Hey, Sherrie! It's with deepest pride and greatest pleasure that we welcome you to planDisney. I'm so glad that you've chosen to be our Guest.
As you mentioned in your question, Guests visiting Disneyland Resort can make
dining reservations up to 60 days in advance of their trip.
Preferred Dine Access offers Disneyland Resort Hotel Guests the opportunity to have preferred access to a limited number of reservations at select hotel table-service restaurants during the dates of their hotel stay. To take advantage of this benefit, simply link your valid Disneyland Resort hotel confirmation number with your Disneyland account.
Restaurant reservations usually open at 3:00 AM (PST), however, some restaurants add more tables later in the day, depending on availability. Therefore, if you're not able to secure your desired reservation(s) at first, I've personally found that trying every 15/30 minutes is a good strategy. Suddenly, tables might become available for a restaurant that had no availability an hour earlier. Therefore, I'd encourage you to keep trying, and hopefully, you'll be able to book the restaurants you set your heart upon.
Sherrie, let me give you some more advice. Let's say the restaurant you want to book doesn't have availability (this can happen with some of the more popular restaurants, like Blue Bayou, Napa Rose, Cathay Circle, etc.), you have a couple of options:
1) You can keep checking in the build-up to your trip in case there are any cancelations. I've been able to secure lots of dining reservations this way. For example, on my last trip, I was able to make a couple of hard-to-get reservations the day before because someone canceled and I just happened to check availability at the right time. Searching for availability the day before (or even the day of) often yields some exciting results.
2) Take advantage of the
Mobile Dine Walk-Up option. First,
check to see if your desired restaurant is participating. Then, on the day of your visit, arrive at the theme park as soon as it opens. Head straight to your desired restaurant and join the walk-up list by scanning the QR code located near the restaurant entrance. This is a great way to try and get a table if you don't have reservations. The main downside is that you'll just have to be flexible when it comes to the time you'd like to eat. This doesn't guarantee you a reservation, but I know many people who've been able to secure a table this way.
I hope that's helpful, Sherrie. Happy eating!
Mike