14 First Time Tips for Disneyland & California Adventure

Thinking of going to Disneyland and California Adventure for the first time? Looking for tips for Disneyland and California Adventure so you can get the most out of your experience? This Disney skeptic (yes, that’s me) went there recently and had a great time. I hope these tips will help you plan a wonderful trip for your first time at Disneyland/California Adventure. 

Read more: California Travel Tips

We had put off Disneyland for a long time. My older son, Noah, went with the Brazilian side of our family when I was pregnant with Gabe, but we’d never gone as a family. It was something that, to be honest, I didn’t encourage.

Disneyland is expensive and, I thought, involves a lot of whining and waiting in lines. I wanted to be sure the boys would be old enough to appreciate most rides and have the stamina to be there all day.

With Noah and Gabe at ages 10 and 7, we finally decided to go this year. I swore that we would do it right since, I thought, it would be our one and only family trip to Disneyland. Here’s how we got the most out of Disneyland and California Adventure.

Get the Disney app and use MaxPass.

This is an absolute must for your first time at Disneyland! First, the free Disneyland app by itself is very helpful because of the map function — it shows you where all the rides, characters, food, etc. are and the current wait time at each ride!

You can even make restaurant reservations (I wish we’d done this!). We used the app like crazy. To save time, download the app before you go to the park.

But for the best Disneyland experience, pay $10 per person per day for the MaxPass option. As soon as you enter the park gates, open the Disney app and purchase MaxPass for each person in your party. You’ll need to set up an account and use your credit card to pay. This takes about 5 minutes total.

Once you’ve got MaxPass set up in your phone, you can use it to select FASTPASS for rides and skip the long lines!

Note: there’s also a free FASTPASS option which allows you to pick up paper tickets for FASTPASS at the rides. I don’t think it’s worth it because you have to walk to the ride when the FASTPASS is being distributed and then walk back to the ride when your ride time is. So, from here on, when I refer to “FASTPASS,” I’m referring to using the MaxPass option, which is the paid option on the Disney app.

How does FASTPASS work?

Open the Disneyland app, choose the park (Disneyland or California Adventure), and then see which rides have FASTPASS and what time each pass is available. Each ride will show a one-hour time window when the next FASTPASS is available. For example, Star Tours might have a 10:00-11:00 a.m. window while Indiana Jones has 11:15-12:15. 

You can choose only one ride at a time, so if you choose Star Tours for 10:00-11:00 a.m., you’ll need to wait at least 30 minutes before you can choose the next FASTPASS.

When it’s time to go to the ride, go directly to the FASTPASS line and open your app to scan your passes. The lines for the FASTPASS holders were always much shorter than the regular lines!

Here’s how FASTPASS worked for us: We entered Disneyland at 9:15 a.m. and saw about nine rides that had the FASTPASS option: Star Tours, It’s a Small World, Haunted Mansion, Matterhorn Bobsleds, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Roger Rabbit, Jungle Cruise, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, and Indiana Jones.

Under the name of each ride was a one-hour time window when the next FASTPASS was available. For example, when we looked at 9:20 a.m., we were able to schedule a FASTPASS for the Matterhorn Bobsleds for 10:15-11:15 a.m. However, later in the day it got busier and some rides weren’t available for FASTPASS until two or three hours later.

Once you reserve your first FASTPASS, you’re given a time that you can reserve your next FASTPASS. When we entered the park, we used it at 9:20 to reserve a FASTPASS for the Matterhorn, and then the app told us that we could use it again at 9:55 to reserve our next FASTPASS.

In other words, you can’t reserve a bunch of them all at once. And you can’t use it for every ride, only the rides that the app shows on that day. If you change your mind, you can go in and click Cancel.

Learn more about MaxPass on the Disneyland website.

Get a locker and bring your own bottled water and snacks.

We wanted to have a backpack with light jackets for evening, 3-4 bottles of water, and a few snacks. Both days we headed straight for the lockers and stowed our backpack there; then a couple of times during the day we went there to grab a snack or drink water (the water bottles sold in the parks are not only expensive but also a big waste of plastic!). Tip: if you plan to go on the water rides, keep a light change of clothes in the locker.

Where are the lockers in Disneyland and California Adventure?

When you enter Disneyland, walk down Main Street until you see a fruit stand on one of the little side streets on the right. The lockers are located down that little street, just past the fruit stand. Use the touch screen to enter a passcode and pay for your locker. The smaller size holds a regular backpack and maybe another small bag or jacket.

As you enter California Adventure, look for the lockers on the right between the restrooms and a snack shop. Because this park is smaller than Disneyland, we could easily return to our locker to get water and snacks throughout the day.

Bring a warmer layer for evenings.

This being California, you can expect the evenings to cool off, sometimes 20 or 30 degrees from the daytime high. Unless you visit on very warm days, you might need a warmer layer after the sun goes down.

What to wear at Disneyland?

We walked about seven miles each day, so wearing very comfortable shoes is important!

Consider a cross body bag that’s easy to hang on to while on rides (or easy to stow by your feet). If it’s going to be sunny, consider a soft hat that can be easily stowed on rides in the mesh bag provided by your feet on fast rides like the Matterhorn. Wear sunglasses that can be taken off and stowed quickly.

What are the best rides at Disneyland?

Here are the rides/attractions we especially loved:

• Star Tours: a simulator ride that takes you on a journey through space in a spaceship with C3PO and R2D2
• Haunted Mansion: of course! But be careful with little kids — it’s a bit creepy.
• Matterhorn Bobsleds: this classic ride includes a long, dark climb and lots of fast turns. It was Noah’s favorite, but Gabe was a little scared, especially because it has individual seats.
• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad: the classic twisty railroad ride–look for the animals on the rocks
• Tom Sawyer’s Island: great for the kids to explore!
• Jungle Cruise: so fun! We laughed at all the silly jokes.
• It’s a Small World: Noah thought it was “lame,” but Gabe loved it, and so do I. The cultural stereotypes feel like a dated concept, but the aim of celebrating all the peoples of the world is so sweet.
• Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride: one of the more fun original dark rides in Fantasyland
• Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters: we had a blast trying to hit targets while spinning from side to side in this interactive ride
• Enchanted Tiki Room: this endearing bird show was a cute way to relax in the middle of the day

The rides we didn’t do: Pirates of the Caribbean was closed for refurbishment, and we decided it wasn’t warm enough for Splash Mountain. We ran out of time in the evening for Space Mountain and Indiana Jones, and the line was always too long for Alice in Wonderland. Next time!

Tips for getting the most out of your day at Disneyland (besides using MaxPass):

The first ride of the day for us was Peter Pan, which doesn’t offer a FASTPASS, so we waited in line for 40 minutes. I thought this was a good way to start the day — it’s a beautiful old ride that simulates flying over London and Neverland, but once we rode on a few newer ones, Peter Pan seemed pretty short and tame in comparison.

Skip the monorail unless you want to go to Downtown Disney for dinner.

If you have just one day at Disneyland, you may want to be more careful than we were with time. We attended the “Mickey and the Magical Map” show (meh) and spent a good hour in Mickey’s Toontown before going to Tomorrowland, which was very crowded in the evening.

In hindsight, we should have done at least some of the rides in Tomorrowland earlier in the day, and while Toontown was cute, we could have breezed through it in 15 minutes.

What are the best rides at California Adventure?

A lot of people think that California Adventure has better rides than Disneyland. I still love the Disney rides and the detail of the Haunted Mansion and the old European-style buildings of Fantasyland, but I’ll admit that the CA Adventure rides were really fun. Here are the rides/attractions we especially loved:

• Radiator Springs (above): after getting in a six-person convertible, the car gets ready for its race inside, and you go to the outdoor track to race another car for a short but thrilling ride!
• Soarin’ Around the World: one of our favorites! It’s a flight simulator for a hang gliding tour around the world. It’s a 4-D experience, so you can smell roses while flying above the Taj Mahal, for example.
• Goofy’s Sky School: a fun roller coaster that’s good for kids like Gabe who are scared on the bigger rides.
• Redwood Creek Challenge Trail: Like Tom Sawyer’s Island at Disneyland, this is a great place for kids to run freely. Our kids loved it and didn’t want to leave! It’s meant to replicate the redwood forests of California, so you’ll see hollowed out redwood trees, a zipline, rope bridges and rock climbing. Good for kids of all ages.
• Toy Story Midway Mania!: this interactive ride is similar to the Buzz Lightyear ride at Disneyland as it involves a spinning car and shooting at targets
• Frozen! at the Hyperion Theater: totally worth it! The perfect way to relax in the afternoon, this one-hour musical is just an hour long and so well done that we all enjoyed it. We got there 15 minutes early and scored good seats with no one in front of us in the Orchestra section.

In the afternoon we had some time to kill and enjoyed a few of the calmer rides: Lady Bug Boogie in Bug’s Land, Jumpin’ Jellyfish and the Golden Zephyr at Paradise Pier, and Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters (below), which is totally cheesy but also so cute with the music and over-the-top Italian references.

Where to eat at Disneyland?

I didn’t enjoy the food at either park, but since you have to eat there, here are some tips for where to eat at Disneyland:

Edelweiss Snacks behind the Matterhorn Bobsleds serves good turkey legs, corn on the cob, and frozen drinks.

Rancho del Zocalo Restaurante in Frontierland has a pleasant outdoor patio and serves typical Mexican fare — tacos, burritos, taco salads, etc. Noah liked the carne asada plate and my lime chicken plate with beans and rice was good. A water station is located in the center of the outdoor patio.

Refreshment Corner on Main Street: we got frozen lemonade and an enormous rice crispy treat drenched in chocolate and M&Ms and sat at one of their outdoor tables before the parade. When the parade came by, the boys sneaked through the crowd to get a better view.

Galatic Grill: we made the mistake of not reserving a table for dinner at one of the restaurants and ended up getting a quick dinner at Galatic Grill, the big outdoor eating area in Tomorrowland. Rodrigo and I had the veggie wrap (not bad!) and the boys had chicken strips with fries and apples. Nothing special, but it was quick and easy.

We didn’t try them but I’ve heard the New Orleans style restaurants, Blue Bayou and Cafe Orleans, are the best places to eat at Disneyland. Don’t miss the Mickey-shaped beignets and Monte Cristo sandwich.

Where to eat at California Adventure?

California Adventure has a few special items you might want to try: the apple freeze with passionfruit mango foam at the Cozy Cone Motel, the cotton candy lemonade at Cove Bar (the line was way too long for us to eat here), lemon cotton candy at various snack stands, and good corn dogs at Corn Dog Castle.

Unlike Disneyland, the park also serves beer and wine. Note: California Adventure has a few nicer restaurants inspired by California wine country, but we didn’t try them.

Cozy Cone Motel: (above) this series of orange cones in Cars Land serves some of the park’s most popular food. If possible, get there early. They serve flavored popcorn, soft-serve ice cream, pretzel bites, garlic bagel twists, an apple freeze with passionfruit foam and the very popular pretzel cones filled with chili or bacon mac & cheese.

Boudin is the famous San Francisco sourdough bakery. The soup served in a bread bowl is OK, but don’t get the salads. The kids meal is a fish-shaped turkey sandwich with fruit and a drink.

Stop in Ghiradelli for chocolate square samples.

At the back of the park at Paradise Pier, there’s a large eating area with Corn Dog Castle, Boardwalk Pizza & Pasta, Bayside Brews (pretzels and beer) and many outdoor tables under trees — a pleasant place to take a break.

Tips for eating at Disneyland and California Adventure

Some of the snack booths had very long lines. If you want caramel corn but don’t want to wait in a long line, try looking for another vendor. We found that some had long lines and others didn’t.

Expect to pay $4-5 for a bottle of water. You can refill your bottles on the outdoor patio of Rancho del Zocalo Restaurante in Frontierland.

The food isn’t cheap but not much more than food usually costs in California. Expect to pay $15-20 per person for an average meal, more at the nicer restaurants.

Make a reservation for the restaurants in the evening. They were packed! You can make a reservation using the Disneyland App.

Downtown Disney has several restaurants. You can walk there or take the Monorail from Tomorrowland.

Other logistics:

Where to stay at Disneyland?

There are many hotels near Disneyland, most within walking distance. For a full experience family vacation, try the Great Wolf Lodge located 15 minutes south of Disneyland. For a hotel that’s very close to the Disneyland entrance and is relatively affordable, try the Grand Legacy.

The Grand Legacy hotel close to Disneyland:

What a great location! The Grand Legacy is about two blocks from the entrance to the parks. In fact, we were able to watch the Disneyland fireworks every night from our hotel room. The hotel isn’t fancy, but we found it clean, comfortable and quiet (except for music from the rooftop bar until 11 p.m.).

We slept great all three nights we were there! The hotel doesn’t serve breakfast, but they give guests a snack bag in the morning with a bottle of water, fruit, string cheese and granola bar. And there’s a fridge and microwave in the room. All in all, we had a nice stay here.

Tip: Ask for a room on the 4th floor (so you don’t hear guests above you), away from the elevator and soda machines, with a view of the fireworks.

Where to buy Disneyland tickets?

You can buy tickets online or at the gate (not recommended due to time), but we got a small discount by buying tickets at Discount Tickets & Tours, located at 1650 S. Harbor Blvd in the front of the Grand Legacy hotel. This is a great first time at Disneyland tip!

Consider flying into the Long Beach Airport.

The Long Beach airport is tiny (only 11 gates!), so it’s easy to get in and out, and it’s located just 30 minutes from Disneyland. We drove to and from Anaheim and didn’t encounter any traffic. Jet Blue, Southwest, Delta and American fly there (we flew non-stop from Sacramento). Highly recommended!

Where to eat near Disneyland

S. Harbor Blvd., the main road with all the hotels near Disneyland, has lots of places to eat but nothing that caught our attention — we went to Panera one night and had a good lunch at the Pizza Press, which serves thin crust pizza, salad and California beer. There’s a Target for granola bars and other supplies you might need.

Resources: a map of Disneyland and a map of California Adventure

What questions do you have about visiting first time at Disneyland? Any Disneyland tips for first timers?

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