Disneyland Tips and Tricks for the non Magic Key Holder (Part 1- Navigating the Parks)

This is part of a 4 part series. You can find the full series of posts here:

Part 1: Navigating the Parks

Part 2: Genie+

Part 3: Things I used a lot in the Parks

Part 4: Ways to save money at Disneyland

Since we don't go to Disneyland very often, I find that how we do Disneyland is much different than now my friends who have annual passes do Disney. I try to get as much done and be as efficient as possible during my time there, while my friends who can go whenever they want may just go after work, have dinner, ride a ride and watch the fireworks :) So I thought I'd share some things I found helpful in making my time at Disneyland (with kids) enjoyable and productive.

First things first- you need to buy your tickets and make a reservation ahead of time! Choose the dates once you buy your tickets. If you show up without reservations and they are full that day, you'll be out of luck. Gone are the good old days where you can buy your ticket at the booth. Once you buy your tickets, they should link to your Disney account (make one before you buy your tickets) and link them to your Disneyland app. Right now (early 2024) Disneyland is offering the 3 day SoCal deal starting at $225 and a 3 day child pass for $150!

Rope Drop at Disneyland- This is everyone trying to make their way to Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance

Now for the tips:

1. Get there early! If your kids are like mine, they are usually up early anyway. The first 2 hours are especially magical at the parks (both Disneyland and California Adventures). Most of the lines are short, there are a ton of characters walking out and about, and there are barely any lines for pictures. Parking lots open 1 hour before the park open. Since Disneyland opened at 8 am when we were there, we arrived at the parking lot around 6:55, and were able to get in quickly as they let cars in at 7:00 am. When you exit the parking lot, you go through security before they let you onto the tram, and by the time you scan into the actual park itself it is usually about 35 minutes from the time you park your car to the time you actually enter the park.

2. Once you enter the park, they allow you into the main street area, but not into the actual lands. People gather near the land they want to enter, so have an idea where you want to start your day, and go in that direction. If you want to ride Rise of the Resistance at Disneyland, or Radiator Springs Racers in California Adventures, I'd highly recommend you'd start with those because the wait times for those just get longer as the day goes on and those lightning lanes are not included in Genie+ and require an additional fee on top (more on genie+ in part 2). When 8:00 hits, the "rope drops" and everyone just rushes into the lands where they want to go.

3. Try to get as much done in those first 2 hours. Those are golden times, in addition to the last hour before closing. Since I have younger kids, we never make it that long, but my friends (and app) tell me it's prime time after fireworks as well, so you're in luck if you're a night owl!

4. Download the Disneyland app and look at the general wait times the few days before you go so you can get a sense of what to expect. The wait times I feel are generally accurate, except when a ride is especially low- then people tend to flock there all at once, then elevating the time once you actually arrive at the ride, or if the ride seems to have a very long line, then no one wants to ride, and the wait time goes down pretty quickly.

5. If a ride shows that it's not currently available (but is not listed as closed for the day) and you happen to be walking by anyway, just check. Sometimes you get lucky and they may have just opened the ride but not updated the app yet. This happened for us with Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway and Webslingers, both highly desired rides with very short wait times!

6. If you're not picky about where to watch fireworks, don't watch on main street. it's incredibly crowded and claustrophobic. The kids were tired so we actually left early, but got an amazing view as we were leaving Downtown Disney area to go to our hotel!

7. Make dining reservations as early as you can if you want them (they open up 60 days in advance). If what you want isn't available, check back frequently (I would just check randomly if I was standing in line at the market). They do charge you if you don't cancel 2 hours before your reservation time, but it's very easy to modify or cancel your reservation prior to that.

8. If you don't make dining reservations, take advantage of mobile ordering ahead of time. You can choose the time that you want to pick up your food, so for the very popular restaurants (like Bengals BBQ which always has a long wait time), you can actually choose a future time frame and order 2 hours ahead for dinner time.

9. If you are going to watch a certain show, parade, fireworks or World of Color, check the schedule to make sure that they are actually planning to show it that day. World of Color is closed for a few weeks right now, so it's always good to double check. Fireworks are also weather dependent, so if it is too windy, they will not proceed.

10. P.S. Make sure you join the virtual queue on the Disneyland App for World of Color at 12:00. You don't need Genie+, just a valid ticket to California Adventures that day.