Disneyland Travel Guide
As I prepared for our recent trip to Disneyland with my family, I learned quite quickly that the world doesn’t really need another Disneyland post. But while I was in Disneyland, I learned so much about being a first-time visitor with dietary restrictions trying to navigate the chaos that is Disneyland.
Booking Your Visit
I’ve been told by many friends that Costco Travel has the absolute best pricing for Disneyland. I haven’t shopped enough to really have a strong point of view on this, but it was certainly the best pricing when I was booking this summer. The package price of combining lodging and tickets has a minor discount and Costco throws in a gift card (value varies throughout the year). They offer this value for both Disneyland properties and nearby partner properties.
Depending on your budget, it’s worth seriously considering staying at one of the three official Disney properties. They range in price from the highest-end Grand Californian to the more affordable Disney Paradise Pier hotel (which is currently under construction.) If you have small children like me or simply hate waiting in line, the early entry access for guests of these hotels is a game-changer.
The Genie+ pass is the new replacement program for the Lightening Lane and ABSOLUTELY worth every penny. Don’t worry too much about the names and phrases. To simplify this very confusing program, the Genie is the app-based program that uses algorithms and your personal interests to try and help you have your best day. In my experience, the recommendations were mostly worth ignoring. BUT, the Genie also lets you book your lightening lane tickets for rides on the app. This is the part that I loved!
Navigating as a Newbie
Getting to the park as early as possible is key to an enjoyable day, especially with small children who struggle to wait in long lines. From roughly 9am to 9pm each day, the rides will have 30-90 minute waits for nearly all attractions. If you are a Disney hotel guest, you can flash your room key (don’t forget to bring it!) and enter the park right when the ropes go down at 7:30 (insiders call this “ropes down” or “rope drop”). The general public rope drop is at 8am.
Before we arrived at Disneyland, I found this all the different start times and terms to be super confusing, so here’s a simple breakdown of the steps to enter the park:
Buy a ticket (usually done with your hotel package)
Make a park reservation for the date and park you plan to visit (do this as soon as you have a ticket number. This is done on the Disneyland app and if you book with hotel, you will find your ticket number under “my hotel reservations.”) Don’t wait to do this on your trip…the park fills up nearly ever day and I saw a “no reservations left” sign every morning during our stay.
On the day of your visit, line up at the park gates and enter (most of the year you’ll want to do this around 7am for 8am* public opening…this sounds crazy but keep reading).
If you are staying at a Disney hotel, plan to be at the ropes (past the gates and inside the park) before the 7:30 rope drop (there are two roped off sections blocked inside the park - one for hotel guests and one for the public. Ask around and get into the right line). If you are staying offsite, get to the ropes for the 8am official opening.
*Check seasonal public opening times during your visit and adjust accordingly.
Maximizing Your Fun
Holy bananas, I was so overwhelmed by the navigation of maps and rides at Disneyland before going. All the different little “lands” and rides seemed to require different strategies. There are whole blogs devoted to Disneland and rather than drive yourself crazy, here is a simple plan to help you maximize the fun and minimize the waiting:
Get into the park as early as possible (see above)
Immediately book your first lightening pass as soon as you scan your ticket and enter the front gates.
Which ride? Here’s a simple strategy for choosing your rides:
Plan ahead which 8-10 rides are most important for your day so you have some sense of direction when you start your morning.
Determine which rides are the most popular with and without lightening lanes (you can view the tip board section of the app anytime before your visit and get a feel for how long the waits are for various rides). For your first lightening pass of the day, you will want to book the most popular ride that has a no-fee lightening lane (there is one ride in each park that require an additional fee and don’t book out as fast).
For example, Peter Pan and Pirates of the Caribbean are super popular and do not have lightening lanes. You want to do these before the crowds come, before you use your lightening pass, perhaps for Indiana Jones. Here’s how this works:
Enter the park gates, book the first Indiana Jones lightening pass as soon as you get through the gates (I’ll use 8:05 lightening pass in this example)
As soon as the ropes drop at 7:30, hustle to Peter Pan and get on it with no line. This is a great ride but always has a 45+ minute line. Do it first thing and walk right on!
You’ll be done by 7:40, so hustle over to Pirates and you should have no more than a 10 minute wait maybe less.
You’ll be out of Pirates by 8am at the latest, just as the public is entering the park, on your way to your lightening lane Indiana Jones. Once you scan in your lightening pass for Indiana Jones, you might wait about five minutes for the ride, which is a perfect chance to book your next lightening pass, maybe to Millennium Falcon, likely around 9:20. (You can only book your second lightening pass after you have scanned in your first pass).
When you step off the ride, it will be around 8:15 and you will have gone at least three rides! And since the public is just lining up, you’ll want to hustle to your next non-lightening ride, such as Jungle Cruise or any of the Fantasy Land rides (Snow White, Alice in Wonderland, Mr. Toad, etc.) before making your way to your second lightening lane (remember, you’ll probably have about an hour to get to your second pass and an hour long window to use that pass).
When we used this strategy, we were able to get about 3-4 rides per hour between 7:30 and 10:30am (with no more than about 15-20 minute wait times) and then we’d take a break for “second breakfast” and decide our next moves. If you don’t use this sort of strategy, you’ll easily wait 45-60 minutes or more per ride wandering around without a plan.
PRO TIPS:
Breakfast & Snacks: Have some food on-hand in the hotel for your early morning wakeups! Our days worked best when we had a quick breakfast at the room and then took a late morning break, around 10am when the lines started getting super long and we’d have another bite to eat. If you are carless on the trip like we were, consider ordering some breakfast groceries and snacks for your trip from Instacart. We even ordered these when we were away from our room and the bell desk accepted the delivery and even kept our cold groceries refrigerated while we were away! We ordered dairy free yogurts, Larabars, fruit, Simple Mills crackers, meat sticks and other paleo-friendly snacks from Sprouts. This also saves you a ton of cash. Alternatively, you could hit the Starbucks in Downtown Disney, which seems to be the busiest store on the planet. For those of us with autoimmune, there aren’t too many food options, but if you do order here for you or your family, make sure to order on the app. It will save you from the huge line and my orders were always ready in mere minutes, not the 20-30 minute wait that they suggested.
Room Service: I try to avoid ordering in-room dining as it is usually a little lower quality and very expensive. However, if you really want a hot breakfast like bacon and eggs, make sure to pre-order room service breakfast the night before. Not only will this save you from waking up earlier just to order food, but will make sure you can actually get through on a very busy line and ensure the right delivery time to keep your morning schedule tight.
Lightening Lane Info:
Each lightening pass is good for one hour - say 8:20 to 9:20. You can check in 5 minutes early and even use it a few minutes afterward, so it’s really about an hour and ten minutes. This is helpful to know when you are squeezing rides with shorter lines in between your passes.
The two most popular rides, one in each park, charge extra for a lightening lane pass. Right now this is Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance and Cars: Radiator Springs. These are two amazing rides and the passes are worth the hours of time savings to experience them!
Expect Ride Closures: I had no idea how often the rides at Disney break down! Sometimes they stall for a few moments and other times they closes for a half or full day. One several occasions our lightening passes would get cancelled. Stay on top of your phone so you can rebook a new lightening pass in case this happens. During our four day stay, we probably had eight different pass cancelations and experienced a ride breakdown on about five different rides while we were either in line or even on the ride itself.
Your Phone: Since the app is essential to your experience, make sure your phone is fully charged and on “low battery mode” during your visit to conserve power as much as possible. It’s also a good idea to login into the same account with another phone, perhaps your spouse or travel companion. My husband and I were able to book passes on either phone which was a huge help.
Fireworks & Nigh Shows: For the specifics, check the schedule on the app to see which days you might be able to see Fireworks, World of Color, Parades or other seasonal night shows. People begin lining up for these shows about an hour beforehand. At the end of the day, everyone is going to squeeze in wherever they can. We found a spot about 20 minutes before the show, but could have easily squeezed in just five minutes before the fireworks. Regardless, I’m so glad we did this on our first night (before the kids were so exhausted from park hopping) and it was one of my favorite family memories ever! I will never forget that magical feeling!
Where to Eat:
With all my dietary needs, I expected Disneyland to be a really challenging place to find good food. I was pleasantly surprised by the helpfulness of the staff, the well-labeled menus and the deliciousness of the food! Here were some of my favorites:
Breakfast
As I shared above, the best bet to make the most of your morning and your budget is to have some groceries delivered to your room for breakfast and snacks. My kids ate some bagels, yogurt and fruit for breakfast and we were off on our way for our early start times. We also brought Larabars and others snacks in the backpack to feed them again around 9:30 when we were inevitably standing in a line and the kids were a bit hungry again. The snacks are key to cutting the line whines! If hot breakfast if a better choice for you, order room service the night before to be delivered before 7.
Bengal BBQ
Inside Disneyland, near Indiana Jones, this is probably the best option for paleo or highly restricted diets inside in the park. The menu offers many different options for BBQ meat skewers, including Bengal Beef and Spicy Pork Belly. They also have veggie skewers, hummus plates and other options to round out a meal. I ordered the veggie and meat skewers without sauce and my family loved the full rice plates. *Order your meal without sauce in order to ensure it is fully gluten free.
Rancho del Zocalo Restaurant
Another excellent option inside Disneyland is Rancho del Zocalo - a quick-service Mexican restaurant with a delicious assortment of street tacos, burritos and other Mexican dishes. Nearly everything here is gluten free, except the tortillas. Great options for paleo eaters include the half roasted chicken and tacos without shells. I ordered the Tostada Salad without a tostada bowl and without dairy, rice or beans. The staff was happy to accommodate and I was able to see my food go through the entire production line safely. After a long day at the park, this food tasted delicious!
Carthay Circle
If you are looking for a sit-down experience inside the California Adventure park, Carthay Circle is a great option. This upscale cocktail lounge has an old Hollywood vibe and a fun North African-inspired menu. My son and I both absolutely loved the Salmon prepared with a Brussels sprouts, pistachio and cauliflower puree (order without the puree for dairy free).
Catal
This was probably my favorite dinner of the trip! Catal, in Downtown Disney, has a fantastic Mediterranean menu with a Spanish flair. The dishes were absolutely mouthwatering, from grilled octopus to grilled steak with romesco sauce, to paella and beyond. The menu was clearly marked for gluten free items and the server was really helpful in navigating my options to avoid dairy and eggs (which was nearly the entire menu). We ate on the balcony, alfresco, watching the hustle of Downtown Disney go by on the street below. This place hit all the notes!
Napa Rose
While this restaurant is absolutely delicious, I wish I would have paid more attention to the pricing and the time needed for this meal. This restaurant is absolutely aiming to be a high-end experience, with a four course pre fixe menu, a huge wine list and a slow and steady pace. My kids love this kind of food, but don’t have the patience for a two hour meal with good manners, particularly late at night. I would probably only go back to this restaurant as a date night, assuming I had someone that would watch the kids with us. (This is also the restaurant where they serve the Princess Character Breakfast, but we did not attend this). I will say that the filet of beef dish I had, served on a bed of caramelized onions and braised short ribs, was one of the best things I’ve ever tasted in my life.
Mickey & Friends Character Breakfast at Storytellers Cafe
As a special character experience with a lower-end price, I was shocked by the quality of this breakfast buffet! The options were endless, much like a European style breakfast buffet. From the omelet station to bagels with lox and cured meats, fruit platters to fresh waffles and a variety of hash and casserole-style dishes - this buffet has something for everyone. The server invited the chef to walk me through the entire buffet and talk me through all the ingredients to I could make the best choices for myself and my family. Since my kids are dairy and egg free, the chef sent vegan Mickey waffles and delicious vegan cookies to our table. My kids felt absolutely spoiled and I was very happy with my sausage hash and fruit plate. We had a great time at this breakfast and left with full bellies and hearts! I highly recommend this experience for your last morning before heading to the airport.
I couldn’t be more grateful for our amazing trip together. I was worried this trip would do me in from a health perspective, with the long days on our feet, difficulty sleeping and poor food selections and I was wrong. Though the trip was tiring, we had such a joyful and fun time that we came home full of wonderful memories in our happy hearts. This is a trip we’ll never forget!
