Has anyone had success booking dining? I mean......for the love of churros!

[cruisehopeful]

Checking throughout the day works sometimes. I've been looking for Magic Key Terrace and/or Lamplight for this weekend and finally just got Magic Key terrace for Sunday afternoon. I'll still be checking regularly for Lamplight. Last time I went, I was able to book it the day of by checking in the morning. I'm not comfortable clicking through a link via a third party that I have to pay. So, I'm doing it old school.

 

[Disney0010]

CC is still good even with the biscuits off the menu. When we entered to check-in for dinner the bar area was loud. That’s what was nice about dining upstairs. Our server took his time, we were not rushed and the food was great. I booked us again for dinner for our December stay.

Well I wasn't looking for Napa Rose reservations this morning but since there was one during the time of my stay I went with it. Never eaten there before but it seems to be well thought of.

I was looking for Carthay reservations but I just found out they took the biscuits off the menu?? What the heck. That was like 70% of my interest in the place. I guess I will still see if I can randomly grab a seat at the bar for one of those ice sphere drinks. But I'm mostly looking at non-Disney dining this trip...want to check out two rooftop places: Rise at the Westin where I'm staying, and Blu Sky at the Radisson Blu. Also want one meal at the Packing District...well poutine at the Kroft and drinks at Blind Rabbit. And then I want to see which of the Morton's/Ruth's Chris/Fleming's triumvirate I can work in. Anaheim is one of the few (only?) places with those three in walking distance of each other.

 

[tlcdoula]

CC is still good even with the biscuits off the menu. When we entered to check-in for dinner the bar area was loud. That’s what was nice about dining upstairs. Our server took his time, we were not rushed and the food was great. I booked us again for dinner for our December stay.

My daughter and I went a couple of years ago on our last trip and just walking up the stairs and seeing all the photos etc was enough for us. Now the biscuits were amazing as was the rest of our meal but we couldn't believe how beautiful it was. I have a reservation for our last night there to take dh as he has never been.

 

[CharleneTheDM]

Dumb question...I know it's super hard to get resos for table service restaurants and that mobile ordering has been preferred.
For mobile ordering, do you put in the order the morning you enter the park?
As for Quick Service restaurants like Plaza Inn, do I need to book a seat or mobile order? Or do they only take walk ups?

Thanks in advance!

 

[BadPinkTink]

Just a quick question, as I'm keeping watch on this thread for my January trip. I'm specifically looking for Blue Bayou and Ogas as my must dos. I know its all a cluster at the moment just wondering how far out they are currently booking so that I can make a note of when to start my daily checking.

 

[tsumgirl]

Just a quick question, as I'm keeping watch on this thread for my January trip. I'm specifically looking for Blue Bayou and Ogas as my must dos. I know its all a cluster at the moment just wondering how far out they are currently booking so that I can make a note of when to start my daily checking.

As of 12/6, they seem to be releasing everything at 60 days out. I was able to book both Blue Bayou and Ogas at 3:00am PT 60 days out, but make sure you're watching the clock. They were both gone in 2 min. or less, especially for weekend dates.

 

[vacay77]

Just a quick question, as I'm keeping watch on this thread for my January trip. I'm specifically looking for Blue Bayou and Ogas as my must dos. I know its all a cluster at the moment just wondering how far out they are currently booking so that I can make a note of when to start my daily checking.

You can typically start booking 60 days in advance but that wasn’t our experience this time around. Blue Bayou didn’t have openings available until 30 days in advance. But this could change. I’d start checking 60 days in advance, then every day after that. I also set up a free alert on Mouse Dining and that’s ultimately what enabled me to get a reservation.

 

[Disney0010]

Here is “my” experience booking dining for December. We’re arriving on Sunday 12/12 so I had to wait until Wednesday to start my process. It took three separate nights/mornings to achieve this.

First, I suggest using the app and not the website. It goes much quicker with processing or at least that was my experience.

Second the reservations do not load until 3:00 AM for each day. The “date“ loaded at midnight on the app but not the restaurant’s or times. At exactly at 3:00 AM I hit the refresh button and everything popped up. I was able to get all restaurants each day that we wanted including Lamplight Brunch, Carthay Circle, Carnation Cafe, etc.

I also saw times and availability for places like Trader Sams, Oga’s and the other sought after places. The only restaurant that I did not see was UVA for dinner on any of the three nights. Lunch was available to book but not dinner. Other than that it looks as though Disney dropped everything at sixty days out.

Again, this was “my“ experience when it came to booking dining at DL. Good luck to everyone on getting what you want.

 

[cruisehopeful]

Dumb question...I know it's super hard to get resos for table service restaurants and that mobile ordering has been preferred.
For mobile ordering, do you put in the order the morning you enter the park?
As for Quick Service restaurants like Plaza Inn, do I need to book a seat or mobile order? Or do they only take walk ups?

Thanks in advance!

You can put in your mobile order at anytime. I usually do mine when I start to think about getting some food. There are time slots that you select for pick up. You could set yours up early in the day as you suggest, or wait until later. They do not start making your order until your time slot begins (30 minute windows) and you click I'm here in the app. It then tells you to go relax and that they will make your order and notify you when it's ready.

Plaza Inn and other quick service are like before where you just get in line. No preordering necessary. Some of the places that have mobile ordering will not accept mobile orders once in a while, but you can still do walk up and wait in line.

 

[emilyyvic]

Can someone please save my sanity and confirm something for me? Is there no 60+X privilege for Guests staying on-site like at WDW? Regularly book WDW trips, December 2021 is our first Disneyland trip and I’m losing my mind. Also, I was logging in at 10AM EST every morning for the past 4 days to book but am now seeing the dining window opens at 6AM EST? Is this true? I still have 4 more days to book the rest of our dining. TIA!

 

[GBRforWDW]

Can someone please save my sanity and confirm something for me? Is there no 60+X privilege for Guests staying on-site like at WDW? Regularly book WDW trips, December 2021 is our first Disneyland trip and I’m losing my mind. Also, I was logging in at 10AM EST every morning for the past 4 days to book but am now seeing the dining window opens at 6AM EST? Is this true? I still have 4 more days to book the rest of our dining. TIA!

You are correct, it's not the same as WDW, everyone is at 60 days out from each day they want to select.

And yes, 6am ET.

 

[BadPinkTink]

Can someone please save my sanity and confirm something for me? Is there no 60+X privilege for Guests staying on-site like at WDW? Regularly book WDW trips, December 2021 is our first Disneyland trip and I’m losing my mind. Also, I was logging in at 10AM EST every morning for the past 4 days to book but am now seeing the dining window opens at 6AM EST? Is this true? I still have 4 more days to book the rest of our dining. TIA!

There is no 60+X privilege for Guests staying on-site at Disneyland California hotels

Dining reservations are being loaded onto the system at 3am PT which is 6am ET

 

[DizMe]

Can I just vent about how much I hate this stupid system???!!! Up at 2:45 am the last 2 days to book stupid dining reservations without a clue how the times will work out for us and not knowing what I'll be able to get the next few days. I end up overbooking, as I don't know whether or not Blue Bayou will be there tomorrow or if I'll be able to grab Carthay restaurant or if I'll want to go back to the Magic Key terrace etc etc. It's a ridiculous game they have us playing. I never had trouble making dining reservations until now.

 

[CharleneTheDM]

You can put in your mobile order at anytime. I usually do mine when I start to think about getting some food. There are time slots that you select for pick up. You could set yours up early in the day as you suggest, or wait until later. They do not start making your order until your time slot begins (30 minute windows) and you click I'm here in the app. It then tells you to go relax and that they will make your order and notify you when it's ready.

Plaza Inn and other quick service are like before where you just get in line. No preordering necessary. Some of the places that have mobile ordering will not accept mobile orders once in a while, but you can still do walk up and wait in line.

Thank you for this!
I have been so disheartened by them not releasing dining reservations 60 days out and slacked off. Now all the dates I'm going are booked out (Dec 4-8) sigh. Does anyone know if they'll be releasing some more? Or should I just lean on DTD dining and Quick Service + Mobile Ordering this visit?

 

[jordan13402]

Can I just vent about how much I hate this stupid system???!!! Up at 2:45 am the last 2 days to book stupid dining reservations without a clue how the times will work out for us and not knowing what I'll be able to get the next few days. I end up overbooking, as I don't know whether or not Blue Bayou will be there tomorrow or if I'll be able to grab Carthay restaurant or if I'll want to go back to the Magic Key terrace etc etc. It's a ridiculous game they have us playing. I never had trouble making dining reservations until now.

Im with you...we just did WDW end of June and it was great to only have to get up 1 time at 3am for the entire week we were there (Poly)

 

[GabrielMom]

Has anyone been able to book plaza Inn character dining for December? I was wondering if it would be available at my 60 day this week. I dont see hours posted for December.

 

[tsumgirl]

Has anyone been able to book plaza Inn character dining for December? I was wondering if it would be available at my 60 day this week. I dont see hours posted for December.

I didn't book it, but I did see it available to book at 60 days out.

 

[PRomano]

Has anyone been able to book plaza Inn character dining for December? I was wondering if it would be available at my 60 day this week. I dont see hours posted for December.

I booked it at 60 days out

 

[Pluto468]

Has anyone been able to book plaza Inn character dining for December? I was wondering if it would be available at my 60 day this week. I dont see hours posted for December.

I booked it 60 days out, in the middle of the night. I did see one or two times still available early in the morning, around 6am PST.

 

[cruisehopeful]

Does anyone know if they'll be releasing some more? Or should I just lean on DTD dining and Quick Service + Mobile Ordering this visit?

People cancel reservations. You have to keep checking regularly to try to grab something. A few days ago, I got a Magic Key Terrace reservation for this Sunday. A couple weeks ago, I got a day of reservation for Lamplight Lounge. Plan for quick service, but if you want a particular place that requires reservations, keep checking. You can also go to the restaurant first thing in the day and ask if they have any openings later. They may or may not put you on a list for that.

There are a couple paid third party apps that people here use to notify them when reservations come open. I don't want to support that type of thing and I don't like having to click through a third party to go to my Disney account. I just don't trust their security. But, those are options and plenty of people here sing their praises.