Disneyland in Anaheim CA -- help Disney newbie

[mackmama]

We have never been to Disneyland but might visit Disneyland in Anaheim CA soon. We would only go for one day and would stay about 4 hours. We would stay at a friend's house so no hotels needed. We have heard something about fast passes. What are these, and are they worth it? What are best things to use them for? Our DC is 4yo and 41"H if it matters. Thanks!

[SnuggleBuggles]

I don't think DL has the FP system yet where you have/can to book them way in advance. I think it's still first come, first served when you are in the park. Best advice is to always go first thing in AM. The first 2-3 hours you can wait in pretty short lines for most thing but by 11 you'll want fast passes. We've never put a lot of planning into DL. Last trip I down loaded a ride line app and that was awesome. When we finished a ride, I'd look at the app for a suggestion on where to go next.
You need to decide if you're going to CA or DL. Park hoppers for just a 4 hour visit don't seem at all worth while. (Not sure 4 hours seems all that worth while...)

[twowhat?]

4 hours - totally not worthwhile, IMO. You can't do a single park in 4 hours especially during high season. And it puts pressure on you to over-plan in order to maximize what you can hit during those 4 hours - tickets are expensive. If it were me I'd rather do the beach or something more leisurely if you only have 4 hours.

[AnnieW625]

4 hours - totally not worthwhile, IMO. You can't do a single park in 4 hours especially during high season. And it puts pressure on you to over-plan in order to maximize what you can hit during those 4 hours - tickets are expensive. If it were me I'd rather do the beach or something more leisurely if you only have 4 hours.

unless you plan on getting a pass and live 20-30 minutes away I wouldn't spend $300 on tickets for four hours because even on a very slow day you will miss stuff and won't get your monies worth. I will say even when we did have passes there were very few times we didn't spend at least 5-6 hrs. at the DL parks. We would pick a park and spend the bulk of the day there and then spend an another hour or two at the other park. The one time we spent 4 hours there was Mothers Day and it was a zoo. We were thankful we parked at Downtown Disney so parking was cheaper than the parking garage. We are not trip planners either. With the exception of getting fast passes for space Mountain and the Cars Land ride everything else we do is spur of the moment.

[smiles33]

A trip to Disneyland anytime between now and September will be extremely crowded and likely to result in cranky kids if you only stay 4 hours. You just can't get much done if you're standing in long lines.

If you don't mind dropping $500+ for four hours, then it may still be worth going to Disneyland but skipping the rides. Instead, walk down Main Street to buy some souvenirs (I like the silhouette shop), line up for 1 or 2 meet-and-greets (assuming your 4 year old likes princesses, Tinker Bell, the Marvel superheroes, Disney characters, etc. and the line is only 30 minutes or so--skip Frozen as you don't have time to spend over an hour in line), and then shell out about $50/person to eat at a character meal to meet more characters. That's four hours right there.

P.S. Fastpasses at Disneyland require you to walk to the attraction, insert your admission ticket (it has a bar code), and collect a paper fastpass that tells you when to return to the line. NOTE: only the most popular rides have them (maybe 10 of them in BOTH parks), like Space Mountain, Radiator Springs Racers, Thunder Mountain Railroad, Star Tours, etc., which might be too fast for your kid (unless s/he loves speed). My eldest loved Space Mountain, Radiator Springs, etc. at age 5 but my youngest hated them at the same age. Only now, at 6, does she like fast roller coasters. The only ride my youngest rode that was FP-enabled was Soarin' (which is at California Adventure).

[mackmama]

I am surprised to hear 4 hours might not be enough time. I was thinking it'd be too much for a 4yo! How long could a 4yo manage at DL do you think - or maybe it's best to wait until DC is older? Totally new to Disneyland hoopla.

[twowhat?]

I am surprised to hear 4 hours might not be enough time. I was thinking it'd be too much for a 4yo! How long could a 4yo manage at DL do you think - or maybe it's best to wait until DC is older? Totally new to Disneyland hoopla.

Sure, it's a lot for a 4yo but do you really want to pay $300+ for 4 hours of entertainment, a lot of which will be fighting crowds? Ours were 4.5 when we first went and we spent 4 DAYS between the 2 parks. We'd go in the morning until they got tired, then back to the hotel to recover and cool off in the pool, then back out again for a few hours. We took a "leisurely" approach though. If you look at the disboards you will get introduced to the craziness of planning:)

Another idea is to just do a character meal at Goofy's Kitchen or similar (that's 2 hours) and plan a longer Disneyland trip when DC is older.

[smiles33]

Well, I've been 3 times with kids but we always took afternoon breaks and we always do 2-3 day trips. We'd be at the gates 30 minutes before the park opened (sometimes as early as 6:30 am) so we're one of the first dozen or so families in. This is a huge advantage because then we were able to go straight to the attractions that usually have the longest lines later in the day and don't have fast passes (e.g., the Fantasyland ones like Dumbo, Peter Pan, the carousel). Instead of an hour wait for Dumbo, we'd be one of the first families on it.

We always eat an early lunch around 11:30 (often a character meal, we liked Goofy's best of the 4 we tried) and then return to our hotel for a nap/swim when the park is most crowded. Many locals have annual passes and arrive at the parks later (as do tourists who don't like to wake up early) and leave before dinner. So I always found the crowds worst between 10-4 pm. We'd go back to the parks around 2 or 3 to use our fastpasses, see a parade or two (they have a different one in each park and usually run 2 times a day at set times in the afternoon/evening), have dinner, and call it an early night around 7 or 8 pm.

Hope that helps give you some perspective.

[SnuggleBuggles]

My 4yo could last all day at am amusement park. 10 hours.

[TwinFoxes]

I am surprised to hear 4 hours might not be enough time. I was thinking it'd be too much for a 4yo! How long could a 4yo manage at DL do you think - or maybe it's best to wait until DC is older? Totally new to Disneyland hoopla.

Well, my girls went to WDW when they were two, and we spent 7 days, and when I was 3, I went to DL for the entire day. 4 hours is very short.

Fast passes are free passes you get at the parks for certain attractions. You use them so you don't have to wait in line for the most popular attractions. They are definitely worth getting.

[lalasmama]

I am surprised to hear 4 hours might not be enough time. I was thinking it'd be too much for a 4yo! How long could a 4yo manage at DL do you think - or maybe it's best to wait until DC is older? Totally new to Disneyland hoopla.

I'm a Disneyland freak, soon-to-be author of a book on Disneyland ;) , and I couldn't ever imagine being there for just 4 hours, unless I was local. However, it's not because I love DL that I couldn't imagine it... It's a park over 100 acres, over 50 attractions (rides, shows, parades), and, as a "normal person" (ie, non-military, non-CM-pass getting you in for a discount), I'm not willing to pay $99 for me, plus $93 for a 4yo for 4 hours of entertainment (and that only gets you into the Disneyland side of things!). In Disney's California Adventure is Cars Land, which is a HUGE draw for just about any child! So, to get into both areas (Disneyland and California Adventure), you're looking at $155 per adult, and $149 for your child for 4 hours of entertainment.

In those 4 hours, you'd be able to manage about 2 fast-pass rides, maybe a parade, a snack, and a few more rides with short waits. So, maybe (a BIG maybe, like a "if you come in the first 4 hours" maybe) you'd get in 5-8 rides and a snack. If you came in the afternoon or evening, expect 2-3 rides, a snack, and a parade if you wanted.

People often (wrongly) assume that the Disneyland Resort area is like their local amusement park, and it's just not. Average line waits (without Fast Pass) are 20+ minutes for most rides (over an hour often for some of the bigger rides), and at 41", your child can go on just about anything his/her heart desires. (There's only 8 rides with a height limit between the 2 parks, and most of those height limits are 42" inches, so your child may well reach them with regular shoes on). Of course, it's not all about rides, either... A wait to meet Mickey is about 30 minutes, a wait to meet a Princess can be an hour or more, and if your child loves Frozen, you can only meet Anna, Elsa, and Olaf via Fast Pass, which may give you a "meet-and-greet" time of 4-7 hours later... I can easily do our local amusement park in 4 hours, but there's only 20 attractions, and maybe 2k people there on a "busy" day, not 50+ attractions and 50k on a regular day.

Bare minimum, in my opinion, for a first trip to Disneyland, is at *least* a full day. My DGS is a new-4, and he would be kept sufficiently enthralled that whole time, without a break, without a nap....

[PZMommy]

We've gone yearly since my DS turned 1. We are local, so we don't stay overnight. We get the park hopper and do both the same day. We are there for about 10 hours. He lasts just fine. I'm usually more tired than he is. This year now that he is 6 and really into it, we are considering doing a day at each park and staying in a hotel overnight.

Also for a 4 yr old, I would definitely bring a stroller. It is easier to get through the crowds faster if you are able to move at your pace. Plus they don't get as tired if they don't have to walk.

[ckso]

4 hours is pretty rushed and may take away from the experience. We have annual passes and go maybe once a month. Started when my kids were 1 and 4. Even on our quickest days, I probably stay at least 6-7 hours and that's with my kids complaining about why we have to leave. When DD1 was 1, she would do a short nap in the stroller but my 4 year old was fine the whole time. She would nap during the 45 min ride home but did great at the park. My kids are now 3 and 6 and even though my 3 yr old normally naps at home, she's totally fine staying the 6-9 hours now.

If you do go, I would suggest CA Adventure. It's less crowded, less intimidating and you can get more done in the short time you're there.

[HannaAddict]

Our four year olds and almost four year olds have loved it but not if we only had four hours. We had Maclaren strollers to cover more ground and rest in and take breaks for snacks and treats and food. As others said, it isn't like a regular amusement park and takes awhile to navigate, get around and get on rides. If you want to do it - plan for an entire day 8+ hours and go for it!

[Tenasparkl]

In addition to the normal summer craziness, the 60th anniversary celebration just started. It sounds like the crowds are even worse then usual. Four hours wouldn't give you time to do much, but I'm sure it would be memorable. If there's any way to spend a little more time then I'd do it.

[azzeps]

Money aside, you could do a lot in 4 hours, but only if the 4 hours are the first four hours the park is open, and probably on a weekday. If you can get there early when it first opens, I'd consider it. There's a Disneyland guidebook that has a plan called "Dumbo or Die" and tells you which rides to hit first.... you could probably see a good chunk of Fantasyland, and maybe not much else, but it would be fun! It would leave you wanting to plan a longer visit, though, because there really is so much fun to be had at Disneyland! :)

[essnce629]

My 4yo could last all day at am amusement park. 10 hours.

Yes to this! We last went for DS2's 4th birthday and were there from 10am till midnight! I was sure going to get my money's worth! AND we didn't even get to ride on all the rides we wanted to in those 12 hours!!! That was just Disneyland, not California Adventure too. We did take a stroller, even though DS2 hadn't ridden in one for about two years, and he did take a nap in it for a good hour.

[Still-in-Shock]

mackmama, I recommend you look at either the Birnbaum or Unofficial guide to Disney, and figure out just what you would want to see at Disneyland, taking into account what would be best for your child. Once you have that in mind, I would go to touringplans.com, and put those rides/attractions into a plan, and have the website calculate how long that would take. THis site estimates how long your waits will be at each ride, how long it will take to get there, and it will optimize a plan for you, to help you make te most out of your day.

That said, I would think that you could do quite a bit in 4 hours IF you go when the park opens, and IF you go during the week. Disneyland is in driving distance to millions of people, so the park tends to get crowded starting at lunch time, and weekends are understandably the worst.

You asked about Fastpasses. There are a few rides that have them, and you can only have one at a time. A couple have a height requirement taller than your child, so be sure to check that before you get a Fastpass for a ride that locks you out of others. About a third of the FP's are for meeting Princesses, Fairies, etc. and Fireworks shows at night - those do not count toward your one at a time allotment. There's more about them here: https://disneyland.disney.go.com/guest-services/fastpass/

lalasmama mentioned it, but I will iterate that what we call Disneyland is actually 2 parks, the original Disneyland and California Adventure. You pay extra to see both in one day, and you may spend more time going between them than actually doing things in either park, so I definitely recommend only going to one.

If this is going to be your only chance to see DIsneyland while your child is at the age where everything is magical, then bite the bullet and go. But if you think you will be able to go in the next year or two for 2 or more days, you might be happier waiting.