I know a lot of parents dread going to Disneyland but our family has had a great time. I think there’s a key to having fun – at least for those who aren’t Disneyland fans regardless of parenthood. My husband dreaded our first trip but due to great planning, towards the end of the vacation, he was asking ‘when will we go back?’
We’ve gone twice now and both trips have been fantastic. Our first trip was when our daughter was 4. A great age, although, if you really want to get the most of out Disneyland’s offerings, wait until age 5. Five, allows you to take advantage of Pinocchio’s Workshop, an evening childcare facility, so that you can have a nice dinner out. Five also means your child will be a bit taller and more adventurous. For some kids, a little more adventurous is important. Our daughter loved seeing the characters, even the characters she didn’t recognize (there were lots; we don’t allow a lot of television) but for some kids, life-size mice, dogs and more can be pretty
intimidating. Did I mention Pinocchio’s Workshop?
So, here are my tips (please keep in mind, my tips are geared for parents of young children; if you have older children, not all of them will not be useful)…
If you can, stay at the Grand Californian. I didn’t do a tremendous amount of research but from what I can tell, AAA offers some of the better rates and perks.
What are the benefits of staying at the Grand Californian?
Besides the fact that it’s a newer hotel, has better restaurants than the other
Disney hotels, Pinocchio’s Workshop is located in the hotel complex, and more,
the hotel has a direct entrance into California Adventure Park and direct access to Downtown Disney, which is basically an entrance to Disneyland. Why is this important? It gives you flexibility.
I don’t care what people claim, 4 and 5 year olds need naps and if they don’t need naps, they need time away from the constant barrage of stimuli that Disneyland offers. That means, a trip to the hotel room for some down time. I know, I know, Disneyland is expensive and the Grand Californian is the more expensive hotel in the
Disneyland chain; still, it’s worth it, IMO.
Our daughter is iffy on naps. Sometimes she needs them, sometimes I need
them (some of you moms know what I’m talking about). At Disneyland, she doesn’t
think she needs them but she does.
Our Disneyland schedule is like this:
- Breakfast
- Disneyland Park
- Lunch in Downtown Disney (better food and they serve alcohol for parents that need it)
- Hotel for NAP
- Disneyland
or California Adventure Park
- Dinner
- Bedtime for Daughter
Don’t let your child(ren) fool you. You will arrive in your hotel room and they will escalate, bounce on the furniture and basically try to prove to you that they do not need a nap. Lay down, pretend to sleep, if you have to. Wait for it, wait for it…. A scream, crying, silence, and they’ve passed out colder than ice. Sometimes I tell our daughter to pretend to sleep and a little while later I look over to see that she is no longer pretending.
If you need it, want it, take a nap yourself or go out on your balcony and
enjoy a glass of wine, answer your email, or any number of other things you can
do without a lot of noise in the hotel room.
We have friends that don’t do naptime but instead do pool
time. This works well too, if that works for your child. If you question it,
gauge your child’s behavior. If he/she is acting out of control (assuming you
aren’t pumping him/her full of sugar), a nap may be the key to his /her, and
more importantly, YOUR sanity. If your child seems to be doing fine, maybe the
pool is the key to get away from the onslaught of noise, visuals and everything
else that Disneyland offers. Maybe one day you nap, the next you pool (yea, I
turned it into a verb; what of it?).
If you can’t stay in
the Grand Californian, consider other nearby Disney hotels or hotels close to
the Park but not affiliated with Disney (we all know they charge extra for
the privilege of the Disney name). I know it will be a pain to trek back to the
hotel for a nap or pool time but trust me, that time away from the noise,
candy, excitement, and more will do you all some good. You bought an all day
pass; take a nap and go back later, refreshed. It will be a lot more fun for
all of you.
Don’t try to do it
all. This, by far, is what my husband considers the most important thing to
do, or not do, depending on how you look at it.
Is your child going to hate the experience because you
missed a few rides? No. On the other hand, you AND your child may hate the
experience if you stand in line from 8 or 9am until nearly midnight, eating
crappy food and trying to cram every single Disney experience into a one-day
ticket. If you can only afford one day at the park, so be it; but, isn’t it
better to have a really great time that one day than it is to torture the
entire family because you’re bound and determined to experience every inch of
the park despite hunger, exhaustion and over-stimulation? Lots of children
never go to Disneyland; if you’re lucky enough to go, make it a good time, even
if you have to miss a bunch of stuff.
Alcohol. There is
one place in Disneyland where alcohol is served. Club 33. If you aren’t a
member, the key is knowing a member or someone who knows one (reservations by a
member are required). Otherwise, you need to go to Downtown Disney or
California Adventure Park for your alcohol. IMO, Downtown Disney offers a
better selection than California Adventure, particularly when we’re talking
about margaritas. Barring Club 33, you’ll find better food in Downtown Disney
than you will in either park. That’s my opinion, anyway. We usually lunch at
the Mexican restaurant in Downtown Disney; it’s on the way back to the hotel
(remember, naptime after lunch!) and they have good margaritas and a good food
selection that works for all members of our family.
Photopass. This is a terrific program. The discs / downloads aren’t inexpensive but if you take advantage of the PhotoPass photographers as often as you can and opt for all of the pictures, vs individual selections, it can be well worth it. Professional photographers throughout the park, take pictures of you, your kids, and your entire family, sometimes adding special features like putting Tinkerbell in the hands of your little girl. Since I’m the usual family photographer, the PhotoPass pictures are a special treat for me as I finally get to be IN some of our vacation photos! It isn’t necessary to register before you hit the park and if you don’t have a PhotoPass, the photographers can give you one to use. It is my understanding that you can combine various PhotoPasses under the same account for a single disc or download but you’ll want to verify that before you go crazy accumulating PhotoPasses on your trip. Once you log onto your PhotoPass account, you can edit your photos to include various borders and other Disney graphics. The program even allows you to add pictures you’ve taken on your camera so that you can add graphics or put all your Disney photos on one disc to send to Grandma & Grandpa.
Rooms at the Grand
Californian. We’ve stayed in a room overlooking the pool and a room overlooking Downtown Disney. Our preference is the pool. The rooms over Downtown Disney are fun for people watching but the music plays on until at least 9 or 10pm and, I think midnight, on weekends. If you’re looking for quiet, you won’t get it in your room if you’re overlooking Downtown. Early mornings can be a bit rough too as the garbage & construction trucks come through Downtown, collecting and whatever else they do. Every time they back up, beep! Beep! Beep! Argh!
The iPhone app called Disneyland Mousewait is terrific and FREE. The app depends on users for information and we found it to be fairly accurate for planning which rides to take when. The program also offers other tips and features that are useful.
Autograph book –
A combined photo album / autograph book for your child to get autographs from
his or her favorite characters and fill with photos (after the trip). They sell
them at most places in the park but there’s no reason you couldn’t make or buy
one before hitting the park if you don’t want to pay Disney prices. Our daughter loves to go through her book and talk about each character that she met.
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