Disneyland Tips from a Local

This week on For the love of Blank we have a guest post from Mariah Garcia of the blog Mariahmooo. She is a friend from high school of both Brittany and mine. She has written about some great Disneyland Tips since she lives in Anaheim now! First we asked her a few questions to introduce herself

The Best Disneyland Tips

Written by Mariah Garcia

As a die-hard fan for Disney and all of its magic, I am an annual passholder to the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California and it’s definitely worth every penny! I love going to park with visitors or with fellow annual passholders! Visiting Disney regardless is always so fun and can be jam-packed! Usually, you have a list of what you want to get done at the park(s) that day, but some plans can fall through due to crowds, weather, or renovations. Since I’ve been to Disney quite a few times and have experiences both viewing sides (as a visitor and as an annual passholder), I have some tricks up my sleeve on how to have a solid, fun day at Disneyland for just a day as a visitor!

Buy park ticket online before coming to the resort!

This one will save you some time coming into the park! In the morning, afternoon, and even sometimes evening there can be long lines in the ques for the ticket booths. People can be buying tickets that day, renewing or getting an annual pass, or having problems with their account or ticket. You always want to get as much as you want to get done in that day, so buying your ticket on the Disneyland.com website will save you time and it’s also one less line to wait in, am I right? For a one day ticket, you can either choose a ‘one day one park’ ticket to enter into Disneyland or California Adventure or ‘one day with park-hopper’ for that day and to go to both parks.

Download the Disneyland App to get wait times, information, and a map on your phone/device!

With the app, you can have your tickets on there too, look up wait times for attractions and meet and greets, get information about hours, rides, characters, and dining, and look at a map on your device!

FASTPASS IS THE WAY TO GO

I’m telling you, fast passes are a must if you want to ride more than 7 rides in one day! It’s best to get fast passes in the morning, because some of the popular items with high volume like Space Mountain, Indiana Jones, Haunted Mansion during the holidays, and Star Tours have long wait times and their fast passes run out quick. I would get either your MUST DO attraction done in the morning and grab fast passes for them first thing. With a fast pass, you enter your ticket in the slot where the fast passes for that specific attraction and you will receive a ticket with a time with a one hour slot to use it. After getting the fast pass, you must wait two hours to get another fast pass for a ride. During that wait time before you either get a new one or to use that fast pass you can go on a ride, shop, or eat a Dole Whip in the meantime! With Disneyland’s new way to process the fast pass, when you come back during that time to use your fast pass you scan your actual park ticket because the fast pass is connected to your ticket! The paper fast pass you received earlier is just now like a reminder for your fast pass! Very cool in my opinion!

There’s also a new fast distribution called MAXPASS, where you have to pay $10 per guest to get fast passes ahead of time on the Disneyland app and can get a new fast pass for another ride an hour after getting your first one! It’s more convenient to get it on your app instead of walking all the way to a fast pass distribution and the wait time to get a new one is cut down by an hour! AND, it shows all the rides on the app what fast passes are available at that time! Although you do have to pay an extra $10 for the MAXPASS, it’s worth it because you’re saving time on walking to all the distributions and saving time waiting in long lines for attractions!

Get Fast pass for shows/entertainment!

All the shows that have fast passes for are World of Color (in California Adventure) and Fantasmic (in Disneyland)! They do have high volume for viewers so I would get that first thing in the morning. These fast passes do not take place for an attraction fast pass so you are welcome to get your ride fast pass with it!

Free Water Cups!

Sounds silly to address, but yes Disneyland Resort (both parks) do give our free ice water at almost all dining places and quick service shops. I just don’t think the small carts do that. And they do not come in the dinky, tiny cups, they come in either a kid’s cups (small) or like a regular drink size (medium)! Take advantage of it!!! It gets hot out there at Disney and water bottles can be purchased for about $3 and up! Or just bring your own water bottle and refill it at the parks!

Free buttons!

These buttons can be redeemed for free at the City Hall on Disneyland’s Main Street USA or at Guest Services in California Adventure! They have almost every occasion you could be visiting at the park- engagement/anniversary, birthday, first time visiting, and just celebrating! They make the experience great to wear and cast members can write your name on them or customize them! Definitely take them! Cast members and characters do take notice of them and can wish you a happy birthday and can even do something extra for you like putting you at the front of the cart on an attraction! CAST MEMBERS ARE THE BEST AT DISNEY!

You can rent lockers to store items in (available in both parks)!

Get in the single riders line to save some time in line!

Disneyland Train

Less walking is always the key to life, right?! Since you’re doing so much walking at the parks, Disneyland has its famous train running again going around to all of the lands in Disneyland! The stops are Main Street USA (front of park), New Orleans Square (where Frontierland, Adventureland, and Critter Country are located), Toontown (near Fantasyland), and Tomorrowland! On the ride, you get to see the whole park and other sights like the Grand Canyon and Prehistoric period while going through tunnels, fun for the little ones! There’s usually a wait for about 10-15 minutes, but it’s worth it!

THE DOLE WHIP CRAZE

Usually there’s a long line for the amazing pineapple Dole Whips in the entrance to Adventureland, BUT there’s another line for them on the opposite side of the Dole station! It’s where people wait to go into the Enchanted Tiki Room, but you’re welcomed to go into that shorter line to get the dole whips!

THEY HAVE APPLE PAY!

Yay to spending some money at the Happiest Place on Earth!!

There you have it, some tips to hopefully help you at your next Disney trip! Follow my blog and Instagram for more posts all about my second home in Southern California! I hope that helps your trip go smoother and can get everything done during you time there. Honestly, just have a backup plan for when things get cancelled or changed around! And be happy!! After all, it has the rep for being the “Happiest Place on Earth”.