Dining
image:DisneyEating at Walt Disney World is an adventure. Disney offers dining reservations 180 days in advance, which sounds crazy. You should still do it. Some restaurants are so good that you’ll regret it if you can’t eat at these locations. Chef Mickey’s, Tusker House, Sci-Fi Dine-In, Be Our Guest, and ‘Ohana are all wonderful meal experiences that require some planning.
If you’re more of an impulse eater than a planner, you’ll do fine at Walt Disney World. The most important thing to accept is that Table Service meals will take a while. Without a reservation, you might wait 20-30 minutes to get seated, assuming you’re not turned away. Then, the meal could take another hour, possibly more. Quick Service restaurants go faster, but the lines at the counters are crazy. Then, the search to find seating for your party is always an adventure.
Despite all the aggravations, eating at Walt Disney World is generally amazing. Sure, you’ll have a less enjoyable experience every now and again. You’re one of tens of thousands of visitors Disney feeds each day. Mistakes happen.
image:DisneyWhat’s stunning about Walt Disney World is the prioritization park planners give to meals. Some of the finest chefs on the East Coast make their way down to the parks to receive training in high pressure situations. Literally dozens of restaurants on the campus can provide one of the best meals of your life. If you’re a foodie, plan to spend lots of time working your way through the World Showcase, a haven for international cuisine.
Walt Disney World occasionally offers a free Disney Dining Plan (DDP) option. While the “free” notion is a bit of semantics since room rates have a tendency to increase, the DDP is a wonderful way to control your costs during a park visit. You have to stay at a Disney resort to qualify. We almost always get the DDP, but not everyone is as passionate about it. Do some research and make up your own mind.
image:DisneyAt Disneyland, the food options aren’t as good. Park space is at a premium. While theme park tourists need to eat, the Happiest Place on Earth isn’t all-in on foodie culture the way that Walt Disney World is. Guests seem to feel the same way. That’s why Disneyland only accepts restaurant reservations 60 days in advance, and the Dining Plan is fairly nebulous. A guest gets vouchers and certificates for a set fee. While this option does offer cost control, you’re not getting the same value.
I tell everyone to skip this option at Disneyland. The primary reason is that Walt Disney World exists in a bubble of sorts. Once a vacationer enters the area, the outside world fades away. A person can do everything on Walt Disney World property, and that’s by design. At Disneyland, the city of Anaheim and the surrounding area of greater Los Angeles intersects with the park. That’s why non-Disney hotels are so close. It’s also why foodies can get delicious food just as easily offsite as they can at Disneyland. The same isn’t really true at Walt Disney World, which is an all-encompassing experience.
Comments
This article makes some misleading statements about Disneyland. While there are 47 Good Neighbor hotels, only 11 of them are close enough to qualify as "across the street" from the resort; the rest are from .5 to two miles away. And "across the street" can mean anything from .3 to .6 miles away. Sometimes more! The Disneyland Hotel is .5 miles away, so a few are closer to the gates than that. But, the Good Neighbors measure their distances just to the entrances to the parks, so if you want to walk anywhere else in the resort, like say DTD, it will be even further away for you. The argument about the cost differences between Disney hotels and the Good Neighbors is a good one, but the physical distance argument is misleading! None are "much closer" and some may be quite a bit further than you think. Not all offer transportation the the parks, and not all of those that do offer it for free.
The argument that there is no "Disney Bubble" at Disneyland is also misleading. If you stay in a Disney hotel, the outside world doesn't need to come in , same as it is at WDW. It's much easier to seek the world out if you want to at DL than at WDW, but you can absolutely avoid it.
And frankly, the statement "At Disneyland, the food options aren’t as good" is just untrue. The options certainly aren't as numerous as they are at WDW, with many more parks and hotels to locate them in, but the quality of the establishments is just as outstanding. With its own Food and Wine Festival, Festival of Holidays, and Lunar New Year, DCA has established a strong foodie culture that may one day rival EPCOT, while locals and tourists alike flock to classic establishments like Blue Bayou and new favorites like Napa Rose.
While I think this is a good topic, and personal preferences always play a factor when making recommendations, I think some of the information in this article is misleading to people and misrepresents what the DL resort has to offer.
You failed to mention Long Beach airport. Even closer than John Wayne.