Disneyland

Introduction

MAJOR UPDATE:
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the experience at Disneyland has changed drastically. Most advice here still applies, but Fastpasses has been replaed with Genie+/Lighting Lane along with a few other things. To get the updates on the new experience, please watch this Instagram reel and don't hesitate to reach out with any other questions!
_________________________________________________________________
Disneyland is one of my favorite places of all time - there’s just something about the theme park that just brings me excitement every time I go. Both Disneyland Park and Disneyland California Adventure (DCA) have their appeal, but figuring out how to maximize the utility of your day is difficult. With ticket prices increasing, ever-growing crowds, and the opening of Galaxy’s Edge, it’s getting more and more frustrating to justify spending a day in the park.

My goal for this article is to help you find the best way to spend one day at Disney. After this article, you may think I’m somewhat crazy for saying that this is the only way to make your day worthwhile. However, if you model your day with my Disneyland hacks, you’ll be much happier. Of course, these plans are not one size fits all, so you’ll have to tweak the itinerary to make it fit you/your group’s needs. I hope you find this article helpful!

Useful Information

Disneyland Park and DCA are both in Anaheim, California. The parks are easily accessible from anywhere in Orange County, with many different ways to access the park. Both parks are expanding at a rapid pace, so some parts of this guide might not be updated when you come to read this.

Ticket prices really depend on the day you go, as Disney shifted to a demand-based pricing structure some time ago. You’ll have to check the website for the price on the day you go, but you can assume these principles:

Off peak pricing is usually weekdays when school is not in session.
Peak pricing is usually on weekends, any sort of holiday, and when kids are off during breaks.

You definitely want to go on an off peak day, but that may not be possible. Despite this, you can still get the most out of your visit!

There are various hotels around the park, but I recommend just driving and paying for parking ($30 per car) or getting someone to drive you and drop you off. If you are getting a hotel, the closer to the park the better (your legs will thank you at the end of the day).

If you are driving, you pretty much have to cough up the $30 or try to find residential parking and Uber to the park. Now, I have yet to find a place that is easily accessible, but the catch with this is that you’ll need to find a spot that does not require a residential permit, doesn’t have street sweeping during the time you’re in the park, and a round-trip Uber would be cheaper than $30.

Planning A trip to disney

This is one of the most important parts of the process - how prepared you are can drastically affect your experience when you get into the part. I’m going to try to break it down into things you should consider:

Treat the day like you’re on vacation and going out for the day - Picture yourself on vacation, and you’re going somewhere on a day trip. Think to yourself, what do you want to bring? My usual Disneyland gear includes a light jacket, water bottle, hand sanitizer, tissues, food, power bank and charging cable, camera, and a poncho (for water rides). Your items may vary slightly, but some other recommend things may include a blanket (for chilly nights and to sit on the ground if you’re watching the parade), your Disney ears (always a classic), some coffee in a thermos, a hat, and sunglasses.
Getting enough sleep - You want to get enough sleep the day before you go to the park - I cannot emphasize this enough. Don’t try to pull an all nighter or anything like that, as the less sleep you have, the more grumpy and tired you’ll be in the park. You'll be walking all over the place and standing in line. Make sure to plan your schedule the day before so that you can sleep early. You’ll most likely be at the park all day, and you want as much energy as possible.
Packing food - I’m a big fan of bringing my own food to the park, as food in the park is astronomically expensive. Although getting food at the park is definitely part of the experience, you want to at least bring SOMETHING. Most of the Disneyland food is only average at best, and every item adds up, cost wise. Try to pack a bunch of snacks, a lunch, a mid day meal, and maybe a dinner that you could fit in a lunchbox. I would strongly discourage packing anything sugary or junk food, as those items don’t fill you up. Again, this really depends on you on how much it takes to keep you going throughout the day.
Downloading the Disneyland app - The app is now basically a necessity if you're going to the park. You have to buy food with the app in order to reserve a pick-up slot. The app shows wait time throughout the two parks. You make Lightning Lane reservations via Genie+ on the app. And so on.
Plan out your day - If you’re set on seeing certain shows or going on certain rides, I would try to use the Disneyland app to simulate one of the days you plan to go. Let’s say you want to go on a holiday. Then, a few days beforehand, download the app on a Saturday/Sunday (next best accurate indicator) and observe the wait times for each ride throughout the day. This can give you an idea on what you want to target first or when to watch a certain show, vs. just doing it on the fly.
[If you are going with a group of friends] Planning a day trip somewhere before you plan to go to the park - If you’re planning on going with friends, a good way to gauge how the day will go is if you all go on a day trip somewhere. As the day goes on, try to observe how everyone behaves throughout the day. This allows you to see how your friends react as the day goes on, and then you can plan appropriately so that no one gets very irritated during the day. During your “mock audition” of your day at Disneyland, ask yourself…
- Who tends to get tired easily, vs. who has a lot of energy constantly?
- Who is more of a “take it slow” person, vs. who likes to be on the move all the time?
- How does your group handle waiting in long lines?
- Observe your friends’ stamina as the day progresses. Who gets tired first?
- How does your group handle hot/chilly weather?
- How far can everyone walk until they need a rest?
Your method of getting to the park - My rule of thumb is that you want to get to the park as EARLY as possible. The time you get there will dramatically affect your experience, and every minute counts. My rule of thumb is that you want to be at the ticket gates no less than 30 minutes before the park opens. This is usually 8am, but take these factors into consideration. For example, let’s say you want to be at the ticket gates by 7:30am:

If you are driving and parking in the structures, you want to budget AT LEAST an hour to wait in line to enter the structure to pay, drive in the structure to park, walking to the security checkpoint, wait in line for the tram, tram driving time, and walking from the tram to the turnstiles. (I'll bet you never broke it down like that!)
- Mickey and Friends/Pixar Pals is the biggest structure, but I would recommend parking in the Toy Story lot if you can. Mickey and Friends gets crowded VERY fast, and you might be driving endlessly in the structure as the workers are navigating you to your parking spot. Taking our example, you should be arriving at the parking structure by 6:30am.
If you are having someone drive you to the park or are staying at a hotel, you have more flexibility. The easiest way is to have someone drop you off near the Uber drop off zone or near Downtown Disney, and then you can walk to the turnstiles. If you are staying in a hotel, don’t forget to factor in walking time or how long an Uber takes. Taking our example, you should be arriving at around 7:15am.
Don’t forget to factor in how long it will take you to get to the park. If you’re an hour away from the park and you’re driving there, you should budget to leave your place at 5:30am - using our example desired arrival time of 7:30am, assuming you drive, plan to park in the structure, and that you're an hour away from Anaheim.

*** You may be reading this and saying to yourself, this is ridiculous! Jason, are you kidding me? But you HAVE to trust me on this, as getting to the park early is the best way to beat the lines. The reason this strategy works so well is because families with kids and old people can't wake up early (try waking up a 6 year old at 5am). Most of the people usually trickle in the late morning, and then the crowds start to grow after that.

If you get nothing else from this guide, just remember that the earlier you get to the park, the more things you'll be able to do, and the better your day will be.

On The Day

The day is finally here! You and your friends are really excited to go to the park but now you’re not sure on how to tackle it. What should I do first, and in what order? When should I eat lunch? The list of questions goes on and on. The general rule of thumb is that you want to be fast walking as much as you can. You might not like this, but if you snooze, you lose. I personally like to tackle all the rides in the morning, and then “chill” in the afternoon when the lines are long. However, this really depends on you.

The important thing here is that this plan I’m outlining is only a structure that you should follow - you may or may not need to modify this depending on you or your group’s needs. You don’t need to stick to this exactly, but you do want to get the general idea.

IF YOU AREN'T PAYING FOR GENIE+
The general plan is that you want to designate someone in your group as the “runner” - this person should be able to walk consistently fast throughout the day and is trustworthy. Let's say there's Ride 1 and Ride 2 that you want to go on, and Ride 1 has a higher wait time than Ride 2. How it works is that as you wait in line for Ride 2, the “runner” will hop in the line for Ride 1. If this all works correctly, then your group will be done with Ride 2 and you can hop in line with the "runner" in Ride 1. Then, rinse and repeat.

Try to eat lunch before the lunchtime rush (about 12pm-2pm) or eat the snacks you bought while you’re in line. Also, if you want to watch a show or a parade, factor that into your schedule as those happen at specific times. If you’re trying to watch a show, get there early as seats fill up fast. If you go too late, you’ll get a spot that isn’t optimal and then you won’t be able to see much.

If you’ve followed my plan and have gotten to the turnstiles before the park opens, you’ll have to wait to get into the park. Once the park attendants start letting people in, you want to make a beeline to the next “checkpoint”. What I mean by checkpoint is that you won’t be able to advance further into the park because the employees are blocking it off with a section of rope, When it reaches opening time, the rope drops and you are free to explore as you please.

Usually people tend to leave after the fireworks/World of Color/Fantasmic, so there’s usually a big mob heading towards the trams to get out of the park. If you wanted to do some shopping, this is the time to do it. However, I would recommend waiting a little before you start heading out as waiting behind the horde of people usually makes you feel more tired.

Plan for Disneyland Park

With the implementation of Genie+ and the discontinuation of Fastpass, the strategy has changed. This Reddit megathread is very helpful to read. Basically, Lightning Lane is a "Fastpass". Only some attractions offer Lightning Lane and you can only use Lightning Lane once per ride per day. You can only get one Lightning Lane every 2 hours or after you use a current Lighting Lane reservation.

Rise of the Resistance, Spider-Man: Web Slingers, and Radiator Springs Racers are part of LL, but they're excluded from the criteria above since you have to pay extra to ride them. It can range from $12-$20 for each, depending on the time of day and the demand.

Once they let the rope down, try your best to follow this plan (depending on what you want to see or ride):

Go straight towards the Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run while keeping an eye out on wait times. You’ll see that people will head straight towards Rise of the Resistance, but this is NOT what you want to do. The reason being that everyone else has the same idea, and then the line increases very quickly. One time, I was literally the first person to get past the barrier and the wait time was already 100 minutes. Waiting in that line would not be a good use of your time. BUT, if you're able to run fast enough then I would do that first.
Then, go towards Space Mountain and consider making your next LL reservation. Depending on how wait times are looking, if the standby time for Indiana Jones or the Matterhorn is low, I would tackle those. If not, use your LL on those two and explore the rest of the park.
Go on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and plan your next LL (Rise of the Resistance or another ride). At this point, some of the "more lowkey but still popular" rides will start having a long wait time, so you'll want to alternate LL reservations and standby waiting depending on how the day is going. Usually these rides are Haunted Mansion, Star Tours, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, and Pirates of the Caribbean.
Check off anything else you haven't done yet and start filling in the gaps of rides you want to go on but haven’t been on yet. I would recommend getting on Rise of the Resistance at this point, since the ride is AMAZING.

*** Interchange as appropriate

You definitely want to watch the fireworks - the two main shows are the fireworks that happen at Cinderella Castle, or Fantasmic. I recommend both, but usually you can only watch one or the other because they usually happen at the same time. If it's your first time at the park, I recommend watching the fireworks at the castle as that’s the “classic” - but Fantasmic is also fantastic (ha ha, see what I did there). If somehow you still have energy at the end of the day, watching both is doable.

If your group is dead set on watching the fireworks, I would recommend waiting for a spot early - the best spot tends to be on Main Street closer to the castle. That way, you can see the fireworks and the lights and animations that go on the sides of the shops.

Food
Despite how overpriced the food is, I would get some of the things occasionally - I like some things more than others, but this comes down to personal preference.

Turkey legs - You’ll want to try these. The legs are humongous and this is actually one of the food items that has good value. The leg is simply just meat and grease but it tastes very, very good. The stall's location may vary, but you can usually find them in Frontierland.
Dole Whip - This is a Disneyland classic! The Dole Whip float is what you’ll want to get as it is decorated with a little umbrella. Prepare for a very pineapple-y ice cream and juice.
Other items - Popcorn, garlic twists, churros, etc.

Plan for Disney California Adventure

DCA is a little smaller than Disneyland and the whole park can definitely be done in a day. When you get inside the park, you want to be running towards one of the rides that requires a paid LL as FAST as you can. This is because the standby wait time for the most popular rides can get to at LEAST 1.5 hours at any given time of the day.

Go to either Radiator Spring Racers or Web Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure. It depends on your group's preference, but RSR has a single-rider line. If your group is down to split up for 1 ride, I would go to Web Slingers first
Consider going on Toy Story Midway Mania or Guardians of the Galaxy and get a LL, The line for these two rides gets really long later on in the day, so I would pick one and get the LL for the other.
Go on Soarin’ Around the World or the Incredicoaster, and then go on Goofy’s Sky School/Grizzly River Run and then start filling in the gaps on rides you haven’t been on yet. Most of the time, Soarin' has a really long wait time no matter what time of the day it is, but the Incredicoaster has a single rider line.

*** Interchange as appropriate

I highly recommend watching World of Color, as I like to think of the show as the Bellagio water show in Vegas on steroids crossed with a rave. It’s tastefully done and it’s very impressive. For this, you’ll want to get a good area to sit because you want an ideal spot to see everything.

Food
Sadly, I don’t eat much food at DCA so I don't have much input here. But, some people like the food at DCA better than at Disneyland.

Conclusion

Hopefully you’ve read through this entire guide of Disneyland tips without feeling too overwhelmed! If you follow this guide pretty closely, you should be done with all of the major attractions by midday and have the rest of the day to “relax” and just enjoy the atmosphere. However, this plan requires you and your group to have high stamina and the ability to criss-cross the park to get Fastpasses. If you follow even some aspects of this guide, your day at the park should be slightly better!

If you have any other Disneyland tips or tricks, please don’t hesitate to send them my way. Until next time!

Introduction
Useful Information
Planning Your Day
On the Day
Plan for Disneyland Park
Plan for Disney California Adventure
Related Posts

Long-Distance Driving

Long-distance driving is not easy when you need to stay awake for a long time. Check out all my guide on how to prepare for one!

TRAVELING AROUND THE WORLD ON A BUDGET

Ever wondered how you could travel all around the world without spending too much money? Take a look at all my tips and tricks in the four part guide!