Mobile ordering

[KTR]

It’s been a few years since my last trip to Disney. I keep seeing comments about mobile ordering for quick service but I don’t know what it is. I figure you do it from the app, but how does it work? Can you skip lines if you do it? Does it save time? Also, does it work for people with allergies who need to special order?

Thanks

 

[gharter]

Mobile ordering is wonderful. Once you are in a park, open MDE and click on the mobile ordering link. Select the QS restaurant you want to use. Scroll through the options to order, select and order.
We usually do this in the morning while waiting in a line.
Once we are about 5 minutes away from the restaurant, open MDE, go to mobile ordering and click the we are here link. Once there, look for the mobile ordering pickup window. They will text you when your order is ready.
Much better than standing in line.

 

[gharter]

It does not work for people who need a special order, such as allergies. You cannot customize an order in mobile ordering. Unfortunately, if this is the case, i believe you will have to go through the normal line.

 

[Shughart]

Mobile ordering is wonderful. Once you are in a park, open MDE and click on the mobile ordering link. Select the QS restaurant you want to use. Scroll through the options to order, select and order.
We usually do this in the morning while waiting in a line.
Once we are about 5 minutes away from the restaurant, open MDE, go to mobile ordering and click the we are here link. Once there, look for the mobile ordering pickup window. They will text you when your order is ready.
Much better than standing in line.

How do you pay? Can you store a CC or DIS GC on your account to make it easier each time? We're going in December and most of our meals will be quick order, so I am all for quick and skipping lines.

 

[Disney_Alli]

How do you pay? Can you store a CC or DIS GC on your account to make it easier each time? We're going in December and most of our meals will be quick order, so I am all for quick and skipping lines.

You have to pay via the credit card linked to your MDE account (or add a new one when you order). You cannot use GCs to pay and if you're eligible for any discounts they aren't available via mobile ordering in WDW.

 

[Dug720]

It does not work for people who need a special order, such as allergies. You cannot customize an order in mobile ordering. Unfortunately, if this is the case, i believe you will have to go through the normal line.

I had heard that they had added allergy menus to the mobile ordering thing.

What you cannot do is pay with a gift card using it - and it doesn't charge back to your resort. So that is an issue as well if you don't want to connect a credit card or don't have a credit card.

 

[lcc2]

I had heard that they had added allergy menus to the mobile ordering thing.

I know I saw the allergy menus for the QS locations we were planning to eat at. A poster on another thread informed me so I went to check the app and it was there.

 

[samsteele]

Mobile ordering can also be a bear when using WDW's wifi. I don't travel with a data package and last September could not place any mobile orders at all and could not make any additional FP+ for rides. The app just kept cycling and wouldn't complete the order. WDW's wifi is perfectly fine both in resort room and in park for texting and skype. My experience when relying on it for the My Disney Experience App was terrible.

 

[jthornton94]

I had no luck with. Obile ordering this week. Tried at Aloha Isle for a dole whip. Placing the order was fine. App said it would notify you when your order was ready. Nope. People were ordering, going to the window, giving their order numbers and the CM would make their order. If I had t caught on, I doubt I would have ever gotten my order.

Tried again at ABC Commissary. First try, it didn’t apply the dining plan and wanted to charge me for the order. Staff was no help and said go to guest services. Cleared it out, and the. Kept getting the message ABC was unavailable for mobile ordering.

I never bothered after that.

 

[gharter]

We have always paid with the CC on file in MDE, never used the DDP, so can't comment on how that works.
Nice to know about the allergy menu. Didn't see it when we used it in October, but also wasn't looking for it.

 

[KTR]

This sounds wonderful assuming the allergy menus are there and it works with the dining plan. The worst part of QS has never been the food, it's always been those awful lines, especially if you have an allergy, as once you finally get to the front you typically have to wait for a manager.

 

[Moliphino]

How do you pay? Can you store a CC or DIS GC on your account to make it easier each time? We're going in December and most of our meals will be quick order, so I am all for quick and skipping lines.

Credit card or dining plan credits.

We used it a couple times in December to get around long lines, but it wasn't always necessary. We did it at CHH when the line to order was out the door one night and at ABC Commissary when the line was overflowing the queue. Definitely saved us time in those cases.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

I had no luck with. Obile ordering this week. Tried at Aloha Isle for a dole whip. Placing the order was fine. App said it would notify you when your order was ready. Nope. People were ordering, going to the window, giving their order numbers and the CM would make their order. If I had t caught on, I doubt I would have ever gotten my order.

Tried again at ABC Commissary. First try, it didn’t apply the dining plan and wanted to charge me for the order. Staff was no help and said go to guest services. Cleared it out, and the. Kept getting the message ABC was unavailable for mobile ordering.

I never bothered after that.

Aloha Isle is dubious at best. That was the only place where we found it was not helpful. We are not on the DDP though. When we used at AI there were so many people at the pickup window that had mobile ordered that it was pretty worthless (this was a moderate day in May). Everywhere else it was really convenient and saved us time.

 

[HopperFan]

It was GREAT when it first came out and the DDP was not accepted on it.
Since that has changed we have had more miss than hits with it.

It has it's cons ....

Ordering:
- No specializing of order (EDIT: Some changes allowed)
- No charging to room (for folks who plan to pay bill before moves to CC)
- No discounts can be applied

Tech:
- If park is crowded it can often spin forever never opening up
- It will often tell us the restaurant is closed, when it's not
- With glitching ... it seems no one on front line wants to help

Crowds:
- We now find ourselves waiting longer, Pinocchio 30 minutes, Dinoland 15 minutes, CHH 20 minutes
- Have found kitchen plates immediately but with only one working counter (or no one) food gets to us cold
- Have arrived to restaurant to ZERO seating, so we cancel order and lost time
- When busy, staff focuses on orders made there and often just glances to those of us waiting for mobile

 

[gillep]

It was GREAT when it first came out and the DDP was not accepted on it.
Since that has changed we have had more miss than hits with it.

It has it's cons ....

Ordering:
- No specializing of order
- No charging to room (for folks who plan to pay bill before moves to CC)
- No discounts can be applied

Tech:
- If park is crowded it can often spin forever never opening up
- It will often tell us the restaurant is closed, when it's not
- With glitching ... it seems no one on front line wants to help

Crowds:
- We now find ourselves waiting longer, Pinocchio 30 minutes, Dinoland 15 minutes, CHH 20 minutes
- Have found kitchen plates immediately but with only one working counter (or no one) food gets to us cold
- Have arrived to restaurant to ZERO seating, so we cancel order and lost time
- When busy, staff focuses on orders made there and often just glances to those of us waiting for mobile

Although certainly not extensive, mobile ordering does allow for some basic customization on many items including switching sides and removing some condiments and toppings. It isn't nearly as extensive as what you can ask for with a CM, but to say that there is NO specializing of an order is not accurate. Absolutely agree with everything else you wrote.

 

[HopperFan]

Although certainly not extensive, mobile ordering does allow for some basic customization on many items including switching sides and removing some condiments and toppings. It isn't nearly as extensive as what you can ask for with a CM, but to say that there is NO specializing of an order is not accurate. Absolutely agree with everything else you wrote.

I personally consider those basic options of choice, not specializing of items .. and OP was talking allergies ... but okay, I'll go with it.

 

[Shughart]

Well if we can't use a gift card that's kind of a bust, we'll mostly have gift cards to use.

 

[maxiesmom]

It was GREAT when it first came out and the DDP was not accepted on it.
Since that has changed we have had more miss than hits with it.

It has it's cons ....

Ordering:
- No specializing of order (EDIT: Some changes allowed)
- No charging to room (for folks who plan to pay bill before moves to CC)
- No discounts can be applied

Tech:
- If park is crowded it can often spin forever never opening up
- It will often tell us the restaurant is closed, when it's not
- With glitching ... it seems no one on front line wants to help

Crowds:
- We now find ourselves waiting longer, Pinocchio 30 minutes, Dinoland 15 minutes, CHH 20 minutes
- Have found kitchen plates immediately but with only one working counter (or no one) food gets to us cold
- Have arrived to restaurant to ZERO seating, so we cancel order and lost time
- When busy, staff focuses on orders made there and often just glances to those of us waiting for mobile

What are your thoughts on using mobile ordering during a holiday, such as the 4th of July? Do you think Disney will be staffed to handle the orders or would it be better to have an ADR? I'm asking as on the 3rd of July I have lunch booked at The Plaza, but my sister was wondering about going for quick service with the mobile ordering instead.

 

[Disneylover99]

What are your thoughts on using mobile ordering during a holiday, such as the 4th of July? Do you think Disney will be staffed to handle the orders or would it be better to have an ADR? I'm asking as on the 3rd of July I have lunch booked at The Plaza, but my sister was wondering about going for quick service with the mobile ordering instead.

I don't know about the 4th of July, but we used mobile order Christmas/New Years week. I still think the best advice is to eat at off hours, either as soon as a counter service location opens for lunch, or mid afternoon, no matter what time of year you go. If you really want to eat lunch at a specific time like noon or 1pm, then yes, an ADR is probably best, especially at the MK.

Using mobile order was quick and convenient when the restaurants werent crowded. But otherwise, the lines to order food were long and the number of people hanging around the mobile ordering area was crazy too.

We decided to do an experiment at Peco's Bill at lunch on our last day because we had time to kill before a fp. We were ordering two fajita platters, but I mobile ordered one fajita platter and I lined up to order the second fajita platter. The mobile orders were coming out pretty fast, but the staff couldn't keep up, so we noticed lots of trays sitting with food. Anyways, there were about 8-10 families who were in line in front of me, and it took roughly 15-20 minutes to get to the cash to order.

As it turned out, the fajita platter that I lined up for, came out a couple of minutes faster then my mobile order.

 

[DisBuckMan]

It was GREAT when it first came out and the DDP was not accepted on it.
Since that has changed we have had more miss than hits with it.

Agree completely. It was great when only credit cards were accepted for payment.

As I figured would happen, after the DDP became accepted, it got worse...much worse. On our trip in November, it was basically worthless to use it. The time savings have pretty much disappeared, as we noticed folks in line who hadn't even ordered yet getting their food in about that same amount of time as we were.

The more people who are allowed to do it, the less efficient it becomes. Just they way it is.