Disneyland backstage magic questions

I saw we get 2 character breakfasts it looks like but I was wondering how the food was in general? Did you make reservations for your nights and lunches alone or just go spur of the moment with other people?Im wondering what the substitute will be since big thunder ranch is closed.I also heard for the adults only trip they take you to steakhouse 55 instead of a more family friendly place one night.

We've done BSM three times now but have never made actual reservations for meals during the Adventure. We have made some for post-nights though.

The reason for not making any during the actual BSM (exception, the last day) is that there may be some surprise events that would conflict with your plans. Also, its a lot of fun to make new friends on the trip and go someplace with the others. Your ABD guide will be able to make suggestions for you.

Notice I mentioned post-nights and the last day of BSM above. The last day of BSM is just breakfast (provided) and you are done. There are no more events or meals. So feel free to schedule anything for that day and (of course) all your post nights.

We did an Adult only BSM and we did eat at Steakhouse 55 but I don't know if that's because it was an Adult's only trip or because Big Thunder Ranch was closed while we were there. Honestly, you won't really have time to have 'reserved' meals during your adventure. You can't guarantee when you'll be let go for the day or your meal. For our "free lunch" on our Disneyland day, it was a case of "okay, be back here in 45 minutes". I think we were let go around 12:15 that day so no way to know ahead of time when we were going to be let go or that it would only be 45 minutes. As for dinner that night, we were together as a group until after the parade that afternoon so it was after 5:30 when we were sitting down to dinner and we didn't want to be wasting precious park time with a seated table service dinner. If you have post days, that's the time to do your table service meals. Although most table service meals at DL can be booked as a walk up, even if you have to wait, at least this is what we found when we went in December.

In 2009 we ate at Steakhouse 55. In 2014, on an adults only trip, we ate at Storytellers Cafe on an MHP night.

We did not have time during the trip for reservation dinners, we were adults only and also ate at steakhouse 55. We had more time to have lunch on the day we received vouchers, like 2 hrs, but we did not know when we would be released to have lunch, so there was no way to make reservations. Luckily, DL restaurants accepted walkups that day, and we had a sit down lunch anyway.