Disneyland is increasing guest capacity but hasn't fixed its dining reservations problem

In response to that demand, Disney Chief Financial Officer Christine McCarthy said in the same call, “We're ... going to bring our capacity online aggressively, but measured.” 

McCarthy said that third-quarter attendance at Walt Disney World was “generally at or near our daily capacity levels, which increased throughout the quarter” at Walt Disney World in Orlando. “Disneyland Resort also steadily increased attendance and capacity following its reopening at the end of April and particularly after the lifting of California state restrictions on June 15,” she added. Increasing capacity in the parks is a measure to meet that demand. 

While Disneyland is operating with more functionality than it did when the park reopened in April — more restaurants and rides are available now than were open in the beginning of the reopening — there are still many things that are unavailable to guests. 

Visitors have been raising consistent complaints on social media about the park experience. 

The lack of the tram back to the Mickey and Friends parking garage, which means a three-quarter mile walk each way between the structure and park gates, has been a regular source of difficulty for guests, especially those with mobility issues or young children. “Someone tell me when Disneyland is bringing back the tram to parking because [this] walk is NOT IT,” tweeted @elliejeancook on Aug. 13. “Having to walk back to the parking structure cause the trams ain’t running after a long day at Disneyland ain’t it mannnnnn,” @reyes_Jacob89 tweeted on the same day.

The biggest problem, though, doesn’t have to do with transportation — it has to do with dining. Limitations on which restaurants are available and capacity caps on those restaurants are severely restricting guests’ ability to eat inside the parks. 

@Disneyland why is it impossible to get a reservation at Blue Bayou? I’m at day 60, and tried every hour since 3am. It never showed up. I’m so disappointed. #Disneyland #BlueBayou

— Kass Flores (@iikass) August 14, 2021

The most in-demand restaurants, like Blue Bayou inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and Napa Rose in Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel, are all but impossible to book, even when the 60-day booking window opens. Many are reporting on social media that they are waking up at 3 a.m. on the 60th day out from their desired dining date, the time rumored to be when dining reservations open for the day. Even with that early wake up, many are still not able to secure a spot at the restaurant they want.

Difficulties have arisen because the restaurants are operating at limited guest capacity, due in part to the park’s capacity restrictions but also to the park’s limited staff. Currently, Disneyland employs about 19,000 people, down from its pre-pandemic 32,000, the OC Register reported. 

McCarthy said in the call that the company is working to improve staffing issues. “We're expecting to have our parks domestically be fully staffed up by the end of this calendar year,” she explained, adding that COVID safety training has added layers of complications to the hiring and on-boarding process.

She also noted the importance of “thoroughly train[ing] our employees as they come back in.” 

“We're doing this in a measured fashion for the health and safety of not only our guests, but also our cast members in the parks,” McCarthy said.

"Theme park reservation systems continue to be leveraged to manage guest visitation and provide a better guest experience," Disney officials told SFGATE. "Additionally, we have been able to bring back more offerings at our domestic parks, such as fireworks and some entertainment and food and beverage locations."

Staffing issues aside, the quantity of dining options at the Disneyland Resort in total has fallen this year. Steakhouse 55 and the Steakhouse 55 Lounge in the Disneyland Hotel are permanently closed, as is Disney’s PCH Grill in the Paradise Pier Hotel and the Alfresco Tasting Terrace inside Disney California Adventure Park. 

Not me setting an alarm for 3am to get a reservation at the blue bayou for our Disneyland trip lmao

— // Tay // (@Taycation) August 5, 2021

The sit-down, reservation-based Carnation Cafe inside Disneyland Park is reopening next month, but plans for the reopening of other walk-up quick service restaurants like Royal Street Veranda, Troubadour Tavern, Daisy’s Diner and Boardwalk Pizza & Pasta have not been announced. 

Even at quick service restaurants that are currently operating, visitors aren’t guaranteed they’ll be able to get food. 

Since it reopened, Disneyland has aggressively pushed mobile ordering of meals through the Disneyland smartphone app, going so far as to totally halt walk-up orders at many quick service restaurants and snack vendors. In this process, you choose an available arrival time, then preorder your food and return when it’s time to pick it up. However, as the day progresses, spots for mobile orders fill up, especially for the more in-demand foods like Dole Whip. You could easily be locked out of ordering from the restaurant you want with hours left in your park day.

Despite the difficulty of spending money on food, customers are still spending money at Disney parks in unprecedented amounts. “Guest spending at our domestic parks has been exceptionally strong, with third-quarter per caps [per capita spending] up significantly versus fiscal 2019 at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland,” McCarthy said. 

“Last quarter, I said that they were up strong double digits and this quarter was even stronger. If you look at — when a park is closed for a long period of time, as Disneyland was, as Paris was, when they reopen, the per caps really shoot up,” she added. “Even though Walt Disney World has been open now for over a year, we're still seeing extremely strong per cap growth continue at that park. ... We're just seeing the consumer behavior be very favorable.” 

That guests are spending more money in the parks despite decreased amenities compared with before the pandemic is not lost on the company. “Our goal is always to provide guests and consumers with unparalleled entertainment, whether they're visiting one of our parks or watching one of our films in a theater or on our streaming platforms,” Chapek said in the earnings call. “And as we continue our recovery, we believe we are taking the right steps to further this goal while growing our businesses and increasing shareholder value.” 

He added that he expects to see even more of an increase to those profits as the parks scale up capacity. “As we scale our business and we get up closer and closer to 100% capacity, our efficiencies in operating become much, much higher,” Chapek said. “So I think you'll see disproportionate benefit as we go from here on.”