Do you HAVE to use mobile order?

[Simba's Mom]

Sadly, no. We used to prefer cash, so that we don't go home from WDW with a big credit card bill. Now we go to the store and get Disney Gift Cards before we leave. Mobile Order does take those.

 

[imbelle]

We mobile ordered at ABC Commissary the other day. Without mobile order the cast member said it was a 45 minute wait for food. We waited six minutes.

Last month I was at HS with friends who gush about how great Mobile Order is. They placed their Mobile Order while I went to the cash line. I got my food, ate it, went to the bathroom, did a quick run through a shop and when I came back, they were still watching that burger flip on their phones.

 

[Aimeedyan]

My mom visits the parks often and does not have a smart phone. No one has turned her away yet.

 

[VandVsmama]

There are people in the world who don't have phones. Wonder how they handle that?

We ran into 'resistance' at the Pop Century food court one day last June. The kids & I had left our phones back in the room and, honestly, I just wasn't in the mood to hoof it all the way back to the room, place an order online for 2 ice cream sandwiches, when I knew that I could get them right there in about 5-10 min.

I insisted with the 'gatekeeper' that we did not have mobile devices with us and we really did need to order there in person. I got a fair amount of push back from the gatekeeper CM who was at the entrance to the Pop food court. The CM backed off when I finally said, "So is there really no way to eat here if you don't have a mobile phone? There's a CM right there at the cash register."

You can do it. You just have to be firm, but kind, about it.

And especially if one has a food allergy, you have to tell the gatekeeper that the mobile app won't let you order allergy items online.

 

[Rory607]

How far in advance do you need to place your mobile order? I can see the convenience of having the mobile order option, but I find it irritating that they’re trying to push it as the only way. Trying to get everyone to decide what they want to eat for lunch hours in advance seems annoying. Kids change their minds from minute to minute. It’s one more thing for me, as the planner of the family, to have to bug people about during the day. I’d rather just be able to walk up and order most of the time.

 

[Simba's Mom]

]

We ran into 'resistance' at the Pop Century food court one day last June. The kids & I had left our phones back in the room and, honestly, I just wasn't in the mood to hoof it all the way back to the room, place an order online for 2 ice cream sandwiches, when I knew that I could get them right there in about 5-10 min.

I insisted with the 'gatekeeper' that we did not have mobile devices with us and we really did need to order there in person. I got a fair amount of push back from the gatekeeper CM who was at the entrance to the Pop food court. The CM backed off when I finally said, "So is there really no way to eat here if you don't have a mobile phone? There's a CM right there at the cash register."

You can do it. You just have to be firm, but kind, about it.

And especially if one has a food allergy, you have to tell the gatekeeper that the mobile app won't let you order allergy items online.

Wow! That's so unfortunate that they treated you that way. I ate at Pop in January. I took the Skyliner from Epcot and went around on my ECV just because I'd never seen the resort before. Rode into the Pop food court and no one said anything. I just got the chili in a bread bowl and refilled my refillable mug. Fortunately I never encountered any "gatekeeper" to cause problems.

 

[TheDailyMoo]

And especially if one has a food allergy, you have to tell the gatekeeper that the mobile app won't let you order allergy items online.

So I was going to ask about this. If a child has many food allergies where we would have to talk to the cook or chef or someone will they let you in for sure?

 

[JJsmama]

We are going to struggle with this. As overseas visitors we have no choice but to rely on the parks wifi which is really not good. We also travel with cash as we don't want to be hit with a foreign currency conversion fee everytime we use our card. It also helps us lock in an exchange rate. I'm assuming cash is not possible with mobile ordering.

Yes. It may be a pain for you. I would try and find a solution to let you use mobile if needed. Are you staying at a WDW resort? Couldn’t you put cash down on the room account and charge to the room against that cash? or, yes, buy a Disney card with cash and apply that. Not that I agree with not being able to walk up and use cash. Just trying to help.

 

[disny_luvr]

Does anyone know if CS restaurants that really enforce mobile ordering allow you to use food vouchers? My sons are going to Disney with their marching band next month and I’m just trying to figure out how they’ll redeem their vouchers if many places are enforcing mobile ordering.

 

[teachmedis]

We loved mobile ordering on our last trip and found it very convenient. We placed lunch orders before we left in the morning and then dinner orders during our afternoon break. I do think it helps with the whole crowded table issue as well. Most places last June were pretty strictly mobile order only.

 

[mistysue]

So I was going to ask about this. If a child has many food allergies where we would have to talk to the cook or chef or someone will they let you in for sure?

We are slightly outdated, but as of February and May of 2021, it was an argument. Especially if there is a crowd there - in May they were having serious issues with order back ups- people were waiting 2 hours past their window to pick up food! In that scenario "We can't mobile order because of multiple allergies" meant being told they have too many customers, then after a few minutes they would let us in. After that, we would spend anywhere from 5-45 minutes waiting to place an order. Table service was for real faster than QS last year. We had a couple good incidents, but the general rule was we spent at least half of our days just working on food.

 

[tguz]

On our Dec 2021 trip, we saw a lot of qs had just one line open to order, probably to encourage mobile ordering. Mobile ordering worked great for us.

 

[ppony]

No, but in our experience between March 2-14, the stand-by lines for everything was MUCH longer. Our waits after we clicked “I’m here” averages 10-20 minutes with 2-ish mobile orders a day for almost 2 weeks during early spring break time. We mobile ordered at almost every place that allowed it.

 

[acarsme123]

How far in advance do you need to place your mobile order? I can see the convenience of having the mobile order option, but I find it irritating that they’re trying to push it as the only way. Trying to get everyone to decide what they want to eat for lunch hours in advance seems annoying. Kids change their minds from minute to minute. It’s one more thing for me, as the planner of the family, to have to bug people about during the day. I’d rather just be able to walk up and order most of the time.

So we’re here now. I’ve used mobile order a few times now. It’s been frustrating for some places. Casey’s I chose a 12:30-1:00pm window. I got there just before 12:30 and clicked the “I’m here” option. I still waited 30 minutes before the app said I could proceed to the pickup window. The people just doing standby seemed to be moving faster. I had this same issue at Sunshine Tree Terrace. Basically, order your food and click the “I’m here” button even if you’re still like 10 mins out. The only place that was super quick was Regal Eagle…but I was just ordering a mac and cheese for my son. Pineapple Lanai went fairly fast today but just mass chaos from how many people were standing around waiting for their mobile order to change to “ready”

 

[TheDailyMoo]

We are slightly outdated, but as of February and May of 2021, it was an argument. Especially if there is a crowd there - in May they were having serious issues with order back ups- people were waiting 2 hours past their window to pick up food! In that scenario "We can't mobile order because of multiple allergies" meant being told they have too many customers, then after a few minutes they would let us in. After that, we would spend anywhere from 5-45 minutes waiting to place an order. Table service was for real faster than QS last year. We had a couple good incidents, but the general rule was we spent at least half of our days just working on food.

So as far as food allergies go you felt safer at TS rather than QS is what you're saying? Are the chefs still available/willing to come out and speak to the table?

 

[mistysue]

So as far as food allergies go you felt safer at TS rather than QS is what you're saying? Are the chefs still available/willing to come out and speak to the table?

Absolutely, yes, table service is better for us. Part of this can depend on which allergens you're concerned with, But essentially quick service locations you really are talking about fast food places. They have a lot of items that are sort of prepped in advance and a much smaller selection of ingredients available. But if you are speaking about something that is either very uncommon or one or two common allergens, quick service might not be difficult.

They definitely resist having the chefs come out now more than they used to, But again we have a lot of allergies and my son has a history of anaphylaxis to cross contact. We are one of those groups that if you hand us the allergen menu, We not only have allergies that aren't listed, But the substitutions that make the food safe for allergen #1 introduce allergen #2, etc. So no matter what item we order off the allergen menu we are frequently allergic to the modifications. We had a few incidents last year where we had to go item by item down the menu with the waitress before they believed that we truly needed to speak to the chef but once they came out everyone understood.

 

[Beachmom0317]

I will also echo that MO doesn't always list everything! We love MO for busy times of the day but during quieter times of the day I prefer to order in person. I like to get yogurt parfaits from the premade item fridge for breakfast and that wasn't available on MO when I was at SSR last month.

 

[pens4821]

I’m not sure but I think you can order in person most places. We waited forever at cosmic rays and abc. Then the final straw was the lunching pad. We MO and still waited 25 minutes after clicking im here. Then while we were waiting we just kept watching people go up, order, and get their food right away.

So when we went to CHH we just told them we wanted to order there. The person with the tablet let us in. There was a pretty decent sized line, but it moved quickly and we had our food

 

[TheDailyMoo]

Absolutely, yes, table service is better for us. Part of this can depend on which allergens you're concerned with, But essentially quick service locations you really are talking about fast food places. They have a lot of items that are sort of prepped in advance and a much smaller selection of ingredients available. But if you are speaking about something that is either very uncommon or one or two common allergens, quick service might not be difficult.

They definitely resist having the chefs come out now more than they used to, But again we have a lot of allergies and my son has a history of anaphylaxis to cross contact. We are one of those groups that if you hand us the allergen menu, We not only have allergies that aren't listed, But the substitutions that make the food safe for allergen #1 introduce allergen #2, etc. So no matter what item we order off the allergen menu we are frequently allergic to the modifications. We had a few incidents last year where we had to go item by item down the menu with the waitress before they believed that we truly needed to speak to the chef but once they came out everyone understood.

We have some of the more common ones but also mustard which is never listed and is hidden under spices often so we would definitely need to make sure a chef understood even if we don't speak to them directly.

 

[mistysue]

We have some of the more common ones but also mustard which is never listed and is hidden under spices often so we would definitely need to make sure a chef understood even if we don't speak to them directly.

Just don't let it get to you too much if it feels like there's a hurdle to get the chef to come out. You know you need them, so you aren't doing anything wrong. Plus there's a certain satisfaction in seeing a chef glance over the waitress with an expression of "why did you even question getting me?" Because they will understand and be wonderful about it.