The Disney Driven Life
Community Blog for Neurotic Disney People

THANKSGIVING AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

Cinderella Fountain at Night, Walt Disney World
Cinderella Fountain at Night, Walt Disney World
Scott Baxter, Pixie Dust Pictures

THANKSGIVING AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

Thanksgiving week is one of the most popular times to visit Walt Disney World. Families from all over the nation descend upon the Disney World resort, choosing to enjoy family togetherness at the holidays without the hassle of cooking and cleaning dishes. The following tips will help you navigate the theme parks with the goal of spending less time in line and more time enjoying your Disney vacation.

Make advance dining reservations. Before your Disney World vacation begins, be sure to make reservations for your entire group at one of Disney’s many excellent table service restaurants. The Disney theme parks get very busy during the Thanksgiving season. Disney’s table service restaurants give your group a break from the crowds and excitement of the theme parks. Restaurants fill up quickly, however–especially those with character dining–so be sure to make reservations before you arrive at the Disney Parks.

Use Disney’s FASTPASSES. During peak seasons when theme park attendance is high, the wait for certain rides can become longer than 100 minutes. Instead of wasting time in line, grab a FASTPASS and spend your time shopping, dining, or on a ride with a shorter line. Each Disney World theme park offers free FASTPASSES to some of the most popular rides and attractions. Simply visit the FASTPASS distribution center at the ride of your choice, insert your theme park ticket, and return to the ride at the designated time to skip to the front of the line.

Check the daily Disney Times Guides. Each Disney World theme park offers a free times guide that lists park hours, character greeting times, fireworks and parade information, and special holiday activities. Thanksgiving marks the beginning of Disney World’s holiday season, and many of Disney’s holiday activities start just before or after Thanksgiving. Extended holiday hours are also listed on the Times Guides.

Contributed by: Peggy M. (NDI#29). Peggy is our resident American Disney news correspondent and writes daily Disney articles for Examiner.com .

Blog Widget by LinkWithin

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Tags: advance dining reservations, FASTPASSES, Thanksgiving

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 8th, 2009 at 10:57 pm and is filed under Disney News and Events, Vacation Planning. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • NDM1favcousin

    Why didn’t I think of that? Thanksgiving at Disney World! Guess I am too traditional. Time to start a new one….
    I saw the Fall decor for my first time last month when we went to MK for the day. Loved it!

  • NDM1favcousin

    Why didn’t I think of that? Thanksgiving at Disney World! Guess I am too traditional. Time to start a new one….
    I saw the Fall decor for my first time last month when we went to MK for the day. Loved it!

  • http://www.themouseexperts.com/ Amy

    Try to pad some time to take in the holiday festivites. THe Gingerbread house at the Grand Floridain is up. The Beach Club carousel will up tomorrow, the American pavillion in Epcot already is doing holiday activites, and of course the Osbrone Family lights. All these things are no extra cost and are running during Thanksgiving weekend.

  • http://www.themouseexperts.com Amy

    Try to pad some time to take in the holiday festivites. THe Gingerbread house at the Grand Floridain is up. The Beach Club carousel will up tomorrow, the American pavillion in Epcot already is doing holiday activites, and of course the Osbrone Family lights. All these things are no extra cost and are running during Thanksgiving weekend.

  • http://www.officialticketcenter.com/ oticketc

    Yes the period after Thanksgiving through January it’s a complete celebration within Theme Parks be it WDW, Sea World or The Universal Studios

  • http://www.officialticketcenter.com oticketc

    Yes the period after Thanksgiving through January it’s a complete celebration within Theme Parks be it WDW, Sea World or The Universal Studios

  • Charity Miller

    We attended MK on the Monday before Thanksgiving in 2009. It was a bit rough with so many other Disney Fans there. However, we did the big three and the things that are don’t misses, had a ton of fun, and watched the Holiday Celebration on the Castle. My NDD (Husband) got to see his favorite thing (wishes) and I finally got to see Spectromagic. Our now 8 year old NDK who was 2 last time we went got to finally remember all the things we love about Disney! We can not wait to take her for a week and let her do all the parks. We were scheduled to stay all week and would have had Thanksgiving Lunch at The Hollywood Studios, but something came up and we came home for Thanksgiving. I think next year we might just stay gone……

  • Charity Miller

    We attended MK on the Monday before Thanksgiving in 2009. It was a bit rough with so many other Disney Fans there. However, we did the big three and the things that are don’t misses, had a ton of fun, and watched the Holiday Celebration on the Castle. My NDD (Husband) got to see his favorite thing (wishes) and I finally got to see Spectromagic. Our now 8 year old NDK who was 2 last time we went got to finally remember all the things we love about Disney! We can not wait to take her for a week and let her do all the parks. We were scheduled to stay all week and would have had Thanksgiving Lunch at The Hollywood Studios, but something came up and we came home for Thanksgiving. I think next year we might just stay gone……

  • http://myworldofwarcraftonline.com dugis guides

    Disney does not offer a Thanksgiving parade or decorations in the parks. … Christmas decorations at the Walt Disney World!

blog comments powered by Disqus