Hiya, Katherine!
Yum! Trying foods from the many different restaurants is one of my favorite things about visiting the Disneyland Resort. I'm happy to offer some tips for booking your dining reservations.
To me, the most straightforward way to book Disneyland Resort dining reservations is to use the
Disneyland mobile app. To begin, tap the '+' button at the bottom of the screen then tap "Check Dining Availability." You can also use the
dining reservation finder on the Disneyland Resort website. After selecting your party size, choose the date you will be visiting and select a time of day. To make sure you don't miss times that may be outside the regular groupings of Breakfast, Brunch, and Lunch, I recommend selecting individual hours. It's a good idea to check several different times to hunt for options that may be available at various locations.
Tony's Tip: For convenience when booking a dining reservation using the Disneyland mobile app, I recommend having a method of payment already linked to your account to use for guaranteeing your reservation. You can add a payment method from the "My Profile" screen accessed from the app's ☰ feature menu. With a payment method already linked, you'll have one less step to perform when confirming new dining reservations. That linked method of payment also makes in-app purchases, such as
Merchandise Mobile Checkout and
individual Lightning Lane, much smoother.
The number of available dining reservations is limited. With the spring break season currently in full swing, you may have noticed most restaurants have very few reservations remaining. To find reservations in such times, I recommend persistence and flexibility. At most Disneyland Resort restaurants, other Guests have until two hours before their reservation time to cancel if needed. So it is relatively common to see reservations become available the day before or even just a few hours before a given reservation time. But it's important to act quickly to pick up those reservations as soon as they show up. Again, I find it helpful to search for individual hours rather than the more general mealtime groupings.
One more helpful tool in the Disneyland app is the mobile walk-up list. This is a helpful way to find last-minute availability at restaurants after you have arrived for your visit. To look for walk-up list availability, select today's date and then tap "Now" under the "Search by Time" section. You'll need to have location services enabled for the app to find availability in nearby restaurants.
If all else fails, remember there are many delicious offerings at the various quick service restaurants as well. Some of my favorite breakfast options are at
Galactic Grill in Tomorrowland and
Corn Dog Castle in Paradise Gardens Park. And for lunch, I recommend
Red Rose Taverne in Fantasyland and
Flo's V8 Cafe in Cars Land. Using the Disneyland app for
mobile food and beverage orders will make getting your food even easier.
Have a delicious time, Katherine!
~Tony