Wilderness Lodge. Are the parks open on Thanksgiving Day? Is it just insane with crowds? Are the Christmas decorations up yet? I've never gone in November before, much less Thanksgiving, so I'm a total newbie on this one.

Of course the parks are open on Thanksgiving Day! Typically more crowded that day, but we didn’t mind it this past year. Christmas decorations ARE up!! Parks and resorts! Christmas music everywhere you go!! It’s such a magical time to be in Disney! Enjoy it!

I didn't see anything for this and I thought it would be a nice addition to gather us all together for this year's planning etc.
We are heading down Nov. 25-30, staying at Wilderness Lodge. This will be our first time celebrating Thanksgiving in Disney. We are planning on a mostly resort stay with one park day (HS), Disney Springs time and one Christmas Party which historically they have been held the Sunday following Thanksgiving so we are banking on that holding true for 2020.

I'm actually looking forward to taking it easy and seeing some other stuff that we never get to normally:
*Disney Springs itself
*Taking a boat over to Fort Wilderness and doing the Chip and Dale Campfire and the horse drawn carriage through the campsites to see decorations
*Taking advantage of the resort's daily activities
*Taking a boat over to the Contemporary and doing the resort monorail loop to check out the Christmas decorations at Contemporary, Grand Flo and Poly (also pick up some dole whip)

Is anyone else planning a Disney thanksgiving? Where are you thinking of having Thanksgiving dinner?
We thought our obvious choice would be Whispering Canyon because we're already there but I dont know anymore. There are so many restaurants doing special menus.

Our favorite on site Thanksgiving dinner has been Cape May Cafe (for actual turkey dinner) or Narcoosee’s. We tried Chef Mickey’s as well one year, they served a full turkey dinner, but I did not enjoy it. It’s a Christmas Wonderland! Have fun!
 


Our favorite on site Thanksgiving dinner has been Cape May Cafe (for actual turkey dinner) or Narcoosee’s. We tried Chef Mickey’s as well one year, they served a full turkey dinner, but I did not enjoy it. It’s a Christmas Wonderland! Have fun!

Does Cape May also still do their seafood buffet or is it exclusively thanksgiving fare?
 
Does Cape May also still do their seafood buffet or is it exclusively thanksgiving fare?

When I ate there last, yes! The crab legs were delicious, too! Typically, a couple weeks out, Disney will post which restaurants will be offering Thanksgiving dinner.
 
When I ate there last, yes! The crab legs were delicious, too! Typically, a couple weeks out, Disney will post which restaurants will be offering Thanksgiving dinner.

Oooo then I may have to switch to Cape May - I'm not a huge turkey person but DH is - but I can eat my weight in crab legs....Thanks!!

It is therapeutic to have something to look forward to :)
 
Oooo then I may have to switch to Cape May - I'm not a huge turkey person but DH is - but I can eat my weight in crab legs....Thanks!!

It is therapeutic to have something to look forward to :)

I know! I’m trying to stay positive. We have two trips coming up. I’m hoping the fall trip will stay, but nervous the summer trip will be canceled.
 
I know! I’m trying to stay positive. We have two trips coming up. I’m hoping the fall trip will stay, but nervous the summer trip will be canceled.

same here -

We have a late August summer trip and our Thanksgiving trip. Fingers crossed!
 
It is therapeutic to have something to look forward to :)
Definitely agree. I spent 8 or 9 months planning our Spring Break trip and it was one thing that got me through some tough times at work in the fall/winter. Having it get cancelled was a huge gut punch, but I know it was for the best. Now I get the excitement of planning the whole thing again!
 
I cancelled our May trip today and we are now planning to go for Thanksgiving. I’ve never been for a major holiday before but we can make it work. Also, I love to see the Christmas decorations so that’s a positive. Now I just need to pick a hotel and plan dining and fast passes.
 
I cancelled our May trip today and we are now planning to go for Thanksgiving. I’ve never been for a major holiday before but we can make it work. Also, I love to see the Christmas decorations so that’s a positive. Now I just need to pick a hotel and plan dining and fast passes.

Planning dining is basically my favorite thing to do 🤣 also I think (don't quote me on this) that Epcot's festival of the Holidays will be running at this time so I'm going to look through 2019's offerings and make a plan of action for booths I might want to hit. I think in 2019 there were some really interesting drinks around the countries for the festival and someone told me about a cookie crawl which would be fun too.
 
We’re not technically there on TG but we arrive into Orlando on Black Friday and check into Disney on Saturday. Staying for 2 weeks, booked at OKW for now but hoping for CCV or BRV (we’re DVC but have to wait to see if we’ll get in there). After all of this insanity I’m so glad we have something to look forward to.
 
We will be there the Thursday before and checkout on Thanksgiving to head to Universal. I am hoping they still do the Destination D conference the weekend before Thanksgiving. This will be our second year to do this time. I really enjoyed it, but I don't mind crowds. Getting there by the Thursday or Friday before might allow you to do an xmas party. I did that last time. It can be cold, but it can be warm too. The parks are all decorated, and the special foods are out. Unfortunately, Epcot doesn't seem to be doing their xmas stuff until the weekend after Thanksgiving or maybe even later.
 
Definitely agree. I spent 8 or 9 months planning our Spring Break trip and it was one thing that got me through some tough times at work in the fall/winter. Having it get cancelled was a huge gut punch, but I know it was for the best. Now I get the excitement of planning the whole thing again!
I had the identical experience! :badpc: It was a rough December-February of long hours spent on proposals and project interviews with little reward... if I only knew then... wishing I had my holidays back. Not to mention some of those projects we didnt win now that things are looking bleak - I have a team to keep busy and working...

But aside from all that debbie downer stuff, we rebooked for TG week - for now! And now that more than a week has passed since the big cancel and swap, “gut punch” indeed - and things in the world continue to be crazy I am feeling blessed nonetheless and feeling more inspired to escape it all when I get those moments to do so and be in my happy place of Disney Trip planning mode. So thanks for helping me do that everyone and letting me relate to you in your disappointments too!
Stay healthy!
 
I just set up our trip to bookend with nights at the Pop so we are Nov 21-28, staying the first and last night at the Pop and the interim at Sarartoga Springs.

I am just about ready to dive deep into planning. I would LOVE to have park hours to plan with. Anyone know about when we an expect them?

On a side note, I am teaching high school physics from home for the foreseeable future. It is tough to get my kids what they need to be successful!
 
We’ve gone at thanksgiving and stayed the week after the pst 4 years. Most hours aren’t posted until September or later. In general , all parks were open till 9 pm. Magic kingdom will have parties on some weekends, but then usually the Monday or Tuesday after Thanksgiving will be open till midnight. Of course, with Star Wars land. Times may be different this fall
 

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