November 16, 2023 • 30 mins
Learn the ins and outs of getting the most popular dining reservations with Dustin Checketts, co-founder of MouseDining. We'll help you navigate the culinary delights of Disney, with insider nuggets on what you need to know before you book your sit-down dining reservations at Disneyland.
CHAPTERS:
0:02 Intro
0:30 Introducing Dustin from Mouse Dining
2:50 Going Beyond Pizza and Hamburgers
3:45 Pros and Cons of Blue Bayou
5:16 Dining Reservations at Disneyland Have Never Been In Higher Demand
6:08 Why Too Many Dining Reservations Can Sink Your Trip
7:56 What Locations Need Reservations At The Disneyland Resort
10:11 Character Dining- Setting Expectations
12:50 Hardest Reservations to Score At Disneyland
16:55 Reservations For Large Groups
20:35 How Mouse Dining Works
24:32 Last Minute Reservations Are Usually Available
24:54 Using MouseDining.com to See If Reservations Have Dropped
25:29 When Do Reservations Become Available for Disneyland Resturants
28:26 Use OpenTable for Downtown Disney Locations
Links:
ParkMagic 'Dining & Dining Reservations' Course Module
MouseDining Website
Show Transcript
Right now, our tools are just for Disneyland, but we hope to expand to other parks soon. Disney changes policies, prices, and shows often. Be sure to visit our website at Parkmagic.com or Disneyland's Website for more information.
Park Magic is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Walt Disney World, Disneyland, or Disney Enterprises, Inc. Walt Disney World, Disneyland, and Mickey Mouse are all registered trademarks of Disney Enterprises, Inc. Any use of third-party names or trademarks is for identification purposes only and does not imply, nor is it intended to imply, any affiliation with, endorsement from, or business relationship with any third party, including with Walt Disney World, Disneyland, or Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Welcome to the Park Magic podcast, your place for
insider tips for your nextDisneyland adventure.
Whether you're a first-timer orfirst-time in a while visitor,
we're here to unwrap the secretsto creating and simplifying
your dream Disneyland vacation.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Welcome back to the Park Magic podcast.
I am so excited I've gotsomebody who knows more about
dining reservations at Disneythan most people on the planet.
I've got Dustin Checkits, oneof the co-founders of Mouse
Dining.
If you haven't checked outMouse Dining, it's an amazing
tool.
Just grabbing some of thosereservations can be a little
overwhelming.
People are getting up at six inthe morning.
(00:54):
If you're like me and only getup at six in the morning if
something crazy is happening,then you can use Mouse Dining to
help you get alerts of whenmaybe a reservation to Blue
Bayou or Goofy's Kitchen isavailable.
It will save you a lot ofstress and allow you to get
those last-minute diningreservations.
I've been able to get things atBlue Bayou with a week's notice
(01:17):
.
Dustin, first off, thanks forco-founding such an awesome tool
(01:44):
.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
You're very welcome, thank you.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Your whole family has a strong affinity towards
Disney.
Can you share a little bit sopeople know that you're not just
some Yahoo?
I pulled off the street.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Okay, sure, thanks for having me, robin.
I appreciate it.
This is fun.
We've talked about doing thisfor a little while, so it's fun
to finally be here.
My Disney years I will rewindback to my childhood.
I grew up closer on the WestCoast in Utah.
Disneyland was our home park.
That's just what I knew ofDisney growing up and that's
where my love of Disney began.
Today I live in Georgia, so I'mcloser to Walt Disney World and
(02:19):
that's where I spend most of mytime now.
But I always love and cherishthe times going back to
Disneyland because it's justnostalgic.
There's so much has changed ifyou're there.
But then you go back yearslater you're like, oh, it really
hasn't changed that much.
But really, disney first made abig impression in my home when
we would watch Little Mermaid,aladdin, beauty and the Beast
(02:39):
and Lion King and all of thoseamazing animated films.
So I grew up and I wasdetermined to be a Disney
animator.
I was really young at the timeand I would draw a lot.
I do remember making a trip toWalt Disney World young and I
would sit in Hollywood Studiosit was MGM Studios at the time
and just watch the animatorsdraw.
(03:00):
That's still something I enjoydoing.
I follow a lot of differentartists.
I just find it fascinating thatpeople are that talented that
they can just pull something outof their imagination, throw it
on a page and I fall in lovewith it.
That's the origin story of meand Disney.
But since then I've reallyenjoyed to better understand the
parks and Walt, and definitelythe food.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
So I took a friend to Disneyland for the first time
because she was like I don't getyou Disney adult people and so
I was like you have toexperience the way I experience
it.
So she came with me and she's.
I really just thought I wasgoing to be hamburgers and bad
pizza and I was like, oh, wehave that.
Maybe 100% have that alienpizza planet.
I'm looking at you, but some ofmy favorite foods are at Disney
(03:41):
and there are some places whereyou're going more for the
ambiance and you're going.
There's some places that theylegitimately have delicious food
that I like crave, even outsidethe parks 100% agree.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Yes, there's some of yours actually.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Okay, so you have to request an advanced.
I'm gluten-free, so you have torequest an advanced bike
emailing special diners but thegluten-free Monte Cristo
sandwich.
And I prefer cafe Orleansbecause While blue bayou has an
amazing atmosphere, I feel likethe service is not always the
greatest and it is like buffetfood.
So I kind of like cafe Orleans,because I've done blue bayou
(04:19):
several times.
I love it.
I think for a first time it'sgreat, but I really like people
watching.
And then the quesadilla tacosat cosina kukamanga is so good,
I love those.
And then my other one is thepopcorn Sunday that they have at
Carthage circle al frescodining.
They have it.
Then a nice game was chocolateand caramel, but they interlace
(04:41):
caramel popcorn into the Sunday.
Wow, it is so good I haveditched my smoke jumpers and I
was like you have this, I'mgonna go have the lettuce wraps
and get a pimp's punch, and sothose are some of my favorites.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Great no spot on the cafe Orleans over blue bayou.
So for me it was the ambianceand the experience of going to
blue bayou.
My dad was always excited totake us to blue bayou and when
we go there he's like look,there's pirates of the Caribbean
and it's quiet.
It's always nighttime in thereand you can hear the frogs and
everything.
And that was several greatmemories growing up as a kid.
(05:15):
But as we've gotten older we'relike oh, they also have the
money crystal sandwich over atcafe Orleans.
Let's go try it there.
And same amazing sandwich,always as good as I remember.
But for my wife it's the palmfreaks that you can get at cafe
Orleans as an appetizer beforeyou start.
Our kind of tradition is themoney crystal sandwich with some
palm freaks and we same thingwe enjoy people watching.
(05:36):
So sitting outside at cafeOrleans and just being around
all the people hustling andbustling is really fun, but spot
on 100%.
You could have described me andhow I feel about the blue bayou
and money crystal.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
And just a side note, the whole point of this podcast
is advice for normal people.
Make sure that you're watchingthe meal time, that something is
available for.
There's not a lot of menu itemsthat are like that, but there
are.
Some people have been freakingout about dining reservations
for Disney World for Probably adecade, but I remember as a kid
you would just walk up and makea walk-up reservation at the
(06:08):
beginning of the day for bluebayou.
I would say it's probably justbeen since COVID the dining
reservations have been reallybig for Disneyland.
I see people in the boards andin Facebook and Reddit and
they're like how manyreservations do I need?
Personally, since I grew up inSouthern California and we
thought going to the $2 t-shirtstore was like living it high,
we didn't really do a lot ofdining reservations.
(06:30):
Especially when my kids arelittle, we did no dining
reservations usually.
Now that we have a little bitmore discretionary income, I
personally don't like to havemore than one dining reservation
a day and usually on a trip Imight only have one or two
because they do take up quite abit of time.
I feel like for every diningreservation you need to plan at
(06:50):
the minimum an hour, but I'vebeen stuck in blue bayou for two
and a half three hours, yep.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
So I think that's wise advice.
Part of what I do is like lurkin a bunch of different
communities online on Facebookand Reddit and other Places, and
I see some folks that just theyhave their trips planned down
to the minute they have threelarge sit-down table service
restaurants a day and I'm like,oh my gosh, that is so much food
, especially in summer when it'shot, and it's so much money.
(07:17):
I and so 100% I'm with you andjust say, hey, like it is very
reasonable to have one tableservice meal a day, usually
lunch or dinner If you're intothe breakfast with the character
dining.
Those are great experiences.
I have young kids and theyabsolutely love those.
But pick one and then just kindof coast through the rest of the
(07:37):
day and find out what'savailable.
With my memories growing upwith my father and my family not
just my father, but my fatherit was his thing to take us to
Blue Bayou and treat us.
So long as you got to the parkand walked to the Blue Bayou
host in the morning, you couldjust request and get a table
that afternoon.
And it's not been that way, atleast for since post COVID, for
sure, but probably a littleprior to that as well.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
And just to compare, I can get two turkey legs and
three corns and feed my familyof four for less than 40 bucks.
Blue Bayou for a family of fouryou're looking at least 200
bucks probably by the time youget everything done.
Especially if you have an adultbeverage, that can add up
pretty quick.
Let's talk about what kind ofrestaurants you need
reservations for.
It would be the characterdining, which would be
(08:22):
storytellers, and Plaza Inn andGoofy's Kitchen.
And Goofy's Kitchen is the onlycharacter dining that's
available at a not breakfasttime.
So if you wanted to do that thefirst day you came into town,
you could do Goofy's Kitchen.
And then there's the bar.
So Uga's Cantina and TraderSam's, which is Chef's Kiss, one
of my favorite.
(08:42):
But you cannot spend more than90 minutes in there unless you
want a really good headache.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
I agree.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Those kind of cover the big things right.
So it's pretty much anytime youhave a waiter.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
Yeah, so table services where you're sitting
down and you have a serverserving you.
There's a couple of differentversions of quick service, but
quick service would be you pickit up, or you order and just
pick it up and take it with youas you pay.
There's at least in DisneyWorld I know there's all a cart
where you can walk into an area,just throw a bunch of stuff on
a tray and check out and they'llbuzz each item as you exit and
(09:12):
charge you a fee, while DisneyWorld also includes what are
they called family style at,like Ohana, but those are still
table service restaurants.
But yeah, I think that coversit.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Yeah, and I don't think there are any family style
.
So if you're coming from DisneyWorld and you're looking for,
like that, liberty Tree Tavern,you get everybody gets the same
meal.
I don't believe that there areany restaurants that do that at
Disneyland.
They're all individual.
And then there's the othercharacter dining that I forgot
about was the Napa Rua'sPrincess Adventure, which is
(09:43):
$125 a plate and that includesif you have a three year old as
well.
From what I understand, thecharacter interactions there are
pretty intense and amazing.
Could you discuss a little bitabout what to expect at a
character meal?
I've seen some peopledisappointed because they
thought they were going to get45 minute conversations with
Mickey and he's got a lot ofmagic to make around the park,
so it's more of a drive by right.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
Yeah, absolutely.
And keep in mind, my experienceis most recently and definitely
post COVID is with Walt DisneyWorld.
The last time I visitedDisneyland was during COVID,
when they did their own kind ofmini food and wine I'm
forgetting the exact name of it.
So it's been a couple of yearssince we've been there and even
that was really limited.
They didn't have any of therides operating at all.
They just opened CaliforniaAdventure and said enjoy the
(10:28):
food, enjoy the ambiance, hereyou go.
But that was fun.
My wife and I went to that andit was fun.
But regarding the experienceswith the characters, it'll vary
because it is that just quick,say hi, have a brief interaction
, take some photos and move on,because the actors are in the
character for quite a while.
They're out there and sothey're trying to hit as many as
they can, and even sometimesthey'll rotate out the
(10:50):
characters and you'll saygoodbye to them and five minutes
later you'll say hello to them.
Better experiences are going tobe found with the princesses
and it's been a while since I'vebeen to some of the other kind
of seasonal events and some ofthe after parties.
But I think I've heard I'd haveto, I'd have to confirm this,
but I think I've heard thatthose experiences are pretty
(11:11):
good too, but really just theexperiences that you should
expect is really just characterswalking by your tables having a
brief interaction withpreferably each of your children
, just for a moment.
But if you have one child or onechild that really shows a lot
more excitement than the otherchildren.
The characters will spend mostof their time with the one.
(11:31):
That's obviously reciprocatingthat interaction.
I don't know if they're toldthis, but only expect about a
minute to two minutes at yourtable and if you get more than
that, feel lucky and grateful,take that opportunity to take
some amazing photos, becausethat's what you're paying for
Generally.
Character experiences I thinkI've estimated to be about 15 to
25 dollars additional.
If you just look at like thefood and the experience minus
(11:53):
the characters, you're paying anextra 15 to 25 dollars per head
at your table to have just thatcharacter experience.
So if you were to try to getequal quality meal on the part
elsewhere minus the characterexperience, that's what I, in my
head, have made that number tobe for me and my family.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
And I think the other thing that's important to know
before you book a character mealis so you might think like they
would have Mickey, minnie,goofy, pluto at every location.
At Goofy's kitchen you'reguaranteed to see Goofy and then
it's going to be an assortment.
Sometimes Minnie's there.
It's very rare to see Mickey.
From what I understand, atGoofy's kitchen or rarer Plaza,
(12:30):
dining has probably the mostcharacters.
Make sure you check to see whatcharacters, especially if
there's a specific one If youwant to see princesses, you
would have to fork over themoney to see the princess dining
.
There are locations that youcan see in the parks where you
can meet all of these characterswith no additional cost, so
it's not required.
If your kids are really intocharacters, you don't have to do
(12:51):
the character dining, but youshould expect to be spending a
little bit of time in line.
That's the benefit of thecharacter dining is you get to
skip the line of waiting forthose characters.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Yeah, and I understand those.
I think they call them meet andgreets and I'm sure that's the
same at both parks, but I thinktheir character meet and greets
is what you'll look for, yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Yeah, I'd love to know your experience at Mouth
Dining at Disneyland.
What are the hardest locationsto book?
I have some anecdotal man.
I can never seem to get thatdang one.
Do you have any data you'd becomfortable sharing with us?
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Oh, 100%.
So I share this publicly.
Just whenever I get a moment orwhen things seem interesting, I
will post in Reddit.
Mouth Dining has its ownsubreddit and I'll post this
whole list for Walt Disneylandand Disney World and separated
by park.
I haven't pulled that listrecently, so I'm actually
looking at raw data from mousedining right now, and you talked
about character dining beingvery difficult to get.
(13:44):
But really, if I look atDisneyland, the California
Adventure, downtown Disney andthe surrounding area there, blue
Bayou is by far the top of thelist.
And let me back up how I'mjudging this is by how many
mouse dining users have alertsset for these restaurants.
This is just a total number ofalerts that our users have set
(14:06):
for these restaurants and rightnow, blue Bayou tops everything
for both Disneyland and DisneyWorld by a decent margin.
So I don't know if they've donesomething recently or
whatever's happened there, orthere's just a giant surge of
people trying to get in thatdown there in California, but
that tops everything.
For example, in Walt DisneyWorld, the equivalent of that is
like Space 220 in El Hanna.
(14:26):
That's beyond both of those.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
So at Disney World.
I wonder if it's because atDisneyland there's only a couple
places to get alcohol and BlueBayou and Ugo's are pretty much
it, unless you're really fancyin your club, 33 member right.
So I'm wondering.
Because they're opening upRiver Bell Cafe or Leans and
Carnation Cafe will be servingalcohol shortly.
It will be really interestingto me to see if that changes the
(14:50):
availability of Blue Bayou.
That's interesting.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
If I keep going down that list, I and you'll have to
tell me Lamplight Lounge, isthat an alcoholic?
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Yep, do you have alcohol there?
Speaker 3 (15:00):
Yeah, so that's number two in Disneyland, Ogas
Cantina.
Number three you guys like youralcohol Trader Sam's Tiki Bar.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
If you like cocktails , worth it those are the top
four and number five.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
You get down to your Plaza in dining experiences.
Let's see if I can keep going.
Then you've got Goofy's Kitchen, the Princess Breakfast at Napa
Rose, Carthé Circle Cafe orLeans Napa Rose, and then we get
to the Phantasmic DiningPackages Carnation Cafe,
storytellers Cafe and so on.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Yeah, that would probably be a really interesting
post is like the three weeksafter to see how that changes
that dynamic.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
But yeah, and those are available, so I published
this list.
Yeah, like I said, I sort oforganize on Reddit and I just
post it when I list the week ofthe year so you can gauge.
But you can go back and look atthe history and kind of see how
it's changed and sometimesthat's interesting to see.
In fact, after this podcast,I'll go ahead and publish this
list so that your listeners willhave the to look forward to.
(16:03):
But you can reach out to methere, make comments on it there
, and I'm happy to adjust thatreport or dive a little deeper
if anybody finds it particularlyinteresting.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
And I'll make sure to put that link in the show notes
so you guys have it withouthaving to dig too.
So I think the other thing thatI see people struggle with is
they're like I'm trying to gowith 422 people and I don't
understand why I can't get areservation.
Those locations, especiallylike Blue Bay, like 4 people
pretty easy to get a reservation, but once you pass 6 people it
becomes very difficult to get aspot for you all together.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
Yes, and I guess I'll speak to that because we've
experienced the same thing andwe see the same thing, and so
I'm not the type of person thatjust wants to use my gut and be
like, yeah, it just feels thatway.
I want data to prove that it'sthat way, and so I actually have
people in the parks now.
They're gathering someinformation so I can
definitively say how many 2 tops, 4 tops and 6 top tables a
(16:56):
restaurant has, what's its maxcapacity, so that we can better
understand throughput.
And Tessa and I have spoken afew times but he's the data
scientist for the rides and waittimes.
I want to take that over forthe food and dining and
restaurants.
So we're gathering a lot of thiskind of data that's not really
published anywhere but it'spublicly available.
We just have to go hunt andsearch for it.
But in the future we will knowwith certainty approximately how
(17:19):
many people can get in and outof a restaurant in a given
timeframe, and that it'll behard to judge exactly and
precisely because we don't knowstaffing or any other
particulars, but in general weshould have some very good idea
of that.
Specifically to your questionno, it's.
There's not a lot of tablesthat are 6 tops or larger, and
(17:41):
some restaurants the tables arebolted so they can't even push
them together or move themaround.
So we're learning that rightnow and I hope to have some data
to prove that.
But I agree that with your gutand my gut.
It's definitely true.
I just want to find out howtrue it is and if there's any
exceptions to it.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
And with Blue Bayou they push the tables further
back.
So if you want to be on thewater and you have more than a
four top, you're not going to beon the water, you're going to
be further towards the back ofthe restaurant, at least to the
middle, because they don't pushtables together at the
waterfront from anytime I'veseen in there, I have not seen
them do that, at Disneyland atleast.
So what I usually recommend topeople is let's say you have a
(18:17):
group of eight book, two tablesof four, yes, and then you can
very nicely ask if it would bepossible to maybe sit close
together.
But no, that might be a big askand the answer might be no.
I have one really picky eater.
So what we might do is say, okay, you really want to ride Casey
Jr.
I would rather do lots of otherthings in the world rather than
(18:38):
do it right, casey Jr.
So let's have you go withsomebody who doesn't mind
writing, casey Jr, we'll get youguys some quick serve.
So you need to split up yourgroup or you can break it up
into two groups and then knowyou might not sit together, but
if you have a group of over 10,I would really just recommend
that you do quick serve, becausethose bigger tables take even
(19:01):
longer.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
Yeah, and I have data to prove that.
So in the availability that wesee, 97% of all availability is
for parties and tables of six orfewer.
So if you're trying to get atable for seven or eight or nine
or 10 or more, just know thatyou're looking for a needle in a
haystack.
Your suggestion of splittingyour party is exactly what we
(19:23):
tell our users when they come tous with that question or
concern.
But Disney honestly hasn't donea good job and again, I focus
most heavily on Walt DisneyWorld.
But their website will tell youlike do you want to try for a
party of 10 in the blue bayou?
And they'll let you look forthat, but there's never going to
be any availability.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
And if you do get that you should go buy a lottery
ticket.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
like that moment that's not a bad idea, but yeah,
we have data to support that,and so just know parties larger
than six.
Even if you're six and you havea child with you, I would still
recommend including that inyour party, because Disney likes
to account for the bodies thatthey're putting at the table and
not necessarily how many aregoing to order food, and it's
(20:06):
more a spacing and fire safetything than just money and
logistics, so keep that in mind.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
So if somebody's like look, I don't really want to
use mouse dining, I use mousedining when I go and there's a
free version and a paid version.
With the paid version you gettext.
So especially if you don't worka computer job where you're
looking at your email all day,then the paid version can be
really helpful.
But if somebody's like I don'twant to use a service, I just
want to do it myself.
I don't usually get up at sixin the morning, 60 days out, I
(20:38):
usually go in and I would justkeep looking over and over again
, and if I'm going with a coupleother people, I'll show them
how to do it and everybody justchecks off back often and you
can get them that way.
But then you have to besomebody that would remember on
a regular basis or just set upalarms to go back and look over
and over again.
Can you talk a little bit abouthow people use mouse dining?
(20:59):
Because the people can use itfor a short period of time and
just to score those reservations, and then you have five alerts
for free.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
Six.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Six alerts.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
Yeah, I'll talk a little bit more about the
service just briefly.
But mouse dining I'm glad youbrought up the question, first
of all because it made me thinkof something that we usually
don't talk about, so I'll speakto the free experience first.
I'm of the opinion that I wantto prove to you that our service
works before I ask for yourmoney, and so we launched as a
100% free service.
There was no cost to itwhatsoever.
(21:29):
We were sending texts, we weresending email and doing all the
things.
It was fine while we were small, but as we grew, our texting
bill became significant, and sothat's when we had to start
charging for it.
Over the years, we've playedwith that and we think we found
we struck the right kind ofbalance of what do free users
get versus what paid users get,just before COVID happened, so
(21:51):
this was like October 2019.
And so we felt pretty goodabout it, but then everything
shut down, and that was.
We didn't know what was goingto happen at that point, before
you even register.
You don't even have to registerto visit the site and go look
around and you can search forBlue Bayou, some of the
restaurants we've been talkingabout, and you can go and we'll
show you a nice calendar thatwill show you current
(22:12):
availability.
And you just have a little dropdown and you can say I'm
looking for a party of two orthree or four or five, and we'll
show you with a great amount ofaccuracy not 100% accuracy, but
we'll show you with a greatamount of accuracy anything
that's available right now andwe'll give you a link and say
here, just go to Disney and bookit.
You don't pay us anything, youdon't owe us anything.
Just this is a better way tolook at Disney's availability
(22:35):
data.
And here have it.
Beyond that, if what you'relooking for doesn't exist,
that's when the next step is.
Okay, we can help you get thatreservation that you want.
That's not currently available,but in order for us to help you
, you'll need to register for anaccount, because we've got to
save some things and betterunderstand what you're looking
for and then you can create analert and that alert it collects
(22:55):
what date you're looking for,what meal time you want, your
party size and if you have anyvery specific time you want to
go.
And then we'll save that alertand we'll monitor Disney's
website for you and notify youvia email for that free account
if something comes available andthat service is 100% free.
You just have to register anaccount so we can save some
(23:17):
things for you and know how tonotify you when we find
something.
The final step in that is okay,you're using that, maybe not
having success, or you need morethan the six alerts.
That's when we can say hey, ifyou want that and a few other
things, you can pay us $9 amonth and that'll activate text
messaging.
So I love your example, like ifyou're not in front of a
(23:38):
computer all day long, like textmessaging, it's just really
convenient, but it is verycostly for us.
Second thing is you can createup to 50 alerts so that way you
don't have to finagle andconstantly be like deleting
alerts and adding alerts.
You can just set them all uponce and just let it do its
thing.
You get 50 alerts.
The texting supportsinternational numbers, so they
(23:58):
can get their alertsinternationally as well and help
you in that search.
And you can add more numbers aswell when you pay and more
email addresses.
So if you have a party of fiveor six, I would always recommend
having everybody get thenotification, because one of you
is going to be faster than theothers, and that increases your
chances of getting thatreservation.
That's really the service in anutshell.
(24:19):
That was a little longer than Iwanted, but I think we have
everything feeling pretty goodat this point.
And the last point I will makeis that we have a mobile app
that will be releasing, probablyin the next 30 to 60 days, that
will enable push notificationsas well.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
That's really awesome If you're older, like me, and
you like remember listening tothe radio and you had to dial in
.
You got to be listening forthat little word and then you
got to dial in.
Right then, and that's why it'salso important.
Looking at yourself, peoplewill be like there's no hope,
there's no reservations.
There are people that book 12reservations for their two day
(24:53):
trip and then they cancel theones they don't want.
Now I don't particularly lovethat strategy because it ties up
other people from being able toget reservations, but people
cancel all the time.
We're going to do anotherepisode on walk up reservation
getting into the walk up line aswell so that is also an option
that maybe you might want toconsider.
I messaged you saying, hey,could you build this for me?
(25:14):
And then somebody else did apost and I'm using mouse dining
for this and I was like that'sexactly what I wanted.
So if you go to mouse dinning'swebsite and you go into the
individual restaurants, it willshow you which reservations have
had availability in the past.
We're recording this.
In August, there was a bighubbub because Goofy's kitchen
(25:35):
was not making new reservationseven though it was well within
the 60 days, and then we foundout recently that it's because
they're doing some sort of funkyHalloween thing, so people were
losing their minds, thinkingthat they had missed their
opportunity to get Goofy'skitchen so you can use mouse
dining.
I'm going to include a video ofthat in the show notes as well.
You guys do Thavi's workshopand Joy Depot and stuff too,
(25:56):
right?
Speaker 3 (25:57):
Yes, we do.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
Can you tell us for Disneyland, what time right now
are the 60 days in advance ofthe day?
So if I'm going to be there onDecember 10th and December 11th,
then the December 10th willopen up for me exactly 60 days
and December 11th will open upexactly 60 days before December
(26:18):
11th, which is different fromDisney World, right?
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Yeah.
So I'm going to be Jeffrey Rushfrom Pirates of the Caribbean
to say those are more likeguidelines than rules.
But yes, that's the plan,that's what they aim for, but
certainly that does not happenall the time.
We have immense amounts of datathat can prove that they drop
when they drop.
Now my limited knowledge of thekind of internal workings of
Disney restaurants and diningreservations is that some of the
(26:43):
different restaurants just haveproprietors.
They're stuck using kind ofDisney system or they have their
own system that then injectsinto Disney system.
So it really does boil down toan employee or another system
making the data available andthen publishing it.
But then there's all theseevents that get in the way and
special events and the partshours change, and sometimes
(27:03):
there's private events in theevening, and so it really does
throw a wrench in things, andthat's probably what you were
experiencing, honestly, withGoofy's Kitchen.
We had some communication withcustomers that were asking about
that very particular thing.
The data suggests that thosejust drop when they drop.
You should be looking that dayor maybe even like a few hours
before they're supposed to drop,but if they don't drop, that's
(27:25):
when a service like mouse diningcan be incredibly handy because
you'll be notified the momentthey do drop.
So, for example, if your trip'snot for six months, you can set
the alerts now and just walkaway and forget it.
And then once you get thatfirst email, you're like oh look
, reservations dropped, now Ican actually try and go book
something.
So there's a lot of differentways to use mouse dining.
(27:46):
And the other way I mentionedit already but just to address
your question, like Some peoplejust use mouse dining because
it's just a better view ofcurrent availability.
When our families at the parkswe just pull up mouse dining and
are like what's available?
Is there anything available atthese restaurants over the next
three days of our trip?
And sometimes the stuff wemaybe really want to get into is
(28:09):
booked.
But we'll just keep going downour list of stuff we like and
stuff we like to try and surelythere's going to be something
available.
But we just use it because it'sa better view.
Even on, disney has a brand newwebsite that went live
yesterday.
You can still only search forone day at a time, so you have
to go in for each day of yourtrip.
If you're going to spend threeor four days at the park.
(28:29):
You got to check for Monday,tuesday, wednesday and Thursday
all individually.
Where on our service.
You can just look at thecalendar and be like, oh,
there's something availableTuesday.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Disney's website is not always the easiest.
And one thing I also want tonote is if you're trying to get
into downtown Disney restaurantslike Tortilla Joe's, Napoli,
those kinds of things, alsocheck OpenTable, Because
OpenTable has much moreavailability for those
restaurants and they don't talkto each other.
If you misjudged your arrivaltime or your departure time,
(29:00):
you're trying to get somethingnot in the Disneyland hotels but
in that downtown Disney space,then definitely look at
OpenTable.
And then there's a place calledAnaheim Packing House which has
just this amazing assortment ofall these really cool
restaurants.
It's about a 15 minute Uber,but if you like foods from
different ethnicities, you liketo be a little adventurous, that
(29:21):
can be a fun place to go aswell.
Speaker 3 (29:23):
Yeah, great tip on the OpenTable.
The way I understand it is thatOpenTable has a designated
number of reservations thatthey're allowed to fill and that
Disney has their reservations.
So you're right.
You can go to Disney's site andsee that Ralph Grinn and the
Jazz Kitchen is booked up.
You can go to OpenTable and belike, oh, there's six tables
available, so great, 100% agree.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
I really appreciate you making the time.
I know you're really busyhelping people get awesome
tables at lots of differentawesome restaurants and thank
you for co-founding such anawesome tool.
That, I think, is a real helpto the community and especially
people who they're just planningtheir vacation, and so the idea
of checking back every 20minutes for reservations on top
of everything else they have todo for their Disney vacation can
be a little overwhelming.
(30:05):
We have a link in the shownotes to Mousetining and you can
also go to parkmagiccom.
Forward slash mouse dining andyou can also go to mouse
diningcom.
So, dustin, thank you so muchfor coming on the show and
sharing that.
Dito, like which ones are themost booked was really
interesting.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
No problem, and it changes all the time, so we
should do it again.
This has been great.
Thanks, robin.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
This has been another episode of the Park Magic
Podcast, where we help you planyour magical Disney vacation,
and we hope that you'll tune infor our next episode.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Park
Magic Podcast.
For more tips and planningtools designed to help simplify
your Disneyland adventure, visitparkmagiccom.
If you enjoyed today's episodeand want to hear more tips, be
sure to subscribe to the ParkMagic Podcast and don't forget
to leave us a review.
Your feedback helps us spreadthe magic even further.
Leaving a review could alsohelp you.
(30:58):
Each month, we will beselecting one reviewer to win.
A one hour planning sessionwith Robin.
Winners will be announced atthe end of the first episode of
every month.
Thanks for tuning in andremember that we are here to
help you have a less stressfuland more magical trip to
Disneyland.
Welcome to the Park Magic podcast, your place for
insider tips for your nextDisneyland adventure.
Whether you're a first-timer orfirst-time in a while visitor,
we're here to unwrap the secretsto creating and simplifying
your dream Disneyland vacation.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Welcome back to the Park Magic podcast.
I am so excited I've gotsomebody who knows more about
dining reservations at Disneythan most people on the planet.
I've got Dustin Checkits, oneof the co-founders of Mouse
Dining.
If you haven't checked outMouse Dining, it's an amazing
tool.
Just grabbing some of thosereservations can be a little
overwhelming.
People are getting up at six inthe morning.
(00:54):
If you're like me and only getup at six in the morning if
something crazy is happening,then you can use Mouse Dining to
help you get alerts of whenmaybe a reservation to Blue
Bayou or Goofy's Kitchen isavailable.
It will save you a lot ofstress and allow you to get
those last-minute diningreservations.
I've been able to get things atBlue Bayou with a week's notice
(01:17):
.
Dustin, first off, thanks forco-founding such an awesome tool
(01:44):
.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
You're very welcome, thank you.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Your whole family has a strong affinity towards
Disney.
Can you share a little bit sopeople know that you're not just
some Yahoo?
I pulled off the street.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Okay, sure, thanks for having me, robin.
I appreciate it.
This is fun.
We've talked about doing thisfor a little while, so it's fun
to finally be here.
My Disney years I will rewindback to my childhood.
I grew up closer on the WestCoast in Utah.
Disneyland was our home park.
That's just what I knew ofDisney growing up and that's
where my love of Disney began.
Today I live in Georgia, so I'mcloser to Walt Disney World and
(02:19):
that's where I spend most of mytime now.
But I always love and cherishthe times going back to
Disneyland because it's justnostalgic.
There's so much has changed ifyou're there.
But then you go back yearslater you're like, oh, it really
hasn't changed that much.
But really, disney first made abig impression in my home when
we would watch Little Mermaid,aladdin, beauty and the Beast
(02:39):
and Lion King and all of thoseamazing animated films.
So I grew up and I wasdetermined to be a Disney
animator.
I was really young at the timeand I would draw a lot.
I do remember making a trip toWalt Disney World young and I
would sit in Hollywood Studiosit was MGM Studios at the time
and just watch the animatorsdraw.
(03:00):
That's still something I enjoydoing.
I follow a lot of differentartists.
I just find it fascinating thatpeople are that talented that
they can just pull something outof their imagination, throw it
on a page and I fall in lovewith it.
That's the origin story of meand Disney.
But since then I've reallyenjoyed to better understand the
parks and Walt, and definitelythe food.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
So I took a friend to Disneyland for the first time
because she was like I don't getyou Disney adult people and so
I was like you have toexperience the way I experience
it.
So she came with me and she's.
I really just thought I wasgoing to be hamburgers and bad
pizza and I was like, oh, wehave that.
Maybe 100% have that alienpizza planet.
I'm looking at you, but some ofmy favorite foods are at Disney
(03:41):
and there are some places whereyou're going more for the
ambiance and you're going.
There's some places that theylegitimately have delicious food
that I like crave, even outsidethe parks 100% agree.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Yes, there's some of yours actually.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Okay, so you have to request an advanced.
I'm gluten-free, so you have torequest an advanced bike
emailing special diners but thegluten-free Monte Cristo
sandwich.
And I prefer cafe Orleansbecause While blue bayou has an
amazing atmosphere, I feel likethe service is not always the
greatest and it is like buffetfood.
So I kind of like cafe Orleans,because I've done blue bayou
(04:19):
several times.
I love it.
I think for a first time it'sgreat, but I really like people
watching.
And then the quesadilla tacosat cosina kukamanga is so good,
I love those.
And then my other one is thepopcorn Sunday that they have at
Carthage circle al frescodining.
They have it.
Then a nice game was chocolateand caramel, but they interlace
(04:41):
caramel popcorn into the Sunday.
Wow, it is so good I haveditched my smoke jumpers and I
was like you have this, I'mgonna go have the lettuce wraps
and get a pimp's punch, and sothose are some of my favorites.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Great no spot on the cafe Orleans over blue bayou.
So for me it was the ambianceand the experience of going to
blue bayou.
My dad was always excited totake us to blue bayou and when
we go there he's like look,there's pirates of the Caribbean
and it's quiet.
It's always nighttime in thereand you can hear the frogs and
everything.
And that was several greatmemories growing up as a kid.
(05:15):
But as we've gotten older we'relike oh, they also have the
money crystal sandwich over atcafe Orleans.
Let's go try it there.
And same amazing sandwich,always as good as I remember.
But for my wife it's the palmfreaks that you can get at cafe
Orleans as an appetizer beforeyou start.
Our kind of tradition is themoney crystal sandwich with some
palm freaks and we same thingwe enjoy people watching.
(05:36):
So sitting outside at cafeOrleans and just being around
all the people hustling andbustling is really fun, but spot
on 100%.
You could have described me andhow I feel about the blue bayou
and money crystal.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
And just a side note, the whole point of this podcast
is advice for normal people.
Make sure that you're watchingthe meal time, that something is
available for.
There's not a lot of menu itemsthat are like that, but there
are.
Some people have been freakingout about dining reservations
for Disney World for Probably adecade, but I remember as a kid
you would just walk up and makea walk-up reservation at the
(06:08):
beginning of the day for bluebayou.
I would say it's probably justbeen since COVID the dining
reservations have been reallybig for Disneyland.
I see people in the boards andin Facebook and Reddit and
they're like how manyreservations do I need?
Personally, since I grew up inSouthern California and we
thought going to the $2 t-shirtstore was like living it high,
we didn't really do a lot ofdining reservations.
(06:30):
Especially when my kids arelittle, we did no dining
reservations usually.
Now that we have a little bitmore discretionary income, I
personally don't like to havemore than one dining reservation
a day and usually on a trip Imight only have one or two
because they do take up quite abit of time.
I feel like for every diningreservation you need to plan at
(06:50):
the minimum an hour, but I'vebeen stuck in blue bayou for two
and a half three hours, yep.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
So I think that's wise advice.
Part of what I do is like lurkin a bunch of different
communities online on Facebookand Reddit and other Places, and
I see some folks that just theyhave their trips planned down
to the minute they have threelarge sit-down table service
restaurants a day and I'm like,oh my gosh, that is so much food
, especially in summer when it'shot, and it's so much money.
(07:17):
I and so 100% I'm with you andjust say, hey, like it is very
reasonable to have one tableservice meal a day, usually
lunch or dinner If you're intothe breakfast with the character
dining.
Those are great experiences.
I have young kids and theyabsolutely love those.
But pick one and then just kindof coast through the rest of the
(07:37):
day and find out what'savailable.
With my memories growing upwith my father and my family not
just my father, but my fatherit was his thing to take us to
Blue Bayou and treat us.
So long as you got to the parkand walked to the Blue Bayou
host in the morning, you couldjust request and get a table
that afternoon.
And it's not been that way, atleast for since post COVID, for
sure, but probably a littleprior to that as well.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
And just to compare, I can get two turkey legs and
three corns and feed my familyof four for less than 40 bucks.
Blue Bayou for a family of fouryou're looking at least 200
bucks probably by the time youget everything done.
Especially if you have an adultbeverage, that can add up
pretty quick.
Let's talk about what kind ofrestaurants you need
reservations for.
It would be the characterdining, which would be
(08:22):
storytellers, and Plaza Inn andGoofy's Kitchen.
And Goofy's Kitchen is the onlycharacter dining that's
available at a not breakfasttime.
So if you wanted to do that thefirst day you came into town,
you could do Goofy's Kitchen.
And then there's the bar.
So Uga's Cantina and TraderSam's, which is Chef's Kiss, one
of my favorite.
(08:42):
But you cannot spend more than90 minutes in there unless you
want a really good headache.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
I agree.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Those kind of cover the big things right.
So it's pretty much anytime youhave a waiter.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
Yeah, so table services where you're sitting
down and you have a serverserving you.
There's a couple of differentversions of quick service, but
quick service would be you pickit up, or you order and just
pick it up and take it with youas you pay.
There's at least in DisneyWorld I know there's all a cart
where you can walk into an area,just throw a bunch of stuff on
a tray and check out and they'llbuzz each item as you exit and
(09:12):
charge you a fee, while DisneyWorld also includes what are
they called family style at,like Ohana, but those are still
table service restaurants.
But yeah, I think that coversit.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Yeah, and I don't think there are any family style
.
So if you're coming from DisneyWorld and you're looking for,
like that, liberty Tree Tavern,you get everybody gets the same
meal.
I don't believe that there areany restaurants that do that at
Disneyland.
They're all individual.
And then there's the othercharacter dining that I forgot
about was the Napa Rua'sPrincess Adventure, which is
(09:43):
$125 a plate and that includesif you have a three year old as
well.
From what I understand, thecharacter interactions there are
pretty intense and amazing.
Could you discuss a little bitabout what to expect at a
character meal?
I've seen some peopledisappointed because they
thought they were going to get45 minute conversations with
Mickey and he's got a lot ofmagic to make around the park,
so it's more of a drive by right.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
Yeah, absolutely.
And keep in mind, my experienceis most recently and definitely
post COVID is with Walt DisneyWorld.
The last time I visitedDisneyland was during COVID,
when they did their own kind ofmini food and wine I'm
forgetting the exact name of it.
So it's been a couple of yearssince we've been there and even
that was really limited.
They didn't have any of therides operating at all.
They just opened CaliforniaAdventure and said enjoy the
(10:28):
food, enjoy the ambiance, hereyou go.
But that was fun.
My wife and I went to that andit was fun.
But regarding the experienceswith the characters, it'll vary
because it is that just quick,say hi, have a brief interaction
, take some photos and move on,because the actors are in the
character for quite a while.
They're out there and sothey're trying to hit as many as
they can, and even sometimesthey'll rotate out the
(10:50):
characters and you'll saygoodbye to them and five minutes
later you'll say hello to them.
Better experiences are going tobe found with the princesses
and it's been a while since I'vebeen to some of the other kind
of seasonal events and some ofthe after parties.
But I think I've heard I'd haveto, I'd have to confirm this,
but I think I've heard thatthose experiences are pretty
(11:11):
good too, but really just theexperiences that you should
expect is really just characterswalking by your tables having a
brief interaction withpreferably each of your children
, just for a moment.
But if you have one child or onechild that really shows a lot
more excitement than the otherchildren.
The characters will spend mostof their time with the one.
(11:31):
That's obviously reciprocatingthat interaction.
I don't know if they're toldthis, but only expect about a
minute to two minutes at yourtable and if you get more than
that, feel lucky and grateful,take that opportunity to take
some amazing photos, becausethat's what you're paying for
Generally.
Character experiences I thinkI've estimated to be about 15 to
25 dollars additional.
If you just look at like thefood and the experience minus
(11:53):
the characters, you're paying anextra 15 to 25 dollars per head
at your table to have just thatcharacter experience.
So if you were to try to getequal quality meal on the part
elsewhere minus the characterexperience, that's what I, in my
head, have made that number tobe for me and my family.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
And I think the other thing that's important to know
before you book a character mealis so you might think like they
would have Mickey, minnie,goofy, pluto at every location.
At Goofy's kitchen you'reguaranteed to see Goofy and then
it's going to be an assortment.
Sometimes Minnie's there.
It's very rare to see Mickey.
From what I understand, atGoofy's kitchen or rarer Plaza,
(12:30):
dining has probably the mostcharacters.
Make sure you check to see whatcharacters, especially if
there's a specific one If youwant to see princesses, you
would have to fork over themoney to see the princess dining
.
There are locations that youcan see in the parks where you
can meet all of these characterswith no additional cost, so
it's not required.
If your kids are really intocharacters, you don't have to do
(12:51):
the character dining, but youshould expect to be spending a
little bit of time in line.
That's the benefit of thecharacter dining is you get to
skip the line of waiting forthose characters.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Yeah, and I understand those.
I think they call them meet andgreets and I'm sure that's the
same at both parks, but I thinktheir character meet and greets
is what you'll look for, yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Yeah, I'd love to know your experience at Mouth
Dining at Disneyland.
What are the hardest locationsto book?
I have some anecdotal man.
I can never seem to get thatdang one.
Do you have any data you'd becomfortable sharing with us?
Speaker 3 (13:21):
Oh, 100%.
So I share this publicly.
Just whenever I get a moment orwhen things seem interesting, I
will post in Reddit.
Mouth Dining has its ownsubreddit and I'll post this
whole list for Walt Disneylandand Disney World and separated
by park.
I haven't pulled that listrecently, so I'm actually
looking at raw data from mousedining right now, and you talked
about character dining beingvery difficult to get.
(13:44):
But really, if I look atDisneyland, the California
Adventure, downtown Disney andthe surrounding area there, blue
Bayou is by far the top of thelist.
And let me back up how I'mjudging this is by how many
mouse dining users have alertsset for these restaurants.
This is just a total number ofalerts that our users have set
(14:06):
for these restaurants and rightnow, blue Bayou tops everything
for both Disneyland and DisneyWorld by a decent margin.
So I don't know if they've donesomething recently or
whatever's happened there, orthere's just a giant surge of
people trying to get in thatdown there in California, but
that tops everything.
For example, in Walt DisneyWorld, the equivalent of that is
like Space 220 in El Hanna.
(14:26):
That's beyond both of those.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
So at Disney World.
I wonder if it's because atDisneyland there's only a couple
places to get alcohol and BlueBayou and Ugo's are pretty much
it, unless you're really fancyin your club, 33 member right.
So I'm wondering.
Because they're opening upRiver Bell Cafe or Leans and
Carnation Cafe will be servingalcohol shortly.
It will be really interestingto me to see if that changes the
(14:50):
availability of Blue Bayou.
That's interesting.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
If I keep going down that list, I and you'll have to
tell me Lamplight Lounge, isthat an alcoholic?
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Yep, do you have alcohol there?
Speaker 3 (15:00):
Yeah, so that's number two in Disneyland, Ogas
Cantina.
Number three you guys like youralcohol Trader Sam's Tiki Bar.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
If you like cocktails , worth it those are the top
four and number five.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
You get down to your Plaza in dining experiences.
Let's see if I can keep going.
Then you've got Goofy's Kitchen, the Princess Breakfast at Napa
Rose, Carthé Circle Cafe orLeans Napa Rose, and then we get
to the Phantasmic DiningPackages Carnation Cafe,
storytellers Cafe and so on.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Yeah, that would probably be a really interesting
post is like the three weeksafter to see how that changes
that dynamic.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
But yeah, and those are available, so I published
this list.
Yeah, like I said, I sort oforganize on Reddit and I just
post it when I list the week ofthe year so you can gauge.
But you can go back and look atthe history and kind of see how
it's changed and sometimesthat's interesting to see.
In fact, after this podcast,I'll go ahead and publish this
list so that your listeners willhave the to look forward to.
(16:03):
But you can reach out to methere, make comments on it there
, and I'm happy to adjust thatreport or dive a little deeper
if anybody finds it particularlyinteresting.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
And I'll make sure to put that link in the show notes
so you guys have it withouthaving to dig too.
So I think the other thing thatI see people struggle with is
they're like I'm trying to gowith 422 people and I don't
understand why I can't get areservation.
Those locations, especiallylike Blue Bay, like 4 people
pretty easy to get a reservation, but once you pass 6 people it
becomes very difficult to get aspot for you all together.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
Yes, and I guess I'll speak to that because we've
experienced the same thing andwe see the same thing, and so
I'm not the type of person thatjust wants to use my gut and be
like, yeah, it just feels thatway.
I want data to prove that it'sthat way, and so I actually have
people in the parks now.
They're gathering someinformation so I can
definitively say how many 2 tops, 4 tops and 6 top tables a
(16:56):
restaurant has, what's its maxcapacity, so that we can better
understand throughput.
And Tessa and I have spoken afew times but he's the data
scientist for the rides and waittimes.
I want to take that over forthe food and dining and
restaurants.
So we're gathering a lot of thiskind of data that's not really
published anywhere but it'spublicly available.
We just have to go hunt andsearch for it.
But in the future we will knowwith certainty approximately how
(17:19):
many people can get in and outof a restaurant in a given
timeframe, and that it'll behard to judge exactly and
precisely because we don't knowstaffing or any other
particulars, but in general weshould have some very good idea
of that.
Specifically to your questionno, it's.
There's not a lot of tablesthat are 6 tops or larger, and
(17:41):
some restaurants the tables arebolted so they can't even push
them together or move themaround.
So we're learning that rightnow and I hope to have some data
to prove that.
But I agree that with your gutand my gut.
It's definitely true.
I just want to find out howtrue it is and if there's any
exceptions to it.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
And with Blue Bayou they push the tables further
back.
So if you want to be on thewater and you have more than a
four top, you're not going to beon the water, you're going to
be further towards the back ofthe restaurant, at least to the
middle, because they don't pushtables together at the
waterfront from anytime I'veseen in there, I have not seen
them do that, at Disneyland atleast.
So what I usually recommend topeople is let's say you have a
(18:17):
group of eight book, two tablesof four, yes, and then you can
very nicely ask if it would bepossible to maybe sit close
together.
But no, that might be a big askand the answer might be no.
I have one really picky eater.
So what we might do is say, okay, you really want to ride Casey
Jr.
I would rather do lots of otherthings in the world rather than
(18:38):
do it right, casey Jr.
So let's have you go withsomebody who doesn't mind
writing, casey Jr, we'll get youguys some quick serve.
So you need to split up yourgroup or you can break it up
into two groups and then knowyou might not sit together, but
if you have a group of over 10,I would really just recommend
that you do quick serve, becausethose bigger tables take even
(19:01):
longer.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
Yeah, and I have data to prove that.
So in the availability that wesee, 97% of all availability is
for parties and tables of six orfewer.
So if you're trying to get atable for seven or eight or nine
or 10 or more, just know thatyou're looking for a needle in a
haystack.
Your suggestion of splittingyour party is exactly what we
(19:23):
tell our users when they come tous with that question or
concern.
But Disney honestly hasn't donea good job and again, I focus
most heavily on Walt DisneyWorld.
But their website will tell youlike do you want to try for a
party of 10 in the blue bayou?
And they'll let you look forthat, but there's never going to
be any availability.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
And if you do get that you should go buy a lottery
ticket.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
like that moment that's not a bad idea, but yeah,
we have data to support that,and so just know parties larger
than six.
Even if you're six and you havea child with you, I would still
recommend including that inyour party, because Disney likes
to account for the bodies thatthey're putting at the table and
not necessarily how many aregoing to order food, and it's
(20:06):
more a spacing and fire safetything than just money and
logistics, so keep that in mind.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
So if somebody's like look, I don't really want to
use mouse dining, I use mousedining when I go and there's a
free version and a paid version.
With the paid version you gettext.
So especially if you don't worka computer job where you're
looking at your email all day,then the paid version can be
really helpful.
But if somebody's like I don'twant to use a service, I just
want to do it myself.
I don't usually get up at sixin the morning, 60 days out, I
(20:38):
usually go in and I would justkeep looking over and over again
, and if I'm going with a coupleother people, I'll show them
how to do it and everybody justchecks off back often and you
can get them that way.
But then you have to besomebody that would remember on
a regular basis or just set upalarms to go back and look over
and over again.
Can you talk a little bit abouthow people use mouse dining?
(20:59):
Because the people can use itfor a short period of time and
just to score those reservations, and then you have five alerts
for free.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
Six.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Six alerts.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
Yeah, I'll talk a little bit more about the
service just briefly.
But mouse dining I'm glad youbrought up the question, first
of all because it made me thinkof something that we usually
don't talk about, so I'll speakto the free experience first.
I'm of the opinion that I wantto prove to you that our service
works before I ask for yourmoney, and so we launched as a
100% free service.
There was no cost to itwhatsoever.
(21:29):
We were sending texts, we weresending email and doing all the
things.
It was fine while we were small, but as we grew, our texting
bill became significant, and sothat's when we had to start
charging for it.
Over the years, we've playedwith that and we think we found
we struck the right kind ofbalance of what do free users
get versus what paid users get,just before COVID happened, so
(21:51):
this was like October 2019.
And so we felt pretty goodabout it, but then everything
shut down, and that was.
We didn't know what was goingto happen at that point, before
you even register.
You don't even have to registerto visit the site and go look
around and you can search forBlue Bayou, some of the
restaurants we've been talkingabout, and you can go and we'll
show you a nice calendar thatwill show you current
(22:12):
availability.
And you just have a little dropdown and you can say I'm
looking for a party of two orthree or four or five, and we'll
show you with a great amount ofaccuracy not 100% accuracy, but
we'll show you with a greatamount of accuracy anything
that's available right now andwe'll give you a link and say
here, just go to Disney and bookit.
You don't pay us anything, youdon't owe us anything.
Just this is a better way tolook at Disney's availability
(22:35):
data.
And here have it.
Beyond that, if what you'relooking for doesn't exist,
that's when the next step is.
Okay, we can help you get thatreservation that you want.
That's not currently available,but in order for us to help you
, you'll need to register for anaccount, because we've got to
save some things and betterunderstand what you're looking
for and then you can create analert and that alert it collects
(22:55):
what date you're looking for,what meal time you want, your
party size and if you have anyvery specific time you want to
go.
And then we'll save that alertand we'll monitor Disney's
website for you and notify youvia email for that free account
if something comes available andthat service is 100% free.
You just have to register anaccount so we can save some
(23:17):
things for you and know how tonotify you when we find
something.
The final step in that is okay,you're using that, maybe not
having success, or you need morethan the six alerts.
That's when we can say hey, ifyou want that and a few other
things, you can pay us $9 amonth and that'll activate text
messaging.
So I love your example, like ifyou're not in front of a
(23:38):
computer all day long, like textmessaging, it's just really
convenient, but it is verycostly for us.
Second thing is you can createup to 50 alerts so that way you
don't have to finagle andconstantly be like deleting
alerts and adding alerts.
You can just set them all uponce and just let it do its
thing.
You get 50 alerts.
The texting supportsinternational numbers, so they
(23:58):
can get their alertsinternationally as well and help
you in that search.
And you can add more numbers aswell when you pay and more
email addresses.
So if you have a party of fiveor six, I would always recommend
having everybody get thenotification, because one of you
is going to be faster than theothers, and that increases your
chances of getting thatreservation.
That's really the service in anutshell.
(24:19):
That was a little longer than Iwanted, but I think we have
everything feeling pretty goodat this point.
And the last point I will makeis that we have a mobile app
that will be releasing, probablyin the next 30 to 60 days, that
will enable push notificationsas well.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
That's really awesome If you're older, like me, and
you like remember listening tothe radio and you had to dial in
.
You got to be listening forthat little word and then you
got to dial in.
Right then, and that's why it'salso important.
Looking at yourself, peoplewill be like there's no hope,
there's no reservations.
There are people that book 12reservations for their two day
(24:53):
trip and then they cancel theones they don't want.
Now I don't particularly lovethat strategy because it ties up
other people from being able toget reservations, but people
cancel all the time.
We're going to do anotherepisode on walk up reservation
getting into the walk up line aswell so that is also an option
that maybe you might want toconsider.
I messaged you saying, hey,could you build this for me?
(25:14):
And then somebody else did apost and I'm using mouse dining
for this and I was like that'sexactly what I wanted.
So if you go to mouse dinning'swebsite and you go into the
individual restaurants, it willshow you which reservations have
had availability in the past.
We're recording this.
In August, there was a bighubbub because Goofy's kitchen
(25:35):
was not making new reservationseven though it was well within
the 60 days, and then we foundout recently that it's because
they're doing some sort of funkyHalloween thing, so people were
losing their minds, thinkingthat they had missed their
opportunity to get Goofy'skitchen so you can use mouse
dining.
I'm going to include a video ofthat in the show notes as well.
You guys do Thavi's workshopand Joy Depot and stuff too,
(25:56):
right?
Speaker 3 (25:57):
Yes, we do.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
Can you tell us for Disneyland, what time right now
are the 60 days in advance ofthe day?
So if I'm going to be there onDecember 10th and December 11th,
then the December 10th willopen up for me exactly 60 days
and December 11th will open upexactly 60 days before December
(26:18):
11th, which is different fromDisney World, right?
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Yeah.
So I'm going to be Jeffrey Rushfrom Pirates of the Caribbean
to say those are more likeguidelines than rules.
But yes, that's the plan,that's what they aim for, but
certainly that does not happenall the time.
We have immense amounts of datathat can prove that they drop
when they drop.
Now my limited knowledge of thekind of internal workings of
Disney restaurants and diningreservations is that some of the
(26:43):
different restaurants just haveproprietors.
They're stuck using kind ofDisney system or they have their
own system that then injectsinto Disney system.
So it really does boil down toan employee or another system
making the data available andthen publishing it.
But then there's all theseevents that get in the way and
special events and the partshours change, and sometimes
(27:03):
there's private events in theevening, and so it really does
throw a wrench in things, andthat's probably what you were
experiencing, honestly, withGoofy's Kitchen.
We had some communication withcustomers that were asking about
that very particular thing.
The data suggests that thosejust drop when they drop.
You should be looking that dayor maybe even like a few hours
before they're supposed to drop,but if they don't drop, that's
(27:25):
when a service like mouse diningcan be incredibly handy because
you'll be notified the momentthey do drop.
So, for example, if your trip'snot for six months, you can set
the alerts now and just walkaway and forget it.
And then once you get thatfirst email, you're like oh look
, reservations dropped, now Ican actually try and go book
something.
So there's a lot of differentways to use mouse dining.
(27:46):
And the other way I mentionedit already but just to address
your question, like Some peoplejust use mouse dining because
it's just a better view ofcurrent availability.
When our families at the parkswe just pull up mouse dining and
are like what's available?
Is there anything available atthese restaurants over the next
three days of our trip?
And sometimes the stuff wemaybe really want to get into is
(28:09):
booked.
But we'll just keep going downour list of stuff we like and
stuff we like to try and surelythere's going to be something
available.
But we just use it because it'sa better view.
Even on, disney has a brand newwebsite that went live
yesterday.
You can still only search forone day at a time, so you have
to go in for each day of yourtrip.
If you're going to spend threeor four days at the park.
(28:29):
You got to check for Monday,tuesday, wednesday and Thursday
all individually.
Where on our service.
You can just look at thecalendar and be like, oh,
there's something availableTuesday.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Disney's website is not always the easiest.
And one thing I also want tonote is if you're trying to get
into downtown Disney restaurantslike Tortilla Joe's, Napoli,
those kinds of things, alsocheck OpenTable, Because
OpenTable has much moreavailability for those
restaurants and they don't talkto each other.
If you misjudged your arrivaltime or your departure time,
(29:00):
you're trying to get somethingnot in the Disneyland hotels but
in that downtown Disney space,then definitely look at
OpenTable.
And then there's a place calledAnaheim Packing House which has
just this amazing assortment ofall these really cool
restaurants.
It's about a 15 minute Uber,but if you like foods from
different ethnicities, you liketo be a little adventurous, that
(29:21):
can be a fun place to go aswell.
Speaker 3 (29:23):
Yeah, great tip on the OpenTable.
The way I understand it is thatOpenTable has a designated
number of reservations thatthey're allowed to fill and that
Disney has their reservations.
So you're right.
You can go to Disney's site andsee that Ralph Grinn and the
Jazz Kitchen is booked up.
You can go to OpenTable and belike, oh, there's six tables
available, so great, 100% agree.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
I really appreciate you making the time.
I know you're really busyhelping people get awesome
tables at lots of differentawesome restaurants and thank
you for co-founding such anawesome tool.
That, I think, is a real helpto the community and especially
people who they're just planningtheir vacation, and so the idea
of checking back every 20minutes for reservations on top
of everything else they have todo for their Disney vacation can
be a little overwhelming.
(30:05):
We have a link in the shownotes to Mousetining and you can
also go to parkmagiccom.
Forward slash mouse dining andyou can also go to mouse
diningcom.
So, dustin, thank you so muchfor coming on the show and
sharing that.
Dito, like which ones are themost booked was really
interesting.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
No problem, and it changes all the time, so we
should do it again.
This has been great.
Thanks, robin.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
This has been another episode of the Park Magic
Podcast, where we help you planyour magical Disney vacation,
and we hope that you'll tune infor our next episode.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Park
Magic Podcast.
For more tips and planningtools designed to help simplify
your Disneyland adventure, visitparkmagiccom.
If you enjoyed today's episodeand want to hear more tips, be
sure to subscribe to the ParkMagic Podcast and don't forget
to leave us a review.
Your feedback helps us spreadthe magic even further.
Leaving a review could alsohelp you.
(30:58):
Each month, we will beselecting one reviewer to win.
A one hour planning sessionwith Robin.
Winners will be announced atthe end of the first episode of
every month.
Thanks for tuning in andremember that we are here to
help you have a less stressfuland more magical trip to
Disneyland.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.