Disneyland tips for first time visitors and parents with kids. Sharing my experience with you on what to pack, meal preparation, snack ideas, and some dos and don’ts that I learned from my trip to Disneyland.
Our trip to Disneyland finally happened. We’ve been planning to take our kids to Disneyland for the past 5 years. Every year something came up and we had to postpone our trip. Finally, we were able to book our trip this year! Like many first-timers, I spent a lot of time searching the internet for tips, dos and don’ts.
I was mainly searching for tips about what to pack, best places to eat, and overall some useful and kid-friendly tips. At the same time, I was careful not to read anything about the rides and Disneyland itself; I wanted to experience everything with a fresh eye.
Keeping my “first-timer questions” in mind, I thought I would answer those questions from my own experience.
Here are some of my questions that I searched for answers:
What should I pack for my trip to Disneyland?
Comfortable shoes! Very important. We walked every day for 9-11 hours. Therefore comfortable shoes are crucial. Also, good quality cotton socks add to your comfort level.
A set of warmer clothes: Unless you are going to visit Disneyland in the summer, make sure to pack a set of warmer clothes for your family. A light jacket, sweatshirts, sweaters etc. We went at the beginning of April and I am glad I packed us a sweatshirt each despite my husband telling me, “We won’t need it!” Our entire trip seemed like I was wearing one outfit since I wore the same sweatshirt every day. It got hot a few days during peak afternoon hours, and then it quickly became breezy and cool during the late afternoon and evening.
Swim gear: Pack swim gear if you guys are planning to swim at the hotel. For us, we were only able to swim once. Otherwise we really had no time for swimming.
Backpacks! Initially I was planning to take only one backpack with us, but last minute we decide to take two. I am glad we did! They really came in handy.
Small Ziploc bags: This was actually my own idea. I took a handful of Ziploc bags (small sandwich bags) with me. Those bags were so handy when packing sandwiches, fruits and nuts for us every day in small portions.
Snacks, fruit bars, and nuts: I bought a whole lot of energy bars, snacks and nuts from Canada and took it with me. Usually you can take snacks, nuts and energy bars through the airport with you (double check with rules and regulations for your country). It saved us a lot of money having those snacks with us. Having a variety of options can be very helpful when you have kids.
Where are the best places to eat while visiting Disneyland?
During our six-day trip to Disneyland I tried to do a variety of options when it came to eating out. We arrived on Friday afternoon so we took Friday easy. I made sure to go to Target, which was about a 20 minute walk from our hotel. I bought cold cuts, mayo, mustard, bread, cheese, cream cheese, jam, bagels, bananas, strawberries, raspberries, apples, cucumbers, avocados, chocolate milk, paper plates, cups and cutlery. If you have the option of visiting Target or Walmart (perhaps taking the bus or an Uber) I would highly recommend it. It definitely helped us cut costs and gave us the opportunity to add some healthier options to our “travel diet”.
For breakfast I made cream cheese bagels with fruits. For lunch I made us cold cut sandwiches, and for snack I packed us lots of fresh fruits, nuts and power bars. Those Ziploc bags were a life saver!
Every night before going to bed I put a few bottles of water in the fridge (tiny freezer). The next morning we used the cold bottles as a cold pack to keep our sandwiches cold for a few hours till we ate them all.
For dinner we dined out at different restaurants in Disneyland and Adventure Park. The cost was about $10-$20 per person for an average meal.
What are FASTPASSES?
I should admit that I felt really silly asking this question. Even though I knew what a FASTPASS was, but I still could not fully understand or visualize what it meant and how it really worked.
There are two options for passes. FASTPASS and MaxPass.
FASTPASS: FASTPASS is the free option that allows the guests to bypass the major lineup and go ahead of everyone for a specific ride. How it works: in front of each ride there is a little station with automated ticket dispenser machines that print out passes. Once you get your FASTPASS for a particular ride, on the receipt it tells you when you need to be back to take advantage of bypassing the main line up. Usually it gives a one hour window. You have to come back between those allotted times. Once you come back, there is a separate line up for people with FASTPASSES. You can only get one FASTPASS every hour.
MaxPass: Is the paid version of FASTPASS. It costs $15 per person and you can bypass the lineup an unlimited number of times and you also get the option of downloading ride photos for that day for free. The line ups were not too bad around the time we went; the most we waited in line was about 40 minutes. Therefore, we did not purchase any MaxPasses.
Fireworks: Scheduled to start at 9:30pm and it is usually most visible when you are the front entrance.
Bathrooms: There are many bathrooms all over the park and I was very impressed with how clean they were despite there being such a large crowd.
What’s the best time to go to the park and do you need to take breaks? With our family getting up a little late and staying in the park later seemed to work better. The first day we got up early and tried to stay focused on getting through as many rides as we could. By 5 pm we were done! Based on your family and the age of your children and also the dispense from the park to your hotel, you have to choose what works for you.
On our last days (6th day of our trip at Disneyland) we took it really easy and we tried to enjoy Disneyland itself. We only went on kiddy rides and tried to take in every little moment that you otherwise miss when running from one ride to another. We watched hundreds of people go by, we sat outside the ice-cream store on top of the stairs and enjoyed our ice cream, visited every little or big gift shop, and watched the fireworks. It was about simply allowing time to go by slowly and taking it all in.
Along with many wonderful memories, what my husband and I enjoyed the most about our trip were the lineups. You must be thinking “What?!?!” We enjoyed the lineups because we had the most amazing time amongst us four. Our kids are at that age where we can have a nice conversation, communicate, and tell stories. We all made sure to really enjoy that time together to its fullest. Nowadays, to have undivided attention for more than 10 minutes is hard to come by, let alone spending uninterrupted 45-50 minutes together. Very nice!! Cherish that family time together. If you have older kids, try to take some games with you. I saw a lot people (teenagers) playing heads up while waiting in line ups.
I hope this post was helpful to you and wish you and your family the best of times!
And our final good by see you later picture
