Tips for Disneyland

www.ridemax.com was the best $15 I have ever spent. It's a simple program that allows you to plan ahead and minimize wait time. We went during a peak time and did not wait for *anything* longer than 7 minutes. Seriously. No whining, no fussing, no sunburns, no standing around with the map saying "Sooo, what do you wanna do next?" It was great and helped us preserve energy for enjoying each other. You can schedule breaks and everything, and learn to strategize with teh FastPass system so you will not wait for anything. The tips that come with RideMax are worth the price alone. I felt like I was in a different park than the crowds of people around me becuase we just walked on to everything and were having a rest and a swim at the hotel when thousands of other people were waiting, waiting, waiting. Check it out, especially if you have limited time there and want to maximize your vacation.
A travel agent recently told me the Fairfield across the street is the nicest of the Good Neighbor hotels and very family friendly, and the Desert Palms is also a good choice because it is as close as an official Disney hotel but cheaper and has family units that include fridge, micro and bunk beds for kids.
Have fun!

1 mom found this helpful

I used to live there (and worked in Downtown Disney). I can't say too much about accomodations because of that. My parents stayed at an inn by the block of Orange which was really nice and had 2 room suites with a kitchen but I can't remember the name and it would be a bus ride to the park on public transpotation (fairly short but there is a change of busses). I can tell you the Best Western right across from the park is trashy (inside). Other than that I could only tell you which ones up and down by the park that looked in disprepair.
Fastpass is the way to go. Especially for really popular rides like Splash Mountain. If you plan on going on Splash Mountain- Get your fast pass first thing but warning it may be the only fast pass you get all day because you can only have one fast pass at any time.
Thanksgiving is great because they are still doing the Nightmare Before Christmas in the Haunted Mansion. It's a little less scary and the desserts in New Orleans Square are the best. I used to pop into the park just to pick one up. They are huge too.
I would do the character breakfast. A little pricy but the food is good and it's a lot of fun. Make reservations if you go. If you plan to eat at Rainforest Cafe (where I used to work) also make reservations. I saw a 3 hour wait many nights.
There is a discount disney merch store in Fullerton. It's a short bus ride north of the park. Items are park items and are 30-75% off. It's the Disney CHaracter warehouse in Orange Park Mall (actually a strip mall and I believe near Sonic)
I would also fly into John Wayne if possible. It's right in Orange County (by Costa Mesa) and it's like shopping at a strip mall at Christmas rather than an Mall (LAX).
In the park- Fantasyland is most crowded in the morning because parents with kids head there first. CA Adventure is small and can be done in a day. Don't try to switch parks in the middle of the day, you will be waiting in a horrendously long line. If you are thinking of switching parks, look out the gate before you go. You can see one park from the other.
Stay for Fantasmic if you can, it's an awesome show but might be a little scary to the little ones at parts. But like all Disney movies, the good guy wins at the end.

We stayed at the Del sol inn anaheim across the street which was so nice to not wait for a shuttle at the end of the day. We have also stayed at the desert inn and suites. The rooms are under about $100. Be there when the park opens and take snacks, put milk, cereal, hot cocao and instant oatmeal in you fridge and microwave at the hotel. We ate out only once a day and did the continental breakfast nd snacks the rest of the time. Have fun!

Hit the Wal-Mart before you go in the park. Get fruit chews, your own popcorn, licorice, granola bars AND A CHANGE OF CLOTHES if you are going on wet rides. Put them in backpacks or a stroller. You can enter the park with anything BUT a cooler.

Imagine spending a whole day standing in line with nothing to do but look at the ride, and all of the vendors around you. $8 for a bowl of soup, $5 for a 32oz. popcorn, and $60 for sweats/socks and a t-shirt after a particularly wet ride on splash mountain. $3 for a hot chocolate, and $60 for a "Grumpy" jacket when it got unseasonably cold in the evening. I have just saved you $600 in two days.

Recap: Backpack, bring your own snacks, extra clothes. Go home happy with stuff you actually intended to buy...

I do not know a whole lot about Disneyland, but as I regular DisneyWorld guest I can pass on tips about Disney in general. I would go right after Thanksgiving if you can as most people will try to be there over the holiday. Also try to plan to be at the park on weekdays instead of weekends to avoid alot of the local crowds. We always packed lots of snacks and atleast one meal of sandwiches to keep costs down. You can carry this around in the stroller or get a locker. A backpack that holds a drink bladder is great to keep people hydrated without buying drinks all day. The counter service meals will be the same price for lunch and dinner, but the restaurants will be cheaper during the day.
I would suggest that if you have little kids that you stay as close to grounds as possible. On grounds is the best, but you might pay for the extra convience. Disney is really trying to offer budget accomendations so you might actually find the best deal on grounds. Plus if you stay in one of their hotels you will not have to pay for parking or transportation to the parks. I know DisneyWorld even provides transportation to and from the airport for free, so that eliminates a rental car too. All the Disney hotels are very family oriented so you will not have to worry about the others guests like at a "budget" hotel.

If you are interested in watching the parades line up really early. We usually picked a spot an hour early and eat a late lunch while we waited. If you are not interested in the parades that is a great time to hit the big rides as the lines will be shorter. Take avantage of baby swap if you have little kids too. It will really help with having to wait in line.
The last thing we did was to give everyone a budget ($100 for example) and that was their spending money for the whole trip. The meals and snacks were covered, but extra treats, toys and souveniers were their responsibility. This really helped to keep from going overboard on trinkets.

I hope you have a great time and say Hi to Mickey for me 8-)

We took our kids last October to Disneyland (this year we're going to DisneyWorld) and the best advice I found was at www.mousesavers.com It's mostly geared towards DisneyWorld, but there is an entire section on Disneyland that is VERY helpful. It tells you the best (and worst) times to go, how to navigate the park, etc. Be careful of non-Disney hotels that say they are "a few blocks" from the parks because while technically they may be, it's not alwasy easy to walk to the park. If you really want to walk, then stay at a Disney property, otherwise rent a car if you fly.

I'm not sure how old your kids are, but our kids were 3 and 5 when we went and so we'd eat breakfast before hitting the park when it opened, eat lunch at the park and then leave around 7 pm and get dinner before heading back to the hotel. It's VERY expensive to eat inside the park (tips for saving money on park food is on MouseSavers.com) so that save a lot of $$$.

Also, the best place to meet Disney Characters is at the Back Lot at California Adventure. They were always out and about there. We went to both parks for a total of 5 days and it was the best experience ever!!! I hope you have as good as experience as we did.

We went to Disneyland just last month. We stayed at the Doubletree and had a 2 queen bed suite for only $129 per night. It adjoined with our California relatives' suite. We got that price by my calling the hotel directly and negotiating a price lower than what the travel agent had already negotiated for us. Also, there's a low cost city-run shuttle that we used and it made things very simple. No parking hassles. We could have walked from the hotel, but with two young children, it was better to take the shuttle. They liked the bus ride, too.

Also, I agree about RIDEMAX software. Even though we didn't really use the schedule, the tips were amazing and so helpful. I did enough variations on the schedule that we used it in a more general way and it still worked great! We used lots of FastPasses and the tips from RIDEMAX about how to use FastPass. I think the longest wait we had was 15-20 minutes on 1 or 2 rides max. Best $15 (cost of the software) I ever spent.

Have fun!

we stayed at the annabell and I have to be honest I wasn't impressed in fact we had them move us the first time to another room the first one smelt so badly of smoke I couldn't breathe. we had specified non smoking.
we went with one less bed than we had booked and they reimbursed us for it but we wouldn't stay there again. I would stay in one of the disney resorts when we go again, at disney world we were in a resort and it made a huge difference for travel time and getting in and out of the park. We also set up a predetermined budget for each of us to spend at Disney on souveneirs. we took two of my brothers who were teenagers at the time, my dh and I and our little girl. everyone knowing what they could spend helped us to stay in budget but still get some fun suveneirs there. I was really surprised at the minimal cost of lots of the stuff there, like the tea set we got my dd was cheaper than any I had found here at home--and I'd been looking for a while.
we had 3 phones with us to make sure that when we split up not only did we have a meet time scheduled but that we had phones to call each other if for instance there was a longer wait at a ride than anticipated and going to get on at the time of the meet to let the others know to wait and we were on our way, it helped aleviate a lot of the stresses of not knowing where people were and giving the freedom to split up a bit too. (of course the boys were teenagers so that made a difference but dh and I split up a few times as well) I hope you have fun!

We have to fly in also and have to plan for a pressed amount of time.
We have gone there a few times and are planning another trip ourselves. We have stayed at a hotel that was right across the street from the main enterance - was a great location! We are going to go through Costco to buy our tickets as they were a great deal there! I have flown into John Wayne airport and it is small with no crowds. If I were you I would plan the trip for a little later such as January - we've always gone then and have never bought the fast pass and have never waited in line more than 10 minutes. We've seen all the characters as they are always around and the weather is normally in the 70's! There are 2 rides there that were closed at this time: small world and haunted mansion. These were never a big deal to us as we got in all the other rides. If you stay at a good neighbor hotel or disney hotel you also get to go in the park 1 hour before it officially opens. There are books at the book store about planning your trip there we did that the first time but just do some heavy duty internet searching... stuff like disneyland secrets, how to plan a disneyland trip, disneyland discounts.... whatever you can think of google it! Also the early morning toontown honored guest party is so fun! The kids loved it! Babyswap is great - it's where if you stand in line and 1 kid can't go on the ride the rest of the people go and you wait. When your family comes back the other adult takes the child who can't go and you and the other kid can go ahead of everyone. basically like "cutting" or like the fastpass... Good Luck!

We also used the Ridemax software and it was definetly worth the money. Especially going in the summer when it was super busy. The only day we really didn't use it was at California Adventure. We were way ahead of schedule that day because of short lines so we were able to ride things many times.

Also since you have girls if they want to see the princesses for photo ops make sure you get in line for that attraction right when the park opens. You stand in line but then you get to have autographs and pictures with at least 3 princesses. My girls definetly thought it was great. The boys were a little bored but if your son doesn't want to see the princesses you could divide and have your husband take him on a ride.

The other major money saver tip I have is to pack lunch or leave the park for lunch. Prices at the park are very expensive. We took an insulated backpack and carried a lunch. We just put it in our stroller but you can rent lockers. There are picnic areas on Tom Sawyer Island and also outside the main gate.

The other tip I would say is to look for souveniers before you go. Even Walmart carries Disney t-shirts so I bought all my kids t-shirts at Walmart. My girls I bought princess dresses from E-bay and Kid to kid. Then we did buy build your own lightsabers at the park and the Mickey Hats with their names.

Have a fun trip.

Disneyland is my favorite place in the world! We've taken our children several times and it's always spectacular. A couple years ago we went with a cousin who was not familiar with all the characters (Peter Pan, the Chipmunks, Alice, etc.) and so much of it was lost on her. I'd suggest you go online and look at the ride titles, then make sure your kids know those movies. It'll make the experience more meaningful. Also, take time to watch the parades. Disney parades make other parades pale. Have FUN!!!

The best Disneyland advice we ever got was to be there when it opens! It is SO worth getting there and getting in a few less crowded hours. Get right on the most popular rides first thing. Then go back to your hotel for naps in the afternoon (if you have little ones or maybe even if not!) then come back to enjoy evening/night time. That's what's nice about a close hotel.
The other thing is to take advantage of the fastpass!! It's so dumb not to!
Have a plan for each day. Know where you're headed and what you're doing. Hop online and read to your heart's content on any number of websites that give schedules, tips, advice and don't forget trip advisor.
Have a great time!!!