Tips For Visiting Disneyland
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Disneyland is a wonderful place to visit. It is truly the “Happiest Place on Earth.” It can also be very hectic and a person can feel very overwhelmed at all there is to do and see there. You’re in luck because I can give you a guide to making your trip to Disneyland a great one.
When first entering the park, get a map. They are offered at the gate. The map is a very helpful tool.
If anyone has a birthday be sure to stop at City Hall on Main Street and get a birthday button. Birthdays can be celebrated the whole month of the birthday at the Disneyland Resort. Also be sure to go there and get first visit buttons.
One really important thing not to do is to put tickets in a lanyard. The end hook has been known to fall off, if that happens your tickets are gone. A fanny pack is a great place to keep tickets. It is easiest to have one person keep the tickets. To make things move faster when entering the park give everyone their ticket so that they are ready to go when reaching the ticket reader. This speeds things up for everyone. Then return them to the person carrying all of them.
If you are there on a hot day be sure to carry a water bottle. Most restaurants that have fountain drinks give free water so it is easy to keep the water bottle full.
Most times on Splash Mountain you will get wet. If riding it in the evening take a poncho. This way getting wet won’t ruin the whole night. Even during the summer some evenings can be cool.
Restrooms are an important part of any vacation. Sometimes it can be frustrating when you don’t know where they are. One thing to remember is that there are at least two restrooms in every land at Disneyland. Some lands have more than two. There’s a restroom at the entrance of most lands. It may seem like there aren’t any restrooms because they can be hard to spot. Use the map to find them or ask an employee, one can always be found.
Main Street USA has a lot of fun shops to look in. Be sure to check them out. There may be days however when you want to get into the other lands to ride right away. Main Street USA has a lot of different modes of transportation to take guests to Central Plaza, which is located at the end of Main Street. There you can see the Partner Statue, (Walt and Mickey) Around the area are small statues of different Disney characters too. Each land takes off from that plaza except for Critter Country and Toon Town.
The Main Street Railroad is another way to travel to the other lands. If there’s a huge crowd however, it really is not that far to walk, and walking will get you there faster. The train is a great ride to go on as well, it shows you a lot of the greatest sights at Disneyland.
In Central Plaza near the entrance of Adventureland is an information center with a wait time board. This board tells all of the wait times for the most popular attractions. That will help you decide which land to go to first.
It is best to go to Fantasyland early in the morning. None of the rides offer a fast pass, so after 11:00 or 12:00 it is very crowded and wait times get very long. The Storybook Canal Boat ride is amazing but the line for it can be very deceiving. Be sure to go when it is a short wait.
Casey Jr. Circus Train is a very cute ride and you can see all of the scenery that is in Storybook Canal too, but from a different angle.
Pirates of the Caribbean is a very popular ride, but if the wait is long, go back. Most of the time even on the busiest day the wait is about 25-30 minutes and the line moves fast.
Be sure to get a fast pass for the more popular rides. The Fast Pass saves your place in line so that you can go back later and get on the ride quicker. However sometimes the wait time can be up to 30 minutes even with a fast pass if the stand-by wait time is long. It the stand-by wait is 90 minutes, the fast pass wait will most likely be at least 20 minutes. Actually even a wait of 35-40 minutes is not bad during the summer time. Most of the rides wait queues are interesting and seem more like a part of the ride than a wait in line.
A good time to go to lunch is around 1:00 when a lot of people are finishing up with lunch. Plus if its hot out that is a great time to kick back and relax.
There are a lot of places to duck out of the heat and crowds. The Tiki Room has a steady flow of people but they sell Dole Whip and it is a great place to relax and watch a show. Even the wait is entertaining!
If you buy a 5 day pass for Disneyland, you will receive a “Magic Morning” which allows you to get into the park an hour early so take advantage of that! Ride all of the rides that you have wanted to go on that had a long wait time because there is not a lot of people in the park that early at all.
Disneyland is a lot of fun. There are many things to see and do there. It is important to remember to leave your worries at the gate and let the magic take over.
