From the thrills of Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance to the charm of the Dapper Dans and the delights of the Carthay Circle Restaurant, there is so much to see, hear, smell, taste and do at Disneyland Resort. With something beguiling and new at every turn, guests can sometimes find themselves, well, a bit turned-around. Here are our top 5 tips for navigating Disneyland Resort.
Find your center.
Disneyland Park was built on a hub-and-spoke plan. The “hub” is on the south side of Sleeping Beauty Castle at the “Partners” statue of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse. The “spokes” are the pathways radiating outward from the hub and in all directions. The paths lead to the different lands of Disneyland Park (like spokes on a wagon wheel). If you can find your way back to the hub, you can plan your next route from there. Disney California Adventure Park does not have the same lay-out, but if you can find your way back to Carthay Circle and the fountain on Buena Vista Street, you can probably get a good sense of where to go next. Which leads to the next suggestion…
Look up!
Many of the lands in both parks have a distinctive and tall landmark. If you can recognize these landmarks, you can find your way to their lands. The central fountain in Disney California Adventure Park is not very tall, but it is next to the white tower of the Carthay Circle Restaurant and Lounge. Turning your eyes and feet to the turrets of Sleeping Beauty Castle should lead you to the hub in Disneyland Park. Other examples of these visually arresting landmarks in Disney California Adventure Park include Grizzly Peak’s namesake bear-head mountain and the massive Pixar Pal-A-Round Ferris wheel in Pixar Pier. Examples in Disneyland Park include the Astro Orbitor in Tomorrowland and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in Frontierland.
Check the App.
The Disneyland app includes a great intuitive map of the Disneyland Resort The map has lost of clickable features, search options and ways to filter results. Additionally, if you allow the app to access your location, it can even provide helpful navigation through the resort.
Ask a Cast Member.
Disneyland Resort is known for its helpful and knowledgeable employees. Disney calls their employees Cast Members. Each cast member is dressed differently for their particular role, but you can recognize them all by their oval name tag. When in doubt, ask a cast member for help navigating Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park. Or finally…
Get lost!
Okay, we know that we said this post was about successfully navigating Disneyland. Yet… Disneyland Resort is actually a pretty magical place to get lost. Imagineers carefully designed every element of the resort from the color of the walkways to the shapes of the lamp posts. If you find some time to wander and take it all in, you may make some wonderful discoveries. If you get lost on Main Street U.S.A., you may hear voices coming from the windows. If you look up in Avengers Campus, you will discover some escaped Spider-Bots. We hope that these tips help you find your way around, but if you do get a little turned-around, we hope you enjoy that too.
We hope these tips will help you navigate your way around Disneyland Resort.
If you are starting your planning journey, we recommend our Step-by-Step Prep for your Disneyland Resort visit. We also recommend our Disneyland Mobile Ordering Guide, Disneyland Virtual Queue Guide and Disneyland Ticket Guide and Flowchart.