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Jump to: Restaurant Reviews Restaurant Reviews Brian Bennett has assembled a large selection of reviews of restaurants, both for Disneyland and Walt Disney World. Click here to see the Walt Disney World Restaurants Resource. Birthdays Celebrating a birthday at Disneyland is something the vast majority of us have done at one point of another. If your child is visiting Disneyland on her/his birthday, you can obtain a sticker for them by dropping by City Hall (if they're out of Birthday Stickers, you might get an "Honorary Citizen of Disneyland" sticker instead). Restaurants will not discount prices for you, unfortunately. Here are the three most frequently asked questions, and their answers: Will the employees sing "Happy Birthday" to my child? Almost always. Your best experiences will occur at the following locations: Hotel restaurants, the Blue Bayou, and Redd Rockett's Pizza Port. They all have good reputations in singing the birthday song - many of them in fact have cute variations of it - and they often involve nearby guests in congratulating your child's birthday. Actually, they'll sing for anyone with a birthday, not just a child. Can you buy your own cake? Yes, but you probably don't want to. None of the restaurants will offer you a discount: a 12-piece cake bought in its entirety will cost you roughly twelve times the price of a single slice of cake already on the dessert menu. Additionally, you may have to wait a couple of minutes while they fetch the uncut cake. It is possible to order a cake in advance, and I you can request special greetings messages on top of the cake, but that will cost extra. To inquire further about cakes or to order one, call the Disneyland Restaurant Information at (714) 781-DINE. Recently Plaza Inn has been one of the restaurants that offer cakes via reservation, at a cost of over $30. Restaurants that don't normally offer cake on the menu might sell you a complete cheesecake instead. What about a birthday party? Adreinne Krock has just found out there will be a birthday party package offered at Tomorrowland's Pizza Port, follow this link to her Parenting in the Parks column to read about what they are offering. For further information. Al Lutz has also provided pricing information on birthday cakes both in and out of the park - follow this link to get Al's birthday info. Food Allergies / Dietary Restrictions Be sure to see the "Diet and Kosher" category if this is your special need. For all other dietary restrictions, you'll need to exercise the same caution you would when eating at any public restaurant: ask the chef or manager whether [insert your problematic food/ingredient here] is used when preparing the meal. I can tell you that MSG and other preservatives are never used. If you are in doubt, you may want to come to Disneyland armed with a list of ingredients which are problematic for you, and ask the manager at each location if specific meals are alright. Usually the managers are very good about verifying this sort of thing with the chefs. Holiday Meals Every year around Christmas and on Thanksgiving, select Disneyland restaurants offer a special holiday meal. The Blue Bayou, Cafe Orleans, French Market, and Plaza Inn have, in the past, offered a hot turkey dinner at these times of the year: hot turkey breast wrapped around stuffing and served with country gravy, mashed potatoes, mixed vegetables, and a biscuit. The price for this meal is usually around $12-16, and if memory serves correctly the meals are cheaper for lunchtime than at dinner. Here's the info from one recent Annual Passholder Newsletter: throughout the park you may find eggnog, hot cider or Mexican hot chocolate (chocolate con leche), beef or pork tamales, buneulos (crispy sweet pastry), berry-flavored churros, and holiday-colored freeze drinks. Village Haus and Daisy's Diner will have unique Christmas Tree shaped pizza. The Fire House on Main Street will offer cookie decorating, and the Blue Ribbon Bakery will have freshly baked gingerbread, shortbread cookies, bundt cakes, eggnog latte and mulled cider. The Gibson Girl will have special ice cream flavors, such as eggnog and peppermint, as well as togurt flavors of eggnog, holly berry, and peppermint. The California Beef Council "has joined with us to sponsor a hearty prime rib meal with all the delicious trimmings, as well as a tarragon beef & pasta salad dish that's sure to delight. Of course, you'll find other terrific beef specialties at Carnation Cafe, Bengal Barbecue, the Blue Bayou restaurant and Big Thunder Barbecue." Over at the Disneyland Hotel, you could get a "carve your own turkey" meal (minimum party size of four) or Beef Wellington at Granville's. The following is a post to a newsgroup about the relative locations and prices of these items. Note that some of these are available from Outdoor Vending Carts, not actual restaurant locations. Cookie Decoration - Fire House - 3.00 for cookie, extra for decorations Picnic Area / Personal Food You are not allowed to bring your own food into Disneyland, though in practice purses and backpacks are seldom searched (coolers might be a different matter). Instead, you are encouraged to use the lockers outside the Main Gate, over to the West Side, as a place to store your lunch until you want to eat it. Next to those lockers is the picnic area, where you'll find seventeen tables that anyone can use to eat food they stored in the lockers. It's a restful place, actually, and you can't beat the savings to your wallet! Soda / drink machines are available too. Disabilities Disneyland makes a concerted effort to assist people with disabilities and trains its employees to respect all guests equally. If you will be bringing a group of guests with special needs to Disneyland, you will certainly want to check with City Hall at Disneyland once you arrive, as they may have more advice to offer than this website. Here are a few things to keep in mind for guests with physical handicaps: Wheelchairs The vast majority of restaurant locations are wheelchair accessible. Fast-food locations usually have enough space between aisles, but there are some exceptions. For those locations where there is not obvious access, you should be able to enter through the exit or ask a nearby Cast Member how to gain admission. Buffeterias all have wide enough "tray slide" areas that wheelchairs can fit. All Disneyland restaurants are now ADA compliant, usually through the use of ramp-access if stairs are the primary entrance. In the case of table-service restaurants, you'll find instructions on how to proceed from the reservations / doorperson at the front (for example, at the Blue Bayou you will enter through a service door halfway up the EXIT of the Pirates attraction). For both buffeterias and fast-food locations, you will need to find a way to bring your food, once purchased, to your table. Frequently Disney Cast Members will assist you, particularly if asked to do so. Masticated Food For guests who have special eating needs and cannot chew their own food, your choices are more limited. Blenders exist in only a few of the restaurant locations at Disneyland: Carnation Plaza Gardens and the Blue Ribbon Bakery are two such locations that might be able to blend food for you, but their menus are small. Your best bet is to check with City Hall upon arrival at Disneyland and seek specific help; possibly they can arrange certain foods for you at designated restaurants, to be prepared at a pre-arranged time. Walking Disabilities Guests who experience difficulties while walking or who require the use of a cane or walker may need assistance at buffeterias, where you push a tray down a tray slide and then carry it to your own table, and at fast-food locations, where your food is offered to you on smaller cardboard boxtrays. Disney employees can assist you, and will gladly, but if you are part of a very large group it is best to arrange for helpers yourself or to check with the restaurant ahead of time so that they will be better prepared to assist you. Table service restaurants require no specific notification, as you should no encounter no difficulties there. Speech Disabilities As a rule, Disney Cast Members have no special training in recognizing distorted speech, and the vast majority do not speak American Sign Language. Isolated Cast Members may have learned ASL on their own initiative, but your best bet is to make contact with City Hall if you will require a translator. All restaurant locations require some manner of verbal communication - pointing at the menu (or food items) may work at some locations, but in most will be problematic (i.e., the Cast Member cannot see the menu as you can, or multiple Cast Members will ask you about different items as you pass by them). Language Barriers Foreign guests make up a fair percentage of the total population in Disneyland on any given day, and unfortunately a working knowledge of English is a basic necessity, particularly when it comes to the restaurants. As noted previously, pointing to the menu only works in table service restaurants, and you will often not be able to see the menu items when ordering. As a bare minimum, you should be able to pronounce the menu items (practice on my alphabetical list, if you want), and be able to handle the money transaction at the cashier. Disney Cast Members usually find a way to make it work, but it can be frustrating and time-consuming. Compliments & Complaints Disneyland is interested in your opinions and experiences; it helps them to gauge how well they are doing and to revise their procedures if needed. One thing the rank-and-file employees absolutely cannot alter is the pricing: even a flood of complaints given to restaurants will not reach the people who set the prices, nor would those people care. Pricing is set by market forces, not by verbal opinion. If you want, "vote" your opinion by not purchasing the more expensive items. For both compliments and complaints about menu selection or the service you've received, your first stop should be the manager on duty (if the manager is an hourly employee, her / his title is "lead"). Frequently this person will be able to pass on compliments and deal immediately with complaints, hopefully to your satisfaction. Tremendously positive compliments can be registered at City Hall, as can written complaints, but Disneyland prefers that both of these be handled at the restaurant itself. If the lead / manager is uncooperative, you can always ask to speak to a higher supervisor right there. Smoking Smoking is not permitted in any restaurant area, including waiting in line for service, the service area itself, the indoor seating area, or even on the outdoor patio. This is Disneyland's policy, and you will be unable to convince the Cast Members that they should let it slide for you. There are only a few designated smoking areas in Disneyland, none of which are at a (currently operating) restaurant. Baby Care Part of the eating experience is the "feeding the baby" routine for many guests. For legal reasons (babies cannot testify in court), restaurant Cast Members are not allowed to handle baby bottles, so forget about asking them to warm your bottle for you. They can provide you will a hot cup of water, and that might work to warm the milk. The Baby Care Center is the only location at the park that will do this for you. Some people breast-feed in the restaurant dining areas. If you are discreet, especially if you use a blanket to cover yourself, then likely no Cast Member or guest will disturb you (you may, however, get more attention than you would like, particularly if you don't use a blanket). If you change a diaper, please do not use the tables. People eat on those tables! Also, please have the decency to dispose of the dirty diaper yourself in one of the large trash bins - leaving it on the table is very bad form and unsanitary. For both feeding and changing needs, you are best served elsewhere. You'll find changing tables in all the restrooms and at the Baby Care Center on Main Street. The Baby Center also has plenty of facilities for feeding: here you can warm your bottle the proper way or breast-feed in privacy. |
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