Hi there, James!
I'm so happy you stopped by planDisney with your question. Looks like you are heading into the parks in just a few days, so you must be starting to feel the magic in the air!
You are a planner after my own heart thinking through
dining reservations that you'd like to include in your visit. Reservations open up as early as 60 days in advance and can be made on the Disneyland Mobile App or the website. Nestled into New Orleans Square,
Blue Bayou is such a special dining experience where you dine under the stars no matter the time of day and wave to fellow Guests as they head off on their
pirate adventure. As one of the more classic Disneyland experiences, reservations for Blue Bayou tend to book up quickly. If you head to the
Disneyland Mobile App or website and search for "Blue Bayou", you'll be able to look for availability across all the days of your visit at the same time. I did go ahead and take a look for this weekend and reservations are not currently available, but I do have a few suggestions!
While you are still a few days ahead of your visit, my first tip for you is to keep checking for availability. Guests are always changing their plans, especially as they get closer to their park day and reservations can open up! Blue Bayou has a two hour cancellation policy, which means Guests have until two hours before their reservation to cancel. In my experience, the morning of and the 24 hours ahead of a visit are a good time to continue to check for availability. It's not a guarantee, but this is usually when Guests are finalizing their plans.
Once you are in the parks, there are two options you can try. One is heading into the app and seeing if Blue Bayou has
walk up availability. This one may be hard to come by for a restaurant like Blue Bayou, but it's always worth taking a peek! In the app, tap the "+" in the bottom navigation bar and select "Check Dining Availability". Add in your party size and you will see an option at the bottom pop up that says "Hungry Now?" and a button to "Join a Walk-up List". This will take you to a page where you can see which restaurants are offering walk ups that day. Even if it's not Blue Bayou, you may find a great option here!
My final tip is a good, old-fashioned one. Head to the restaurant about 20 minutes before it opens and kindly just ask if there is any same-day availability once the hosts arrives. This, of course, is not a guarantee, but it has personally worked for me and some of my planDisney pals. One thing to note is that we are coming up on the
Disneyland Half Marathon weekend which may be why you are seeing limited availability. The parks will definitely be buzzing with activity, but it never hurts to talk to the friendly Cast Member at the restaurant and see if it's a possibility.
James, I am wishing on a star that a spot opens for you at Blue Bayou! If you have any more questions, you've got a friend in us here at
planDisney.
Magic awaits,
Tara