Parents and caregivers know a tired toddler or hungry kindergartner can change the whole tone of a trip. We have five favorite tips for helping young visitors have a terrific trip to Disneyland Resort. Happy children at the “Happiest Place on Earth” probably means a good trip for you too. With that in mind, here are our best tips for visiting Disneyland Resort with young kids:
Space out your visit.
Did you know that the admission days on a multi-day ticket do NOT have to be used consecutively?
For example: you can buy a two-day single-park admission ticket and spread your visit over three days. You visit Disneyland Park on a Monday, spend Tuesday relaxing at your hotel pool and visit Disney California Adventure Park on Wednesday.
In our experience, kids really benefit from a “reset” day with active play and no lines. We have done visits with a reset day and without. We find that we can spend more time in the parks with more energy and less tears when we take a day off. Do remember that you do need to use all days on a multi-day within thirteen days of your first visit. Check out our ticket-type guide to help you determine the tickets that will work for you.
Build some reset time into your day.
Whether or not you can build in a “reset day,” you can choose to take some reset moments. You can return to your accommodations for a nap or just taking a break at a restaurant with comfortable seating. Caregivers may want to take advantage of the Baby Care Centers located in each park. We know that it is hard to stop for a lunch break when Dumbo is beckoning, but a little recharging and refueling makes a big difference.
We have a list of places to relax in Disneyland Park and another for Disney California Adventure Park.
Make time for unstructured play.
We have found that young children need some time away from lines and lap bars for imaginative (silly) free-play. Making space in our day for unstructured play allows us to enjoy later rides and show that much more. What follows are a couple of suggestions for free-play in the parks:
Mickey’s Toontown in Disneyland Park offers countless opportunities for exploration with plenty of giggles. Kids can open a mailbox or a ring a doorbell to see what happens. There are also areas dedicated specifically to active play. Goofy’s How-to-Play Yard and Donald’s Duck Pond like your local playground with a generous sprinkling of Disney whimsy. Even better, Mickey’s Toontown was recently redesigned with a specific effort to remove barriers to play. The new Toontown is more accessible and inclusive of all guests.
Pirate’s Lair on Tom Sawyer Island in Disneyland Park is a place where kids can hike and explore. This scenic island can only be reached by raft, so crowds tend to be sparse even on Disneyland’s busy days. For this reason, the atmosphere on this tree-shaded island tends to be relatively calm. It is a nice combined rest and play space with caves and forts to discover. Unfortunately, this attraction does have limited accessibility. Rafts to the island are wheelchair accessible, but most activities on the island require guests to be ambulatory.
Redwood Creek Challenge Trail in Disney California Adventure Park has places to explore, climb, swing, and slide in the rustic setting of Grizzly Peak. The wilderness themed surroundings offer a nice reset from the sensory stimulation of Pixar Pier or Avengers Campus. Guests with wheelchairs can enter through the standard queue. Accessibility information is shown on the attraction’s provided “trail map” and some elements have height restrictions.
Become familiar with Rider Switch at Disneyland Resort.
Attractions around the Disneyland Resort have a variety of height requirements and accessibility limitations. Some members of your group will not be able to experience certain attractions or find others too intimidating. In situations where a member of your group will not be experiencing an attraction, and cannot wait alone for the rest of the group, you can request a “Rider Switch” from a cast member.
With a Rider Switch, an adult can supervise a non-rider while the rest of the group waits in the queue and experiences the attraction. When that riding-group reunites with the non-riders, the adult who has not yet experienced the attraction may use the Rider Switch to return with a riding-companion. This second group gets to bypass the regular queue to enter the attraction. In this way, anyone from your group who wants to experience an attraction may do so without doubling your group’s total wait time. We think that Rider Switch is invaluable for the way it reduces friction and helps us tailor our visit to each member of our family.
This priceless service is also literally priceless: its free with admission, so go ahead and use it! The policies around this Rider Switch seem to shift over time and as new technology has entered the parks. Follow the directions of the cast at each attraction entrance to make use of it.
Use Mobile Ordering.
We like using the mobile ordering service because it allows us to bypass some quick-service food queues. Less time in line usually means less complaining.
It is also a valuable tool in selecting food for the young children (and adults) in our group. With mobile ordering, we can peruse menus, look at food photos, and input orders in a relaxed way. We do not have to worry about the queue that is ominously building behind us as we debate over apple slices versus fries.
Additionally, it makes ordering from multiple locations fairly simple. In the past, we have used mobile ordering to place orders for Yaki Udon from Lucky Fortune Cookery in San Fransokyo Square and Chicken Fenders from Flo’s V8 Cafe in Cars Land (while waiting in the queue for Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree). Then, we feasted together as we watched the Radiator Springs Racers zip by. You can review the process for mobile ordering with our guide here.
We hope these tips will help you in your own visits to Disneyland Resort with young kids. Here is one final reflection…
You may have noticed a general theme in our suggestions: we find that our visits are the most enjoyable when we mind the limits of everyone in our group. We try to focus on happiness over how many rides we can cram into a visit. Maybe racing from ride to ride from park open to close is exactly what makes your family happy. If that is the case: go for it!
For our family, we have found that this can be an unachievable (or tear-inducing) plan. Some of our happiest moments come from following the lead of toddlers: putting down our phones, slowing our steps and waving at Alice and the Mad Hatter as they skip by. As parents, we have come to appreciate the magic of riding “it’s a small world” for the third time in an afternoon. With enchanting company, even sitting on a bench in Fantasyland can be pure magic.
It can be helpful to discuss expectations and needs before your visit and decide what will it take to really make Disneyland “the Happiest Place on Earth” for you.