Welcome to this final article in our Step-by-Step Disneyland Prep series. With all the time and money you have put into your Disneyland visit, we want to help you get the best value for your trip. Here, we are sharing our top advice for how to maximize your Disneyland Resort experience. We are going to help you sketch out your itinerary, save time in line and even plan some refreshing rest periods. We have so many tips for getting the most out of your Disneyland visit and avoiding lines, so come along with us.
How to Do More Attractions at Disneyland Resort
Let us begin with the most pressing question for many guests. How do I save time in line at Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park? (Or, how do I skip the lines at Disneyland?)
Get to Disneyland Before Opening Time
Our top tip for spending less time in line at Disneyland Resort is to arrive at the parks early. Many people on vacation do not want to wake-up and get to Disneyland Park or Disney California Adventure Park at opening. But, if you are among those willing to set your alarm clock for an early morning, you will experience some of the shortest attraction lines of the day!
So what time should you arrive at Disneyland? If you take our advice, you will be inside the parks before they even open for the day. You can read all about that in What Time Does Disneyland Open?
We regularly arrive at the parks before they open, because we do not want to waste a minute of those golden morning hours. We also have a plan for how to spend those first couple hours after opening. You can read about our plans in What to Do First at Disneyland Park and What to Do First at Disney California Adventure Park.
And, Stay in Disneyland After Closing Time
The Disneyland Resort parks will get busier as the day goes on, but if you stick around, you will see crowds decrease in the hours before closing. If you want to really maximize your visit to Disneyland Resort, we recommend that you stay in Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park until they close AND BEYOND…
If you can stay in Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park after other guests go home for the night, you will be rewarded with short lines, beautiful sights and maybe some surprises.
You can even stretch your day and actually stay in Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park after they close for the night! Check-out our article When Does Disneyland Close? for all of the particulars.
How to Arrive Early and Stay Late at Disneyland
So, we have just advised you to arrive before the Disneyland Resort parks officially open for the day and stick around after they close. If you do all that without a break, that could amount to over sixteen hours in the parks! Only you know what will work for your family.
That is why we hope that you will read our tips and adjust them for your crew. After all, you will not really be “maximizing” your vacation if you end your Disney day in tears. We have some questions to help you understand the needs of your group here: Ask These Questions Before You Visit Disneyland.
In our case, our kids like to wake-up early, so we are absolutely in the parks at opening. It takes some planning and coordination, but we think those glorious early mornings are worth it. On the other hand, our kids are only just beginning to enjoy late nights at Disneyland (and only some of them sometimes). We do not push them: Fantasmic! is no fun if the soundtrack is tired crying. We would rather just call it a night or send part of the group back to the hotel. That is what works for our family.
On the days when we do stay in the Disneyland Resort parks from open to close, it is because we have built in time to recharge. We cover ways to find rest later in this post, so stick with us! Before we get to that, let us look at something that always gives us a little energy: spending less time in line.
Skip the Lines at Disneyland with These Services
We hope that you will be able to take advantage of those short waits in the early and late hours of your day at Disneyland Resort. When the lines get long around midday, you have a few options. You can spend those hours enjoying shows, a nice sit-down meal or less-popular and higher-capacity rides. You could even take a break (again, more on that below). But if you want to keep experiencing popular attractions with short waits, you should try free (with admission) and paid services for skipping the line at Disneyland Resort. We have links to articles about all of those services right here, starting with virtual queues at Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park.
Free Virtual Queues for Attractions and Shows at Disneyland Resort
Virtual Queues at Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park allow you to reserve a chance to experience select attractions or shows. Access to virtual queues is free with admission and therefore extremely popular! This means, if you want to use virtual queues, you should learn about them before your visit.
Virtual queue spots are released at certain times each day, and they do run out. You use the Disneyland app to reserve your spot. Sometimes virtual queues are the ONLY way to experience a new attraction, so we recommend preparing for your visit by reading our Virtual Queues Guide. You can even practice the process of joining (up to a certain point). Check-out that virtual queue guide here: Disneyland Virtual Queue Guide: click here for the step-by-step process.
As we write this at the beginning of 2025, Disneyland Resort is offering a virtual queue for World of Color at Disney California Adventure Park, but the slate of attractions could change at any time! Check-out that guide!
Free Mobile Ordering at Disneyland Resort: No Lines for Food and Drinks!
In addition to being able to skip attraction lines, you can also skip the lines for food… for free! (Well, the line-skipping is free, not the food.)
With the free Mobile Ordering service, you can order food from your mobile device. With the Disneyland app, you can browse menus from Disney quick service restaurants and order food for pick-up. You select items and your desired pick-up time. Then you pay for your selections in advance using the app. When your food is ready, you go to a designated pick-up window. We have a step-by-step guide for the mobile ordering process here.
If you plan on eating at any quick service restaurants or even just want to grab a Dole Whip, we recommend using mobile ordering. There is no extra cost to use it, and we find that it lowers our time in line and our stress considerably. Check out the guide with screen shots here: Disneyland Mobile Ordering Guide
Paid Lightning Lane Access at Disneyland Resort
Disneyland Lightning Lanes are priority access queues for certain attractions. You can purchase access to these queues with Lightning Lane Multi Pass, Lightning Lane Single Pass or Lightning Lane Premier Pass. For a primer on these paid services and how to use them, check out our guide to Lightning Lane passes of all kinds here: Disneyland Lightning Lanes: How to Super-Charge Your Visit.
We think Lightning Lane Multi Pass offers the best value out of these three services, so we have several guides to help you make the most of it. To understand the basics of Lightning Lane Multi Pass, start with the Big Guide to Lightning Lane Multi Pass at Disneyland Resort. That article will show you how to use Lightning Lane Multi Pass, but to use it like a pro, read Ride More: 9 Strategies for Lightning Lane Multi Pass at Disneyland. That strategy article will help you truly optimize the service and spend less time in line at Disneyland.
For an article on the newest (and most expensive) Lightning Lane service, see: What is Lightning Lane Premier Pass at Disneyland?
Before there were Lightning Lanes, Disneyland Resort had services called Genie+, MaxPass and FastPass. None of these are currently offered, but you may hear other guests still using these old names when referring to Lightning Lanes. In 2025, Lightning Lane passes are the closest thing you will find to any of these retired services. There is a free itinerary planning service called simply “Genie” (no plus), but Genie does not give you access to Lightning Lanes or ride reservations.
Walt Disney World Visitors Beware…
If you are familiar with how Lightning Lanes work at Walt Disney World in Florida, be aware that they work somewhat differently at Disneyland Resort. So, we recommend that experienced Walt Disney World guests still review our guide (and do not try to reserve attractions in advance, you cannot).
Multiple Experiences Pass – The Disneyland Lines Skipping Pass That Cannot Be Bought
A Multiple Experiences Pass is a powerful pass that allows you to skip the regular standby line at your choice out of a list of attractions. With a Multiple Experiences Pass, you do not need to make a reservation in advance. This pass is priceless: it is a valuable pass that cannot be bought!
A Multiple Experiences Pass is something you are given when you have experienced some kind of difficulty in experiencing an attraction. The most common scenario in which you would receive a Multiple Experiences Pass is when an attraction you have reserved with Lightning Lane Multi Pass is not available during your reservation window. This usually happens because that attraction is unexpectedly down for maintenance. In compensation, you receive a pass you can use any time that day at a variety of attractions.
You cannot purchase a Multiple Experiences Pass, but they are also not uncommon. We end up with some each day that we use Lighting Lanes Multi Pass, and we think that there are good and bad ways to use them. So, we want to help you make the most of this valuable pass if you get one. Check-out our full guide to Multiple Experiences Passes here: How to Use a Multiple Experiences Pass at Disneyland.
Making the Most of Your Time at Disneyland Resort
None of these line skipping services are necessary for your visit, but they can make your visit more efficient and possibly more enjoyable.
Unfortunately, lines and crowds are a reality of any Disneyland Resort visit. If you want some advice for making your time in line fun or even productive, we have an article about that too: Make the Best of Your Time in Line at Disneyland and Have Fun. We also have an article about our favorite lines in Disneyland here: 5 Fun Lines at Disneyland Resort: Enjoy These Magical Queues.
Taking Breaks to Maximize Your Visit to Disneyland Resort
Paradoxically, taking some time away from attractions at Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park can actually help you maximize your visit. We have already advised you that the opening and closing hours are the least crowded times in both parks, but trying to stay in the parks from open to close takes some serious stamina. When we build rest periods into our Disneyland Resort visit, we are better able to rise early, stay up late and keep enjoying attractions.
With that in mind, we like to take break days between our park days. We wrote about that here: Maximize Value: Take a Rest Day at Disneyland. We have specific advice for how to enjoy a “free” day at Disneyland Resort in: Terrific Ways to Have Fun at Disneyland Without a Ticket. If you are staying at a Disneyland Resort Hotel, we also recommend taking some time to just enjoy your hotel: Make the Most of Your Disneyland Resort Hotel Stay.
If you want to do your resting INSIDE the parks, see our 5 Best Places to Relax in Disneyland Park and 5 Best Places to Relax in Disney California Adventure Park.
Final Tips for Maximizing Your Disneyland Resort Visit
We have taken your through our advice for how to spend less time in line at Disneyland Resort and how to take some time to relax. As we reach the end of our Step-by-Step Disneyland Prep, we have a few more articles that are more specific to certain age groups, so take a look and take the suggestions that work for you:
- 5 Tremendous Tips for Visiting Disneyland Resort with Young Kids
- 5 Best Tips for Multi-Generational Groups at Disneyland Resort
- 5 Wonderful Attractions for All-Ages at Disneyland Park
- 5 Outstanding All-Ages Attractions at Disney California Adventure Park
Thanks for reading all about spending less time in lines at Disneyland Resort and maximizing your visit.
If you missed the earlier articles in our Step-by-Step Disneyland Prep series or just want to review, you can find them all here: Step-by-Step Disneyland Prep. And if you must spend time in line, we hope it can help you grow closer to loved ones: Fun Questions for Connection While Waiting in Disneyland. Finally, please consider subscribing to our free newsletter below to get future advice right in your inbox. Thanks again for reading!
