Best Food at Disneyland: Eating at Disneyland easily!

Looking to find the best food at Disneyland?  There are so many options in Disneyland including reservations, counter service and snacks.  Disneyland takes their food really seriously (thankfully).  

The best food at Disneyland is food that is quick and tasty.  While there are lots of foodies who go to Disneyland just to eat.  Most people go to Disneyland to ride rides and enjoy time as a family, and the food is just a bonus.

This post is going to share the best way to get food in your belly that you’ll 1) love  2) Puts the rides and time with your family first.

BTW, if you’re looking for someone to help you plan your all-inclusive Disneyland trip I always use Get Away Today.  While they don’t include food (because no one does), they can plan everything else and take the stress out of your Disneyland trip!  Be sure to use code CURLS10 to save $10 on your trip!

Order Food Online at Disneyland

Disneyland has an online ordering system for food.  It. is. amazing.  While others are spending hours and hours in line, you can sit down, tap a few places on your phone and your food will be ready in just a few minutes.

Just look for “order food” inside the Disneyland app (which is also the same place you’re getting your Maxpasses).  Then, pick the restaurant that you want to eat at.

** Not all restaurants are on the app.

Clearly, sit down restaurants that usually use waiters/waitresses are not in the app, also small carts around Disneyland are not within the app (although, I hope that at some point they will have some of those available with online ordering)

Ones within the app:

Online Ordering at Disneyland

• Bengal BBQ
• Edelweiss Snacks
• Galactic Grill
• Gibson Girl Ice Cream
• Harbour Galley
• Hungry Bear
• Jolly Holiday Bakery*
• Red Rose Taverne
• Refreshment Corner
• Royal Street Veranda
• Stage Door Cafe
• Tiki Juice Bar*

Online Ordering at California Adventure

• Award Weiners
• Bayside Brews
• Clarabelle’s Ice Cream
• Cocina Cucamonga
• Corn Dog Castle*
• Flo’s V8 Cafe
• Lucky Fortune Cookery
• Pacific Warf Cafe
• Paradise Garden Grill
• Smokejumpers Grill

*= a place we love.

You’ll see TONS of people in line for these restaurants, but don’t be fooled, it is JUST that easy to order it.  Ok, let’s go through how to order:

1.  Pick your restaurant
2.  Pick your window (we always used restaurants at their soonest window, but sometimes that window didn’t start for 10-15 minutes if they were busy — you can also pick a later time if you’re getting on a ride and want to eat afterwards)
3.  Once you’re AT the location (and I do mean AT it, as the food comes very quickly after you tap that button) click that you’re there and you’d like it freshly prepared.
4. Sit down at a table {happy sigh for sitting down at Disneyland}
5. The app will then push notify you when it’s ready.
6. Go to the “mobile ordering” area of the restaurant (it’s clearly labeled) and give them your name and order number — they’ll give you your food (make sure to ask for some water if you didn’t order drinks, all of the restaurants will gladly give you water)
7. Eat up, and feel superior to everyone standing in line

Pro Tip:  You do have to have your credit card on file in order to do this.  If that makes you uncomfortable, then online ordering isn’t for you. 🙂

It is really just that simple.

A few caveats with online ordering:

We LOVE the raspberry macaroons at the Jolly Holiday cafe, but for some reason one time they didn’t show up in the app.  We sent a kid to see if they had any.  They did, so we did have to go up to the restaurant to order them.  I’d had a few other people say this was an issue for them as well (it might be that they run out of those sometimes at night, so they take them off the dinner menu).

When I say don’t say you’re there until you are THERE I mean it.  The food is really ready fast.  I clicked that we were “there” when we hit the line for the Tiki Room Dole Whip place, but they had it ready SO fast they were wondering where the heck they were by the time we got to the mobile ordering place.

Getting Reservations  for dining at Disneyland

Disneyland has a lot of great sit down restaurants that you can get reservations for.  Once you find this out, you might be tempted to get an online reservation for each day of your stay as to save your spot for some delicious vittles.

Pro tip:  DON’T DO THAT!!!!!

Reservations are great, and we usually get one for the last day of our stay in Disneyland.

BUT, they chunk up your day and make it harder to work the Fast Pass System because you have a period where you can’t be riding rides.

You lose flexibility with your day.

PLUS, with online ordering, a lot of the counter restaurants (many of which have GREAT food) are super easy to order from and get your food quickly.  Also, Disney provides a good amount of seating at these restaurants, so you can often find tables quickly and easily at those venues.

Pro Tip:  If you ARE getting reservations, try to get them as early as possible — they start being available 60 days in advance.

Can you bring food into Disneyland?

Disneyland allows you to bring in snacks from home, which. is. awesome.

We often eat something while in line for things at the park.  It makes the line time go more quickly and everyone is happy when we get on the ride.

A lot of the shows allow you to eat in them as well.

I have a post all about what we bring in our bag to Disneyland.  You can find out what types of snacks I recommend to bring.

Disneyland Snacks

Disneyland has TONS of carts all throught the park

Pro Tip:  Check out the “little guy” turning the popcorn at the different popcorn stands in Disneyland, they vary by the area you’re in — just a fun little Disney quirk.

Every area has its own snacks, and they seem to change fairly frequently.  People love the churros and popcorn.

However, I have to say that I’ve never totally been BLOWN. AWAY by anything at those stands.  I like Costco churros about the same (if not more) than the ones at Disneyland (they cost WAY less and are about twice the size).  I was waiting to LOOOOVE the popcorn, but it tasted like microwave popcorn.

Anyway, they’re your basic fare.  With online ordering, I’d rather do something a bit more tasty from one of the counter restaurants.

Cost of Disneyland Food

It’s insane guys.  You know that going in.  Just like any other amusement park, or movie theater — the cost of food at these places is a LOT.  You need to know that going in.  I have a whole Disneyland budget calculator that will help you figure out your budget for your trip.

Which is why we bring in a lot of our own snacks (like I talked about above), but I also like to try a few things in the park because Disney takes their food really seriously (which I am also grateful for).

With all of that being said, I’d love to direct you to my post on the best places to eat at Disneyland for families

That post will save you money (as I give tips on how to best eat at Disneyland for families), will thrill your taste buds and generally just make your trip a whole lot more awesome.  Don’t miss it!

AND, if you’re looking to help your whole day run more smoothly, don’t miss my Disneyland day planner — made to help you love your day at Disneyland (and check out my other Disneyland posts below that)!

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