A trip to Disneyland or Disney World is your family’s magical adventure into another world. However thousands of other families think the same thing. So how do you make the most out of your Disneyland experience?

Here are a few tips for surviving Disneyland and Disney World.

When to go:
Disneyland is a popular tourist spot any time of the year although there are times when it is less crowded.

The middle of the week is a great time to go when school is in session. Also, the park is open late most nights of the year. Going after dark adds a whole new dimension to the Park and the crowds have thinned out some. Try to avoid going on weekends and school holidays if you want to avoid the crowds.

FastPass:
Your ticket into Disneyland is also your ticket to avoiding long lines at the more popular rides. The FastPass let’s you insert your park ticket into a machine and get a ride reservation. Simply return to the ride at the time printed on the FastPass and you get to walk to the front of the line.

Shows:
The shows and parades at Disneyland and Disney World are an experience that really shouldn’t be missed! If there is one thing Disney knows how to do, it’s entertain!

Most shows repeat themselves every few hours so if you’ve already seen a particular show it’s a good time to grab a ride if you don’t have a Fastpass. Just jump into line while everyone else is enjoying a show. One word of caution though. Things can get chaotic as a show ends and the crowd has the same singular idea of being the first on a ride.

Food and Drink:

There are plenty of food outlets from fine dining to cafe food and plenty of food and drink vendors scattered throughout the park. So refreshments are always close at hand.

Keeping Cool in Summer:

During the summer months the Disney parks have lots of water fountains and sprinklers operating so that you can stand under them to cool down, and as it is summer you will dry off really quickly.

Don’t forget the hat and the sunscreen so that you don’t get sunburnt while queuing up.

Hopefully these few tips for surviving Disneyland and Disney World will help you have a more enjoyable theme park experience. With just a little bit of planning you can jump on rides with barely any wait.

On Wednesday 9th April, we arrived in Anaheim from Vancouver for the final leg of our holiday. We have been away from Australia since 20 February and have managed to fit in so many great sights and visits and now we are at Disneyland.  This is a smaller theme park than the Disney World theme park in Orlando and as we have 5 days here we intend to take advantage of the time to fit in as much as possible.

There is a special on Theme Park passes and we are able to purchase a 5 day pass for $174.00, which is usually the price of a 3 day pass.  We brought the passes at the Holiday Inn & Suites reception area which was really convenient.

There are two theme parks – Disneyland and California. We have decided to start at Disneyland, so after going through the bag check and picking up a map at the entrance gates we take a moment to plan what we are going to do.

Okay we’re off maneuvering skillfully through the crowd towards Space Mountain to pick up a Fastpass. After getting the ticket we realize that we have made a boo-boo. We can’t get on the ride until 3:10pm which effectively stops us from getting another fastpass until that time.

Oh well not to worry, it just means we will have to queue for the other rides. So we head to Frontierland and the first ride is the ‘Matterhorn Bobsleds’.  This ride is okay, lots of twists and turns but lacks any of the drops that would make it spectacular. More a ride for kids moving up in the scare scale before tackling the more advanced rides.

Okay, next comes the ‘Big Thunder Railroad’. This is better, definitely has a scream factor. This is followed by ‘Splash Mountain’ which is a favorite and is situated in Critter Country. We went on the similar ride a number of times in Disneyworld last year and it is well worth the hour wait even though Paula complained continuously. This ride has a couple of teasers where you are pulled up a hill and expect a long drop only to continue gently down the waterway, there are a couple of turns and some splashing of water. Then you continue through a twisting waterway where animated characters sing and send you on your way to a 50 foot drop which is the really exciting part. Lots of laughter and screaming and we are at the bottom of the drop. An excellent ride.

Then it’s a cruise around the ‘Rivers of America’ on the Mark Twain Riverboat. The boat takes you around Tom Sawyer’s Island where there are all sorts of things to do including a pirate show. We spot Captain Jack  from’Pirates of the Caribbean’  not Johnny Depp unfortunately), swaggering around entertaining the crowd on the island.

We have lunch at the River Belle Terrace and order roast beef sandwiches which are enormous and so they should be for $12:95 each. I had ordered smaller portions at $:95 each but the serving staff didn’t feel that would be enough for us and gave us the larger serving.  The sandwich came with a side salad and was very tasty and filling.

Deciding not to take another turbulent ride after having just eaten we head to ‘Tomorrow Land’ to see the ‘Honey I shrunk the Kids’ 3D show followed by ‘Star Tours’ where you take an animated 3D ride with R2D2 into space and around the Death Star from Star Wars.

At last it is time to head off to ‘Space Mountain’ and as we have the fastpass we are able to walk past all the people waiting in the regular queue, to the head of the line.  This ride is amazing. You are on a very large roller coaster with lots of drops, twists and turns and the whole thing takes place in total darkness so you are unable to anticipate when the drops will come.  Awesome.

As we are here for 5 days we decide to take it easy and not try to do everything in day 1 as we usually do.

So we head off back to the hotel. Even though we have taken it relatively easy we have still managed to cover everything except Mickey’s Toontown.

But before we do leave we come into Main St where crowds have gathered to watch the ‘Walt disney’s Parade of Dreams’ which is led out by Tinkerbell.

This parade makes it’s way from “It’s a Small World’ to Main St every day at 3:30pm and  back from Main St to ‘It’s a Small World nightly at 6:30pm.

Be sure to keep hydrated by drinking plenty of water in the warm weather and wear comfortable shoes.

Some of the rides at Disneyland are so popular that the regular queue can have a waiting time of up to 100 minutes. Waiting in long lines means you have less time to spend on other activities that you may want to see.  So make sure you take advantage of Disney’s FASTPASS to cut down your waiting time.

Check your park map for the attractions that have FP marked next to them. In Disneyland these attractions are:-

• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
• Splash Mountain
• Indiana Jones Adventure
• Autopia
• Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters
• Space Mountain
• Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin

So decide which of the attractions you want to get a fastpass for and do this first.  Either check the Times Guide located in Main St for a list of the waiting times for the Fastpass attractions or simply go to the attraction and check out the clocks that show what time you need to return to take the ride.

There is a clock that shows the time for the regular queue to reach the ride from a pre-ordained entry point  and sometimes you may be lucky enough to find that there is only a 15-30 minute wait in which case it is just as easy to join the queue.

However, if you find the wait is going to be too long, find the FASTPASS kiosk for the ride you are interested in and make sure each person in your party who is going on the ride, inserts their Park ticket into the Fastpass kiosk. A green light will come on and a FASTPASS ticket showing what time you need to return by, will be dispensed.  Now you can go and play in the Park instead of waiting in line.

You will find that the FASTPASS ticket will give you an hour in which to return to take the ride. You may obtain the FASTPASS ticket at 10am and it may show a return time of between 2:00pm-3:00pm, so this is the time you need to get back to take the ride.

On your return to the ride you go to the FASTPASS return line and hand over your ticket. Now you walk into the ride with little or no waiting, right past all the people standing in line and once you are at the head of the queue you board the ride before the people in the regular queue.

On the bottom of the ticket will be a time printed that lets you know when you can obtain another FASTPASS ticket. This is so easy and convenient and allows you to get the most out of your time in the Park.

We arrived late last Wednesday night so it was too late to go over to Disneyland, however we were up bright and early the next morning.  Breakfast was taken in the hotel, nothing special, couple of eggs and 2 slices of bacon with toast.

Before you head off to the Disneyland park check if your hotel is on one of the bus shuttle routes, if it is then one of the first things you should do is purchase a shuttle pass from the hotel before boarding the bus.

You cannot purchase a shuttle pass ticket on the bus and if you don’t purchase a pass it will cost you $3.00 for a single trip for adults and $1.00 a single trip for children 2 years and over.

An Anaheim Resort Transport (ART) pre-purchased Day Pass allows you to travel on any of the shuttle buses. This means that once you reach the drop off point at Disneyland you can then board any of the other shuttles to visit other points of interest such as one of the many shopping areas such as Target or the Block at Orange, the Convention Centre or Crystal Cathedral. 

A pre-purchased shuttle pass gives you unlimited travel on the shuttles for as long as the pass is valid and will cost you the following:-

Adults                              Children 2 and over
1-day        $3.00               1-day   $1.00
2-day       $6.00                3-day  $2.00
3-day       $8.00                5-day  $4.00
5-day       $12.00

Children under 2 years of age travel for free.
Chilren 12 years and under must be accompanied by an adult.

If you do not have a pass remember that trips to the Disneyland Park will cost you for each time you travel on the shuttle. Drivers do not carry change so be sure to have the correct fare when you board.

The shuttles are all painted in different colors and themes. There are also Disneyland Cast Shuttles for transporting the many, many staff.