UPDATED 11 July, 2018 with MaxPass info!

If you know much about Rhett and me, then you probably already know that we often frequent the Happiest Place on Earth. Over the years, we have mastered the fastpass, become Disney foodies and have acquired lots of tips & tricks for saving money (while still having an incredible time). I could write several posts on the things we’ve learned, and maybe I will. This post is meant to be a beginners guide for those of you who get overwhelmed at the mere thought of taking your family to Disneyland. It’s a bit of a long read, but if you stick with me until the end, you will be a ‘Disneyland Pro’ in no time.

This post is outlined below, click the links to jump to a specific section:

1. Planning Your Trip
   1. Park Hopper vs. 1 Park/Day Passes
   2. Disney vs. Other Theme Parks
   3. Disneyland vs. Disney World
   4. Disneyland vs. California Adventure
   5. Discount Park Tickets
2. Travel & Accommodations
   • Budget Airlines
   • Rental Car
   • Hotel
3. Park Tips
   • Lines
   • Fast Pass/MaxPass
   • First Thing’s First
   • Top Rides
4. Tips for Taking Little Ones
5. Have a GREAT time

Step 1: Planning Your Trip

Disney trips are not particularly cheap (let’s get that out of the way). If you follow the plan outlined below (I live in Utah), a long weekend trip for 2 (4 days, 3 nights) to the big DL (flight, accommodations, transportation, and 2 days of park tickets) will cost around $1,200 if you are pinching your pennies. If you are taking kids and they are staying in your room, add an additional $300 per child (if child is under 3 only add $110, if under 2 will be no extra cost). If you plan on going more than once per year, it may be a good idea to invest in DL season passes. Yes, I said it. Season Passes. On your 5th day at the park, you break even with a season pass. After that, you are reaping the benefit of a somewhat larger upfront cost. Six+ days in the park/year is a lot, so that tip is for your serious Disneyland goer. If you are reading this post, chances are, you aren’t quite to that level yet. YET.

Park Hopper vs. 1 Park/Day Passes

Let’s talk about park hoppers vs. 1 park/day passes. People are often confused about what each of these passes include. Disneyland Resort includes 2 theme parks: Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure.

• Park hopper: spend time in both parks in 1 day. Costs more.
• 1 Park/Day: stay in 1 park all day (one or the other, not both). Costs less.

Unlike Disney World, the parks of Disneyland are close enough together that a park hopper is actually a viable option. You can easily walk back and forth between parks (make sure you have your walking shoes and step counter on, haha!). That being said, there is enough to do in each park that you could spend all day in 1 park and utilize the cheaper 1 park/day passes. Check current pass prices here.

Disney vs. Other Theme Parks

If you are trying to decide between going to a Disney park as opposed to another park, say Universal, you should know that Disney is not known for crazy thrill rides. There are few “real” roller coasters. The rides at Disney are more about putting you into a “whole new world” so to speak. From the moment you step foot in a line for an attraction at DL, you can imagine yourself to be somewhere else. If you want to help R2 and C3PO rescue a rebel spy from the grasp of the Empire, go to Disney. If you are looking for swirling, upside-down, crazy thrill rides, you may want to look elsewhere.

Disneyland vs. Disney World

If you are trying to decide between Disney World and Disneyland, here’s a fun fact: there are more rides at Disneyland/California Adventure than ALL of the parks at Disney World. This is one of the reasons why I love Disneyland more than Disney World. Almost all of the best rides at Disney World can be found in Disneyland/California Adventure and are in a much more compact and easier to manage area.

Disneyland vs. California Adventure

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Like I said earlier, Disneyland Resort has 2 parks: Disneyland and California Adventure (confusing for the beginner, I know). Both California Adventure and Disneyland parks have a lot of fun rides and things to do. One thing you should know: Disneyland is bigger. There are more rides there. If you have more time to spend at the park on a certain day, I suggest choosing Disneyland. Make sure you check the current park hours for both parks, because they change by season and weekend vs. weekday. In the slower season, the parks close as early as 8PM. California Adventure closes earlier than Disneyland. The parks will be more busy during the summer and during holidays, when people are out of school or work. There are perks to going when fewer people are there: less people in general, shorter lines, cooler weather, etc. But, there are also perks to going during busy times: festivities and food related to holidays and less chance of a ride being closed for refurbishment. Also, Disney does a great job with lines, so even if you are going during a busy time, don’t be too stressed about it. They will add more vehicles (is that the right word?) to the rides and have more shows (“people sponges,” as we like to call them). Fun fact: in both busy and slow seasons, I have never waited longer than 20 minutes for Pirates of the Caribbean (a pretty popular ride).

Discount Park Tix

Step 2: Travel & Accommodations 

If you’d rather have someone else book your accommodations for you, contact Get Away Today. They will take such good care of you.

Budget Airlines

If you are the type who wants to pinch your pennies (like me), budget airlines are your friends. Honestly, there are downsides to budget airlines, but we have found that the benefits generally outweigh those. For example, in 2016, I have booked a flight, rental car and hotel for a 4 day trip for as little as $620 through Allegiant for 2 people (add around $110/child staying in the same room).  I have checked, and their current package pricing is not that low (cheapest package is around $850 right now for all that). Keep checking back. You will find better deals. The seats won’t recline and they only fly certain days, but your flight will be quick and easy (just over an hour). The hotel won’t be fancy, but it will be decent and walking distance to the park. I have seen great deals on other airlines as well. My general rule of thumb, don’t pay more than $150/person round trip for a flight from SLC to LAX. From Allegiant (flies out of Provo), we’ve paid as little as $82. You can also fly into Longbeach or Santa Ana (John Wayne). Generally LAX is the cheapest, but Santa Ana is the closest to Anaheim. You can take an Uber from Santa Ana to Anaheim for around $20. Downsides to budget airlines that we’ve experienced: only fly on certain days, charge for seat selection (only an issue if you need to sit by your kids/family, if not, just continue without selecting a seat. People are often willing to trade seats on the flight), charge for carry-on and checked bags, no free drinks on board, poor customer service for canceled flights (we had a flight canceled due to weather, the next available flight was 1-2 days later).

Airlines we’ve used for DL trips:

• Frontier (Often have promo codes for 50% off flights) – currently, you can find flights from SLC to LAX for $58/way (plus bag fees and seat selection, if you need those)
• Allegiant (Often have great package deals for flight, car, hotel) – currently, you can find flights from SLC to LAX for $50/way (plus bag fees and seat selection, if you need those)
• Southwest (often has ‘wanna get away’ deals that are a good value) – currently, you can find flights from SLC to LAX for $75/way (includes 2 checked bags per person)
• Alaska (often competitive with Southwest’s deals) – currently, you can find flights from SLC to LAX for $75/way (free carry on, but you will pay for any checked bag)

Rental Car

Try not to pay more than $30/day for a rental car. We often select Enterprise for a rental car because we have found that they provide the best service at LAX (shorter lines, better customer service, etc.). It’s worth it to use Enterprise even if they are a few more $ per day. You don’t have to rent a car, but LAX is about an hour away from Anaheim. Shuttle services get pricey and are often $50/person round trip. So for a 4 day trip for 2, you can either have a roundtrip shuttle or a car for the entire trip for about the same $.

Hotel

Expect to pay at least $110/night for a decent, clean hotel within walking distance to the park. Pick a hotel that is as close to the Disneyland block as possible. By the end of the day, your feet will be tired. Pigtails will be saggy. Minimize walking where possible. Find a hotel with free or cheap parking. If you pick a hotel in the convention center area (there’s a Hilton, Marriott, Clarion, etc), here is one of our favorite tips: catch the Disney Parking shuttle FOR FREE from the Buzz/Woody/Jesse Parking Lot. This parking lot is in the middle of the convention center area. Just walk to the lot, hop on the shuttle (there is always a shuttle waiting). The shuttles take you to the park entrance and run all day. The last shuttles are after the park closes. If you are planning to park at Disneyland, keep in mind that parking will cost around $20/day. There is a also a city shuttle (ART Shuttle) that costs around $5/person and has many stops around the Anaheim area.

Go to the Top

Step 3: Park Tips

3 Types of Lines

When you first get to the Disneyland property, be aware of the three kinds of lines:

1. Security line: Someone will check your bag and you will probably go through a metal detector. If you don’t bring a bag, there is a quicker no-bag line.
2. Ticket Booth: If you already have tickets for each person, whether that’s an electronic ticket or a paper ticket, you don’t need to go to this line. You can save time by purchasing tickets online ahead of time. If you’d rather an actual person helped you buy these, these lines are not generally too long. I’ve never waited longer than 5-10 minutes. They look like little ticket windows.
3. Main Gate Entrance: Please note, these lines are not created equal. Often, the mob mentality chooses the closest line. Find the shortest line; these are often the farther away lines.

What is a Fast Pass/MaxPass?

UPDATED WITH INFO FOR MAX PASS 7/11/18

Currently, DL offers free fast passes to all park guests. They also now offer a paid option ($10/person/day) that allows you to book fast passes on your phone (MaxPass). Free and paid fast passes are available for the main attractions at each park and are basically a ticket for a specific time on a specific ride (so you don’t have to wait in line!).

There are two ways to get fast passes:

1. FREE: Pick up a fast pass by taking your physical park tickets to a machine (generally found just outside the ride itself, they are called fast pass distribution areas). There is a big sign in the distribution area that tells you what time you can use the fast pass before you get it. You simply insert your park ticket into the machine and then a fast pass receipt/reminder comes out. You then remove your park ticket. DO NOT FORGET YOUR PARK TICKET (been there, done that, not fun). Once you’ve done this, the fast pass is now associated with your park ticket. When it’s time to use the fast pass, you just present your park ticket at the ride (in the fast pass line) and you zip up the line, bypassing the hoards. Pro Tip: send a runner to get the fast passes for your group, while the rest of you get in line for something else.
2. PAID: Upgrade your park tickets by adding a MaxPass (currently $10/person/day). To do this, you will need to download the Disneyland Mobile App to your smartphone (at least one person in your group must have a smartphone with the app). Use the app to link all the park tickets in your group (up to 10 tickets can be linked on one account). Once you are in the park, you will then be able to buy the MaxPass and reserve fast passes through the app. This method will save you time and steps! When it’s time to use your fast pass, simply go to the fast pass line for the ride and present your fastpass(s) in the app. The other perk of a MaxPass is that it comes with a photo pass for the day. This means that you can have the pro photographers in the park take your photos. The photos are then added to your account and you can access them through the app. Sometimes, we get one person in our group a MaxPass just so we can have a bunch of photos from the day!

There are rules for how many of these you can get over a period of time. When you get a fast pass, it will tell you when you will be able to get your next one. There is strategy involved in using these, I will go further into that in a later post. All you need to know is that you should always be vigilant about when you can get your next fast pass. When you are allowed to get another one, make sure you do before jumping in the next line (in order to maximize your riding experience).

First Thing’s First

There are a few things we always do first when we get inside the park:

First, take a photo of the front and back of all of your passes. If they get lost this will greatly speed up the process for replacement.

Second, we get a locker. They cost around $10-$12 for the day but are so worth it, especially if your hotel isn’t super close. We put things in there that we want with us but don’t want to carry around all day, like jackets, snacks, drinks, ponchos (for the water rides, from the dollar store, so you aren’t walking around in wet clothes all day), portable cell phone charger, extra sunblock, etc. The lockers can be found just outside the parks (there’s the common area in between the parks, where you buy tickets, etc.) as well as just inside the entrances to both parks. The lockers are tucked away and not completely obvious, so check the park maps to help you find them. And sometimes, the lockers sell out. If you are doing park hoppers and will be going back and forth between parks, get a locker in the common area between the parks.