Carthay Circle Lounge inside California Adventure reopened on November 19th, 2020 after months of being closed. They then had to shut down again a few weeks later in December due to a rise in COVID cases in Orange County, CA. Southern California residents have been anxiously awaiting for the restaurant to open up ever since, and they finally reopened once again on February 5th!
I had already been eagerly waiting for the word from Disneyland that they were opening up reservations. On February 3rd, I was 45 minutes late in hearing that reservations finally opened up and I went into full panic mode that I was too late. As we all know, once Disney opens up reservations spots go FAST! I was magically able to make a Monday evening dinner reservation for the following week (on California Adventure’s 20th anniversary!). Within minutes after making that reservation all spots for the month of February were gone!
My reservation time was at 7:10pm. My friend and I got in line around 5:30pm to enter Downtown Disney and it was about an hour and a half wait to get in. What we didn’t know was that you have to tell a Cast Member that you have a dinner reservation and they will let you bypass the line so you can make your reservation in time. We figured that out about 20 minutes before our dinner reservation and when we finally got through we booked it over to California Adventure park.
I had been inside California Adventure for an entire year at that point, and I am not ashamed to say that I definitely got super choked up and a few tears may have dropped. Walking down Buena Vista Street for the first time since the shut downs was overwhelming and absolutely fantastic! It felt good to be home!
Upon arriving at Carthay Circle Restaurant they checked us in and we waited about 5 minutes before being taken to our seats. They walk you through the inside of the restaurant to their patio that welcomes you with soft white twinkling lights. After ordering drinks, we settled into our seats and took in the sights and sounds of Buena Vista Street; we were extremely happy to finally be sitting there after a long year of waiting!
We started off with the Carthay Shrimp Spring Roll appetizer, which I highly recommend! These Spring Rolls are filled with Thai basil, mint, and spicy aïoli.
We then ordered the Vietnamese Twice-cooked Beef Tacos with fresh Pineapple-Mint Salsa and Sesame Soy-glazed Salmon, which includes soba noodles, cucumber, edamame, and ginger vinaigrette. While the menu is a bit on the pricey side, everything we ordered was absolutely delicious!
 
Be sure to double check your bill as they may have added gratuity on there already. We did not catch that and ended up tipping twice on accident not realizing (which is ok because the Cast Members deserve it, am I right?)!
Currently, Buena Vista Street and Downtown Disney closes at 8pm Sunday through Thursday, so by the time we paid and were ready to go sadly everyone was already closing up shop.
Here’s some helpful tips for all of you Insiders that get a reservation to Carthay Circle or anywhere else in Downtown Disney:
- The line for parking can get backed up, so if you can’t get in right away you can always park at the Anaheim GardenWalk right down the street. The walk over to the park entrance is about 10-15 minutes long.
- Arrive about an hour early if you have a reservation so you can get through the health and security check without feeling rushed.
- If you do have a reservation let a Cast Member know so you can bypass the long line of people waiting to get in.
- Arrive even earlier than that if you want to shop and your dinner reservation is close to closing time.
- For sit-down service make a reservation ahead of time!
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