Our Family's Tips to Make Your Time at Disneyland the Best It Can Be
Heading to Disneyland Soon? Our family just returned from a Disneyland trip and we compiled a list of 11 tips we think everyone should know when visiting the park. Lots of tips about food, logistics, and where to go for a restful moment.
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Our Family’s Favorite Tips to Make Your Disneyland Time Amazing
Make any dining reservations for sit-down restaurants 60 days ahead of your trip. Some of our favorites at Disneyland at Cafe Orleans (gumbo & Monte Cristo sandwich) and The Blue Bayou. In California Adventure we like Carthey Circle for a fancier meal and Lamplight Lounge for nachos and burgers.
Relax and rejuvenate yourself in the lobby of the Grand Californian Hotel. The lobby is open to anyone - you don’t need to be a hotel guest. It’s majestic and beautiful. They have a live pianist playing Disney songs throughout the day!
A Be Real moment while I was relaxing in the Grand Californian Lobby
3. Take advantage of mobile food ordering. This can be done for any order at the counter restaurant in both of the Disneyland Resort Parks. Tap on '“mobile food orders’ from the home screen of the app to see all of the restaurants near you and throughout the parks. Click on the time window you’d like to pick up your food and then place your order. This is a great way to avoid waiting in lines for your food. Some of our favorites are Bengal BBQ, Corn Dog Castle at California Adventure (get the spice corn dog!), and Ronto Roasters in Star Wars Land.
4. This is worth repeating. Don’t skip the Spicey Corn Dog at the Corn Dog Castle at California Adventure. It’s my husband’s favorite food in the park. It’s located in Paradise Pier by Goofl’s Sky School.
5. Order free water cups. All of the quick-service food locations will give you free cups of water. We always get them with our meals but will also stop and just ask for a cup of water if we need one. This saves us from needing to carry water bottles around with us.
6. Visit the Golden Horseshoe Restaurant and order the seasonal ice cream treat. Everytime we’ve gones, it’s been amazing. On our most recent trip it was a cookie dough ice cream sundae with cookie butter and churros. So good!
Enjoying our Churro Sundaes after eating at Bengal BBQ (note our free water cups!)
7. Two days is all you need. If you want to visit both Disneyland Parks, two days is a great amount of time. If you arrive early and get the Genie+ pass, then you should be able to do all you want to do.
8. We think the Genie+ Pass is worth it. It currently costs an additional $25 per person per day to add this to your ticket. It allows you to book times to go on rides and get in the short Lightening Lanes. As a bonus, you get any pictures that are taken by a professional photographer loaded into your Disneyland app. You can download these pictures and add them to your camera roll.
Arriving at DL for the rope drop meant that we were one of the first in line for Rise of the Resistance
9. Be at the park for the rope drop. Check out my linked post below (How to Beat the Crowds at Disneyland) to hear all of the ins and outs to maximize your time in the parks without standing in long lines all day.
Here are a few more of my podcast episodes + show notes you can check out to give you more ideas on how to make your trip to Disneyland the best!
My Best Times to Sprinkle Some Magic in Your Next Disneyland Trip