Rookie Questions - Dining, Car Service

[brandyleeann]

Hi everyone!

I have been to WDW many times and am feeling completely lost as I plan things out for a trip we have planned for DL Feb 5 to 11.
A few questions I am hoping you can help with:

1) Dining reservations - I understand these are at 60 days out. I assume you have to have your DL passes loaded into whatever the equivalent is of MDE and then you can make reservations at 60 days, but is that like at WDW where it is 60 days + so that you can book for all your park days following your entry day, which is when 60 days is calculated? Or is it day by day? What time do reservations open? I

2) Dining parties - We are travelling with another family so there will be 8 of us altogether. Can I book for a party of 8 when I make our reservations or will that be an issue since I will only have 4 passes?

3) Can't miss dining - Anything wonderful that you would recommend? I really love dining packages like at WDW where you can do a meal and then get good seating for parades/fireworks. There doesn't seem to be a lot like that but maybe I am missing something.

4) Car service - We are not renting a vehicle, even though I know it would be less expensive and offer some convenience. We need a car service to/from the airport to our hotel (Desert Palms) and then to/from Staples Centre as we are going to a Lakers game while we are there (!), and then to/from Huntington Beach as we plan to do a resort for a day. Any recommendations?

Thanks a bunch and sorry if I have a million more silly questions as I work through this.

 

[pharmama]

1. Dining reservations at DLR are actually not tied in any way to park tickets so you don’t need to worry about loading the tickets in the Disneyland app ahead of time. You can only book one day at a time and generally speaking reservations open at 6am ET/3am Pacific BUT they don’t always drop on schedule for all locations. Review the many recent threads on here about dining reservation challenges

2. You can book for all 8, but reservations may be even harder to come by for a large party.

3. DLR does not have dining packages for fireworks. There were dining packages in the past for Fantasmic! and World of Color. Both were definitely worthwhile, IMO. However, the return of those shows (and any associated dining packages) has not been announced other than “2022”. Sometimes there is a daytime parade viewing dining package but it’s generally not considered “worth it” as the viewing area isn’t that great. Again tho, currently no daytime parade announced They have also announced MSEP is coming back (again) in “2022”. There were dining packages for that last time that were decent but not required, IMO. Keep an eye out if things are announced though.

4. no input here, sorry.

 

[sophy1996]

4. We just used Lansky car service, which often is recommended on these boards, and were pleased with the service.