Dining without reservations

[Viking7641]

So long, kinda bad story here.

My sister had planned a Birthday trip to WDW for the end of January. She had been planning this trip for 2 years, had everything planned meticulously. Birthday dinner after day at Hollywood Studios/Galaxy's Edge.

Unfortunately life happened, and my mother got a cancer diagnosis 6 weeks ago, and she canceled the vacation thinking she'd have to be here.

My mother passed yesterday-and now it's just us siblings left. I was going to surprise her with a trip to Disneyland for some of the same days she had planned WDW.

Unfortunately this is much shorter notice, and dining is obviously less available.

What are people's experiences with day of dining reservations? She was looking forward to Oga's which I doubt I'll get. I got one at WDW in June but I got it the day the reservations opened.

What other dining would you recommend in DIsneyland?

 

[sophy1996]

I’m sorry about your mother.

Oga’s has pretty good availability for walk-up so I wouldn’t write it off entirely. MY DH really likes Docking Bay 7 and Ronto Roasters in Galaxy’s Edge.

Also just keep looking for reservations, especially in the couple of days before. People cancel all the time for various reasons.

And if you are there during the Lunar New Year you’ll have lots of booths at DCA.

 

[Foustketeer]

I am sorry to hear about your situation.

If you keep checking the website/app, reservations may open up. You can also sign up for one of the free dining alerts websites.

Most of the table service restaurants have waitlists that you can join, if they are not full.

 

[BadPinkTink]

So long, kinda bad story here.

My sister had planned a Birthday trip to WDW for the end of January. She had been planning this trip for 2 years, had everything planned meticulously. Birthday dinner after day at Hollywood Studios/Galaxy's Edge.

Unfortunately life happened, and my mother got a cancer diagnosis 6 weeks ago, and she canceled the vacation thinking she'd have to be here.

My mother passed yesterday-and now it's just us siblings left. I was going to surprise her with a trip to Disneyland for some of the same days she had planned WDW.

Unfortunately this is much shorter notice, and dining is obviously less available.

What are people's experiences with day of dining reservations? She was looking forward to Oga's which I doubt I'll get. I got one at WDW in June but I got it the day the reservations opened.

What other dining would you recommend in DIsneyland?

when are you going? I have 2 Oga's reservations for the end of January, which I most likely will cancel. Send me a PM and we can try maybe work something out

 

[cruisehopeful]

The day of and also the day before, you might snag some reservations. If not, you can go directly to the restaurant first thing in the morning and ask to be put on a list. They often close the list if it gets too long, so the earlier you can do that, the better

 

[CharleneTheDM]

I visited 2 weeks ago and only had dining reservations for half of my meals and I was stressing out.
But I took advantage of mobile ordering and quick service restaurants for those other meals and it worked out great!
For mobile ordering though, if you want snacks at a certain time, I would recommend planning perhaps 1+ hour ahead of time and checking the app to make sure the pick-up time is what you want.

Also, keep refreshing the dining reservation section in the Disneyland app. So many people released their dining reservations for popular restaurants the day before. I saw Lamplight Lounge, Oga's, Cafe Orleans, Trader Sam's etc.

And like others recommended, if there are restaurants you really want to dine in, drop by when they open and ask to be added to the waitlist!

You're going to have a great time either way!

 

[DLgal]

Sorry for your loss.

Lamplight Lounge is easy to get into if you are there when they open.

Almost all the table service restaurants at Downtown Disney will take walk ups.

Napa Rose and Storytellers Cafe at the Grand Californian take walk ups.

In the app, you can look up restaurants that have a walk up waitlist. You can add yourself to the list via the app once you are close enough.

You should have plenty of options at the end of Jan. It's not a busy time.