As a big Disneyland fan, over the years I’ve had a fair bit of practice into working out what makes for a better experience – so here it is, my top 10 pieces of Disneyland advice for having a dream holiday.
ONE: Stay within walking distance of Disneyland.
Disneyland is seriously large – whatever you have in your mind, double it. You’ll be covering a lot of distance on foot and, it’s going to be a long day – or days! Save your feet and your sanity, and just make your life that much easier by staying as close as you can to the park.
There’s no faffing about organising transport, carparks or having to navigate the whole system and trying to work out how to get home when you’re bone tired at the end of the day. Plus, if you want to pop home for a breather, a snack, a swim or a nap during the day, it’s no sweat. Going home for a nap during the middle of the day – or a swim during the scorching summer months is a game changer.
There’s several great official Disney hotels right on the park’s doorstep, which also have the benefit of allowing you into the park an hour earlier than everyone else.
I’ve stayed in a couple of them, but to be honest, I actually preferred the place we stayed this time, just across the road at the Howard Johnson Anaheim.
It’s an easy eight-minute walk from the hotel to Disney’s turnstiles – (which takes you right by a number of different spots to pick up breakfast food on the way!). It has a great vibe, very comfortable beds, an entire pirate themed water park (it’s incredible!), pools, a minimart with lots of essentials, free wifi, a café/restaurant (the delicious Mimi’s Café) and great sized rooms with amenities like a decent sized fridge in every room, and a much needed coffee maker.
Our two-year-old was still taking naps every other day when we went, so we opted for the kids’ suite, which was a genius move. It’s two rooms and two bathrooms – one kid sized room with an ensuite and a kid’s room with a pull-out sofa and bunk beds. It meant that we could all come back to the room during the day and chill out. Our toddler could take a nap (to be fair, one day we all did), while the rest of us had a lie down, watched TV or read a book without bothering each other. It also had a very fun – but quite subtle – pirate theme. When we got back from day one at Disneyland our littlest was very excited to point at the pirate ship pictures and say that he’d been there today on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.
TWO: Get the Right Tickets For You & Your Family
There’s a lot of different options, which start with a single day entry to one of the parks. Because yes, there are two – which thankfully are right next to each other, facing one another. There’s the original Disneyland, where you’ll find the traditional rides, Snow White’s castle, classics like Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, Indiana Jones, Space Mountain and the whole Star Wars area.
On the other side you’ll find California Adventure Park, which is the newer park and houses many of the Pixar themed areas like the Incredicoaster, Radiator Springs Racers and Guardians of the Galaxy – Misson: Breakout. You can get a day pass to either, or a combined ticket to go to both parks – as well as multi-day passes. Personally, I’d recommend spending at least two days at Disneyland – a day at each park, or a two-day multipass. (Most hardcore Disney fans say you need five days, but honestly, that sounds exhausting.)
Then, once you’re in the park, there’s more options. You’ll want to download the official app, which can house your ticket. It has a handy map that shows you exactly where you are, as well as the most important tool – a list of the estimated wait times right at that moment for every ride. You can also order food to pick up, or make a reservation at a restaurant.
You can also purchase a Lightning Lane Multi Pass. Stick with me here. So, every ride has a standby queue plus an additional Lightning Lane queue. If you have a Lightning Lane Multi Pass you can book a time slot to go on a ride (the app will show you what the current time slots are available), then skip the queues by going straight into the Lightning Lane and onto the ride. Not all rides have a Lightning Lane, but lots of the big – and littler ones do.
We bought a Lightning pass on one of the two days we were there and I would recommend it, depending on the price (it is surge pricing based, so depends on the day you’re there). Have your strategy worked out for how you’re going to use it though. You can only be booked in for one ride at a time. So, some of the big rides might let you book in for a slot, four hours away (the walk-up time may currently be 90 minutes) – that means you can use that time going on other rides! But, it also means you can’t use your pass for all that time. We ended up using ours for mostly smaller rides – rides that had a 30-40 minute wait, had time slots open in 5 minutes, so we could get through a lot in a short amount of time.
THREE: Pick Your Dates Wisely
There’s a lot to consider when choosing when to visit – and, if you’re heading over with kids, you’re likely having to work within the constraints of school holidays. We chose January for a few reasons – yes, it’s winter in LA, but they are generally very mild compared to what we’re used to here! When we went the days were warm – often around 23, although for three days it was a lovely 27 degrees. Things chill off at night, and we did have a few cold days. Rain is rare, but we did have one rain day (the first the city had seen in eight long months).
The pluses for going in January are, you have a bit more time up your sleeves than picking the same two weeks everyone else in NZ is vying for during the school year holidays. Flights are generally cheaper in January, plus everything is less busy in Los Angeles. Kids are in school in the States, so you’re not up against so many domestic travellers wanting to hit Disneyland. Parks are therefore normally less busy – the Christmas decorations come down in the first week of January which can still be very busy – but there seems to be a sweet spot after that.
We timed our days so that we hit the theme park on weekdays, rather than weekends, when the crowds are normally larger. You’ll also want to check you’re not visiting on a long weekend – like Martin Luther King day, when lots of US families use the public holiday to take a long weekend away.
If you really want to get technical, you can head to a calendar tracker like Is It Packed or The Magic Guide which give predictions about what crowd sizes will be like on the days you’re planning to go.
Summer or the shoulder season are beautiful times to experience California and Disneyland – just plan accordingly for the heat. There’s not a lot of shelter in Disneyland, so pack hats, sunblock and stay hydrated. Ideally you’ll want to make plans to beat the heat during the warmest hours of the day in the afternoons – that’s when it can be a great idea to invest in a hotel with a pool, like the HoJo across the road!
FOUR: Plan Rest Days
A Disneyland day is going to be so exciting, but so full on, so you’re going to need to factor in some rest days. It’s a good idea to take that into account when you’re choosing accommodation – is it somewhere that you can take it easy for an afternoon or full day? A place with a pool can pay dividends. If you’re doing a couple of back-to-back days, pace yourself by taking the afternoons off.
FIVE: HAVE A PLAN!
I cannot stress this point enough. I’ve had several people say to me, ‘Disneyland is great, but it’s too busy – we only managed to get on a few rides because the lines were so long’. Sigh.
Yes. Disneyland is busy. That’s why you NEED a plan. You can’t just walk in, wander aimlessly and then join a queue you like the look of.
Before you go, do some research about what rides or attractions you most want to see. There are some fun youtube videos where people have (perhaps quite naughtily?) filmed their POV going on rides (During Covid lockdown days I may have resorted to putting my son on a chair in front of the tv, put these videos on and started shaking and moving his chair around to pretend he was there!).
When you have an idea of what’s going to interest you and your family the most, download the Disneyland app and check out the map of where these rides are and what’s close together. I kept an eye on it for a few weeks before we went, getting an idea about how busy rides were during different points of the day.
Being familiar with it all reaaaally helped – we didn’t follow a strict plan on the day, but we knew what we were trying to achieve, and how we might be able to do it (when was the best time for the four of us to split into two groups so our older son could do different rides to our younger son). It also helped when we got a Lightning Lane Pass Multi Pass and knew what rides we wanted to use it for. My son and husband really wanted to do the Incredicoaster (as many times as possible) and we all as a family wanted to do Toy Story Midway Mania ride – which are very close to each other on Pixar Pier in Disney California Adventure Park. We used our pass to book in a slot at Toy Story that was 45 minutes away. That gave my son and husband time to do the rollercoaster twice, my youngest and I time to do the Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind ride and get something to eat, then meet back to play a couple of cute arcade games before walking straight on to the Toy Story ride.
It’s also good to have an idea of what/where you’d like to eat. Many restaurants take bookings, which can fill up quickly. If you’ve got your tickets and your app downloaded you can book in a couple of weeks earlier. Otherwise, have an idea of where you might like to eat, then, use the app to preorder your food so you don’t waste time queuing for food (there’s enough queuing to be done!!).
SIX: There’s more to Anaheim than just Disneyland
Yip, there’s much more to be seen in Anaheim than just Mickey Mouse. Some of my favourite spots are Knott’s Berry Farm (it’s very different, but has a great atmospehere, excellents rides and is fun for different ages), or Garden Walk (you’ve got to try The Flightdeck Flight Simulation Centre there) or the Packing District. Or leave your husband in charge of the kids for the afternoon and head to one of the many great outlet malls in the area. Just down the road you’ll find The Outlets at Orange where there is more than 120 outlet stores – there’s everything from Bloomingdales to Gap to Old Navy to Ralph Lauren. There’s also plenty of fast food outlets, and a movie theatre.
SEVEN: Make the most of the evenings
For the majority of the day, Disneyland is one heck of a busy place. But, once the fireworks are over, all those families who have been desperately trying to keep their kids awake for the show, quickly clear out of the parks. If it’s a night when there are no fireworks, people start dropping off at around dinner time. If you’ve got kids who are a bit older, it makes for the perfect time of day to get through a serious number of rides.
About a decade ago, I went with my mum for her 70th birthday and we downed coffees at 7pm – then in the hours between 9pm and 12am we got through all the rides in the park we wanted to go on, skipping from ride to ride without waiting more than five to ten minutes tops.
A word of warning though – If you’re going for this approach, just make sure you don’t try to do it all and pair your late night with an early start and an action packed day – unless you want to become the ones crying, lying on the road in Mainstreet making snow angels in the popcorn that had spilled everywhere at 9.30pm (and this scene I saw was the kids and the adults).
Another approach I’ve seen is actually just keeping your kids on NZ time instead of LA time and having late starts and later nights. It’s much easier to do in our summertime, when LA is three hours ahead (but a day behind). That means 10pm is only 7pm, NZ time. In our winter that stretches to five hours ahead (but a day behind).
EIGHT: If There’s a Chance Your Kid Might Still Use a Pram, Take It.
If your child is of an age where they might go in a stroller, take one (or hire one over there). It makes getting through the crowds so much easier and manageable. Plus, even kids who might have grown out of napping, might still want – or need – to get a little bit of shuteye. If you are taking a stroller to the parks, take a brightly coloured ribbon (or even better, two clashing colours) and tie them around your stroller handle bar. Near every ride there is stroller parking and when you come back to retrieve yours you’ll be greeted with a sea of black strollers – make sure you have something that makes yours stand out.
NINE: Try An Afternoon Siesta
If you want to get to Disneyland early, soak it all in aaand last until the fireworks or beyond – I highly recommend breaking up your day with an after lunch break. If you can find a place with a pool, like the Howard Johnson, even better. Particularly if you’re going in the summer months – it can be scorching in the afternoons and a good time to escape for a few hours.
TEN: Pack Well.
Wear sensible walking shoes. Take a small bag – or a bigger one if you’ve got a pram to cart it around in – and have the basics: bottled water (you can refill it in the parks), snacks, a waterproof poncho if you’re planning on doing any rides where you might get wet (particularly in winter), something warm if you’re going in winter (it can be hot during the day, but as soon as the sun goes down she gets chilly!), plus a powerbank because you’ll be chewing through your battery with all the photos/videos you’re taking and using the Disney app.
If your child is in nappies make sure you take plenty to the park. Look. I forgot to restock our bag on day two and realised at the worst possible time that we didn’t have a spare nappy. We were deep in the park – it would have been quite a mission back to the hotel. But this was Disneyland – a place FULL of kids. Surely there would be nappies everywhere? Wrong. The parent’s centre is great, but was totally out of nappies (they have vending machines with supplies in them). In what started to feel like some sort of covert operation, they directed me to a menswear shop where I was told to ask the lady for help – she went under the desk, pulled out a small black tin briefcase and found two small packets of eye-wateringly nappies one size too small, which I obviously went ahead and bought but jeeeeepers.
Want more? Here’s where to head to beyond Disneyland when you visit Anaheim!
