When do you place your mobile order?

[ColoradoLime]

I saw a video of a woman saying they place their mobile order as soon as they enter the park and set it for noon. She was saying this was because of you wait until lunch time the earliest pick up times could be around 2pm.

She made no mention of what restaurant she was referring to and this was TokTok so who know what to believe.

Curious what experience you’ve all had with being able to pick up when you want. I swear I’ve seen in here where people say they order when they are in their way to the restaurant.
So what’s the real scoop?

 

[dina444444]

This is the case for most restaurants during peak dining hours (12-2pm) that your times may be a minimum of 50 minutes out when you go to order during that time frame. If you know you want to eat somewhere get the order in early.

 

[jen7233]

It's been a while since I used the mobile ordering on the app. Are you required to put an estimated time in that you'd like to pick up your mobile order?

 

[dina444444]

It's been a while since I used the mobile ordering on the app. Are you required to put an estimated time in that you'd like to pick up your mobile order?

You are required to pick a 30 minute return slot. It’s always been that way for DLR since mobile order was introduced. At WDW the time slots were only instituted when the parks reopened in July 2021.

 

[pokee99]

Wow... it's getting harder and harder to be spontaneous in the parks!

What's an average standby line for good these days when it's busy?

And when you pick up a mobile order, is there a long line for that? Is food usually cold by the time you pick up?

 

[dina444444]

Wow... it's getting harder and harder to be spontaneous in the parks!

What's an average standby line for good these days when it's busy?

And when you pick up a mobile order, is there a long line for that? Is food usually cold by the time you pick up?

Pickup is usually pretty quick. I had pyms yesterday and my food was ready within 5 minutes of hitting I’m here and I didn’t have to wait to get the CM for pickup. If you don’t do mobile order it can take a bit to get the register since they only have 1 or 2 open now at each location.

 

[mouschievous]

When we were in WDW, we learned to start gauging our hunger and order about an hour before we wanted to eat. The first day we waited until we were at the "we need to eat now" point and it was...not good The places we were close to were all 45-60 minutes out, so we ended up walking a ways to find something that we could get quickly. It worked out, but we changed our strategy going forward and it was much better.

 

[ColoradoLime]

This is all good to know now. Agree with the above though it’s hard to be spontaneous. Looking more and more like a touring plan might be helpful in mapping out where we should be in coordination of where we’ll want to eat.

 

[gelatoni fan]

Usually I order when waiting for a ride or activity and pick it up when I'm done. For example, during Lunar New Year, I may grab a spot for the processional and order while waiting then pick it up after the show is over. Or I may need to park hop from DCA to Disneyland so I'll put in the order for a restaurant in Disneyland as I leave Pixar Pier. I also click the "I'm here" button while walking over so that the food is ready the moment I arrive.

 

[chezcurrie]

Remember you can always modify your pick up time or cancel an order as long as you are not in your pick up window. Did this a few times on our last trip when we changed plans. If there is something you absolutely *must* have it doesn’t hurt to put in the order early.

 

[DeeBee3]

When we used mobile order this past August, we made our order when we felt hungry and clicked "I'm here" or whatever it says as soon as we completed the order. When we arrived at the window or restaurant, it was always ready. We did not wait to get there to click the button. Never had a wait.

 

[Wedgeout]

Also if don’t like the earliest return time listed, do some refreshing. Time slots do change.

 

[shosh1530]

We found mobile order to be convenient on our trip in late January. We usually could get a window 30-60 minutes out (and often immediate). Usually by the time we finished the ride we were on and walked to the area we were eating at, it was time to click "I'm here." Pick up windows were very fast! We had great experiences with Pyms, Shwarma cart, Ronto Roasters, Galactic Grill, Alien Pizza Planet, and the Mint Julep Stand. It was particularly convenient because we were sometimes grabbing food from more than once place.

The only places that had less than ideal experiences were Award Wieners (I think they lost their order) and Hungry Bear (we waited in regular order line for that one to get food faster than the mobile order window, but the food was cold and awful).

 

[smartlabelprint]

This is all good to know now. Agree with the above though it’s hard to be spontaneous. Looking more and more like a touring plan might be helpful in mapping out where we should be in coordination of where we’ll want to eat.

This is part of the reason that I actually spent the $8 on touring plans. I “keep my precious plans” and have them estimate times. It’s also helped me see how many attractions we may be able to handle on certain days. We use DAS so I know our numbers are not entirely accurate. It will help though. I plan to make our food selections early in the day.

 

[DLgal]

I err on the side of caution and usually book our meals about 2-3 hours ahead of time. But they have gotten MUCH better and times are usually not that far out except at a few select places that get very busy. We tend to eat meals at roughly the same time every day, so we just choose time slots that line up to when we typically eat. We will go in and modify the return window if needed.

Definitely refresh if the return windows seem too far away, especially at a stand like the Cozy Cone or Tiki Juice bar. These will often show times an hour or more out, but a simple refresh will get you an immediate time most of the time.

 

[dina444444]

I err on the side of caution and usually book our meals about 2-3 hours ahead of time. But they have gotten MUCH better and times are usually not that far out except at a few select places that get very busy. We tend to eat meals at roughly the same time every day, so we just choose time slots that line up to when we typically eat. We will go in and modify the return window if needed.

Definitely refresh if the return windows seem too far away, especially at a stand like the Cozy Cone or Tiki Juice bar. These will often show times an hour or more out, but a simple refresh will get you an immediate time most of the time.

My trick with the times if a quick refresh doesn’t work is to grab next available and put my order in then use the change window feature on the order status page.

 

[DSNY4ever]

wrong post! sorry

 

[Porsche4]

We usually eat at 11:30 as we have had a really early breakfast so we can hit rope drop. Seeing as we are eating before peak time would we be okay to order say half an hour before we want to eat? I have never used this system so not sure how it all works.

 

[Meriweather]

We loved mobile order.
We usually eat at the same time everyday and because of medications, we keep to that, so I place the order before we leave the resort in the morning

 

[Ladyslug]

She was saying this was because of you wait until lunch time the earliest pick up times could be around 2pm.

We did have this happen to us back on a Saturday in September -- we were trying to mobile order lunch at around 12:30 and the earliest pick up time in DL was 1:30. It was not ideal. It seems to be mainly a lunchtime issue, so if you know there is something you want to have for lunch -- plan ahead!

That said, this time (this past Tuesday) we actually mobile ordered dinner while we were waiting for rope drop. We knew what we wanted and we had a parkhopping game plan, so we just got it done right away. It wasn't necessary, but it was nice to not have to worry about it later. And we always hit the "I'm here" button while we're walking over from another land so it's ready (or at least very close to ready) when we arrive.