What you think you know about mobile ordering at Disney

 As you may know, Mobile ordering in the Disney Parks has become the thing to do now. I have to admit, I was a little nervous about this system.  Planning out ahead of time where, what, and when we wanted to eat seemed a little over whelming (on top of everything else we have to plan out at Disney) Planning a sit down dinning reservation for a certain place and time is one thing, but knowing when and where we wanted a quick service meal or snack was another. Afterall, we wouldn't know where we would be at in the parks at a certain time or what we would even be hungry for.


Before our trip in June, I watched several Disney planning videos that said it was very important that we put in our mobile order for food as soon as we got to the park if we wanted it by lunch time. This made me nervous. The video made it sound like I would have a hard time getting lunch anywhere if I didn't have a mobile order put in before 9:00 am! 

 Our first mobile order experience took place at Magic Kingdom. My sister and I agreed on Pecos Bill for lunch. After riding Thunder Mountain, we pulled up the app ( around 10:15 am) and selected a meal and a pick up time. We had several pick up times to choose from, so we chose the time slot between 11:00 am - 12:00 pm.  This gave us enough time to ride the Liberty Square River Boat! 



Shortly after the boat ride we headed to Pecos Bills. Once you are at your dining location, you tap the app to let them know you are there and ready for your food. You will then get a message that says they are preparing it and then you will be told what line to wait in ( line 1,2,3,4,5, or 6). My sister and I each made separate orders on our own apps. And to be honest, when we were making our order back at Big Thunder Mountain around 10:15 am, I had actually submitted mine first because she was still debating on what entree she wanted. I guess this makes no difference though. When we got to Pecos Bill, she was assigned a line right away and I was still waiting. I waited, and waited some more before I contacted a cast member. My sister had already picked up her meal, found a seat, and  started to eat before I even got assigned to a line.  This was sort of frustrating. I had the order right there on my phone, and it had been processing for like 15 minutes?  The cast member said she would expedite my order back to the kitchen and it should be out soon. This also took a little while. By the time I had got my meal, my sister was done eating hers.  This little snafu was sort of frustrating but I just shrugged it off and hoped it worked better next time. 



The next time it definitely worked like it was suppose to.  This time I mobile ordered a Coconut Dole Whip from Aloha Isle in Adventureland. Right away it told me to go to line 2 for my order.  There was already two people in the socially distanced line in line 2.  There was a guy who's order was ready  and then a lady behind him that was waiting.  The lady said her order was being processed ( and I could see the screen on her phone), but she was not assigned a line yet, so I'm not sure why she was already in line #2.  My app said that my order was ready and to get in line #2. I politely tried to tell her that she would be getting a message to tell her what line to get in, but she quickly told me "I know where I'm suppose to be".  And with that, I actually stepped in front of her because my order was ready for pick up.  I wasn't trying to be rude, but people should not be getting in a line until they actually get the message on their app that their order is ready and the app tells them what line to go to!   This experience is what made me think that some people may not really know how this mobile order thing is suppose to work.

My next mobile order was at Flame Tree Barbecue in Animal Kingdom.   We didn't put in our mobile order until we were on the train coming back from Rafiki's Planet Watch at 11:45 am.   My sister's order was ready immediately when we got there. Again, we ordered the same exact meal at the same time and yet I had not gotten notification that mine was ready. I waited only a few minutes extra this time before telling the cast member and she got me my order right away.  We were seated with our meals by 12:08 pm  ( I got these exact times from my photos).  


Here are my take- aways from mobile ordering:

We were able to get food at each place we wanted ( I was told some places the time slots fill up quickly)

We were able to pick a time slot that suited us ( meaning we didn't have to wait till 3pm to get lunch). 

We mobile ordered at the last minute, and things still worked out.

From our experience, the mobile order was nothing to stress out about. Now, perhaps if the parks are busier or you are mobile ordering for a large group, the experience could be quite different.

You do not need to mobile order if you are getting food or snacks from one of the food carts like in Adventureland. 

Please share your experience with mobile ordering. 

Mobil ordering may have worked differently in the past and may work differently in the future. This was just our experience with the app in June of 2021.



4 comments:

  1. Yikes!!!! My first concern would be cellular service. In Crowded places like that it’s not always easy to access my apps. Also, the battery power (on my phone, as well as other guests?) could be drained with all that app time. Glad it all worked out for you without too many glitches:-)

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  2. Interesting. I have to say it sounds a bit annoying and like there are is some stuff to work out. I would be worries a) as you mentioned knowing when you would be where and b) getting food at random times as a family. I would hope that if you ordered for everyone together on one app, then maybe they would prep and bring your food out all together. That all being said, I can appreciate that they are having to change and adjust the way they are doing things all the time. I am glad you still had a great day.

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  3. Man….our Mobile orders were always hit or miss, too! I waited at least 30 minutes one time for a dole whip from aloha aisle! My husband had his “backside of water float” from sunshine seasons within 10 minutes flat! He was also finished eating his by the time I got mine! So crazy!

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