Most of my posts are generic enough to be useful at any Disney park. I am running the Disneyland Half Marathon on September 2, 2012 and will be spending several days at the Disneyland Resort. Between now and them I am going to dedicate each Friday’s post to uniquely Disneyland information. Today I am discussing dining reservations.
For as long as I can remember I have always wanted to eat at the Blue Bayou, that iconic restaurant that overlooks the entrance of Pirates of the Caribbean, but for one reason or another I never have. I was determined this trip to make reservations early and make this wish come true. Little did I know that I would be learning a whole new dining reservation process at the same time.
At Walt Disney World you can make most dining reservations up to 180 days in advance and for the more popular restaurants it is recommended. When I called Disneyland 180 days in advance I was told that Disneyland only takes reservations 60 days in advance. I figured out what date that would be an put a post-it note on my calendar so I would not forget.
There are two ways to make a Disneyland dining reservation. You can call 714-781-DINE (3463) and get your reservation immediately or you can email your request to dine@disneyland.com. Since I knew how to use the phone system already I decided to try out their new email system.
I learned about the online Disney reservation system from a post at Disney Parks Blog. It is a straight forward system and worked very well for me. Here is what I did.
60 days before my reservation date I sent an email to dine@disneyland.com. If you send it between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. your request is handled that same day. Otherwise it is handled the next day. I sent my e-mail at 7:10 a.m. because I really wanted my dining reservation.
In my email I included:
- The name of the restaurant or dining experience
- The date and meal preference (breakfast/lunch/dinner)
- The number of guests
- My name and phone number
At 7:21 a.m. I got a generic email telling me that my reservation request had been received and that I would get a same day response. A second email arrived at 12:21 p.m. with my reservation information. I was happy with what they had given me so I just saved the confirmation number and smiled at the ease of the system.
I would gladly use this system again for simple dining reservations. However, if I had special issues or wanted to ask for a certain time instead of being given a time within a meal range I would still call and talk to a Cast Member.
Both Disneyland dining reservation systems worked great for me. It’s nice that they give you a choice. Happiness squared.
Goofy Comparison: When I went to Walt Disney World last January I made dinner reservations almost every night. They were at restaurants that I did not want my group to miss, but the rigidity of having to be somewhere at a certain time sometimes left us floundering ahead of time. For this trip I am only making one dining reservation. The rest of the trip we’ll try to eat early to beat the crowds, but if something fun distracts us we won’t have to miss anything just to meet a dining reservation. I’ll see which works better, over-planning or under-planning.