Help-taking 2 & 4 yo to Disneyland for the first time tomorrow, need suggestions/tips

[goldenpig]

We're in SoCal right now and are planning to take 4.5 yo DD and 2 yo DS to Disneyland tomorrow (Tuesday). I haven't been to DL since I was a kid myself and we are not big amusement park people so I am kind of scared of the long lines and crowds! I feel bad that I have not researched this more but I have been super busy at work the last couple weeks so I haven't had time to plan anything.

What is the best strategy for Disneyland in one day with a toddler and preschooler? What are the "must see" attractions (we definitely want to do It's a Small World) and best rides for toddlers (they are short, 33 and 39 inches). We don't have to do everything--we'll definitely take it at a slow pace, but we also don't want to end up doing things "wrong" and getting stuck in huge lines. My daughter likes Disney princesses but my sister told me when they went, they had to wait in line for an hour and a half to meet the princesses! Ugh! I really don't want to wait more than 15-30 min for anything if I can avoid it, that just seems like torture with two little ones! DH said that several of his coworkers recommended having lunch with princesses at "Ariel's Grotto" but apparently that is in California Adventures, so we'd have to buy a Park Hopper pass--is Disneyland plus California Adventures too much to cover in one day? We could potentially do two days for the two parks, but hadn't really planned to unless it's a must. Also, we are bringing the big double stroller (Baby Jogger Summit XC double), is that going to be a problem for getting around the park and rides/trams etc? Any other tips for how to survive DL? Sorry for all the basic questions, we are total DL newbies here! Thanks!

[TwinFoxes]

The biggest tip is get there at park opening. Not 1/2 hour late, but at "rope drop". Get your tickets Monday, I don't know where you're staying, some hotels sell passes, or you can check at the Disney store. Head straight for Dumbo. Don't dawdle they can go back and look at Main St later. If you are making good time you can detour to get a Fast Pass for Buzz Lightyear on the way. Dumbo is the most popular ride for little kids, and it's the slowest moving line. It's sooo cute though your kids will want to do it. A relatively short line still takes a long time, that's why you have to dash there.

After Dumbo I would do other Fantasyland rides, including it's a small world. Snow White's SCARY Adventures is called that for a reason, if your DDs are wimps (like mine!) skip it. After Fantasyland head to Pooh, and maybe the Jungle Cruise. If you and DH want to ride any E ticket rides you should be able to get FPs for them by then (if you got Buzz FPs it will have a time printed in it saying when you can get a new FP).

We were annual pass holders pre kids, so I'm not familiar with waiting for princesses, but 1.5 hours seems a stretch. They are at different locations in the park, so maybe it's cumulative? Or maybe it was right after a new movie came out, like Tangled. At DL the character interactions aren't as tightly controlled as they are at WDW, you see random characters just strolling around. I saw the princesses playing "duck duck goose" with a bunch of little girls once.

DL is much more doable on a whim than WDW. It doesn't take as much planning. You'll all have fun. Oh, lots of Bobs. Strollers are a bit of a pain on the parking lot tram because you have to hold them, but it's a short ride usually. If you park in the Mickey and Friends structure there's a path you can walk to get to the parks (only do this if it won't make you miss rope drop).

[goldenpig]

Thanks Twinfoxes! We are staying with DH's mom in Irvine so we won't be at a hotel but I will try to see if there is a Disney store (we haven't bought tickets yet). We might potentially be able to go back for 1/2 day on Wednesday to spread things out. My daughter is a wimp too (and so is my son) so we'll definitely make sure to avoid Snow White and stick to the tame rides. I think the princess thing my sister was referring to is called Fantasy Faire, where you meet three princesses.

We'll definitely try to get to the park early. Has anyone done these "character meals" at Ariel's Grotto or other places? Is it worth it? And is it going to be super crowded this week, or is Spring Break over for SoCal?

[TwinFoxes]

GP, I think Lalasmama did Ariel's Grotto a few weeks ago, you might try PMing her. Fantasy Faire might be new since the last time I was there, it sounds like they're all in one place now. I'm pretty sure Spring Break is over now for most school districts in SoCal. If your kids are into characters, the meals are worth it. When we went to WDW the girls were thrilled to see the characters.

[shweethart]

We did a character meal the last time we were there. I thought it was worth it in the sense that you get to meet a whole bunch of characters in one place that way at the park u can focus on rides parades etc and not spend time catching characters. Since you have only one day I would rather get there at rope drop and do fantasyland first.

As far as princesses, maybe it was timing but in the morning either 10 or 11 we were by the castle and met with 3 princesses by the garden. I wanna say they are there pretty much every day at that time. I'm sure someone can confirm if this is still true.

As far as specific rides My 2 year old DS enjoyed fantasyland, small world, buzz light year, and pirates. Also the parade was a hit.

Mickeys house at toon town to meet Mickey is also a stop for us.

Hope you enjoy your visit!

[Beth24]

When my DD was 4 or 5 we waited about 30 minutes to see the princesses at Fantasy Faire. We had an autograph book that the princesses sign, she still has it, and loves it, we bought one there that had a space for the autographs and a photo you can stick in later. It was definitely worth the wait although my boys werent too happy about it, but they were older! The Fantasy Faire is right next to Small World and Toon Town so your DH can always take your son to something else while you wait for the princesses. Just have your camera ready!

[tny915]

We have annual passes and head to DL several times a year. I think you may be visiting at a good time. I would think most kids are back in school by now. When we used to visit off-peak, the longest lines we'd stand in were 20-30 minutes and those were only for the most popular like Nemo, Peter Pan, and the coasters. Often, we could walk right onto some rides or wait no more than 10 minutes.

Nowadays, we always go during peak crowd season. Here's what we always do:

-- Get there at rope drop and head straight for Fantasyland.
-- We always start with Peter Pan's Flight has the longest and slowest loading line right from the get-go. It's our family's favorite, but it's a dark ride and some kids are scared of those.
-- Then Dumbo. Then other Fantasyland rides. Teacups and Alice in Wonderland lines can get long so we try to do those next. We like the train and storyboat canal, but if those lines look long we skip them.
-- We're indifferent to the dark rides -- Toads Wild Ride, Snow White, Pinocchio. We usually skip them all.
-- Small World is a fast loading ride, so we fit that ride in multiple times in a day.

Personally, I always choose character meals instead of waiting in lines for characters. But if your DD wants the Fantasy Faire, it's safest to just head there early on. Maybe right after Dumbo. The princess from Tangled has a separate meet and greet line in the middle of Fantasyland. All the other princesses are only at Fantasy Faire, unless you do a character meal. Tinkerbell and the fairies also have their own meet and greet line outside of Fantasyland.

After Fantasyland, we always hit Buzz Lightyear in Tomorrowland and grab a fastpass for Autopia. Nemo submarine is a great ride, one of our favorites, but lines are always long so we do it early morning or in the evening around parade time, never mid-day.

The other side of DL has Jungle Cruise, the Tiki Room singing fake birds show which my girls love, Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion (which my timid kids are surprisingly not scared of), and Winnie the Pooh. We love take the raft to visit and explore the island across the water from New Orleans Square.

Fastpasses:
-- We do get fastpasses for Autopia, but aside from that, fastpasses don't help us much because we don't ride coasters.
-- Star Tours has a fastpass but has a height requirement so your 2yo might not make it.
-- There is no more fastpass for Buzz Lightyear.

Get a phone app to show you the wait times for rides. I use DLR Lines. I have an android phone, if that matters.

We love DL. Jealous that you're there! Have a good time!

ETA: Don't worry about the double stroller. Tons of strollers, big and small, everywhere.

[smiles33]

I'm so jealous, goldenpig! How fun. Great advice so far. I'd add a few things to think about:

- How timid are your kids? My 5 year was terrified of indoor rides (I showed her on YouTube ahead of time so we wouldn't waste time standing in line). She wouldn't even consider the "new" Little Mermaid ride at California Adventure, which only has 1 scary scene featuring Ursula cackling. Thus, we avoided ALL dark rides. That saves a lot of time as few (if any?) have fastpasses and they're sometimes slow-loading.

- California Adventure is TOTALLY worth it for timid kids. A Bug's Life rides are almost all open-air, there's a great Aladdin musical show both girls loved, my 5 year old LOVED Goofy's coaster (we went 5 or 6 times and it DOES have fastpass tickets) and Soarin' (she went 3 or 4 times), and we spent almost more time there than DL. We also did the Ariel's Grotto lunch, which is overpriced for average food, but we saw 5 princesses and got hugs, photos, and autographs with them all.

- If you have time, skim through my detailed trip report. I run through all the rides we did, how my girls liked them, and different advice I got after probably hundreds of hours on DISBoards reading threads and other visitors' trip reports.


Have fun!

[pinay]

Other thing to mention is that if you really are considering doing 2 days, get the 2 day So Cal passes for $99. All you need to do is tell them your zip code and you're good to go- it's 1 park per day so you could do DL tomorrow and DCA the following day. They should be available at a Vons near you, but we actually ended up buying ours at the ticket booths the afternoon before we went in because the local grocery store had sold out.

[Twoboos]

Everything tny915/Terri said!! Rope drop, Peter Pan, Dumbo, rest of FantasyLand.

I think we had MouseWait as our app.

ToonTown was great, we had a pass to get in early and met Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto.

If princesses are a must, Ariel's Grotto is a good choice - you are guaranteed 5 of them! When we were there the line for Rapunzel was 90+min, and the Fantasy Faire thing at least that long. But we were there over spring break.

Have fun!!!