How To Get The Most Out Of Your Disneyland Visit

Are you thinking about planning a visit to Disneyland or Disney California Adventure Park? I'm sharing how we got the most out of our visit with some Disneyland tips, tricks, and ideas. 

This post is in collaboration with Disneyland. All opinions remain my own.

There's something about the word, Disney, that gets me feeling like a little kid again. Some of my favorite memories involve those classic Disney movies and iconic characters. It's been so much fun being able to relive some of those memories, and create new ones, with my own kids.

Our first big Disney adventure took place a few years ago when were still a family of four and had the pleasure of visiting Disney World. It's a trip that even though my boys were younger, my oldest still talks about to this day. Since Disney was such a special visit for us, we knew it was a no brainer to head to Disneyland and Disney California Adventure Park during our recent California trip.

I wanted to share more about our experience, some tips, tricks, and ideas in case you are thinking about planning a visit. I know that some people will have different opinions on things, which is fine, because everyone's expectations and experiences are different. Some thought we were nuts for only spending a day in the parks, and others cheered us on and encouraged us to make a memorable experience. I think it's about finding out what works best for you and the expectations you have for your visit.

DECIDING ON A TIME TO VISIT:

Deciding on the time of year, day of the week, events being held, or holidays approaching, can play a big impact on your trip. While visiting Disney is always a magical time, there are times out of the year where it's notorious for having more visitors. We decided to plan a visit on a weekday knowing that we weren't going for multiple days. This helped us to maximize our time in the parks. I am so happy that we did. It felt like a huge benefit for us because we didn't have to wait longer than 30 minutes for anything that we wanted to go on.

GETTING TO THE PARK EARLY:

You know what they say, the early bird gets more Disney fun. Ok, ok, that might not be exactly how it goes, but if you play your cards right, it can be relatable. Depending on your tickets, you might have the option to enter into the park an hour early before the general public does. There are certain days this applies to Disneyland Park (Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday). Here's my suggestion, go to the opposite park. Yup, while everyone else is crowding into the park that opened early, head to the opposite one a bit early than the general public (sometimes they allow you in 15-30 minutes ahead of time). We decided to head to Disney California Adventure Park on the morning that Disneyland Park had their early entry, and it was the best idea, ever! We didn't have to wait for much and had some great opportunities to jump from ride to ride. We got this awesome picture in front of the Mickey's Fun Wheel without people walking in front of us or crowding around. This might be one of my favorite family pictures of us!

DOWNLOAD THE DISNEYLAND APP: 

Downloading the Disneyland app is a big must. This is a huge life saver and essential for helping to maximize your trip. You can do everything from buying park tickets, seeing wait times, and also using your MaxPass. It's also instrumental in reserving your spot in the queue for certain Star Wars attractions.

BUY TICKETS ONLINE:

If you don't purchase your tickets through the Disneyland app, I would highly suggest saving time and buying them online. You have access to viewing the calendar to take advantage of seeing the ticket prices based on the day you decide to go. It also saves a ton of time from having to wait in line and get everything situated once you get to the park.

DECIDE ON GETTING A PARK HOPPER TICKET:

At first we weren't sure if we were going to be able to feel like we saw enough of each park and considered focusing on just one. Whatever you decide is best for your visit is completely up to you. I will say, we are so happy we decided take advantage of both parks, Disneyland and Disney California Adventure Park. We loved both of them for different reasons and each of them had something special and unique to offer. In fact, we started our day at Disney California Adventure Park and then made our way over to Disneyland Park. Then after the light show at the castle, we made our way back to Disney California Adventure Park for World of Color. Oh yes, we hopped around.

USE FASTPASSES:

I mean, who doesn't love cutting down on any type of wait time? That's what a FASTPASS will afford you. FASTPASSES are not eligible on all rides, but they are available on majority of the popular rides. Most of them you need to find the FASTPASS machines located around the general area of the rides to insert your ticket. Once you insert your ticket, a reminder will print out for you with a designated window for you to use your FASTPASS. You can bypass going to the machines with you purchase the MaxPass, which I'll cover next.

Here are the attractions that the FASTPASSES are currently eligible for.

Disneyland Park
Autopia
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Buzz Lightyear Astro Blaster
Fantasmic!
Haunted Mansion
Haunted Mansion Holiday
Indiana Jones™Adventure

"it's a small world"

"it's a small world" Holiday

Matterhorn Bobsleds

Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin

Space Mountain

Splash Mountain 

Star Tours-The Adventures Continue

Disney California Adventure Park

Goofy's Sky School

Grizzly River Run

Guardians of the Galaxy-Mission: BREAKOUT!

Guardians of the Galaxy-Monsters After Dark

Incredicoaster

Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue!

Radiator Springs Racers

Soarin' Around the World

Toy Story Midway Mania!

World of Color

It's strongly advised to check the FASTPASS availability on the app for the day you are visiting as some of the popular attractions have limited availability and FASTPASSES are not guaranteed.

USING MAXPASS TO GET YOUR FASTPASS:

Ok, that might be a confusing statement if you aren't familiar with how all of these passes work. I'll try to break it down for you. If you really, really, want to maximize your day spent at the parks MaxPass is an option. It comes at a price of $20 a person, per day. 

Here are the benefits to purchasing a MaxPass. It combines the ability to make FASTPASS selections from your phone along with unlimited access to Disney PhotoPass. To break it down even more, let's say you are in Disneyland Park but want to select a FASTPASS for Radiator Springs Racers (great ride by the way!), if you do not have a MaxPass, you would need to walk all the way over to Disney California Adventure Park to the area where that FASTPASS machine is. So really, what's MaxPass all about? Convenience and time saving.

TAKE ADVANTAGE OF RIDER SWITCH:

I love that Disney tries to make going on rides as inclusive as they can for everyone. It's going to be a surreal day when all of my kids are able to go on any ride with us. Right now we have A being able to ride on most things, little nugget still having some restrictions, and the baby, well he goes on what he can. Which I will say, was a great amount of things at both Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park.

So what's a parent or friend to do when you both want to go on but can't ride together? You take advantage of a rider switch. You let the attendant know you are going on but your other counterpart will be going on after you. They scan your ticket and allow you to jump back into a less crowded line and be able to enjoy the ride. We did this with several things and it worked out great. A was able to ride twice on some rides, once with and Eric and then again with myself. Or A went on with me and then little nugget went on with Eric. Everyone was happy and it all worked out. Some rides also have single rider lines where you can bypass a lot of the waiting time if someone is going by themselves. 

KNOW WHERE TO FIND CHARACTERS:

Another great thing about downloading the Disney mobile app is that it will indicate where the characters are in the park and at what time. You can select from the drop down menu, characters, and have all of that available to you. At times you will see characters walking around throughout the park. That was my kids favorite part. We'd take a bathroom break and all the sudden see them walking around. They'd run up for a quick hug or high five and be on their way. But, if you'd like to get a  specific photo, or a more one on one experience with them, this is a great option. You can also book things like character dining experiences to mingle with them.

PACK YOUR OWN SNACKS AND WATER:

I love that you are able to bring in your own snacks and water into the parks. With kids, it's almost impossible not to do so. You will still want to get some amazing Disney food and treats, but let's face it, when our kids want snacks, they want snacks right then and there. Coming prepared with some of their favorites and plenty of water to hydrate is so important. 

ORDER FOOD THROUGH THE MOBILE SERVICE ORDER:

Speaking of food, I also love that you can order food through the Disneyland mobile order service which will cut down on wait times. Another great advantage to saving time. You just walk up to the mobile order window, and pick up your food. You can take advantage of this at many restaurants inside both Disneyland Parks as well as the Disneyland Hotel.

BUY SOUVENIRS LATER ON IN THE DAY:

I'm sure it will be almost inevitable that your little ones, or even you, will want to bring something nostalgic home from your Disney visit. My suggest is to save that for the end. You don't wan to have to walk around lugging extra things or run the risk of your little one setting their prize possession down somewhere and losing it in the park. It also worked out for us, because our little ones were on their best behavior knowing they were working towards achieving something at the end.

BRING THE ESSENTIALS:

This probably goes without saying, but I can always appreciate when someone gives me a simple reminder that might spark something I didn't think of. If you haven't already figured it out, you're going to be doing a lot of walking. My number one thing is to make sure you and the rest of your party wears comfortable shoes. We also packed a few bandaids incase anyone got a blister or those mysterious ouchies occurred that need a bandaid right away. You all know the ones I'm talking about, right? It will also depend on the time of year that you go, but wearing layers may be helpful. It was beautiful during the day for us, but when the sun went down, we did put on some sweatshirts. 

If you have little ones, a stroller is essential along with a baby carrier if that's how you like to tote them around. We mentioned snacks and water, but since it's usually about the snacks with my crew, I figured it couldn't hurt to mention it again. 

Other suggestions would be to bring your camera (or you can opt out if you're doing the Disney PhotoPass), phones, chargers (especially if you're using the app, your phone will need some extra juice) sunscreen, hats, a backpack, and a notebook and pen if you want any character autographs.

ABOVE ALL ELSE, HAVE A GREAT TIME:

I know that some will want to accomplish absolutely everything in one day, in reality, I don't know that that's possible. I would encourage you to keep an open mind and know that if you are going with little ones things can be unpredictable (as I'm sure you already know). You can't control the weather, crowds, wait times, or any situation that is out of your control. Creating amazing experiences and having a wonderful time is absolutely doable in a day. Try your best to focus on having fun and creating the best memories with your family, even if things don't go as planned. 

Happy Disney adventures and I hope you found this information to be helpful! 

Favorites From Our Cali Trip

Happy Friday, friends! I hope it's been a great week for you. We are just back from our sunny California trip and I'm already missing that warmer weather and beautiful scenery. We've had a pretty mild winter, for the most part, but there is something so special about visiting a warmer place and being able to escape the cold for a bit. I have some fun posts coming up about our time in Disneyland, some of my favorite things to do in San Diego, and also essentials when traveling with children. If there's anything specific you'd like me to focus on in any of them, you can send me an email or drop it in the comments. Since we took advantage of exploring several different areas in the golden state, I figured I would highlight them here. 

Let's get to those favorites...

BEACH TIME: 

surprise, surprise! Ahh the beach. If you're newer around here, then you will quickly learn the beach is our happy place. We have big hopeful dreams of owning a beach house and possibly even living bi-coastal one day. It's nice to dream, hope, and pray. We'll see what happens later on down the road. We had the chance to visit beaches in both Newport and San Diego and I love them both for different reasons. Let me put it this way, as long as my boys are near the water, they're happy. What I also really loved about this trip was the refreshing feeling of slowing down, relaxing, and living in the moment. After all, isn't that what vacationing is all about?

FAMILY TIME:

the focus of our trip was to spend time with family, and aside from all the other fun we had, that's exactly what we did. Eric is one of three boys, and his two brothers live in San Diego. I mean, I can't really complain because his brothers are in Cali and now two of my brothers are in Florida, so we have some pretty awesome spots to visit. One of my brother in-laws had their first baby two months ago and we were all sooooo excited to meet him! You guys, I'm now an Aunt! Oh that little squish was giving me all the baby feels. He is just so precious and it was hard leaving him. I'm the oldest of five, and my husband is one of three, so we have a larger family between the two of us, and someone, finally someone else had a baby! We are so happy for our boys to have a cousin and how cool it's another little dude. Yup, the boys run strong in our families. My boys are obsessed with their uncles and love being with them. The memories they created were so special.

JOSHUA TREE-DESERT ADVENTURE:

talk about opposites here. We had the chance to lay seaside and then drive about 2 hours (without traffic that is) and head to the desert. Joshua Tree has become a trendy and popular place to visit so of course visiting was no exception for us. The fun part about Joshua Tree is, my brother in-law has 15 acres there that he is in the works of developing a really cool structure for. We're excited to come back out and see the progress and eventually spend even more time there. We've driven through the desert from Las Vegas to Cali, but it was dark and I really didn't get a chance to take it all in. Wow, Joshua Tree was so cool and also met a lot of my stereotype ideas I had in my mind. It was certainly interesting to see the locals that live there full time, the stores that are around, and the feeling of kind if being in the mild of nowhere. There are a lot of dirt roads, cactus and joshua trees everywhere, and some of the biggest tumbleweeds I have ever seen! 

If you tuned into my stories (always a huge thank you for checking out our crazy) then you might have seen A drew an adorable little map and took me on a treasure hunt, the boys found some "treasures", and even the shell of a snake egg. They found a desert chinchilla (not sure if that's really a thing but that's what they were calling it), we heard coyotes howling at dusk, saw jackrabbits darting out, and caught a beautiful sunset that pictures don't even give it justice. 

DISNEYLAND:

i shared last week that we got to celebrate Valentine's Day at one of the most magical places around. We all had such a great time and got to do so many things while we were there. It felt like it was such a successful trip and we've been reminiscing about so many memories for our visit. A missed out on being able to ride the incredicoaster by two inches so he's already talking about going on it the next time we go back and all the fun things we did ride on.

LOCAL FAVORITES:

there is so much to do in southern california that it feels impossible to be board. Between our afternoons on the beach, eating at local restaurants, shopping, and exploring the parks, we took it all in. I'm happy to say there were very minimal tantrums (I can think of two, and for a 9 day trip i'd say that's a huge win) and a lot more smiles than anything else.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! 

Fresh Cut With Love-Oh Christmas Tree

There's something about coming through your door with a fresh cut Christmas tree that fills the air with a crisp pine scent that greets every room in your house. There's a magical feel that helps bring holiday cheer to life after it's adorn with lights and holds your favorite ornaments.

A fresh Christmas tree has always been something Eric and I enjoyed ever since our first Christmas in our own home. I grew up in a house with a fake tree, which I loved, but always thought having a real one just had that Christmas feel written all over it.

I mentioned this awhile back, like circa 2016 (old-time blogger here ;) that Eric and I had this huge blue spruce that blocked the front of our house. It was over grown and needed some major attention. We knew we wanted to get rid of it but felt bad just chopping it down without a purpose. We decided to wait and cut it down for our first tree and used the first 9 feet of it. I have to wonder if that was some sort of foreshadowing for what was to come. 

Fast forward to now and having some trees on our property (see the foreshadowing?) that are great options for Christmas. You might remember we planted a bunch more in the spring to add to the already mature ones that have been growing for years. So many people have asked us if we would be opening this up to the public, but the reality is, we just don't have enough.

What we wanted to do was make this extra special for our family and friends to have an experience and create memories together. After all, this time of year is prime for those memory making moments, right? The day after Thanksgiving some of our friends came over and we started a tradition that hopefully we can keep up for years to come. We basically spent the whole day outside, Christmas card pictures were taken (I'll share that soon), and captured moments all throughout our fun.

I thought it would be cute to have a little hot chocolate bar setup on the porch, and the boys wanted to leave a tip jar out to try and make some money. I couldn't shoot down their entrepreneurial spirit, so I thought, why not. Our friends are cool, and would probably think it was cute.

This was my first time making crockpot hot chocolate and I think it came out really good. Let's just say there was none left at the end of the day. Although, I'm pretty sure my guys had more than one cup. Sneaky, sneaky. What I love is, the money they did get they told Eric and I they wanted to give it to buy more trees for us to plant and also wanted to donate it to their speed the light outreach at church that is raising money for families in Chile. My heart could not have been happier in that moment. It's those little things that are huge for parents that remind us maybe we're doing something right.

We thought it would be fun to add to the experience and have our friends tag the trees they wanted. We also wanted to make it really official with tree nets for when they drove home. Eric went searching for a tree baler, and I mean, we love our friends and all, but man those things are expensive brand new. The deal finding guy that I have happened to snag one for an amazing price the day it was listed. It came from a former local tree stand that decided not to sell trees this year. Now tell me that wasn't meant to be. The guy told Eric a story about how it was 42 years old and they used it every year. We love that it has a story to come along with it and a bit of vintage charm.

Once we all tagged our trees the fun continued when we took out the saws to let everyone cut them down. Of course with the utmost precaution. It wouldn't be an adventure without someone taking a while to cut one down, breaking out the two man saw to use (which I forgot to take a picture of, #liveinthemoment), someone bending a bow saw, a tree that got stuck in the baler, one not fitting on top of the car, and a partridge in a pear tree.

The best part was also creating memories with our little guys and sharing their excitement for it all. It was so cute to hear them countdown as Eric was sawing and then heart them yell, timber, once he made it through the stump. Let me just tell you though, those trees look a lot smaller out in their natural habitat. Ours pretty much takes up half the living room and is perfectly imperfect in every way. I can't complain that the convenience of just walking it into the house wasn't nice, though. We also decided to have a really tall one in our entryway that's 15 feet, but you'll have to stay tuned for that, because it's only halfway decorated (I'm so behind this year #lifehappens). I'm hoping to share a peek of the trees in my stories this week.

Starting and continuing traditions around this time of year are some of my favorite things to do, and this one is pretty high on the list. It's so special to know that our friends and family are able to enjoy our trees in their homes and share their Christmas moments gathered around it. Because at the end of the day, it's not all about the perfect tree, but who's around it <3