and also Disney's California Adventure. Written by hand, without AI, so you know I care.
Okay, a few things up front. You WILL be standing in line a lot. You WILL be like wow is this line worth it. You WILL be like "Damn, this is a lot of people, and I'm so tired." I can't guarantee that it'll all be worth it to you but I CAN guarantee that there will be so much magic and wonder and childlike glee.
Also OMG you're here during SPOOOKY SEASON I'm literally so excited for you. I've seen reports of low wait times over the last few weeks so i hope you get a great experience (I swear to god I actually don't watch this from afar but it's come up on my algorithm).
All of the below has the following biases:
- I love rides, and ride engineering, world building, and animatronics. I tend to prioritize those over things like food and shows.
- I don't get bored in lines because I really love looking around and Paul and I can spend hours in line just talking.
- I only really do sit-down meals at the parks when I'm tired (generally dinner).
- I almost never go to meet characters.
- I love the bands, piano players, and barbershop quartet.
General guidance:
- Plan your day ahead of time. Figure out what rides you want to ride the most and build out from there. There are a lot of guides from Disneyland fanatics that can help you plan, but the general gist is to prioritize your rides, fill in food and shows, and find cool spots along the way.
- You also should DEFINITELY go to Guest Services or City Hall in the park (really any store or kiosk or cast member also ...) to get yourself a "It's my Birthday!" pin + maybe a "First Time" pin! It increases the chance of you getting "pixie dusted" (aka people doing random nice things for you like giving you gifts, getting on a ride faster, or really just people telling you a happy birthday randomly).
- To get the most out of your day, you'll want to "rope drop". That means getting there before the park opens so that you can run in/go on the first ride or two with little to no line; most rides will queue up quick, and suddenly you'll have 40-minute lines everywhere!
- For a 2-day trip, getting genie+/lightning lanes is SO worth it. Spend the money. But also queues can be cool! I love a good queue.
- Sadly, the app is critical to experience at this point. Get your whole party on your app so you can get tickets/slots together. Keep an eye out for time slot drops and wait times. Order your food ahead in the app. Bring a portable charger.
- Knowing how to spend time in line is key. Bring snacks, water, and if the sheer magic of the theming, rockwork, and queue details aren't enough to enthrall you, some kind of entertainment.
- Don't snooze on shows! I love the shows, and there's nowhere that does fireworks like Disney.
- You'll never get to everything! Accept that you will inevitably miss something you were hoping to catch.
Disneyland
The og, the one and only, the most magical in all the land. This is kinda hard to do all in one day, and also it's got all the OG rides!!! Something special about Disneyland compared to any of the other Disney parks is that due to its size and the audience it garners, it has more wandering characters than anywhere else! So you're likely to see Peter Pan or the Evil Queen wandering around, making mischief.
You HAVE to see Starwars Galaxy's edge. You should REALLY set yourself up to see the fireworks, if you can. But it's understandable to prioritize rides over fireworks. At the very least, see either the Fireworks or Fantasmic.
Rides to not miss even though you'll probably miss at least one of them:
- Rise of the Resistance (top knotch ride, actually state of the art, it's 3 rides in a trench coat)
- Haunted Mansion (I feel like you'd really like this one, this is truly the original, with peppers ghost effects and clever tricks)
- Indiana Jones Adventure (literally my favorite ride ever, when it gets close to closing time sometimes I ride this 2 or 3 times)
- Pirates of the Carribbean (literally the movie is based on this ride??? like the ride came first. It's slower, nice to cool off in, and creates incredible space while somehow inside of a building)
- Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway (actually mind-blowing practical effects + projection, like holy hell)
- Big Thunder Mountain (also an oldie and goodie, mild roller coaster with GREAT themeing)
- Space Mountain (go FAST and in the DARK and mildly disorienting, also a classic. It's a roller coaster tied in a knot and stuffed into the inside of a building ... but with stars)
- Jungle Cruise is literally all puns and I truly think you'd love this one.
Fun things if you have the time (or priorities that are not exactly like mine):
- Peter Pan's Flight and other FantasyLand rides; these are classics & really show where Disneyland started. Think really, really upgraded carnival dark rides; tight turns, flat set pieces, but charming. Peter Pan's flight is really lovely but I wouldn't wait an hour for it. In Mr. Toad's Wild Ride you literally go to hell.
- The Enchanted Tiki Room is a great place to sit for a while in air conditioning while also seeing literally the first audio-animatronics ever built. The birds are very pretty and very talented and I think you'd like this show.
- Sleeping Beauty's Castle is actually a walk-through! You can climb up into it and see scenes from the movie, it's a nice break & cool to see.
- Tiana's Bayou Adventure (I haven't actually gotten to go on it myself yet) is supposed to have some real good new animatronics.
- Taking the railroad all the way around the park is a nice way to get a different view + transit from one place to another. There's some fun hidden scenes you can only see from the train! (Oops, I just remembered seeing that some of those are under refurb, so beware that you may not see dinos on this one).
- It's a Small World ... if the line is short, go on this classic because it's a classic.
Food:
- Galaxy's Edge has a Cold Brew Black Caf that is iced coffee + sweet cream cheese foam + cocoa puffs and it's soooooo tasty
- Speaking of Galaxy's Edge, Ronto Roasters is pretty dang good; we always get food there.
- Do you want the platonic ideal of a corn dog? Get the platonic ideal of a corn dog at Little Red Wagon on Main St. It's also just like a great pick-me-up that doesn't take a long time to sit down and eat.
- Get yaself a Dole Whip Float. It's so tasty, especially on a hot day. Don't bother with the other flavors.
Things I don't really recommend:
- Oga's Cantina is not quite as charming as one might like. The cocktails are okay, the atmosphere is cute, but you'll be seated with a bunch of other strangers (sometimes at a standing bar) and there's only really like 2 animatronics in there.
- The Dumbo Ride is exactly what it looks like.
- The turkey leg
- The Millennium Falcon Smuggler's Run ride is very mid but the theming is very cool so uhhhh idk depends on how much of a star wars fan you are
Fun facts:
- Everything on Main St is foreshortened! That means the second floor on all the buildings is smaller than the first ... everything is built to encourage the illusion that it's bigger than it is. The trees closer to the castle are smaller than the ones close to the entrance.
- Everything in Disneyland is kind of mashed together; there are "thresholds" where two lands meet and have to change from one to another. These are my favorite bits; the fences, the landscaping, and the soundscape will totally change as you turn a corner!
Disney's California Adventure
It's more spread out of the two parks, and a bit more relaxed. Wander more, eat more. This one is less ride-heavy and more atmospheric. This guide will be less thorough partially because there's just less to do and more to hang out in, but also partially because I favor dark rides and animatronics so much that I usually just do a half day in DCA and go back to Disney for the rest.
You HAVE to see Cars Land. And you also HAVE to see Cars Land at NIGHT, because it's just SO GOOD. Take your time at a parade or a character show at this park! Avengers Campus has plenty of cool Marvel characters that show up and perform. The parades ARE pretty dang cool, honestly. You're here for Oogie Boogie Bash, so that'll be so much fun.
Rides to not miss:
- Radiator Springs Racers is my favorite ride in this entire park. I'd do it multiple times. It's fun, it's fast, it brings me great joy.
- Guardians of the Galaxy Mission Breakout. I might have preferred the Twilight Zone Original skin of this ride, but I cannot deny that this version is still very fun.
- Monster's Inc. Ride & Go Seek is one of the only dark rides in this park and it's very cute.
- Don't sleep on Soarin' around the World! You get to be air conditioned AND flying and like that's basically the dream.
Also Fun but less of a priority for little ol me:
- Web Slingers & Toy Story Mania are 3d-glasses wearing game rides where you try to beat everyone else around out at shooting stuff.
- Actually this would totally be a priority GO SEE THE MADAME LEOTA PARADE it's supposed to be soooo fun and good.
- IMO the easiest way to get a picture with Mickey is on Buena Vista St. He's usually out in plaid and you can snag a pic with him on the way to your next destination.
- Also don't sleep on the jazz band that plays!
Food:
- The Cozy Cones are weirdly tasty.
- San Fransokyo also has pretty good, quick service food.
- For the love of god the soft serve cones here taste like childhood to me.
- Carthay Circle is SO vibey but we found the food kinda okay? Cocktails are nice tho.
Other resources
There are so, so, SO many planning guides out there. There's reddits where people post their itineraries and how many rides they got that day and what the crowds were like. There are people who go almost every day and review the changing food. When I go, I tend to read a bunch of blogs that have recently updated and make my own plans based on that. A few that may be useful if you want to go deeper (and plan your day most efficiently):
- https://www.disneytouristblog.com/1-day-disneyland-plan/
- https://www.disneytouristblog.com/1-day-disney-california-adventure-plan/
- https://www.reddit.com/r/DisneyPlanning/
ANYWAY just have fun, enjoy the atmosphere, be awed by the magic, and stay hydrated. <3