As an East Coaster, I’ve spent most of my Disney trip time on the Walt Disney World resort in Florida. But I used to be excited to journey to Disneyland to see the unique park. If you might be most conversant in Disney World, you’re most likely questioning what number of days in Disneyland are applicable for your loved ones trip.
With two theme parks (Disney’s California Adventure and Disneyland Park) moderately than 4 (Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Animal Kingdom, and Disney’s Hollywood Studios), and a simple strolling distance between the parks, Disneyland could be a way more manageable journey.
Therefore, you could want much less time. I usually advocate three days in your Disneyland trip, so to benefit from the completely different rides and eating places with out an excessive amount of stress.
Unlike Walt Disney World, you might be simply in a position to stroll between the 2 parks and Downtown Disney, in addition to the Disneyland Resort Hotels (in addition to many off-property inns). This will prevent a lot of time since you received’t have to attend for buses/boats and might be on the theme parks after a brief stroll. In addition, you’ll solely should undergo safety as soon as, saving time.
Disclosure: I’ve visited Disneyland a number of instances as a part of my participation within the AWESome Retreat. I’ve additionally stayed on the Howard Johnson Anaheim Hotel and Water Playground for free of charge, and have additionally paid all of my very own bills for a household journey to Disneyland. All opinions are my very own. This submit accommodates affiliate hyperlinks and buy/click on by way of certainly one of these hyperlinks might lead to a fee paid to us at no further price to you.
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How Many Days in Disneyland Are Best
As talked about above, three days is a perfect period of time to go to Disneyland. We advocate that you just plan to spend most of your time at one explicit park for the primary two days, after which make the most of the third day to revisit your favorites and see stuff you’ve missed. To do that, nevertheless, you have to the park hopper choice in your tickets.
How to Maximize Your Visit to Disneyland
You’ve flown or pushed to Disneyland – now how do you maximize your go to?
Park hopping is an efficient plan at Disneyland as a result of it’s really easy to do. However, it’s costlier, and also you’ll have to have a plan. Unfortunately, the previous system of strolling forwards and backwards between the parks all day is not allowed.
Now, you’ll have to buy tickets upfront and make a park reservation for the primary park you intend to enter. These reservations might be restricted, so do it as quickly as potential. You are solely in a position to make one park reservation per individual per day.
Once you enter that first park, you’ll be capable of swap between parks after 11 am, primarily based on availability. You nonetheless should have park hopper tickets. Keep in thoughts that when you’ve got multi-day tickets, you’ll should make a type of reservations for every day.
While you will have a eating reservation at a selected park, you continue to want the park reservation and a legitimate ticket. At this time, making these park reservations is crucial.
Once you’ve the park reservations, you can begin desirous about your every day plans and park itinerary. I usually advocate attending to the parks early, as a result of they’re usually much less crowded early. If you might be coming from the East Coast, or have younger kids, you might be prone to be awake early anyway.
For the three-day itinerary to be sufficient time, you’ll most likely need to do a full day on every day, moderately than a half-day. Alternatively, you may select to get a 4 or five-day ticket and spend much less time per day. However, that is the costlier choice.
You’ll additionally need to have the Disneyland app downloaded to your smartphone. The app is a superb useful resource for locating attraction wait instances, inserting cellular orders, and checking park actions.
If you might be visiting a well-liked snack kiosk or fast service location, cellular ordering could be a fast solution to order and pay in your meals. Visit at an off-peak time to avoid wasting much more time.
It’s additionally a good suggestion to take a look at all the sights and see what you might be particularly enthusiastic about. I’d advocate spending equal time within the two parks – a few day and a half for every one. You might go away some additional time on the third day to go to something you missed.
If you might be visiting with youthful youngsters, look on the Disneyland web site upfront to see the peak necessities of every attraction. You received’t need to have disenchanted youngsters in the event that they aren’t but tall sufficient to experience.
Do you’ve a selected desk service restaurant that you just need to go to? It’s greatest to make these reservations upfront and make certain you’ve a park reservation for that theme park.
I additionally advocate that you just take a look at our record of issues to deliver to Disneyland so that you’re absolutely ready.
Using Genie+ For Your Disneyland Vacation
Many previous Disney park guests are conversant in how Fastpasses used to work. Although Disneyland has not too long ago supplied MaxMass along with FastPass, this method modified a couple of years in the past. Genie and Genie+ are the 2 present techniques
Genie is a brand new app that provides complimentary itinerary and exercise solutions. It is a superb baseline choice for brand new guests to the theme parks, and those that are overwhelmed by the planning.
Genie+ and Lightning Lane are supplied for a further price. It will permit you to use the app to decide on a time to go to a number of the hottest sights. Genie+ might be bought if you purchase your tickets, or added on later.
You can solely have one Genie+ reservation per attraction per day. In addition, you’ll have to attend till your reservation is over, or 120 minutes later to make one other choice. These picks are made on the day on the parks.
There can also be the choice to decide on particular person sights to pay a separate price for. These shall be for the preferred rides – at present, these are Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, and Radiator Springs Racers. While this does add to the price of your trip, it may be a good way to avoid wasting time.
There is at all times the choice to attend within the standby line for any of those sights. If you might be visiting throughout the college holidays, you could discover that it’s value skipping the lengthy traces and buying the Genie+ for the variety of days you might be visiting.
Special Events and Shows to See at Disneyland
Disneyland does supply some particular occasions and reveals, so that you’ll need to test the schedule earlier than planning your three-day itinerary. For occasion, in February, they’re providing Sweetheart Nights. The park holding the particular occasion will usually shut earlier on these days, so it’s vital to know, even if you happen to don’t plan to attend.
Staying Near Disneyland
You’ll discover a lot of completely different lodge choices within the Disneyland space. This consists of the three official Disneyland Hotels:
- Disneyland Hotel
- Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel
- Disney’s Pixar Pier Hotel
You’ll be capable of stroll from any Disney lodge to the entrance gates and to Downtown Disney.
In addition, there are Good Neighbor inns which might be positioned inside strolling distance of Disneyland. These embody family-friendly inns with swimming pools, suites, water parks, and extra.
During my journeys to Disneyland, I’ve had the chance to remain at a couple of close by inns. These embody the:
Things to Do Beyond the Parks at Disneyland
Depending on the place you might be visiting from, you could need to keep in Southern California for greater than three days. Luckily, there are many different issues to do within the space – whether or not you need to swap inns or do day journeys.
San Diego is positioned about an hour and forty-five minutes away and presents a lot to do. I’d advocate driving there and staying in San Diego so you may expertise the world, together with the waterfront, the San Diego Zoo, SeaWorld, and LEGOLAND (which is positioned in Carlsbad). Three to 4 days is an efficient period of time to spend there if mixed with Disneyland.
The space has different theme parks, together with Universal Hollywood and Knott’s Berry Farm. These are simple to go to inside in the future, so you may keep on the identical lodge in your complete journey.
If you simply need to keep inside Disneyland, don’t miss Downtown Disney. It presents eating places, leisure, and extra, and also you received’t should pay for admission. It’s related however smaller than, Disney Springs in Florida.
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