Dining at the Disneyland Parks
Disneyland and California Adventures, Travel

Dining at the Disneyland Parks

The beautiful Disney artwork hanging as you take the stairs down to the Lamplight Lounge downstairs location.

The beautiful Disney artwork hanging as you take the stairs down to the Lamplight Lounge downstairs location.

Plan Ahead
Look early into dining options on the Disneyland app even if you plan on just doing mobile orders throughout the day. Time pickup options do go quickly for certain places at Disneyland Park like Tiana’s Palace, Bengal Barbecue, Plaza Inn character dining, Carnation Cafe, Oga’s Cantina to name a few. When you get hungry at peak times it would be hard to be able to do mobile pickups no sooner than two hours for some places at California Adventure like Cocina Cucamonga Mexican Grill, Lucky Fortune Cookery. To be efficient, it’s helpful to know what you would want the day of to also save that battery life on your phone from looking at the menus throughout the day. Most places do have standby lines but those could be very time consuming.

Note:  Please be aware that once you pick a time for a pickup window, you will be notified when that time approaches.  You then would need to click to notify that you have arrived at the dining destination and they then will begin preparing your order.  Sometimes it does take some time for the order to be ready.  I also had encountered waiting in a long line at the mobile order pick up.  Just keep in mind sometimes it’s not instant.

Mobile Order Pickup Window for Tiana’s Palace is far less busy than the standby queue. The only more challenging part is placing the order early in the morning to find a suitable time for pickup Our favorites were the 7 Greens Gumbo with Chicken & Andouille Sausage and the corn bread shown here.
Mobile Order Pickup Window for Tiana’s Palace is far less busy than the standby queue. The only more challenging part is placing the order early in the morning to find a suitable time for pickup Our favorites were the 7 Greens Gumbo with Chicken & Andouille Sausage and the corn bread shown here.

Mobile Order Pickup Window for Tiana’s Palace is far less busy than the standby queue. The only more challenging part is placing the order early in the morning to find a suitable time for pickup. Our favorites were the 7 Greens Gumbo with Chicken & Andouille Sausage and the corn bread shown here.

Dining at Disneyland Park
On one of our visits, I really wanted to try Tiana’s Palace and placed my mobile order at 7:30am while on the freeway for a pickup window of 2:30pm. That’s an example of how busy the mobile order options got, especially since it’s one of the newer establishments. If you do a park hopper, you have to also take into consideration which park you will be starting at and when you would be switching over to the other park when making dining arrangements. Also keep in mind that if you are in one park and wanting to place a mobile order or queue in a standby line via the app, you need to be within a certain vicinity to do so.
Oga’s Cantina serves snacks, concoctions with and without alcohol and features a droid DJ. Pictured here is the Jedi Mind Trick cocktail, a popular concoction at this notorious local watering hole.
Oga’s Cantina serves snacks, concoctions with and without alcohol and features a droid DJ. Pictured here is the Jedi Mind Trick cocktail, a popular concoction at this notorious local watering hole.
Oga’s Cantina (in Star Wars Land at Disneyland Park) was a favorite of mine more for the immersive experience. We got lucky finding a reservation but you can also wait in the stand by line. We brought the kids in and had drinks and snacks. It’s really loud here and might not be the best place for the kids but it is worth it to check it out at least for a quick drink. Cocktails were on the smaller side and a bit pricey. The staff are always in character and the ambiance is a must see and experience for Star Wars fans.
Disney Dining Tip
To make reservations for sit down dining including character dining, fine/signature dining and lounges, you must book these far in advance or try checking the app daily up until your visit (you might get lucky and catch someone’s cancellation). Since they do require you to place a credit card down for reservations, most people tend to cancel the day before their visit so that is the best time to check frequently throughout the day before. I believe you have up to 2 hours before the reservation to cancel without a fee.
Character dining at Plaza Inn at Disneyland Park is only available at breakfast. Don’t forget to book reservations ahead of time!
Character dining at Plaza Inn at Disneyland Park is only available at breakfast. Don’t forget to book reservations ahead of time!

Character dining at Plaza Inn at Disneyland Park is only available at breakfast. Don’t forget to book reservations ahead of time!

At Disneyland we did try the character dining at Plaza Inn which the kids loved. The character dining is only offered at breakfast here (until 11am) and was buffet/family style. Adults are $46 and children are $27 plus tax and gratuity. Food options were pretty basic, small assortment of breakfast items like mickey waffles, pastries, bacon/sausage, scrambled eggs, cold cereals. Overall, the food wasn’t the best but I think it is worth it for the character dining experience.
Whitney loved seeing the characters come visit during her meal and taking photos with them. Of course, she loved the cute Mickey waffles and enjoyed Tigger playing peek-a-boo!
Whitney loved seeing the characters come visit during her meal and taking photos with them. Of course, she loved the cute Mickey waffles and enjoyed Tigger playing peek-a-boo!

Whitney loved seeing the characters come visit during her meal and taking photos with them. Of course, she loved the cute Mickey waffles and enjoyed Tigger playing peek-a-boo!

Dining at Disney California Adventure
For more variety, I prefer the dining options at California Adventure. My favorites are Lamplight Lounge (downstairs), Lamplight Lounge Boardwalk Dining, Lucky Fortune Cookery, Cocina Cucamonga Mexican Grill but there’s also other nice dine in options like Carthay Circle.
Lunch and cocktails with a pier view at Lamplight Lounge (downstairs). Shown here is the kids Pasta with Cheese Sauce with French fries and fruit.
Lunch and cocktails with a pier view at Lamplight Lounge (downstairs). Shown here is the kids Pasta with Cheese Sauce with French fries and fruit.

Lunch and cocktails with a pier view at Lamplight Lounge (downstairs). Shown here is the kids Pasta with Cheese Sauce with French fries and fruit.

Disney Dining Tip: Late dinner reservations at the Lamplight Lounge (downstairs) is perfect to catch the World of Color water show up close.  

No matter the weather, my favorite sweet treat at Disneyland Park by the Enchanted Tiki Room, is the famous refreshing Dole Whip.
No matter the weather, my favorite sweet treat at Disneyland Park by the Enchanted Tiki Room, is the famous refreshing Dole Whip.
And of course, don’t miss out on the obligatory snacks that you must get from the stands located throughout both parks. The must have Disney snacks include the churros, popcorn, turkey leg and dole whip (Disneyland Park). It wouldn’t be a complete Disney experience without these.
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