Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Eating at The Disneyland Resort


Eating at The Disneyland Resort

When talking to friends going to WDW there are lots of comments about Advance Dining Reservations, ADRs. People are making reservations for every meal 180 days out to make sure they can eat at the restaurant of their choice. Having DLR as my “home park” I find that interesting and a little baffling.

At DLR the furthest out you can make reservations is 60 days, not the 180 that WDW has. I’ve found you can usually get into the restaurant of your choice, with a little flexibility on your part as to time calling in the morning of your visit. Yes, I often call Disneyland Dining (714) 781-DINE (714 781-3463) on my way to the park to make reservations for lunch or dinner.

There is only one restaurant I suggest calling in further ahead for a reservation that is the ever popular Blue Bayou restaurant that is inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. There are some restaurants in Downtown Disney that it is good to call the day before such as House of Blues and ESPN Zone on game days.

Sit down; full service restaurants inside the parks at DLR are limited. Disneyland has one on Main Street and two in New Orleans Square. Disney California Adventure has two. One of the full service restaurants at DCA is a character meet and greet so yes I suggest calling early on that one. There are plenty of counter service restaurants around the parks and most do not serve pizza, hot dogs and hamburgers.

At the time of this post my favorite full service restaurant is closed for remodeling. The Carnation Café is being expanded and its outdoor dining area is getting a cover. This will be wonderful on hot summer days! I love this place for brunch or lunch because Oscar is there to say hi to the guests. Oscar has worked at Disneyland for 55 years and the last 54 years of that has been at the Carnation Café. His current job is Main Street (Carnation Café) Ambassador.

If for some fluke you don’t get a reservation at a restaurant and you find no sit down restaurant to eat at inside the parks don’t worry! The counter service choices are fantastic! The newest location inside DL is the Jolly Holliday Bakery. They have a wide variety of sandwiches, quiche, soup, salad and baked goodies. The French Market in New Orleans is a longtime favorite of ours with good French Quarter foods and a live band during dinner time.

The Pacific Warf area of DCA has a bakery with fresh soups in bread bowls and even a shrimp salad in a bread bowl. There are Chinese and Mexican counter service places there as well with plenty of outdoor tables to sit at looking out over Paradise Bay. This is great for the family that can’t agree on what type of food to eat.

For more sit down, full service dining you need to go outside of the parks either into Downtown Disney or into one of the three Disney property hotels. You can find some wonderful dining experiences there. The easiest to get to is the Grand Californian Hotel. What is great about the GCH is the fact it has an entrance directly into DCA. Storytellers is my favorite of the restaurants there but the Napa Rose is as good. White Water is a nice counter service with a quiet place to sit.

No matter what you like to eat you can find something to enjoy at DLR. Here is a link to dining at DLR.

http://disneyland.disney.go.com/dining/




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