For Christmas 2023, our gift to our six year-olds was a trip to Disneyland. We chose to go in January 2024 because our kids wouldn’t have to wait too long before the trip started. And then I wouldn’t have to answer various versions of “How much longer till we go?” for more than 3 weeks. We gave each of them their own paper chain countdown and I was still sick of answering “How many days till we go?”.
Disneyland was so much more than my kids expected. It was more exciting, overwhelming, exhausting, and fun. They couldn’t wait to go to Cars Land and meet Mater and Lightning. They had been to a local amusement park a couple of times so they were expecting California to be something similar.
Preparing for Our Trip
We arrived in California on a Sunday and left on a Friday to avoid weekend crowds (and prices). We purchased a 5 day park hopper ticket and chose to stay on site so that we could come and go from the parks whenever we wanted. Our first day at the park was the afternoon we arrived in California. Since we got park hoppers, most days we spent the morning at one park and then went to the other one in the afternoon/evening.
Before we left, I downloaded the Disneyland app and researched the rides and the lands my kids would enjoy the most. The Disneyland app was great. It includes an interactive map where you can search for different things like the nearest bathroom, information about the rides, and current wait times (which was somewhat accurate). We used it to order food (which cut down on the time spent waiting in line) and to manage our reservations. The app is also where you can access and purchase pictures taken by photographers around the park.
I also downloaded and paid for a third party app that I used when we went to Disney World in 2015. Maybe it was because we were traveling with kids this time or that Disneyland is so much smaller but the app wasn’t very helpful this time. It didn’t seem to be as accurate with the wait times and the crowd estimators as the app had been in 2015. Recently, I have heard that third party crowd estimators aren’t as accurate as they used to be.
Things I Would Do Again
Grand Californian Hotel & Spa
We stayed on site at the Grand Californian Hotel & Spa. I cannot recommend that hotel enough. The location was perfect for our family and the cast members were welcoming and very helpful. My kids loved watching the bedtime stories on the TV in our room each night.
In the lobby, a television played Disney cartoons all day. Kids gathered around the TV and sat in little chairs while the adults checked in. We went to the lobby one afternoon and sat in comfortable leather chairs while our kids watched cartoons. When we checked in, the cast member gave my kids buttons and then asked who their favorite characters were (Lightning McQueen!). The cast member said he knew they were coming and left something special for them. She gave the boys a picture of Lightning McQueen. They were so excited and it started the vacation on a magical note.
The Grand Californian has two entrances into the Disneyland Resort. One enters into Downtown Disney about halfway between the monorail and the main entrances to the parks. The other enters into California Adventure. The entrance is further down the path that goes by Soarin’ and Grizzly River Run. Security is located at both entrances, but it was really fast and easy to get through. We also liked staying on site because we could go back to the room during the day to rest and relax before going back to the park at night. We also took advantage of early park hours and got in to ride Soarin’ twice before the park officially opened!
Eat in the Hotels and Not the Parks
We ate most of our meals outside of the parks either in Downtown Disney or at the hotel itself. The food outside of the parks was really good. (I have no pictures of food. I tried to stay in the moment and off my phone as much as possible.) In the parks, you’ll find overpriced food for the quality especially when compared to the hotels or Downtown Disney. In addition, the lines were long around typical dining times. We made reservations for most places and that worked really well for us. No waiting and we could plan our days around reservation times.
We dined at Storyteller’s Cafe for dinner and for the character breakfast. Both times, the food was very good and the service was excellent. We preferred breakfast over dinner because there were very few dinner options that my picky kids liked. It was a rainy, cold night and our server brought us hot chocolate in to-go cups before we left. The character breakfast was on our last morning just before we left for the airport. It was great because we filled up before flying home and didn’t have to hunt for food in the airport. The characters did a parade through the dining room and then walked around to the different tables. We talked to Chip and Dale, Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Pluto. They spent a lot of time at our table and were so good with the kids. I felt that the character breakfast was definitely worth the extra money.
Park in the Rain
Go when it is raining! I can’t say this enough. The rain kept so many people away. A few rides were closed and we waited in line for 2 hours to ride on Radiator Springs Racers because it was periodically shut down because of inclement weather. Other than that, we rode Soarin’ 2 times in 30 minutes. We walked onto many other rides or had wait times under 10 minutes because the park was so empty. We brought disposable ponchos on Amazon, which were a great investment and kept us dry.
Hidden Gems
Spend time at hidden gems like the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail, the Animation Academy, and Mickey’s Philharmagic. These are a respite from the normal bustle and noise of the park. Each was a nice little break from all the stimulation. Word of warning about the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail. There is a lot of climbing and if you need/want to keep your kids in your sight you will be climbing rope bridges and ladders as well. Wear appropriate shoes and maybe do a little stretching before. There were many adults of all ages chasing little kids who were much better at traversing the rope courses than the adults were.
Things I would do differently
Rides
I would not try to do Web Slingers at 6 pm on our last day because my kids were begging for it to be their last ride. We had already done the ride once and they wanted to do it again. We hopped in line for what we thought would be a 45 minute wait (per the app). Over an hour later and we finally got to the front of the line. Just as we were getting on the ride, the ride broke twice. After another 20 minutes waiting in the holding area to board the ride, we finally got to experience the ride again. Although the wait time was frustrating, the cast members were very kind and once we went on the ride, everyone had fun.
I would not go on the Haunted Mansion. It scared my kids and then we got stuck twice (during the same ride). They still had the Nightmare Before Christmas wrap up and we were stuck in front of singing pumpkins for 10 minutes. My husband almost got up to walk out. The second time we got stuck was for less time but still was rather annoying. I was truly not prepared for the amount of times rides were stopped because something wasn’t working well. The two times that stick out the most are the Haunted Mansion and Web Slingers, however, I know Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway and Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters (which we never saw actually working) were frequently offline. Having said this, (almost) every time something stopped working for us, the ride was quickly fixed and we were moving in under a minute.
Managing Our Time
I would not get a ticket for the day we arrived. We got off the plane, checked in to the hotel and headed to the park. It made for a really long day and the kids were so tired that it wasn’t all that enjoyable. We thought they would be so excited to go to the park that they wouldn’t want to wait. We were wrong! They would have been happier exploring the hotel and maybe Downtown Disney.
I would start looking for souvenirs earlier in our vacation. We waited until the last few days to look for souvenirs…actually I made the boys wait. I was concerned that they would spend all their money early on and then later find something else they wanted. While that was good because they had enough money for the LEGO store (which was great). Some of the toys they wanted were only in certain parts of the park. I thought that all the Cars toys would be available in the BIG Downtown Disney store. Most were but not the ones that the boys wanted. Cars land is at the opposite end of California Adventure and it was a very busy day. Their Lunar New Year celebration started that day and it wasn’t raining. Venturing into the crowds to get a toy was miserable.
Conclusion
Overall, the trip was fantastic. We had a great time and my kids still ask over a year later when we can go back. I plan to write more blog posts about our time in Disneyland and hope to go into more detail about specific parts of our trip.
Let me know in the comments about your experience at Disneyland and what you would do differently or any great tips you have. If you are looking to book a trip to Disneyland or any other Disney destination, email me at travelwithlani@yahoo.com and I can help you plan your next magical vacation at no extra cost to you!
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