Disneyland -- give me all your tips and tricks!

[bubbaray]

OK ladies -- hit me with all your tips, insider info, helpful hints for Disneyland.

I've been reading mousesavers.com and some of the disboards

TIA!!

[Tondi G]

How long are you going for? Where are you staying? Do you want to do Character meals? What are your kiddos interests? How tall they are will dictate if they can ride certain rides or not. Do you want to see shows (will your kids sit for them?)?

[bubbaray]

Tondi, I PMd you! :)

[Emmas Mom]

If you can do it & if your girls are like mine & love princesses....do the character lunch/dinner in Ariel's Grotto (DCA). It's a blast. We'll be there for lunch next Tuesday! :)

[Kyras mom]

LODGING- Stay at Howard Johnsons. Get the Entertainment Rate ($59 to $79 per night depending on room) with the Entertainment card (can get just the card-not the whole book) for about $5 on ebay. Check the hojo anaheim's website message boards for entertainment rate dates. There is a great kid's pool and waterplay area there. 10 minute walk max to park gates.

Eat breakfast in your hotel room and get to parks early. Do DL at park opening, then around late morning when DL starts to get busy, go to California Adventure.

Return to hotel in afternoon for rest/nap. Go back in late afternoon.

Do Magic Mornings (Sat, sun, tues, thurs). You get them with park hopper tickets or if you stay at one of the resort hotels (Disneyland Hotel, Paradise Pier, or Grand Californian). You can get all of Fantasyland and some of Tomarrowland done with little or no waits.

Don't overdo it. We ended going to bed around 8pm so we could get up at 6am for the early entry.

Definately do Ariels Grotto Princess Celebration. We've done a late breakfast (late enough to be our lunch), and a dinner. Both times excellent food and character interaction. The character meals are the best way to get character interaction time.

Bring ponchos for Grizzly River Run and Splash Mountain.

Use Fastpass.

I love the Disboards. MousePlanet has a good message board, too.

Make Priority Seating arrangements for dining (up to 60 days in advance).

Have fun!

[SnuggleBuggles]

I was only there once so I am not an expert. But, I would say that if it is in your budget get passes that get you in both parks. Since we were only going to be there a day we planned to skip California Adventure but we wound up winning passes to that park. We really liked it! It wasn't as crowded and there were fun attractions (Soarin' over CA is not to be missed, imo!). CA was nice too because there were a lot of shows so if you needed a break it's nice to head over there, imo.

I wish that we had gotten reservations at the Blue Bayou restaurant overlooking Pirates of the Caribbean because the location just looks so cool. It seems like a nice place to unwind.

Hit the ride you most want to do first thing in the morning, imo. Especially if it doesn't have fast pass. We got there 1.5 hours after the park opened for the special people (Magic Mornings) and 30 minutes after the general opening and lines were still super short. We were there on an August Wed., btw.

Have fun!!

Beth

[Tondi G]

Tondi, I PMd you! :)

I PM'd you back... sorry for the delay! Hope I didn't ramble on too long! :)

[bluestarfish18]

My entire family has worked at DL at one point or another, so I pretty much grew up in the park. Truthfully, I've been at last 50 times in my life. Sad, I know...but I still love it.

I still love reading the Birnbaum guide for kicks. It actually has some good tips in there. http://www.amazon.com/Birnbaums-Disneyland-Resort-Birnbaum-Travel/dp/1423110501/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231785610&sr=8-2

When are you going? Timing during the year and during the week make a huge difference. I'd love to give you all the tips I can, just let me know what you need!

[codex57]

I'm a 2nd generation former DL worker too. It's much tougher with young kids than with older ones.

I really like what I read in mousesavers. There's only so much you can do tho. The crowds really limit things. Fast Pass is def a must.