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?
I agree with a lot of the other posts… but I wanted to add that I use a sharpie to write my cell number right onto my kids arms in plain view. I don’t put names or anything on them… but I think it’s important for the number to be in plain sight if they get lost… people might not remember to look for a phone number pinned to the inside of clothing… and if they get wet and you change them, you might forget to transfer the info! I also right the number on the inside of their arm so that my pictures are all “number free”. :o)
I don’t think I would have ever thought of that.
@Jessica Fisher, haha, i’ve written on my son’s belly before….
Visit a dollar store to get
1) princess gear (wand, crown, etc). The girls at Disneyland are all dressed up, and there’s a lot of pressure (from daughters) to buy $25+ items.
2) glow sticks, glow bracelets, glow anything! The boys and girls will love these for the evening parades and you’ll save $5/kid!
3) photo album to gather autographs & a sharpie. (The character will sign on the blank/empty photograph page. Once you’re home, you can simply print out the photos of the kiddo/character, slide into the autograph book, and viola! a complete kid friendly scrapbook).
Use an ID necklace or safetypin ID info or sticker ID info onto the backs of the kiddos. In case ANYONE gets lost, there will be a phone number to call. Remind the kiddos if anyone gets lost, look for a MOM to help! “Because a mom will know what to do!” 🙂
Wear matching colors (i.e. green shirts) for ease in recognizing those in your group AND great family photos!
Allie
OH i forgot about one of the best things worth the money…If you can afford it do the minnie and friends character breakfast! Its pricey but you see LOTS of characters and have LOTS of fun picture opportunities!
That usually helps my kids not need to wait in line for every character they see along the street 🙂
Hi I dont usually leave blog comments but since we have been doing disney for 6 years now with young children I have a few things that have seemed to help out many of my friends. My kids are almost 7, 6 and 4! We have been taking them since the first one was 2! I never felt anyone was to young we have always had a great time!
The best part for us is my parents are annual pass holders so they always go and my mom is more than willing to hold little ones so us grown ups can have some fun too!
I would definatly reccomend more than one day, espicially with kids! If you feel like you HAVE to fit everything in in one day it becomes stressfull and not fun!
Take snacks, juice boxes, water bottles you can put all of this stuff under your stroller and it really saves on the munching budget!
Fast passes are good if you use them right! When we go we usually head to fantasy land first (be there when the park opens) daddy runs over to space mountain with all the tickets and gets fast passes then meets us back at fantasy land. We always hit peter pan first that line is miserable later in the day… Fast passes have a good to use time and an end time…you do not have to use it by the time on the pass you just cant use it before! and you can get another fast pass after the experation time even if you have not used the first one yet! They dont tell you that but trust me we do it that way everytime! and we always use everyones tickets to get fast passes even if some dont plan on riding that way we have extras to ride again later if we want since the time doesnt REALLY expire 🙂
The line at the princess fantasy fair in the back of the park is soooo not worth the wait there are usually only 3 or 4 princesses and they rush you through pretty quick, you can however watch the show and my little girls really like that
A good time to hit some of the longer lines is during a parade lines are shorter then and also during fire works if you dont plan on sitting for them…if you do and want a good seat people start sitting for parades and fireworks up to 2 hours before they start…good time to sit with the little one in a stroller napping and let the bigger ones take turns with you and dad on different rides!
When it comes to souvineers…we tell our kids they can get one thing on the last day of our visit so to be looking and deciding what they want! They have never complained and are always so happy to take something home!
Im sure there is alot more but this is the longes comment ever so… have fun!
We always go over christmas people think we are crazy i guess its one of the busiest times of the year, but we have hardly waited more than 20 minutes for a single ride…on occasion the lines may be a little longer but not on average! and remember whatever they say the wait is is usually 5-10 minutes more than the truth i think they think it makes you happier to wait less than you expected 🙂
Great suggestions. Thank you. Fast Passes are a foreign concept to me, so I better study up!
thriftyandthriving.com has an ongoing series of Disney as she plans a trip as well. Also happyhousewife had a series a while back. Both great sources of info.
Have fun!
Choose some sit down attractions to do throughout the day. When you enter the park you can find the schedule for shows and parades, and there are various attractions that just involve sitting down and watching (Tiki Room at Disney, Muppet Show at Cali Adventure for example). It’s a way of taking a break from walking, without taking a break from doing something fun.
With the big age gap, you may want to split up at some points and take the younger and older kids on different rides. My parents used to do this, my father taking me and my older bro on Splash Mountain while little sis and bro hit up some of the Fantasy Land attractions with Mom. It kept everyone happy.
Another tip from my parents: dole out pocket money at the beginning of the day, and have that be it. Then leave it up to the kids whether that will be spent on snacks or souveneirs or games. It’s a good lesson in money management, and it will curb the constant “can i get that?”
Plan out meals ahead of time. Consider packing a lunch (there are lockers near the entrance to store it). There are plenty of places to get burgers or pizza, but if you want something less greasy, consider restaurants. If you want to go to one of the restaurants in the parks or Downtown Disney, make reservations. (I’m fond of the Wine Country Trattoria at California Adventure). Another option – New Orleans Square has some of the better park food, like clam chowder or gumbo.
My last tip – come up with games you can play in line. Twenty questions, for example. Or there’s one where you choose a theme (e.g. animals) and each person has to name something following the theme using the last letter of whatever the previous person said (e.g. 1st person says cat, second person says turtle, third person says elephant, and so on).
Have fun!
DEFINITELY, BRING YOUR OWN LUNCHES… DON’T spend all your hard earned souvenir money on food! We pack our Munchin plenty of snacks & a lunch. Hubby & I nosh on hearty snacks (ie. beef jerky, granola bars, trail mix) to hold us over. We eat a good breakfast @ home or on the way & only choose one inexpensive meal to eat in the park (we like the buffet on Main St. or for a quick meal any of the spots that offer a kids meal… I get a kids meal too!). Freeze waters the night before & pack in the stroller, that brings me to the next one… BRING YOUR OWN STROLLER ! I’m sure like most of us your stroller is much comfier & cleaner than those rentals & half your kids are old enough that it would be a waste since they’ll just be getting out @ every ride.
Finally, if your kids have decided they want to collect the trading pins throughout the park, by them online beforehand. A starter set is $30 in the park… Yikes! We got my daughter hers on Craiglist for $10 w/ pins. Ebay has quite a few, just give yourself time to find a deal.
I hope these budget friendly tips help your family have a good time & have money to burn. Next time I can tell you how we visit SeaWorld & only spend $20 ALL DAY for a family of 3. That includes lunch, popcorn during the Shamu show & each of our fav. treats (a Churro for our 4 yr. old, & frozen lemonade for us).
These are my thought exactly. It feels so much better to have healthy cheaper food along with you. We told each of our children that they could pick one treat to buy as a snack in the park, and it worked great!
Have you checked into the So. CA “Give a Day, Get a Day” promotion? Volunteer a day and get a free day in the park. Have fun!
PACK SNACKS AND WATER!!!! They don’t care if you bring in outside food and the stroller is the perfect place for it all. We even went one evening after work and stopped off at Subway for some sandwiches and took 10 of them into the park (no hiding them either) and it was fine!
I have not been to Disneyland since I was a child, but have made many trips to Disney World. Our kids are all spread out: 27, 17 and 10. The first trip was with a 12 year old and almost 3 year old. We always stay on site and use the bus shuttles. I always took a fold up umbrella stroller when the kids were young. These travel well on the bus and boats and are a necessity when the little ones get tired for awhile and just want to jump in to ride awhile. Also, I always add a backpack full of snacks and water bottles. The food does get old and the parks and snacks are high cost. I toss this in the stroller when we ride the rides. In all the years no one has bothered anything we have left on our stroller. (Obviously we didn’t leave any valuables!) Our daughter got an autograph book and has added to it each year. Remember to bring your own pen!
The onsite hotels we have stayed at are the Caribbean Beach, Pop Century and the Yacht Club. The later only because of a conference my husband attended. We love Pop Century for the kids. We always do Park Hopper passes. We can hop from park to park during the day and avoid crowded rides. Utilize the park maps and plan your day a little bit. We take advantage of buying whole pizzas for dinner and stocking a fridge with milk, water bottles. I also pack a checked bag with granola bars and other snack items so we aren’t always buying expensive snacks at the park. Hope this helps! It truly is a magical place.
Thanks for the tips, Leigh!
Thank you for the opportunity to share our experiences about Disney. I had the best time reminiscing and going through pictures of our trip. It was almost as fun as the trip itself! I hope my post tomorrow gives you some insight and good information. I made sure to put a link back to your site. Thanks again!
Janine