First Disneyland visit...tips?

[megs4413]

Hitting Disneyland for just two days this summer. We're not into thrill rides and will want to do at least one character meal. Staying off site. Any advice/tips? TIA!

[SnuggleBuggles]

Get there early. Are you getting park hoppers?
I've heard they're doing some fast pass changes now so maybe try and follow along somewhere like DisBoards to keep up with how it works.
Disneyland is super mellow compared to Disney World. Whatever common sense amusement park strategies you already have will be enough. .
I don't know about character meals there. Never been on our radar.


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[pinay]

My SIL goes frequently and they always seem to like Goofy's Kitchen- reservations are preferable but they've managed to get in without notice as well.

[Tenasparkl]

People seem to like the character meal at the Grand Californian. I've only done Ariel's Grotto. It was perfect when my DD was 5 and into princesses, but I don't think I'd do it again.

A friend has a site called Babes in Disneyland that has lots of useful tips for Disneyland meals, rides etc.

[PunkyBoo]

We've done character meals 3 times- dinner at Goofy's Kitchen, Minnie's breakfast on main street, and the breakfast with Chip and Dale at Grand Californian. We've always had advanced reservations. We have 2 boys so no interest in princesses. We're not big on breakfast foods so breakfast seems overpriced to me. (3 of us run low on blood sugar so we eat when we get up, and can't eat stuff like waffles and pancakes without filling up on protein first). We saw LOTS of characters at Minnie's and loved getting into the park early to go in. But it was very crowded so hard to get up to buffet stations. Chip and Dale was great- spread out, table service, felt nicer, but the characters are a bit more obscure. Goody's was a great dinner, awesome characters, lot of fun, and good food.

Let me know if you have other questions.

[AnnieW625]

I would splurge on park hoppers. I haven't been in the summer in years, but friends of ours just went on this past Sunday and said it was crazy busy. Sundays until Mid June used to be pretty good days (when we had passes we went on Sundays Sept-May). I also took the kids on a Friday in February (the Friday of Presidents week) and it was the busiest I have ever seen it (and we grew up going in the summer) and thankfully we had park hopper tickets because regular Disneyland was super crowded and California Adventure was just crowded, but much more manageable.

I have never had a character meal as my kids when they were little weren't big eaters and I always felt it was over priced and I knew they wouldn't eat much. I have heard the most positives about Goofy's Kitchen.

The first thing you need to do in the AM and if you can get to the parks early is to get fast passes for Radiator Springs Racers or Space Mountain, both rides are usually 2 hour waits without a fast pass.

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[ckso]

We did brunch at Goofys kitchen and loved it. They were closing right around the time we were done eating which was great. Some of the characters came out and we had more one on one time with them. Then we took the monorail at downtown Disney to get into Disneyland

But I have an annual pass. If I only had 2 days, I think it would be better to do the character meals inside the park (to save time).


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[bisous]

We did brunch at Goofys kitchen and loved it. They were closing right around the time we were done eating which was great. Some of the characters came out and we had more one on one time with them. Then we took the monorail at downtown Disney to get into Disneyland

But I have an annual pass. If I only had 2 days, I think it would be better to do the character meals inside the park (to save time).


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We had a very similar experience. It was so much fun and I really liked Goofy's kitchen, but in your case I'd do Minnie's breakfast. I haven't done it but have friends who really like it.

[lalasmama]

Hitting Disneyland for just two days this summer. We're not into thrill rides and will want to do at least one character meal. Staying off site. Any advice/tips? TIA!

Any idea what days? Are they specific dates, or just "sometime when we are in the area" dates that could be changed based on crowd predictions? You can look at your prospective dates at isitpacked.com .

With the ages of your kids, if your sig is still correct, I'd consider doing Minnie's Breakfast at Plaza Inn in the parks. You can make an early reservation and eat shortly before the park opens, and be finishing shortly after the park opens. My general thought for doing Minnie's is that there is a wide variation of characters that rotate (no guarantees, but we saw Minnie, Fairy Godmother, Rafiki, Cptn Hook, one of the Chipmunks, Eeyore, and a few more--I think maybe 8-9 that day), it's a buffet so you're covered with any possible picky eaters, it's right in the park which is fun and doesn't require extra time walking to/from a meal outside the park. Minnie's is usually pretty easy to get reservations as well; we've called at 9am and gotten a reservation at 10:30 (the time we were hoping for). Other options are Goofy's (set cast of characters with a typical "surprise" character that isn't guaranteed), Storyteller's (woodland characters), and Ariel's (princesses).

I'd suggest park hoppers. The gates are a mere 90-second walk apart, so it's very easy to get back and forth.

Typically, where the idea of touring plans are concerned, it's less necessary when compared to Disney World. That being said, there are some tricks to shorten your wait in lines The biggest idea is to get there at rope drop and ride the "must rides" first... unless it has a fast pass, in which you should get a fast pass, and ride something else. (Or ride it and get a fast pass to allow 2 rides in quick succession!) If you want to do Fantasy Land rides, ride them first thing in the morning, or last thing in the evening (after fireworks), if you will be staying late. The easiest schedule to allow the most rides is to be there early, take an afternoon break (swim, watch a movie at the hotel, etc., just to get away from the crowds), then come back around dinner time, and enjoy until closing. If you don't want to go back to your hotel, then it can be nice to find a quiet area, or watch a show near that time. Crowds tend to be worse in the afternoon, from after lunch to around dinner time. Depending on the day, it may (or may not!) ease up after the first evening parade (which is currently the Main Street Electrical Parade until 8/20).

If the kids are having a frustrating time with lines and just need to run around, there's the Redwood Creek Challenge area (can't remember the exact name, and too lazy to go look right now, but its something close to that). It's a HUGE play structure, 3 stories high, with a small zip line for young kids, rope nets to cross, bridges, a small-kids' playground, a little rock wall, and some other things. The nice part of it is that there's trails to explore, and there's lots of shade for parents, and kids can just run, run, run. DD loves it still at 13 years old, and was quite sad when she outgrew the zip line.

How tall is your youngest child? That could affect some of the rides you can go on, however, your older 2 are old enough to go on rides with Single Rider if there is something they see that they really want to do that has Single Rider Lines. Single rider lines include: Indiana Jones, Matterhorn, Splash Mountain, Grizzly River, Goofy's Sky School, and Screamin'. Since our youngest DD is older, we do Single Rider on all of those rides, and get through them in less than 15 minutes, usually.

[megs4413]

Any idea what days? Are they specific dates, or just "sometime when we are in the area" dates that could be changed based on crowd predictions? You can look at your prospective dates at isitpacked.com .

With the ages of your kids, if your sig is still correct, I'd consider doing Minnie's Breakfast at Plaza Inn in the parks. You can make an early reservation and eat shortly before the park opens, and be finishing shortly after the park opens. My general thought for doing Minnie's is that there is a wide variation of characters that rotate (no guarantees, but we saw Minnie, Fairy Godmother, Rafiki, Cptn Hook, one of the Chipmunks, Eeyore, and a few more--I think maybe 8-9 that day), it's a buffet so you're covered with any possible picky eaters, it's right in the park which is fun and doesn't require extra time walking to/from a meal outside the park. Minnie's is usually pretty easy to get reservations as well; we've called at 9am and gotten a reservation at 10:30 (the time we were hoping for). Other options are Goofy's (set cast of characters with a typical "surprise" character that isn't guaranteed), Storyteller's (woodland characters), and Ariel's (princesses).

I'd suggest park hoppers. The gates are a mere 90-second walk apart, so it's very easy to get back and forth.

Typically, where the idea of touring plans are concerned, it's less necessary when compared to Disney World. That being said, there are some tricks to shorten your wait in lines The biggest idea is to get there at rope drop and ride the "must rides" first... unless it has a fast pass, in which you should get a fast pass, and ride something else. (Or ride it and get a fast pass to allow 2 rides in quick succession!) If you want to do Fantasy Land rides, ride them first thing in the morning, or last thing in the evening (after fireworks), if you will be staying late. The easiest schedule to allow the most rides is to be there early, take an afternoon break (swim, watch a movie at the hotel, etc., just to get away from the crowds), then come back around dinner time, and enjoy until closing. If you don't want to go back to your hotel, then it can be nice to find a quiet area, or watch a show near that time. Crowds tend to be worse in the afternoon, from after lunch to around dinner time. Depending on the day, it may (or may not!) ease up after the first evening parade (which is currently the Main Street Electrical Parade until 8/20).

If the kids are having a frustrating time with lines and just need to run around, there's the Redwood Creek Challenge area (can't remember the exact name, and too lazy to go look right now, but its something close to that). It's a HUGE play structure, 3 stories high, with a small zip line for young kids, rope nets to cross, bridges, a small-kids' playground, a little rock wall, and some other things. The nice part of it is that there's trails to explore, and there's lots of shade for parents, and kids can just run, run, run. DD loves it still at 13 years old, and was quite sad when she outgrew the zip line.

How tall is your youngest child? That could affect some of the rides you can go on, however, your older 2 are old enough to go on rides with Single Rider if there is something they see that they really want to do that has Single Rider Lines. Single rider lines include: Indiana Jones, Matterhorn, Splash Mountain, Grizzly River, Goofy's Sky School, and Screamin'. Since our youngest DD is older, we do Single Rider on all of those rides, and get through them in less than 15 minutes, usually.

Is plaza inn breakfast worth it if it doesn't get us in early? The only time I'm finding is 8:30 and it's an EMH morning day.