Review: Paint the Night Parade Plaza Dining Package

Plaza Inn restaurant is offering dining packages for Paint the Night Parade with reserved seating and an all-in-one meal featuring Disneyland’s famous fried chicken. This review covers whether the premium parade viewing is worth the money, along with info about what it entails, how to book the MSEP dining package, and more. (Updated June 9, 2025.)

Let’s start with some quick background. Paint the Night has made its triumphant return to Disneyland, for the first time since the end of the Diamond Celebration almost a decade ago. In between, that night parade made a reprisal at Disney California Adventure. Meanwhile, the McRib of night parades, Main Street Electrical Parade, made a few returns to Disneyland.

Paint the Night returns for the Disneyland 70th Anniversary, and between that celebration and the fan-favorite night parade’s long absence up until now, this has already been a recipe for chaos & crowds. One solution to this is buying a Paint the Night Dining Package at Plaza Inn.

With this dining package, you can savor a scrumptious lunch at Plaza Inn with an all-in-one meal package that comes with reserved viewing. Here are additional details about the Paint the Night Parade Dining Package at Plaza Inn:

Dining Package Pricing, Dates & Times

• May 16 to August 21, 2025
• Blockout dates: This dining package will not be available June 14 to 16, 18; July 4; August 17, 2025.
• Dining Time: 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM
• Showtime: All Guests will receive a voucher for the day’s first performance of the Paint the Night parade.
• Lunch: $55 per adult
• $28 per child (ages 3 to 9)

Dining Package Menu (Adults)

• Mushroom gravy-glazed meatloaf
• Baby wedge salad
• Pea purée over creamy mashed potatoes
• Herbed crispy carrots
• Paint the Night-themed dessert
• Choice of one fountain beverage
• Plant-based options available.

Dining Package Menu (Kids)

• Crispy chicken tenders
• Macaroni & Cheese
• Apple sauce and baby carrots
• Dinner roll
• Paint the Night-themed dessert
• Choice of one fountain beverage
• Plant-based options available.

Please not that what follows is based on our review of the Plaza Dining Package during Main Street Electrical Parade’s 50th Anniversary comeback run. We have no intentions of re-reviewing this package for Paint the Night, as the package has not materially changed (except in price).

The viewing location is the same, and although Disneyland’s website doesn’t officially state as much, we’ve heard reports that you are not “required” to eat the meatloaf. Phew. 

Just be sure you make this request for fried chicken when you first go to the cashier, otherwise you might be stuck with the meatloaf. Not that there’s anything wrong with meatloaf, it’s just that Plaza Inn’s fried chicken is considered world-famous for good reason!

It’s safe to say viewing Paint the Night parade is going to be a challenge for the foreseeable future, so the value proposition of this package should be similar. Pent-up demand remains strong, the park reservations system means a steady supply of locals, and there’s a lot of enthusiasm and emotion around enjoying a sentimental favorite.

It was a similar story when Paint the Night debuted during the Diamond Celebration. The Los Angeles and Orange County markets  are huge, resulting in monster crowds for months, and locals camped out for hours. Prime parade viewing areas were multiple rows deep long before showtime. It’s going to be the same scenario for the Paint the Night parade during the Disneyland 70th Anniversary run.

With that said, here’s our original review of this Plaza Inn Parade Dining Package…

The Plaza Inn Dining Package can be booked online via Disneyland.com or the app, up to 60 days in advance.

If you’re having trouble booking this, you’re not alone. Unfortunately, it’s incredibly difficult. We were able to score a spot, and haven’t seen any availability since.

I’d hazard a guess that the entire reserved viewing area accommodates fewer than 100 guests, which is very limited. It’s always possible Disneyland will add more reserved viewing areas or cancellations will occur, so we’d recommend that you keep checking as your travel dates near.

Our reservation at Plaza Inn was for the 2:30 pm “seating,” but it’s likely that we could’ve shown up at any time between 1 pm and 3:30 pm.

The restaurant is still operating as a regular buffeteria during this timeframe, with guests able to order the normal menu from all of the bays except one. There are no reserved tables or servers for this–it’s the normal Plaza Inn lunch/dinner experience with open seating both indoors and outside.

Upon arriving, we checked in with a Cast Member outside, who pulled up our reservation on an iPad. He then sent us inside the restaurant to a line at a cash register set aside for the Plaza Inn Dining Packages.

There, we paid for the meal and were given paper FastPass-style tickets to enter the reserved seating section along with cool custom lanyards to wear while in the viewing area. The Cast Member at the register advised that we save our receipt just in case we lost the lanyards and/or paper FastPasses.

From there, we moved on to the buffeteria bay to pick up our plates.

What’s served for the dining package isn’t one of the normal entrees, but it’s sufficiently similar to determine the value of the package. Given the $19 price of the fried chicken alone, the meal itself is about $25 to $30. Of course, “value” is in the eye of the beholder.

I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for Plaza Inn, but I think its pricing has gotten out of hand. I still remember when the chicken was $13. (Old man shakes fist at cloud.) Additionally, it seems like the quality has been more hit or miss–dropping $19 for dry chicken is not my idea of a good time.

Our chicken was flawless. The amount of breading, texture, seasoning, consistency, juiciness, tenderness, and overall flavor were all pitch perfect. If I could always be guaranteed fried chicken of this caliber, I’d drop $19 and do every meal at Plaza Inn. The only disappointment about the meal was the house-made smoked mac & cheese, which was basically mac minus cheese.

Although the Plaza Inn Parade Dining Package indicates it’s a set menu, entree substitutions are allowed for those who are allergic (or whatever) to glorious fried chicken. Sarah made such a substitution, ordering the Chipotle-Pineapple Glazed Salmon.

This salmon is an ambitious and tasty dish by buffeteria standards, offering a perfectly-prepared, flaky fish with a unique and fruity glaze. However, it’s also significantly smaller than the fried chicken. That’s obviously to be expected. When you roll up to Nobu, they’re not handing you a heaping bucket of salmon, Colonel Sanders style.

Even with the smaller salmon and cheeseless mac & cheese, we have no complaints about the food served as part of the Plaza Inn Dining Package. It was a fantastic meal. (If you could get the mac & cheese swapped out for mashed potatoes, you’d be living the Disneyland dream.)

We left full, and didn’t eat again for the rest of the day. Easily $25 here in value, which puts the reserved seating at around $15 per person. Given that guests were already camping out to claim parade spots in mid-afternoon when we left Plaza Inn, that’s probably not too steep of a price for the viewing area.

The paper FastPasses are for reserved seating during the first performance of the night parade.

These tickets indicate that you should check in at the Town Square flagpole approximately 30 minutes before the parade steps off. You’ll want to arrive much earlier than that. Disneyland fans love nothing more than to camp out for things; when it comes to stuff like this, there’s always a line for the line, so to speak.

The seating area is on the back side of Town Square, facing the Main Street USA Train Station.

It’s a large section, and there was plenty of breathing room for people even in the second and third rows to sit down and spread out a bit. The downside of this was that guests scrambling for last minute spots kept asking if they could squeeze in. (The above photo doesn’t adequately illustrate how packed other sections were versus this area.)

Technically, this is a viewing area and not a seating area. Disneyland promises a reserved viewing, and nothing more. Unlike seating sections, there are no chairs here. Also, you might have to stand if you arrive late or if the people in front of you are standing. Just because everyone around us was able to sit down does not mean that’s how it’ll be in the future.

In terms of night parade viewing locations, I’m more or less neutral on this spot.

The view is perfectly fine; I just prefer the more iconic perspective with Sleeping Beauty Castle in the background for photos. My one recommendation would be to sit on one of the far sides of the viewing area; this should give you a little more space and also a better perspective of the parade floats rounding the corner.

Ultimately, we highly recommend booking the Plaza Inn Dining Package for Paint the Night. If you’re taking a vacation to Disneyland, you’re going to want to try that famous fried chicken regardless, and that puts the cost of the reserved seating area at $15 per person. While that’s not an insignificant expense for a family of 4, the time and headaches saved in not having to camp out hours in advance and “guard” your turf is worth that amount.

We’re normally not particularly keen on paying a premium for only okay nighttime spectacular viewing areas (looking at you, Magic Kingdom fireworks dessert parties), but it’s just different at Disneyland. Locals with time to kill stake out spots for hours, and that’s unlikely to change anytime soon.

Planning a Southern California vacation? For park admission deals, read Tips for Saving Money on Disneyland Tickets. Learn about on-site and off-site hotels in our Anaheim Hotel Reviews & Rankings. For where to eat, check out our Disneyland Restaurant Reviews. For unique ideas of things that’ll improve your trip, check out What to Pack for Disney. For comprehensive advice, consult our Disneyland Vacation Planning Guide. Finally, for guides beyond Disney, check out our Southern California Itineraries for day trips to Los Angeles, Laguna Beach, and tons of other places!

YOUR THOUGHTS

Have you booked the Plaza Inn Dining Package for Paint the Night Parade during Disneyland’s 70th Anniversary? Think this is a good or poor value? Having trouble scoring reservations for this dining package? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment on crowds and the hassle of saving spots for the parade? Any questions? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!