Disneyland Dining, staying onsite

[Fantasmic303]

We're WDW vets so I'm not as familiar with Disneyland dining. Do onsite guests get any booking advantage to book their entire stay all at once starting with check in date or does everything get booked separately day by day? I'm mostly worried about the Fantastic package and a reservation for 7/17, and we're staying at the Disneyland Hotel for the week.

Thanks in advance!

 

[mom2rtk]

You don't.

But you don't need it.

 

[gardengirl2790]

You can use Vacation Planning to help you make those reservations when you are an onsite guest. Vacation Planning can be reached at 714-300-7526. I get help from them before each trip. I give them my requests, and they take care of the reservations/priority seatings at the 60 day window. For the Fantasmic dinner you will need to give them a credit card number for your reservation, and will need to call them, not email them.

 

[Fantasmic303]

Thanks so much for the replies! It's so weird to be trying to plan for Disneyland when it's SO different from what you HAVE to do for WDW!

 

[mom2rtk]

Thanks so much for the replies! It's so weird to be trying to plan for Disneyland when it's SO different from what you HAVE to do for WDW!

It's like I went through planning withdrawal when we swapped from WDW to DLR. Now I'm not sure I can go back!

 

[bellazachmom]

It's like I went through planning withdrawal when we swapped from WDW to DLR. Now I'm not sure I can go back!

COMPLETELY agree with this!!!

 

[oklamomof4boys]

If you are worried about getting a difficult reservation I wouldn't use vacation planning. I contacted them a week before it was time for us to book. I then sent them a reminder the night before and they assured me they would email me with our reservations. I waited until a couple of days after all of our reservations could be made and still hadn't heard from them so I emailed them again. After 2 more days later I still hadn't heard from them so I called Disney dining. They didn't have any record of any dining reservations for me! I was able to make all of them except Blue Bayou Fantasmic (I was able to get 2 reservations dividing us up at different times). 2 days later I finally hear from VP saying they were able to make all my reservations except BB and Carthay Circle WOC. Needless to say, I wasn't very happy with them and kept my own reservations. I won't be using them again. I have been pleased with them in the past but not this time. Oh, and I had called them with my credit card number ahead of time.

You can use Vacation Planning to help you make those reservations when you are an onsite guest. Vacation Planning can be reached at 714-300-7526. I get help from them before each trip. I give them my requests, and they take care of the reservations/priority seatings at the 60 day window. For the Fantasmic dinner you will need to give them a credit card number for your reservation, and will need to call them, not email them.

 

[ktlm]

Being a WDW vet, prior to DLR them doing reservations online (which was well after WDW did online), I would call right when they opened at the 60 day mark. Unlike WDW, there would rarely be a wait on the phone, and the CM would always laugh at me and say "Disneyworld person?". The CMs told me more than once, it is fine to wait till all the days have opened at the end of your trip and make all the reservations at once, everything will still be available- but I would still call every day for that day's reservation!

 

[GatorChris]

Because DL doesn't have the DDP, reservations aren't in high demand like they are at WDW. I've been able to get dinner ressies at Carnation Cafe at 5:30 just a week before we arrive. That's something that doesn't happen in Orlando. There's a lot of counter services that offer more than the WDW burger and nuggets (though I miss the Pecos Bill fixen's bar). You're about to go from uber-planning to relaxation...which is going to be super weird for you. It was a major adjustment for me. But now that I'm used to eating wherever and grabbing FPs whenever, it'll be hard to go back to WDW without a lot of anxiety.

 

[ktlm]

As another example, although I wouldn't recommend waiting that late, last July on a Saturday, I was able to make a 5:30 reservation at Café Orleans at around 3:30 that same afternoon.

Also, CS at DLR on the whole is better than what you will find at WDW.

 

[KateDrake]

We've only made reservations before we arrived ONCE. And then it was for Blue Bayou (for our anniversary) and Carthay Circle WOC. I made them about 2 weeks before we arrived, and there was plenty of availability. Most of the time we call the morning of to make ressies for later that same day, or sometimes the day before if we are feeling really organized. We hop so much at DLR that we don't like to be tied to reservations the way we are at WDW. It's just a totally different experience! So don't stress too much, chances are you'll get everything you want just fine!

 

[ParkHopper1]

By all accounts there is zero advantage to the Disney Dining program at DL and it can actually cost your MORE money rather then save you money if you are not careful. Some people like it so they do not have have a credit card charge for each and every meal but the solution to that is either charge it all back to your room which you can do anywhere in DL if you are staying on site or prepay and load up a gift card to use for meals.