Disneyland Do’s and Don’ts: What’s YOUR Disneyland Advice?
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I grew up as a Disneyland girl. My dad was — and still is — a kid when it came to Mickey, Donald, and roller coasters. His excitement about a day at “the Happiest Place on Earth” was contagious. And we were raring to go whenever he said so. We lived about an hour’s drive away and made a trip every year. This was back in the days of E-tickets, so that tells you how old I am. There were no such things as Speed Passes or early entrance times.
Although Disneyland was a regular experience of my childhood, my children have never been. Yes, it’s true. For awhile the excuse was that they were too young, then we lived too far away, then we were in debt. Well, the excuse-making is over. Our kids are aged 12, 9, 7, 5, 3, and 1. We live an hour away. And the debt is gone.
It’s time.
But, before we go, I thought I would put out a call for help. The last time Fish and I went to Disneyland was 1996. We were newlyweds – no children. We have no clue how to do Disneyland. That’s where YOU come in! I know a lot of you have great wisdom as to best tackle such a monumental event. And the rest of you are clueless along with me.
So, this week is the FishMama Two Day Disney Extravaganza:
Tomorrow I’ll have Mr Linky up for you to share your Disney posts (Disneyland, Disneyworld, EuroDisney, Disney HongKong, DisneyTokyo). I think it would be so fun to tour the parks with you!
Today tell me your Do’s and Don’ts about Disneyland. What would you do? What would you avoid?
It’s free to use a Disney travel agent (like me) and if you purchase a package and a better deal comes out- your agent will get it applied to your price! I’ve been able to take off $1000 for a client. And they’ll know lots of tips and tricks!
I discovered you on a list of one of the “tweeters” I follow, so I decided to drop by. Glad I did ‘cuz we’re going to Orlando later this year and we have no idea what we’re getting into. LOL! Housing is scheduled but that’s it.
I went to Disney (CA) when I was 5. I obviously don’t remember that, although I do remember “It’s a Small World”. I went to Disney (FL) when I was 10 and don’t even remember that (except that I remember seeing the “skeleton” of the Spaceship Earth at Epcott). I remember MANY other things about that trip to FL though.
My kids will be 16, 11, and 7 when we go. I wonder what they will remember?
Only been to Land twice but been to World many, many times. My tips would be: bring own stroller, pack your own food (only limits are no glass and no alcohol), get there 20min before park opening, set a souvenier/treat limit in advance, become an expert on FastPass and ParentSwap and have fun! The “Unofficial Guide” is a good book as are the websites at http://www.allears.net and http://www.mousesavers.com. There is also a discussion forum at http://www.disboards.com, it is more World focused but they do have a subforum on Land.
I grew up 20 minutes from Disneyland and was a cast member while it was under construction to become “The Disneyland Resort”. You can read my insider tips on my blog.
http://mamakatz.blogspot.com/2010/03/doing-disneyland-without-losing-your.html
I have enjoyed reading all of the advice here! We go to Disneyland every year (pretty much) and have lots of advice…
The message boards at http://www.mouseplanet.com and http://www.miceage.com have been invaluable to me. I can’t remember which one, but one of them has a primer for how to use the Disneyland fastpass system to your greatest advantage. The advice is wonderful!
My suggestion is to look at the schedules online on the DL site before you go and plan out your days with parades and shows. Almost everything takes twice or three times as long as you think it will–take the fireworks or parades for example–people start finding seats and saving their spots for hours ahead of time, so if you want a good spot you might want to scope out when the best time to have someone in your party wait for them. Trying to do all of the parades, shows, etc in the same day isn’t possible, so either choose which ones you want to do, or plan one or two for each day to ensure you get to the ones you want to go to. Some of them are also dark on certain days, so it’s good to check ahead in case you really want to see the Pixar parade the one day it isn’t operating.
I also do this with food–we have restaurants we love inside of DL–Cafe Orleans has these awesome garlic fries and Mickey beignets, etc. so I make a plan for where we’re going to eat and make reservations ahead of time. There’s nothing worse than having it be mealtime and trying to figure out where you’re going to eat when everyone is tired and cranky and hungry.
Just did Disneyland with my three and five year old in Jan. Definitely take your own stroller. We had traveled from Alabama and planned to rent a double stroller only to find there were only singles available at DL (WDW has double ones).
If you have Photopass pictures taken, don’t bother standing in line at the park to view your pictures. You can view them online from home, and though a bit pricey, you can purchase a CD with as many pictures as you want plus a copyright release for around $50 (keep looking at the deals listed on the Photopass site; they change). I made all my edits (fancy borders, etc) and added the edited pictures to the disc before purchase. Again, it’s pricey, but this was a once in a lifetime trip with my husband’s entire family, and we wanted some professional shots to go with our candids. You can also pay for individual prints, but you’d get to $50 pretty quickly that way.
Don’t forget to tell the ticket agents that it’s a first visit for your children. My children were given free “first visit” buttons. Truth is, I sorta wish I had gotten one myself! 🙂
I found Mickey cameras for around $3.00 at Target that we brought for our Feb trip last month along with a $3.00 princess Belle wand that lights up (perfect for the parades). We surprised our daughter with them and was amazed at how much fun she had being a photographer like mommy!
Oh my! I just looked at your photo and realized I have the exact same Mickey and Minnie mouse fabric dolls…..just got them out of the attic in fact for my little girl! 🙂 Too funny!
if youre planning on parking in the structure- you will take a shuttle to the park entrance. Its great except for one thing- you have to fold your stroller up on the tram. So if youre like me and have food, jackets and beanies (It gets cold at night) you have to take it all out to collapse the stroller…… pack everything in reusable grocery bags so they can easily be slung over your shoulder on the tram and then stuffed in the under stroller baskets once you get to the entrance. Have fun :).