This post is for Disneyland first timers or those who want WAY too many details about a place before they go so they know what to expect. I am one of those people, so I thought I'd share for any other super-overkill trip planners out there!
We went to Disneyland last year and had an absolute blast! I DID MY RESEARCH before we went and people have been asking how/what we did so here's a little blog post about navigating through the magical land!
We went with my whole family - 10 adults and 12 kids aged 1-11.
Length of trip
There are 2 parks at Disneyland - Disneyland and California Adventure. I would HIGHLY recommend planning 1 day in each with a rest day in between. It is so fun to stay at the park all day so you can experience everything - which means 12 hours straight. 2 days in a row of that and you'll be SO exhausted, it might take away some of the fun. If you plan to do all the rides and all the characters, you might need a 2nd day at Disneyland. We met several princesses and hit almost all the rides doing one day in each, but we didn't wait in line to see Mickey or anything like that.Tickets
I think park hopper tickets are a waste of time and money. Just buy 1 day ticket for each park and plan to spend the whole day there. Then you don't have to walk back and forth (believe me, you'll do plenty of walking!) and you'll save $ on each ticket.Travel
If you are flying, try to arrive so that you can get settled wherever you are staying before it gets late. You want to get a GREAT night's sleep before you go.If you are driving more than 6-7 hours with little ones, I recommend making an extra day out of it and staying at a hotel part way. We went from Logan, UT to St. George (5.5 hours) and stayed at a hotel. We left after work so we arrived late so we went straight to bed. We slept in, had breakfast, swam and played till lunch time then hit the road for Cali (5.5 hours). We arrived at dinner time and had plenty of time to play with cousins, eat a great dinner, pack all our stuff for the next day, and get to bed early.
For the drive home, we usually want to just get there, but don't make the mistake of ruining the trip by torturing your littles at the end! Find a cool park somewhere about halfway and spend a few hours letting the kids run around and play. We stopped at Discovery Park in Cedar City (7 hours from Anaheim and 5 hours from home) for 2 hours. Took all day to get home, but was still a day of fun.
Entertaining little ones for this long of a drive is a challenge, but very doable with a little ahead thinking. Our car doesn't have a DVD player so we borrowed one from my mom. I made seat back organizers with a snack pocket, drink holder, book holder, blanket pocket and a space for the games. this way, the kids could grab what they wanted and put it back easily so the car wasn't totally trashed. For my 6 year old, I packed a few Disney books, Princess coloring pages and crayons, little handheld party favor type games from the dollar store. For the 4 year old, I brought look and find books, a few little toys like cars, and a color wonder book. For the 1 year old, I brought a few of her favorite books, little chew toys and a deck of cards - she just pulled them out and threw them all over, but it kept her busy for a good 15 minutes!
We played a movie every few hours and had an ipad they took 20 minute turns with. With snacks and all that, the drive was actually not too bad!
Lodging
I gotta give cred here to my awesome parents. For Christmas, they gave us the lodging and park tickets so we didn't actually pay for those, but I did my research here too, so here's info on that.Disney hotels have perks - get into the park early, free rides to and from the park, etc, but boy are they pricey! We rented a house about .5 mi from the park so we could walk. Parking is like $18/car/day so we didn't want to do that. One day, we did park a minivan so our little wouldn't have to walk but by the time they got out of the parking lot, we were almost home, so it didn't save us anything since our house was close. It had a full kitchen and a pool so our non park days were a major blast! And each couple had their own room so we all got great sleep. There's a bunch of websites you can find rental houses on: flipkey, vrbo, rent.com, etc. Look around and find what's best for your group.
Random helpful stuff
NEON SHIRTS! We put our whole group of 22 people in matching Neon tennis ball colored shirts. You could see the group from a long way off and if you got separated in lines, the ride operators knew you were together! So helpful to keep track of little wanderers.I highly recommend taking a stroller if you have someone under 4. I took a double stroller and my little 2 (Age 3 and 1) hopped in and out as they pleased and it was SO nice to have for naps! Occasionally, even the 4, 5, and 6 year olds would beg for a break and ride for a bit too! We didn't have to stop at all for a tired baby. Just put up the umbrella and rolled on! And we kept our cooler full of snacks/meals/drinks on it too so we could eat/drink anytime. TIP: Tie a bright colored piece of fabric to your stroller handle so you can find it easily in the sea of strollers! Serious time saver!
Keep your phone on power save mode so you can keep in contact with your group, take videos and pics and not kill your battery before you get separated at the night parade! Bring your charger. There are outlets here and there and charging lockers if you want to spend $2 to charge for an hour. Impossible to find people if you can't contact them! Or share phones with other adults you are with. My hubby used his phone the 1st half of the day and I used mine the 2nd half. We both had them on if we went separate ways. It worked well the 2nd day! Both of ours died the first day and it was so frustrating!
Souvenirs
Disney swag is awesome and it is EVERYWHERE in the park. If your kids are like mine, they're going to want some. So, being the cheapskate that I am, I bought our souvenirs BEFORE we left home! I got Disney themed t-shirts at Walmart for each kid for $5 in Logan. We took these into the park each day with Sharpie markers and had any characters we saw sign the shirts instead of an autograph book. The kids wore these shirts ALL the time after the trip! It was a SUPER fun souvenir. The characters can't sign the shirts if the kids are wearing them though, so you have to carry them in. FYI.Also, we bought a BUNCH of glow sticks at the dollar store before we left so we could deck out during the night shows without spending an arm and a leg. The kids each bought a souvenir at the rainforest cafe and the lego store for under $10 so there are those options too. The one souvenir I wish I would've bought was the bubble wand! Lots of kids had them and my 1 year old was SOOOO drawn to them! All the carts I tried to buy them from were sold out. Highly recommend finding a wand for toddlers! They are cool.
What to take into the park: A stroller for any kids under 4. A cooler with lunch and snack and LOTS of drinks. Autograph books or shirts and markers/pens. Wallets, phones, cameras, etc. and SUNSCREEN! If you have remotely fair skinned, redhead genes like us, you'll need it!
Disneyland App
This app is amazing! It shows you line times, fast pass return times, character locations, park map, shows, parades, etc times... you MUST have this on your phone. I watched this for weeks ahead of time so I knew which lines would be long at what times of day, which fast passes sell out and when, days of the week that were less busy, which shows played on which days/times, etc.Shows to see
In Disneyland, Mickey's Magical Map show was one of my very favorite things! Lots of characters, GREAT music, and theatrical appeal and it's only 20 minutes long. It's by Toon Town and only plays on certain days and times so check that before you go. The light parade is a MUST! Find a seat early! You think, "Oh it goes through the whole place, there'll be room..." Wrong-o! It's packed! The fireworks are awesome and if you stand in downtown disney, there's digital effects on the buildings and snow and bubbles from the rooftops. Way cool spot.
In California Adventure, get in line right when the park opens for the Frozen show tickets. It's AMAZING and sells out crazy fast! Like within 30 minutes of opening. Also, you have to be in line for the show 30 minutes BEFORE showtime, so check your ticket. We ALMOST missed it. The World of Color show is an excellent way to end the day. Get your fast pass early for this so you have a reserved seating area. Then arrive a little early or you'll be standing. And the Pixar parade was SO good! Loved it.
Finding Characters
Use the app to find where the characters are and just look around. The princesses are just to the left of Sleeping beauty's castle at scheduled and random times. We saw Rapunzel and Flynn Rider, Belle, Sleeping Beauty and Merida all within about an hour all in the same spot. Lots of signatures for our awesome shirts!Stroller pass
This is the coolest thing that not many people know about! Ask for one at the front of the line and it gets 3 people back on the ride anytime, all day in the fast pass line or just straight to the front on non fast pass rides. It's amazing! A few times, we would split into 2 groups and went to 2 separate rides, each adult got a stroller pass. Then we switched rides and got straight onto the opposite ride... not really what the pass is meant for, but hey, it was a good system.Fast passes
Fast passes are the best. You put your park ticket in for a certain ride and it spits you out a ticket with a return time on it. You come back within that hour period and you get into a MUCH shorter line and get on the ride within minutes. THIS IS THE WAY TO GO on all the rides you can! Only the really popular rides have them but anytime you can, I highly recommend you do! Saves so much time so you can experience so much more. It works like this. It spits out like 50 passes for each twenty minutes or so and that's why those lines stay short. Once it has spit out the 50 passes for 10-11 am return, it moves on to 10:20-11:20, 10:40-11:40 and so on til the whole day it gone and it sells out. No more fast passes after that. So the newer big rides seriously can sell out the whole day of fast passes in the first hour of the park opening, so don't miss those or you'll be in a 3 hour line. Waste of time! Here are the rules of the fast pass.-You MUST be in the park to get a fast pass. You can't take a ticket for a friend who is parking the car and get a fast pass. They have to physically be in the park. They take your photo and scan your ticket at the entrance so they know when you've arrived.
-You must put a park ticket into the fast pass machine for every person you want to get a pass for. 1 person can do this but they must have everyone's park tickets.
-You can only have 1 fast pass at a time unless it's a special one like the World of Color show or Frozen show. Those you can have all day along with another fast pass.
-Once you use your fast pass, you can get another one immediately. As soon as we would ride our fast pass ride, we would send one person with all the park tickets to get the next one.
-The fast passes say on them your return time. If it's more than 2-3 hours away, it will also show a time when you can get another fast pass. After that time passes, you can get another fast pass so you now have 2.
Meals
Food in the park is not CRAZY expensive unless you eat at a fancy place. Little side shops with hot dogs, etc aren't that bad. We ate a big breakfast before we left and packed a lunch and snacks in a cooler that we put in our stroller. Then we bought dinner in the park. With your own food in a cooler, you can just eat in line or snack anytime... it was SO nice to have! And that way you have COLD drinks anytime... MAJOR plus in the summer!Which rides to ride and in what order
Ok I'm a perfectionist and wanted to get EVERYTHING out of these 2 days so I super-planned our days out beforehand and what do you ya know... we hit it all we wanted to except just a few things! I was pretty proud. So here's how we did it. You decide if you are as crazy and motivated as we are or not!We went on a Monday hoping the crowds wouldn't be TOO bad... and really, they weren't! We had 3 drivers (my husband, brother and sister) drop us all off 45 minutes before the park opened and then they returned the cars to the house so we didn't have to pay parking and walked back while we got in line. Got in line at Disneyland 30 minutes before it opened. Took pics at the entrance - cuz that's just what ya do!
We headed straight for Tomorrowland because the fast passable rides over there sell out fast. We split into 2 groups right away. I split off and ran to get fast passes for Hyperspace Mountain while while the rest made their way over leisurely. Our drivers caught up to us by this point so those over 46'' hopped on star tours, autopia, and Matterhorn and asked for a stroller pass for each ride for me and my sister in law. There weren't long lines for these rides yet so they rode them all pretty quickly without needing fast passes. My sis in law and I took the 4 kids who weren't tall enough on some Fantasyland rides. DO THESE EARLY! The Fantasy land rides get crazy long and are SO slow. Big rides know how to move the lines along... the little ones... Not so much. We should've done It's a Small World FIRST here, but didn't and by the time we got over there, the line was not worth it, so we didn't do that one.
Then we all got together for our fast pass return time at Hyperspace mountain, then did Buzz lightyear (fast pass with almost instant return time), and Nemo's submarine. Then we sent a runner to get fast passes for the Indianan Jones ride for all 46'' and up. Then the littles and my sis in law and mom had lunch and watched the Jedi training show. The rest of us used our stroller passes on Hyperspace mountain (2nd time for several people) and star tours. Tomorrowland... done by lunch! On to Adventureland!
It was our fast pass return time for Indiana Jones. All 46'' and up went there and my sister and I took the littles to the tiki room. First mistake was made here. By now it was 1 pm and the Pirates of the Carribbean line was so long we decided not to do it, but if we had done it before Indiana Jones, I think it wouldn't have been too long. Anyway, our husbands got us stroller passes for Indy. When they were off, I dashed over for Big thunder mountain fast passes and the rest got in line for jungle cruise. I actually caught them in line and since we had our matching shirts (I talk about this in random stuff below), the ride operators let me jump on with them! By the time we got off, it was time for Big Thunder. The little loved the tiki room so much and it was so hot outside, my dad and brother took the littles to do that again while the rest of us did thunder and Jones again with stroller passes. They probably would've done the treehouse here instead, but it was closed. Then I ran for haunted mansion fast pass which had an immediate return time, so we hopped on. Then I ran for splash mountain fast pass while the rest did the Whinny the Pooh ride. Over 40'' hopped on splash and got a stroller pass for me since I waited with the littles. Then I rode it with 2 kids and the rest did Whinny the Pooh again.
It was mid afternoon and we had ridden all the fast pass rides so we split up here for all do to what they wanted to do again. My sis in law and I took the littles and daughters young enough to still believe in princess magic to find princesses at the Royal theater by Sleeping beauty castle. We saw Belle and Merida do autographs just outside - 20 minute wait in line. Then we saw sleeping Beauty walk by and asked where she was going. In her most excellent princess voice, she said, "I'm going to my wishing well! Come along if you like!" She was excellent. And Merida's accent was spot on! So he got autographs and pics with Aurora. then Rapunzel had a show at the Royal theater. We watched that and got autographs and pics after with her and Flynn Rider. We decided not to wait inline to go in the princess castle to find snow white and a few others cuz we had caught so many just outside. There's more in there though! It was a blast! All the big kids, dads and brothers went on Indiana and Hyperspace again while we were being enchanted.
We all walked through the Sleeping Beauty Castle and made our way back toward Toon Town. I ran and got Roger Rabbit fast passes. The Mickey map show was about to start so whoever was tired of walking went there to watch. Those who were starving went to eat and those who wanted to see Mickey and Minney went there. While we waited for Roger Rabbit return time, some went to goofy's playhouse, some wandered Toon Town, some ate dinner and some just chilled the shade. We rode Roger and then it was time for the light parade! We scrounged for a place to watch because we didn't plan ahead enough and it was PACKED! Get a spot early for this my friends! It's so awesome! By this time, kids were falling asleep and starting to get exhausted. 8:45 feels SUPER LATE at this place! Ha!
After the parade, we had about 30 minutes before fireworks. The big kids and dads ran to do Indiana one more time while the rest of us tried to find a better spot to watch the fireworks. We ended up in the shops at downtown disney. The littles were begging to go home, but we stuck it out! The Indiana riders barely got off the ride when the fireworks started so they just watched from where they were and we watched from where we were. We had the best spot for sure! They have a digital show on the buildings that matches the songs and bubbles fly from the rooftops during "Under the Sea" and snow during "Let it Go." It was MAGICAL!
We found each other after the crowds cleared a bit and made the SUPER LONG half mile walk to the rental house! It seemed so much shorted on the way there! Haha. Got there at about 11 and crashed. No way were we getting up the next day and doing it again! So we slept in, relaxed by the pool and headed to the beach the next day. The perfect way to rejuvenate after a long magical day.
Disney day 2 - California Adventure! So now it's Wednesday and we did the same drop off at the gate and drive the cars home thing. My brother in law decided he didn't want to walk home this time, so he parked in the parking garage... but truth be told, it took him as long to park as it did the others to drive home and walk back! Haha. Anyway, we entered the park and my sister and I RAN to get in line for "Frozen Live" fast passes. They call them fast passes, but they're more like show tickets. There's 3 shows and they just sell out in order. You get what you get and they don't affect your other fast passes. Our drivers found us still in line when they entered the park and brought us their passes and rant to catch the group. We got Frozen passes (took about 30 minutes), then ran over and got Radiator Springs Racers fast passes. THESE SELL OUT FAST SO HURRY! We got these as early as we could and still our return time was over 4 hours away! Crazy. Anyway, then we ran over and got fast passes (again more like tickets) to the World of color show. This just gives you an assigned seating area for that night. So, my sister and I were 1 hour in and had the 3 most important passes for everyone in the group! While we were fast passing, the group rode the ferris wheel twice (this line gets long and is super slow and there's no fast pass so ride it early!), got us a stroller pass and then rode Toy Story mania and got another stroller pass. Here's where we made another mistake. I wish we had then met at Ariels Adventure before the line got crazy cuz I hear that one is awesome but by the time we got there, the line was nuts so we didn't get to do it.
Our Radiator Springs fast pass return time was so far away, that it said on the bottom "Another FASTPASS ticket is available at 11:00 am." Which means, even though we hadn't used our Radiator Springs one yet, we could still get another one. So we got the California Screaming roller coaster Fast next next. It was an immediate return time so all 48'' and over went on the coaster while my mom, brother and all the littles did the carousal. We got them a stroller pass and they went on it right after we did. Then we all did Toy Story. Then I ran over for fast passes for Goofy's sky coaster. We had lunch and rode the Jellyfish ride while we waited for the return time and then all over 42'' rode Goofy. Littles rode Zephyr with me then I did goofy with my big kid and hubby after with a stroller pass. The swings were closed or we would've done those too. It was time for the Pixar Parade so we found a spot by the goofy ride and sat and watched while we had some snacks and drinks. It was a pretty hot day.
Here's where we made our next mistake. It was starting to get hot, so we got Grizzly Peak fast passes, but by the time we rode this ride, the fast passes for "Soarin over California" were all sold out for the whole day! I'd been watching this info on my Disneyland app for weeks and this ride had never sold out before so I was shocked and so bummed. The line was NEVER less than 3 hours all day so we didn't ride this one. Next time, we'll fast pass radiator springs, then soaring over before the others. Lesson learned!
Anyway, so we rode Grizzly and I ran over to Tower of Terror for fast passes. Return time 1 hour away so we made our way over riding rides as we went: Mater's Junkyard, Flik's Flyers, and Tuck and roll buggies. Then it was Tower of Terror return time so the 46'' and over went on that and I took my littles to Tough to be a Bug and Ladybug boogie and my sis in law took her little to meet Olaf and Elsa and Anna.
We kind of lucked out here because I had JUST noticed that we had to be in line for our Frozen showtime 30 minutes BEFORE the show! This unfortunately was the same time as our Radiator Springs return time! So we ran over to Radiator to see if we could get right on and they said it was broken down and they would honor our fast passes anytime all day because of it! Whew! So we went to the frozen show. Had lunch in line and enjoyed the air conditioned room with the MAGICAL show. It was so amazing. DON'T MISS IT!
After frozen, those over 40'' hit radiator springs (up and running again) and got as many stroller passes as we could (4 passes = 12 people). Those under 40'' went back to Mater's Junkyard with me. Me and 11 others did Radiator Springs again with stroller passes which was AWESOME! the others did Luigi's flying tires. This line was long but went fast. Lightning McQueen and several of the other cars drove by, had dance parties in the street, stopped for photos, etc. This place was so awesome! We bought dinner here too and enjoyed the awesome-ness of this totally decked out area!
The we took turns riding the Screamin roller coaster and tower of terror swapping littles getting as many stroller passes and fast passes as we could until the day was done. Those 2 were definitely the favorites and I think we all did each at least 4 times! Then we got to our designated "Fastpass" area for the world of color show. Again, we should've stopped riding 20 minutes earlier and gotten there early cuz all the seats were taken, but it was fine. We stood in the back and watched the show. It was fabulous. ANOTHER MAGICAL DAY! My bro in law that parked drove the little home and the adults walked. We made it home just before 10 and crashed. More relaxing by the pool and beach the next 2 days completed the perfect trip.
So other than missed timing on Small world, Pirates, Ariel and Soarin CA, I seriously don't feel like we missed much! Those are the only changes I would make next time.
Beach days
For those of you who have extra days and want to go to the beach, Laguna beach is awesome and not crowded. It is small and not much sand - very roccky - so go there if you want to collect shells and explore. Not so much for surfing (major ouch on bare feet!) or sand castle building. Very cool and totally beautiful though. Huntington beach is AMAZING! It's super crowded but it's also super HUGE so there's room for all. There's great surfing (you can rent boards right on the beach), volleyball courts, and OODLES of delightful, soft sand. Parking is A NIGHTMARE though so be ready to drive around for an hour to find somewhere to park. We finally just sat at a parking lot entrance until someone left! It was torture for the kids. Maybe go early in the morning just so you can park. We got there around lunch time... no good. Once we parked though, it was 5 hours of bliss! One of my favorite beaches ever!
No comments:
Post a Comment