Hi Moms~
You have all helped me in the past so I thought I would come to you again for advice.
We are going on our first trip to Disneyland in a couple of weeks. I booked our hotel at a nice good neighbor hotel that has a full kitchen in it to hopefully help save money on food while we are there.
I am just looking for suggestion on going to Disneyland. Did you plan out your day of events and rides or just wing it day by day? Did you eat out a lot? Any advice on getting the most bang for my buck? Any advice is appreciated.
Thanks in advance!
We use the fast passes whenever we can. Other than that, we wing it. You have to try a Mint Julip drink. The Blue Boyou is awsome(beside/inside the Pirates of the Carribean ride),It is on the pricey side, but well worth it. Book reservations now. Just have fun. (Wish I was going with you.
In all our family vacations we have found when staying in hotels that just making breakfast and having snacks in the room is the way to go. Whenever you have to buy all the ingredients to make meals you end up spending more in the long run.
You should visit www.themeparkinsider.com They are the BEST at posting info on most all the parks you can imagine. They have the nicest people on there & don't hesitate to help someone, answer their questions, no matter how many times it's been asked. Some websites chew you out & make you feel dumb by asking questions but theme park insider doesn't do that at all. You can usually find all of your answers there from when to go, what to see & when, where to stay, etc. Hope this helps. Good luck & have a great time.
Our first trip we did plan it out, but if you are planning to go for several days, then after that first day, you can kind of go day by day. We bought breakfast stuff and would eat at our hotel in the morning, eat at the parks for lunch and then leave the property for dinner. I'm not sure where you are staying in Disneyland, but many of the hotels ar right across the street or around the corner from the main gates to Disneyland and California adventure. If you are staying in one of those, you could probably leave for lunch and go back to your room for lunch, and then go back to the park. The food is not great, it is more expensive than McDonalds, but it is edible and the kids seem to like it. You just have to judge how your family will like it.
Disneyland is not as hard to "plan" as Disney World because there are only 2 parks and downtown Disney. I would plan a full day for each park. Then, if you have a hopper pass, you can spend a portion of the day at both parks for any other days you plan to be there. Start in one area and move across the park. Don't go from one side to the other, that will take too much time away.
Go to Disneyland's web-site now...
...to see if there are any special events going on while you will be there. Plan your days accordingly.
...Check to see what, if any, rides are closed right now. That way you'll know not to even venture to them.
...Check height requirements for the rides. That way you will know in advance who is big enough for what ride. They offer a switch-out programs, where you don't have to stand in line separately to keep those who don't/can't ride a ride away. You all stand in line, then one parent goes and one stays with non-riders. As soon as that parent gets back, the other parent goes with the other one stays with the non-riders.
Unless you plan on going back to your hotel for all of your meals, you will need to plan at least one meal per day at the parks. You're looking at about $10 per adult meal and $6-7 for a child's meal. Advice there would be to eat a big breakfast, get a snack mid-day, then go back to the hotel for dinner. Honestly, I wouldn't make any grand plans for cooking too much. You are going to be just as exhausted as everyone else, then have to cook too!
Get a double stroller for the 6 and 4 year olds. They will get tired. Bad news about renting, you have to leave the stroller at the park. If you have a sleeping child, or one too tired to walk, you will have to carry them to your car. (and you're just as exhausted too, haha) I have hilarious pictures of my son and niece (5 and 4 at the time) splayed out in the stroller when we went to Disney World 2 years ago.
Go to Wal-Mart and buy lots of the cheap rain ponchos. You can find them in the camping section. They used to be 87 cents and were basically disposable. We always take at least 2 sets. I a set into my purse, then we have them if needed. If we use them, we trow them out then start with a new set the next day.
Disneyland is pretty small. It always helps to plan but I think you should be able to manage seeing all the park either way- especially if you are going to be there a few days. Disney World in Florida is a whole 'nother story!!! For that one you need the Unofficial Guide to Disney and a plan! Have fun.
As to the meals, I would suggest having breakfast in the hotel-- cereal, waffles, something easy. Take lots of snacks and drinks, eat lunch at the park and dinner at the hotel.
Visit a different section of the park each day. When you get there, go to the most popular rides and shows and get a "fast pass" ticket. You can return at a certain time and not waste time in line.
Enjoy and take lots of pictures.
We recently spent a day at Disneyland and it was fun but very crowded.
Prep the kids for long waits and short rides at the end. My kids do better when they know what to expect. I have a small digital camera that I let my kids use when they started to get bored while in line. We also tried to engage them in conversation if it got to be too much.
The park is huge so it might be hard to go out for lunch. You should be able to bring in your own lunch, though, in a cooler. Rent a locker for your gear to make it easier.
Use the Fast Pass! Try to plan what rides you want to enjoy but check your 4yo's height to make sure he/she can get on.
The best times to avoid longer lines is during parades. Also, the lines are a lot shorter after the fireworks and this time of year I believe the park is open to midnight. That last 3 hours of the night are the best for rides.
It's been a while since I've worked in the area, but there are a number of fast food places around the park if you decide that you want to go that route.
A helpful resource would be the www.anaheimoc.org web site for restaurants and other things to do in the area.
When we took our son we winged it, but in hindsight we would've been far better off to plan ahead. We ended up not seeing half of what we hoped to because of poor planning. We had a blast anyway! We had also planned on saving money by cooking at our hotel, but ended up eating in several of the local restaurants more times than planned either because we were tired or because we found a LOT of great deals. We also found merchandise much cheaper out of the park and a lot that were already available inside the park.
Bottom line is I'd do online research on restaurants and stores around Disneyland, clip some coupons and plan. I really think it depends how long you will be staying as to whether the kitchen saves a bundle or not. If you can plan it out right and make your break period between park visits work right, you'll feel like cooking. If you don't plan, you'll feel like you'll never even scratch the surface if you don't keep going. :) If you're only going for a couple days, forget the cooking...
Have a super time! We did!
Currently there is a deal if you do a day of volunteering at
specific organizations you get 1 free disney pass.
