Survivor's guide to a stress-free Disneyland vacation

04.10.2024 - 08:27 / lonelyplanet.com

Oct 3, 2024 • 5 min read

Disneyland is a perennial favorite, and with Tiana's Bayou Adventure opening soon, its just another reason to check out the magic. We’re as excited as the kids are, but planning a trip to America's favorite theme park can be stressful. How do you navigate your family through the wonder and magic that is Disneyland while still retaining, well, your wonder and magic?

Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, is comprised of two parks, Disneyland and California Adventure Park, with Star Wars Galaxy Edge as part of the former. Before your trip, spend a little time researching the locations of attractions to determine how many days you want to spend at each park and which passes work best for your family.  

Each park offers a day pass that permits you to enter once per day, and a park hopper pass that allows you to bounce between both parks on a single day. What you choose depends on your priorities: Marvel-lovers may want to spend more time at California Adventure while princesses abound at Disneyland (except Elsa and Anna, who hang out at California Adventure).

Download the Disneyland app before leaving home. Spend some time learning to use it so you don’t have to ask a cast member to teach you their ways like I did (although they are more than happy to do so).

The app is comprehensive but not particularly user-friendly. It has information on attraction wait times, locations and schedules of various characters, dining options and show times. It's also possible to preorder food and make restaurant reservations using the app. I really appreciate the pre-order food option and I found it handy to make last-minute restaurant reservations as well. I like a little serendipity when we travel, and the app allows for some of that.

The app is also extremely helpful for character sightings – knowing where a character will be ahead of time is very useful when planning to fill that autograph book.

Disney has recently implemented Lightning Lanes as a way to access shorter wait times on the rides. Guests can purchase the multi-pass, which allows you to book three ride times right away and then more as you clear your queue. So you can always have three reservations at a time. You can also purchase individual Lightening Lanes for specific rides that are the most sought after like Rise of the Resistance. This allows you to mix and match what works for your family based on age and budget.

If you have super fans in your group, I recommend purchasing the individual passes for everyone who really wants to ride. But the multi-pass works great for everyone else. 

There is so much to see! The parade at Disneyland is wonderful, the fireworks are totally amazing – nighttime at Disney is so much fun. But you’ll never