DINING and SHOPPING in and around DISNEYLAND - Unofficial Guide: Disneyland 2014 - page 182

DISNEYLAND RESORT RESTAURANT RESERVATIONS: WHAT'S
IN A NAME
DISNEY TINKERS CEASELESSLY with its restaurant-reservations policy. Disneyland din-
ing reservations (previously known as Priority Seating) issues reservations that aren't
exactly reservations. When you call Disney Dining at 714-781-3463, option 4,
your name and essential information are taken, well, as if you were making a reser-
vation. The Disney representative then tells you that you have dining reservations for
the restaurant on the date and time you requested, usually explaining that you will be
seated ahead of walk-ins—that is, those guests without reservations. In case you can't
figure out how to place a voice call with your fancy smartphone, you can also book
tables by e-mailing your name, phone number, party size, restaurant, and preferred
seating time to [e-mail].
Travelers who have experienced Walt Disney World's Advanced Dining Reser-
vations system will be relieved to discover that Disneyland's dining reservation
schemeisfarsimplertonavigate.UnlikeinOrlando,thereisnoneedtohitthephones
at 7 a.m. on the 180th day before your Anaheim vacation; except on the busiest days,
most restaurants in the parks and hotels offer same-day availability. If you do want to
schedule a seating, the process is much less complex in California; there is no inter-
active website for Disneyland dining reservations yet, and phone and e-mail bookings
don't even generate confirmation numbers.
BEHIND THE SCENES AT DISNEYLAND RESORT DINING
DISNEY RESTAURANTS OPERATE on what they call a template system. Instead of
scheduling reservations for actual tables, reservationists fill time slots. The number of
slots available is based on the average observed length of time that guests occupy a
table at a particular restaurant, adjusted for seasonality.
unofficial TIP
Dining reservations are available to all Disneyland visitors—not just guests of the
resort hotels. In the theme parks, you can make reservations for later in the day at
the door of the restaurant.
Here's a rough example of how it works: let's say that the Blue Bayou Restaurant
at Disneyland Park has 38 tables for four and 10 tables for six, and that the average
length of time for a family to be seated, order, eat, pay, and depart is 40 minutes. Add
5 minutes to bus the table and set it up for the next guests, and the tables are turning
every 45 minutes. The restaurant provides Disneyland Resort Dining (DRD) with a
computer template of its capacity, along with the average time the table is occupied.
Thus,whenDRDmakesreservationsforfourpeopleat6:15p.m.,thesystemremoves