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A day at Disneyland California holds certain expectations for every member of the family and they can all differ… wildly!

Here are 10 top tips for Disneyland California to help EVERYONE enjoy as many magical moments as possible.

1. Pushchair / Strollers

You can hire pushchairs at the entrance of the park, which is handy if you haven’t got one, but my advice would be take your own.

This way you’ll save a bit of money and you can load it up with everything you could possibly need for the day. This means you don’t have to carry it on your back.

2. Plan Breaks at Disneyland California

Obviously everyone wants to get as much of the parks done as possible, but if you have little ones my advice would be to plan breaks throughout the day.

This could be a picnic break, a coffee and cake stop (coffee extremely well priced at $2.99) or even slowing down for 30 minutes to watch a show.

We were there with a three year old and an 8 month old and we definitely needed moments of down time.

Rest stops are a great way to ensure everyone can enjoy Disneyland for the whole time you are there. Wearing the right footwear can also be a consideration when spending so much time on your feet! 

3. Picnic

Small children can get tired or hungry at, what seems like, the drop of a hat sometimes. It’s a great idea to take a picnic for lunch and dinner and a couple of water bottles that you can refill from various places throughout the park.

It doesn’t really matter if you don’t eat your picnic, because you might find some great cheap eats on your way around the park! But, if you take a picnic at least your under no real pressure to find food quickly and you have given yourself some options.

4. Big Rides

This blog is not the place where you will find a huge itinerary of what to do and when to do it, to ensure you go on every single ride at the park. These sorts of days must be impossible with little kids and sound really quite stressful!

However, if there are members of your group who are keen to get on some of the big roller coasters, (like my husband) make sure you go to these first and get your Fast Passes to avoid disappointment.

The longer you leave it the busier it gets and in the end there aren’t even Fast Pass options.

5. Single Rider and Rider Swap

Talk to the ride attendants about singer rider and rider swap options.

This means one of you can stay outside with the pushchair while the other rides and then you can swap without queuing again.

Sometimes we went through the Fast Pass line, other times we went in the exit.

It’s really quite good and it means neither of you have to miss out. 

6. Day of the Week at Disneyland California

We went on a Monday where the park closes at 11pm, but on a Tuesday the park closes at 6pm.

That’s quite a big difference and by 6pm we were no where near ready to go home.

7. Fast Pass and Tickets 

Choose your Fast Passes carefully as you can’t get another one until you have used the first one or the time has run out.

Also, look after your tickets as you need to scan these to get your Fast Passes from the self-service machines.

8. Eat in the Queues

There were times we ate sandwiches or snacks in the bigger queues just to keep the day going a bit.

9. Disneyland Park app and Disney Play app

Download the Disneyland Park app to keep on top of queue times. There is also an option to link your tickets to the app to to organise your Fast Passes. For the most organised amongst us, this is a surefire way to make sure everyone can enjoy Disneyland!

If (like us) the app won’t work properly or you just don’t want to use it, you can get the same information from the guys at guest services, who are always stationed under big green umbrellas.

You can find them all over the park and they can be really useful as there is no general board telling you about wait times as there is in Disneyland Paris.

You can also download the Disney Play app that is full of games and trivia to play while you are waiting in line.

10. Disneyland California Badges

If it’s your first time at Disney, get a ‘first time’ badge from any shop on Main Street.

If the staff or characters see your kids wearing the badge they will make their interactions just that little bit more special.

You can also get anniversary and birthday badges if you are celebrating one of those special occasions too!

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Take a look at the best things to do with kids under 5 at Disneyland California!