Disneyland Tips

People have been asking me lately what things I suggest with a trip to Disneyland, here is what we like to do.

We have always stayed at Deseret Inn and Suites across from the park.  It's the cheapest one in walking distance and it has a continental breakfast, a pool and Jacuzzi, and a family suite (2 king beds in one room and a pull out in the other).  When we have little kids, or I'm pregnant, staying close is a life saver.  That way if someone throws up, you are just a hop skip and a jump from getting cleaned up.  However, the last couple trips we have been staying farther away and driving to the parking garage because the prices are a third less after all the fees.  If you only have older kids and no stroller, I wouldn't pay the extra to be close.  When we have two little kids, and have to bring the double stroller we always stay close because it's a huge pain to have to pack up the stroller and fold it up to get on the shuttles.  As a price example, it would cost us $1000 to stay at the Deseret Inn and Suites for the week, and only $675 to stay at one farther away.

As Disney fanatics, we suggest going for 5 days.  There are a ton of things to do at Disneyland, and some take time but you won't want to miss.  A lot of people come and only go on the rides.  I think you are missing the point of Disneyland if you do that.  There are bigger rides at Knotts and other parks, so if you are there just for rides, it's going to be disappointing.  A couple of our favorite things to do that people overlook :
Fantasmic- the show on the water by Pirates.  It's amazing.  Our whole family love it.  Bring in a blanket and some snacks and show up early. One of you can stay and hold spots while others go on the rides close by.  If you go 45 minutes early you should get an ok spot.  
The Aladdin Show-  It's one of the best musicals you'll see.  Even our 18 month olds have sat through this one.  It's only 45 min long.  Grab a Tower of Terror fastpass before you go in and you can get right on that ride after.
Captain Eo- My kids are just discovering Micheal Jackson, and this show is really corny, but they all liked it. The other shows are fun too, the bugs life one and the Muppets.
Pirates Lair on Tom Sawyers Island and the Obstical Course over in Cal. Adventures-  Just fun to do to get away from the crowd.

One thing that makes a huge difference is just taking it slow.  If you get stressed about getting to everything, it's not as fun.  There are ducks on the pond, and the tables downstairs at the Hungry Bear are right next to them.  So when things are getting crazy, go take your lunch over there and let the kids feed the ducks.  The bathrooms are right there too, which is convenient.

Food-  You could loose a million dollars at the parks in food.  One thing that has helped us it to set an amount of money for each day and have it all in cash, then each day pull out just that days worth and bring it with you.  Then only buy food with cash and not your card.  We spend so much less that way.
As far as eating in the hotel, we have little kids and it take forever to get back to the hotel.  So for us it's a waste of an hour and a half to do that.  My brother with older kids, they just walk down the the McDonalds outside of the park and can do it in 30 minutes, so it just depends on you kids ages.  We found we don't end up eating our stuff if we bring in a lot.  What we do now is everyone brings in their own water bottle and then we refill them in the drinking fountains, which have really good water.  Then we choose one main snack for the day that I make ahead and freeze- zucchini bread, cookies, etc.   Then each day we just bring one of those snacks.  We also bring a piece of fruit for each person, a gogurt, and an individual bag of chips for each.  That way we can buy a turkey leg or two ($9 each) and make it a meal.  Then we eat one real meal in the park (which, because we share, costs us about $45 for that meal for our young family of 7).  During the shorter hours, we don't always eat a meal in the park.  When the park closes at 8 we will go back and eat sandwiches or ramen at the hotel.  Then we usually share a treat too, which is about another $15 (Dole whips are the best and one of the cheapest things in the park for how much you get).

Some pointers-
USE FASTPASSES!  People don't know how to use these so they just don't and it saves an enormous amount of time.   Pick them up as you are walking by rides.  You can get new ones as soon as the first time is up on the pass, and you don't have to use them during the suggested time, just any time after that time is up. Some fast passes are better then others.  The best ones are- Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, Star Tours, Soaring Over Ca., Tower of Terror, Ca. Screaming, and Space Mountain.

Parent Swaps- if you have kids too small to go on some rides, ask for a parent swap.  You both have to get it at the same time, but it allows you to take one other person threw the exit or fastpass lane.  If you combine them with fastpasses they can get your whole family on 2-3 times.

Go Left-  It's natural for people to go right when they enter the park.  So the most crowded parts in the morning are Tomorrow Land and Fantasy Land.  If you go left at the hub, you can walk onto Indiana Jones first thing.  If you have younger kids, especially in a stroller, while the rest of your group is going on Indiana Jones, have the person with the stroller take all the park passes and get fast passes for Space Mountain (which is the other direction) then walk back to Indiana Jones and go on Tarzan's Tree house.  Then swap parents and go on Indiana Jones again while the little kids go on Jungle Cruise.  Then go over to Frontier land while someone runs and gets fast passes for Splash Mountain.  It sounds like a lot of running, but it's not bad first thing in the morning and then you have fast passes for the big rides and can go where ever you want for the rest of the day.  Remember for the rest of the day to pick up fast passes for rides as you pass them, then you never have to wait in a long line.

Fantasy Land is just crowded all the time lately.  Bite the bullet one day and just do all of it.  Most days you can pretty much walk on most of the dark rides, but Peter Pan is almost always 45 minutes long.  The morning it's worse, wait till afternoon and then hit it.

A note about Thanksgiving Week-  Thanksgiving day and the weekend after is the second most crowded time of the whole year.  However, the week before Thanksgiving is awesome.  It's our favorite week of the year to go!  The Christmas stuff is all up, but it's not crowded because people are waiting for the school break.  I wouldn't stay longer than the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.

Anyway, hope you have fun!