Here are a few of my top tips...
1. I would always make reservations for any of the restaurants if possible (naturally, you can't book counter service restaurants
).
2. If you want to eat in the Disney Village, try leaving the park around midday and go to one of the restaurants then. Whilst I still advise you to reserve, bear in mind that unlike at night (and especially this time round since the park will shut around eight), the Village will be far less crowded and ergo a more relaxed place to be and an escape from the crowds of the parks.
3. In the evenings, try some of the restaurants in the hotels. They feel more relaxed and are generally better than the restaurants in the Disney Village.
4. Most of the restaurants in the park are counter service. If you want to eat lunch in the parks, try and avoid the 12-2pm traffic by having lunch a bit earlier or a bit later than those times. Likewise, if you want to eat dinner in the parks, go a bit earlier than 6-8pm, or reserve seats at one of the table service restaurants or a chef-prepared buffet like the Plaza Gardens restaurant.
5. Places in the complex that I'd recommend:
Disneyland Park: Plaza Gardens Restaurant (chef prepared buffet on Main Street), Market House Deli (sandwich store on Main Street), The Gibson Girl Ice Cream Parlour (ice cream on Main Street), Au Chalet de la Marionnette (fast food in Fantasyland), Bella Notte (pizza/pasta in Fantasyland), Pizza Planet (Discoveryland)
Walt Disney Studios: Café des Cascadeurs (mock diner in the Backlot), The Studio Catering Company (various food stands around the place selling a variety of things including light meals)
Disney Village: Café Mickey (character dining experience), Mc Donalds
Hotels: Inventions (Disneyland Hotel), Cape Cod (Newport Bay Club), Beaver Creek Tavern (Sequoia Lodge)
6. A note on snacks...the price of snacks is a bit expensive in the parks, so here's a tip of how to avoid this. In the nearby Val d'Europe town (just one or two stops on the train that sets off from the on-site station), there's a shopping centre with a supermarket called Auchan. Buy some park-vended stuff (which I believe includes such stuff as Coca Cola and Nestle water/chocolate, but do a little check to see what they sell) and take it back to the hotel with you. Then, drop the stuff in your bags the next day and take it into the parks without getting moaned at.