Hi there, Joshua!
Welcome to planDisney! Making dining reservations for a large party can definitely be challenging. I'm sorry you were struggling to find a spot for your crew! I often travel with 12+ people myself, so I know exactly how you're feeling. I'd love to give you some tips that I use to help keep everyone fed and happy!
You're right to start looking for
dining reservations 60 days in advance. Usually, reservations become available at 6:00 AM EST (so that's a bright-and-early 3:00 AM for you in California). It's pretty rare to find a reservation for 8 people. In fact, I usually have better luck splitting up my group into two reservations if there are more than 6 of us. You might try your search again with different combinations (4 and 4, or 6 and 2) to see if anything pops up. Just know that to make multiple reservations you'll need a friend or family member with their own Disney account to make the second reservation because the system won't let you keep overlapping reservations.
When you're making your reservations try to keep them as close to the same time as possible, it helps the Cast Members at the restaurant a lot! We also always send someone to the dining location at least 30 minutes before the first reservation time to kindly explain our situation to them and see if they'll be able to seat us near each other. Sometimes they can't accommodate our group at one large table, but we totally understand!
If you can't find the reservations you want, don't give up! People change their plans so it's definitely worth checking back often. There's also lots of great food to be had from dining locations that don't take reservations! Some of our quick service favorites at Disneyland Park are:
Here's the best part: all three of these locations accept
mobile orders, so you can your party can place your order in advance and keep your wait to a minimum.
Did you know that some dining locations open
walk-up lists if they have last-minute availability? You can check in the
Disneyland Mobile App to see if the lists are open for a location you're interested in. It's worth a try, you never know when you'll find a little pixie dust!
Joshua, your club of Mouseketeers is lucky to have you as their leader! If you have more questions about your visit
please send me a note and I'd be happy to help. Hope to see you real soon!
Keep moving forward!
Amanda