Hi Diana!
Welcome to planDisney! It's my pleasure to be your planEAR today. Thank you for sending this Disneyland Resort planning question our way!
Oh Boy! It sounds like you're bringing the whole crew to
The Happiest Place on Earth! I think that's such a swell idea. I'm so sorry that you're having a bit of trouble. But actually, you did stumble upon a small dining dilemma. Part of the
reopening procedures from the historic closure was to limit the size of dining parties and to also have the tables spread further out so fewer groups could fit. Those are mostly gone now, but it is still hard to find tables for large groups. Sadly the Dining Reservation Phone Line is not up and running right now, so
currently the only way to book dining reservations is online. There are a few workarounds, such as:
~ Try looking for multiple, smaller tables, around the same seating time, so that the total number of chairs can fit the same number of people in your party.
Look and book three tables for six and a fourth table for two, or five tables of four. The only issue is that each table will need to be booked by a different person as each guest can only hold one reservation every 90 minutes.
~
Check for dining reservations at off-peak times, like lunch at 2:00 PM, dinner at 4:30 PM, or even 9:00 PM. My favorite is going to
Brunch at Storytellers Cafe as late as possible as
Mickey's Tales of Adventure Character Buffet - both the Characters with their warm hugs but the serving line with its warm Mickey waffles - will still parade on as long as there are guests still in the dining room.
~ Check with the dining locations in the
Downtown Disney District. Some of those are operated by third-party companies and have bookings available on other websites like open table.
~ And lastly, don't discount your
Quick-Service dining options! This is fun with a large party because you can even sort of make it themed: you could start by finding a table or two with enough seats at one dining location (Hungry Bear, Rancho Del Zocalo, and Alien Pizza Planet are my votes) and then the rule is everyone could grab what they wanted, but only from that land. And bonus: most of these even offer
Mobile Food and Beverage Ordering!
I hope that this helped to plan your upcoming Disney days, Diana! Be sure to check out the
official planDisney Instagram account, where we're sharing all kinds of great tips and tricks. And if you have any more Disneyland Resort vacation planning questions, We're All Ears!
~Kristen