A Story Worth Telling.

a song to set the scene // go the distance by roger bart

A piece of advice: when booking dining reservations at Disneyland, good luck.

Okay so that’s not really advice.

I guess what I’m really trying to tell you is again: good luck.

And: be prepared.

Prepared for what?

Oh I don’t know, to wake up at 2am refreshing your Disney app begging for a table to have opened up.

To obsessively check the website morning, noon, and night. Oh, and all that time in between.

Oh, and if you are lucky enough to get notified of a table opening up, act fast.

And be prepared that even if you do act fast, you may have already been too late and the table is gone.

Sounds like I might’ve gone through this experience or something, doesn’t it?

That’s because I have.

Very recently too.

Sounds like a story worth telling, yes?

We’ll start at the beginning then, and in very Disney fashion.

Once u-pun a time…

There lived a Bride and a Maid of Honor.

(hi! I’m the Maid of Honor)

The Bride happened to be the Maid of Honor’s sister and in celebration of her upcoming nuptials, the Maid of Honor decided to surprise her sister with a trip to Disneyland, only the happiest place on earth.

What the Maid of Honor neglected to realize was that planning the trip to Disney would take some work.

Tickets, park reservations, hotel booking, and dinner reservations were proving to be rather difficult dragons to slay.

So she took each obstacle one by one.

Tickets: check.

Park reservations: check.

Hotel booking: check.

Genie +: check.

Dining reservations? No check.

During her research, the Maid of Honor came to discover that snagging a coveted table at their favorite restaurant, Blue Bayou, was apparently near impossible.

But, the Maid of Honor was up for a challenge. After all, she would do anything for her sister, especially for this particular occasion.

And so, as the weeks narrowed down for their trip, the Maid of Honor persevered.

She was indeed up at 2am every night, refreshing the reservations.

She acted fast when she did get notified of a table opening up, only to be not quite quick enough.

She researched, and read countless articles about the subject.

She called Disney and she had her brother call, only to be told the same thing: nothing we can do about it.

She had a few minor meltdowns, the trip causing anxiety inducing worry. She was frustrated at how difficult it was to reserve a table, and she wanted so badly to treat her sister at this favorite restaurant of theirs.

But the Maid of Honor held on to hope.

She struggled, absolutely, but she still had hope. She felt that every missed opportunity was only bringing her closer to what she truly believed would magically appear: a dinner reservation at Blue Bayou.

And that’s the thing about Disney she loved so much: always believe that something magical is about to happen.

And then one evening, as the Maid of Honor was watching a movie with the Bride, she got a notification.

Blue Bayou Resturant

(Dinner - Party of 2):

Mar 7 - 8:30pm

Click to confirm

Like Dash from the Incredibles, The Maid of Honor bolted upright and frantically clicked the link.

Within seconds, the table was already gone.

She was too late.

Again.

No!

Crushed, she went to her Disneyland app and scrolled all the way to 8:30 just in case the website was wrong.

And there, right in front of her: a table for 2 at Blue Bayou.

Adrenaline pumping, the Maid of Honor devoted every ounce of energy into securing this rare reservation, typing away as fast as her fingers could take her.

The Bride looked on, confused.

“It’ll make sense soon!” The Maid of Honor gleefully replied. “I need your credit card! Credit card, I need it now!”

The Bride, amused at what was happening, obliged, and within a minute, the Maid of Honor had her dream come true.

Fast forward five nights.

The Maid of Honor and the Bride checked into their 8:30 reservation. Having had a marvelous day packed full of riding, screaming, shopping, and memory making, the two were happily exhausted and very much looking forward to this meal at Blue Bayou.

Following the hostess, they were led to the perfect table by the water. Sitting down, they looked on as fellow Disney goers were enjoying the boat ride on Pirates of the Caribbean.

How had they been so lucky.

The perfect table!

The meal, of course, was fantastic, as they knew it would be. And the satisfaction of finally being able to enjoy what the Maid of Honor had worked so hard to secure was tremendous.

And in very Disney fashion, the Maid of Honor and the Bride ate happily ever after..