First Night Dinner?

[Jennifer Christensen]

We arrive in Anaheim on a Friday afternoon around 3pm. Will we find open spaces for dinner along Downtown Disney on a Friday evening or should we have reservations? I have a reservation made for a place at 5:30pm, but am wondering if I should cancel and we should wing it in case there are any flight delays.

What do you do for dinner the day you arrive but aren't heading into the park?

Thanks!
Jennifer

 

[sherilaine]

When you say arriving in Anaheim - you mean you expect to be at your hotel by 3PM or your flight gets in at that time? We have a 12 noon arrival time for our flight and have a 7:30 reservation - considering you sometimes can't check in until 4PM and we like to do some errand running when we first arrive, we like to put dinner until later in the day. I am sure you can get into a restaurant without a reservation but you may have a considerable wait on a Friday evening.

 

[HydroGuy]

We arrive in Anaheim on a Friday afternoon around 3pm. Will we find open spaces for dinner along Downtown Disney on a Friday evening or should we have reservations? I have a reservation made for a place at 5:30pm, but am wondering if I should cancel and we should wing it in case there are any flight delays.

What do you do for dinner the day you arrive but aren't heading into the park?

I would probably lean towards winging it and not risking the penalty for a missed reservation. Also, as soon as you land and know your schedule, you can call to make a reservation in DTD. Other than that, go early (5PM?) or late (8PM?) if possible to avoid a long wait.

 

[Jennifer Christensen]

We arrive at John Wayne at 3pm. I’m trying to be mindful that not much later than 6pm my kids will be tired from traveling yet excited and starving....

Reserving when we land could be a good option - I may see what reservation times are available right before we board and go from there.
Though there is a convention scheduled in town too, which does make me a little nervous to not have one days ahead. Maybe a 6:15pm reservation or one not made through Disney but through Open Table where I won’t get penalized if I have to cancel before we board due to delays.

 

[StarlitNight05]

I agree with the suggestion to try to get a reservation when you land via the app. Worse case scenario, there are a lot of good options that don't require a reservation. For instance, White Water Snacks inside the Grand Californian is quick/counter service and gives you a nice excuse to check out the GCH if you're not staying there. They just added a new menu that looks pretty good. While its not the fanicest option, I also really like Earl of Sandwich for a reliable, quick meal. In the evening, DtD also has some food trucks that come in -- we really liked the Habit Burger one when we were there in November. They added a good amount of tables near what used to be the AMC theatre.

 

[dreeger]

Our tradition is to have dinner at Ralph Brennan's jazz kitchen in dtd the first night and our flight usually gets us to the resort around 8, so we make a reservation. A few trips ago our flight was severely delayed and we missed our reservation. I called disney dining before we flew, knowing we were going to miss it, and they were great. Told us it was not a problem and we could go in anytime before they closed and they would honor our reservation (and said they would not charge the no show fee if we couldn't get there). We made it there, checked in a PPH, then booked it over to the jazz kitchen 10 minutes before closing and had an amazing meal. They're usually very accommodating when you call and tell them you're going to be late because of a flight delay in my experience.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

I agree about not having a firm reservation until you know what time you'll land. Even without a reservation at all, there are lots of fun places to eat in DTD. There is EOS on the western end and several food trucks, too, (usually the Habit burger truck and one or two others) -- often there is a live band playing on the Main Stage for entertainment while you eat. Starbucks West is back up and running, too. The Taqueria by Tortilla Jo's has good burritos. The recently revamped Napolini has very good pizza made fresh to order. It is an amazing bargain! So in addition to checking the app for whatever reservations are available when you land, you'll have fun CS choices, too.