Hi there, Kaylie! Welcome to planDisney. You are going to love visiting the parks with your family and making those magical forever memories! I have taken a few multi-generational trips myself and there is just something so special about that group photo in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle!
When it comes to making a
dining reservation for a large party, you may need to grab some patience, a dose of faith, trust, and pixie dust ... and a few planDisney tips! The good news is that you are within the 60-day window when dining reservations open up so you can go ahead and take these tips for a spin!
The first option is to head to the reservations page and try to find a table for your full party of 16. I just tried this myself and there is no availability currently, but Guests are always modifying plans so I encourage you to keep checking. Sometimes I even have specific restaurant pages open on my computer and periodically refresh them throughout the day.
Another option is to break your party down into smaller groups and try to secure reservations for each at roughly the same time. When you check-in, you can notify the Cast Member that your party is actually composed of several reservations and they will do their very best to seat you together, space permitting! Generally speaking, it might be easiest to find reservations for parties of 4 or 6. I realize this is not ideal and involves a lot of leg work on your end! Most of the time, your account will only allow you to book one reservation within a specific period, so you may need to borrow the account information from two or three other family members to make the additional reservations within their accounts. You will only need to identify the account holder as attending - don't worry about indicating who else is at each table. It's not necessary and time-consuming.
There are two ways to search for reservations. The first is to go to the main
reservation page on the Disneyland website where you can enter your preferred date, time, and party size and it will show you any and all options. The second is to actually go to the page for the specific restaurant and there you can enter the date, time, and party size. If you know where you want to eat, I think this second method is a good way to maximize your efforts!
When it comes to larger parties, I personally love
Storytellers Cafe at Disney's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa. It's big and spacious, the ceilings are dramatically high with beautiful design, and I have eaten many a meal here with my whole family and even a work lunch or two. In the mornings, you will find Mickey's Tales of Adventure Breakfast Buffet and the evenings serve delicious American fare.
Goofy's Kitchen at the Disneyland Hotel is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and I just enjoyed a meal here myself with 10 panelist friends! You'll get to pal around with Chef Goofy and a few of his close friends and feast on a delicious buffet. Another option might be
Pym Test Kitchen in Avengers Campus. While this doesn't require a reservation and is a quick-service eatery, there is a sizable eating area by the Hyperion Theatre which is generally not very populated. You could easily pull together a table for everyone!
Kaylie, I sure hope this was helpful in your planning! If you need anything else, we are always here for you at
planDisney.
Bon appetit!
Tara