For those heading there this spring just a heads up that the Disney Electrical Parade is running until June. We saw it and it was pretty good, it does get busy along Main Street to watch it, people started lining up almost 2 hours before it started. If you have a chance one night you should see it before it's gone. Also if you've never seen World of Color in California Adventure it's worth a watch as well. You can get a Fast Pass for it (seperate from other Fast Passes) that will give you a chance to stand a little closer to the water, you can get them by the Grizzly River Run ride.
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Tip for the Parade, line up at the end of the route. I read this online before I went and we watched 3 parades, all 3 we waited closer to the end and it was always enjoyable, never hard to find a spot. Up the street closer to the middle of the route it looked very busy and crowded.
If I remember correctly the route ends around It's a Small World, but if I remember even more correctly they alternate which is the start and which is the end. So some research is required. All of the parades were fantastic, well worth the wait. We had kids around us going nuts for the characters, including a little girl standing up in her stroller beside me in a Tinkerbell costume. When Tinkerbell came she was yelling at her going crazy but couldn't' get her attention, so I stepped up and yelled 'TINNKK!!! TINKER BELL OVER HERE!!!" and Tinkerbell damn near broke character I think almost laughing that I wanted her attention so bad until I pointed at the little girl beside me. Then Tinkerbell pointed at her own costume, then the girl, then blew her a kiss and the girl turned around to her parents with the biggest smile on her face. It was great.
__________________ "In brightest day, in blackest night / No evil shall escape my sight / Let those who worship evil's might / Beware my power, Green Lantern's light!"
Tip for the Parade, line up at the end of the route. I read this online before I went and we watched 3 parades, all 3 we waited closer to the end and it was always enjoyable, never hard to find a spot. Up the street closer to the middle of the route it looked very busy and crowded.
If I remember correctly the route ends around It's a Small World, but if I remember even more correctly they alternate which is the start and which is the end. So some research is required.
At Disneyland, the parade floats are stored backstage by Small World and there's no way to get them back to their storage facility without driving them along the parade route. As a result, the first parade of the day always goes from Small World down Main Street and ends by City Hall. The second parade of the day (if there is one) brings them back up Main Street and ends by Small World.
The best place to watch the parades, if you don't want to camp out on Main Street for a couple of hours, is in between Small World and the Matterhorn.
On the other hand, the classic visual is of the parade coming down Main Street with the Castle in the background. Unfortunately, everyone wants that, so you have to put up with the crowds to get it.
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I suppose I should chime in with my 2 cents seeing as we've been going to disneyland every year for the last 11 years and will be going again this summer to make it 12.
A lot of what I'll say has already been said but it's worth reinforcing.
Fast Pass, Fast Pass, Fast Pass - I can't emphasize this enough. You'll want to make sure you always have a valid one for the most efficient day at Disneyland especially during the busy times. They are a life saver when certain rides are over an hour wait and you skip by all the poor saps waiting in line. There was one time where we worked a combination of fast passes and rider switch passes that we ended up riding radiator springs 6 times in one day.
Don't stay at the resort hotels, well if you're made of money then sure, fill your boots however there are so many options other than those to stay at to save some money. Most of them offer a breakfast in the morning and are within walking distance. Fill up on the free breakfast before venturing to Disneyland!
Strollers are a life saver for the parents sanity and the kids. They are long days at the park and you won't regret the stroller!
The parades and shows are must! Disney does such a wonderful job on these
When my kids were younger they were huge fans of the characters and even now (11 and 8) they still want to see each one and get autographs from them.
Unlike most in this thread, we never took breaks from Disney and would power through the whole day from opening to close. In hindsight that may not have been the best approach as it led to some tired parents and kids. I think a break during the day would be beneficial espeically if you are going to stay late for some of the later shows and parades.
The food in the park is a rip off. There is a Mcdonalds (I know, ####ty food but cheap and kids love that crap) right outside the park that is easy to get to and get a break from the crowds for a bit.
Peter Pan doesn't have a fast pass and gets ridiculously busy so its best to hit that ride first thing. Have someone hold a spot in line while the others get a fast pass for a more popular ride to use later on in the day.
When we first started going my daughter was 10 months so I've been through all the age ranges for kids at Disney and to be honest, each stage is special in its own way and I wouldn't change a thing. At first it was all about the characters and shows and has now transitioned into digging the rides but also still seeing all the characters!!
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Just to comment on the on site hotels. We stayed in the cheaper of the two that over looks downtown disney. The first night we arrived late, as we were showering up to go down to Trader Sam's we got to watch the fire works from our hotel room, that was a pretty cool and very private moment. We were 1 room over from the actual viewing room that people gather in to watch them that have access to the floor we were on.
We took one day off from the park and spent it just in the pools and walking around Downtown Disney/the Resort, this was its own adventure and experience. Every day we did go to the park it took us less than 5 minutes to walk there at a comfortable pace, we would come back during the heat of the day to have a short nap, maybe shower and change (I sweat even on the cold days in Saskatchewan), and re fuel on some snacks before heading back in. We walked to the park through the resort and downtown Disney and returned the same way. From our arrival at 9 PM on the Sunday till our departure at 11 AM on the Thursday, it never felt like we left the park once. All that we left were the crowds, but because of the way it was set up between Downtown Disney and the resort it just all felt like part of the Disney experience. That was a pretty cool experience. So yes, it is expensive, I think at least double what a decent hotel would be, but IMO if you can swing it, its worth it. At least once to try it out and get that full experience.
__________________ "In brightest day, in blackest night / No evil shall escape my sight / Let those who worship evil's might / Beware my power, Green Lantern's light!"
You can sometimes get really good deals for the on-site hotels, especially the Disneyland Hotel and Paradise Pier. You can only get those deals if you're travelling in the non-peak season though.
A few years ago, I got a week at the Disneyland Hotel for $99 per night for the week after US Thanksgiving (which is one of their least-busy times of the year).
By far the best tip for dealing with crowds is to travel in the slower season. Mid-September and Early-December are both great. You can just wander around doing whatever you want whenever you want. Of course, that's difficult if you have kids in school. That's one advantage of taking your kids when they're preschool aged.
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Any tips on how to get discounted park tickets? I think we'll need 2 or 3 days and I thought I recalled a special for Canadian residents, but didn't see anything when googling.
Any tips on how to get discounted park tickets? I think we'll need 2 or 3 days and I thought I recalled a special for Canadian residents, but didn't see anything when googling.
That deal ended at the end of February.
You're not likely to find any spectacular deals now. People are starting to plan their summer vacations, so most things are going to be full-price.
If you're an AMA member, they're usually your best bet for any kind of better deal.
There's also the CityPass which includes a 3-day Disneyland ticket as well as Sea World and Legoland. I think Costco sells those, or you can get them online.
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You're not likely to find any spectacular deals now. People are starting to plan their summer vacations, so most things are going to be full-price.
If you're an AMA member, they're usually your best bet for any kind of better deal.
There's also the CityPass which includes a 3-day Disneyland ticket as well as Sea World and Legoland. I think Costco sells those, or you can get them online.
Just wanted to add that Costco online has the best deal for anyone wanting to buy the citypass.
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Curious, has any used Costco for booking their Disneyland/World trips? I've heard they are great for saving money on trips but I've never used them.
__________________ "In brightest day, in blackest night / No evil shall escape my sight / Let those who worship evil's might / Beware my power, Green Lantern's light!"
Curious, has any used Costco for booking their Disneyland/World trips? I've heard they are great for saving money on trips but I've never used them.
I've heard good things about them as well and one can get really good vacation packages to Disneyland. I've also heard good things about Westjet Vacations. The only problem is that all the components of the package are bundled together and thus not very flexible. So if you want to extend your trip beyond your visit to Disneyland or visit other parts of California, it's better to build your own package.
IMO the only Disney restaurants that are worth it, are the Character breakfasts for restaurants in the park.
For example, The Crystal Palace in Magic Kingdom is a breakfast buffet with Winnie the Pooh characters that walk around and visit every table. Great for the kids. How can you miss out on an opportunity like this:
The added bonus is that for breakfast the restaurants open an hour earlier than the park, so if you can get an early enough reservation and finish your meal in a timely manner you can get a head start to the first rides of the day.
Breakfasts are also cheaper than the other meals for these restaurants.
You don't need to be a guest at a Disney Hotel to make a reservation, BUT you do need a credit card and you will be charged if you don't cancel at least a day before the reservation. Disney Dining takes reservations 6 months in advance, so to get the time you want you are going to have to be ready well in advance.
edit: This is for Disney World, haven't looked at character breakfasts at DisneyLand.
If it's busy when you go there this little trick worked great for us to get on Radiator Springs Racer. We just happened to be there on what a few cast members were referring to as "One of the busiest days of the year" (didn't seem that bad to us). But there were a few hundred people lined up in the morning for rope drop to get on RSR and we were 2nd on using this trick. We could have been first but there was little guys behind us that were so exited that we let them go ahead of us.
They also will say the ride is down to try and weed the crowd out if that many people come at the opening, don't let them fool you just wait another 5 minutes. By the time we got off it was a 1.5 hour wait, that was at about 7:15 in the morning. Fast passes were gone for the day by 10.
Also wear pins, you get them for free at most shops/front desk of the hotel. Tell them its your first time or birthday or whatever, we had Honeymoon pins on and we always got our own ride. Even when it was that busy at RSR they gave us our own car. Same with Indiana Jones, Small World, all over the place. And other places where we obviously couldn't have it all to ourselves (like the roller coaster or splash mountain) they always put us at the very front. Would tell us to wait a second, then give us the best spot. They make a big deal out of your big deal, its their job. Cast members were tripping over themselves to congratulate us. And the characters also made a big deal out of it.
__________________ "In brightest day, in blackest night / No evil shall escape my sight / Let those who worship evil's might / Beware my power, Green Lantern's light!"
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I forgot to mention the character dinner/meals and yes those are worth it for sure.
We really like Goofy's kitchen and Minnie's breakfast. Best way to knock off a few character meet and greets while having a meal. Not cheap but definitely worth it.
A good tip we got was to snap a photo of your cell phone each day of your kids. That way if they get lost you can show them the photo of exactly what they were wearing, rather than trying to remember when panicked.
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