Tour Disneyland Like the Lurkyloos

This is by no means a comprehensive travel guide to Disneyland, but it is a collection of our best Disneyland tips for Walt Disney World vets!

The Basics

The big thing to know is that the “resort” (i.e., the two parks and Downtown Disney) is very compact and walkable. Unlike at Walt Disney World, you don’t have to take transportation everywhere—you can walk it! Disneyland itself is about 30% smaller than the Magic Kingdom, so it may feel a bit crowded to you. But before you write it off for not being as majestic as the Magic Kingdom, remember that Walt Disney actually walked in Disneyland, and you can see his personal touch in dozens of ways that are not evident in the Florida parks.

Disneyland Dining

We have New Orleans Square instead of Liberty Square, and it is BEAUTIFUL! If you can afford it, it’s really nice to have a meal at the Blue Bayou Restaurant, which is inside Pirates of the Caribbean. Entrees cost $28–$53, and the food quality is on par with, say, Le Cellier. Most of the time… But it’s definitely not California Grill caliber. Make a reservation for 11:30am when they open, and you’re pretty much guaranteed to get a table by the water.

You will need a “priority seating” reservation (our version of Disney World’s “advance dining reservations”), but you can probably wait to make one until a few weeks beforehand. The farthest out you can book is 60 days. The number is 714-781-3463, or book online.

A less expensive alternative to the Blue Bayou is Cafe Orleans, if you want table service. You can split one of the world-famous Monte Cristo sandwiches for much less money and have a lovely view of the Rivers of America. They also have some pretty awesome garlic fries!

For counter service, Rancho del Zocalo has the best atmosphere, but the food isn’t that authentic or great. I don’t think any of our counter service food is very good, except Jolly Holiday Bakery on Main Street and maybe the corn dog wagon. But apparently many Walt Disney World vets find the variety of Disneyland’s counter service food a welcome relief from the homogeneity of the Magic Kingdom’s offerings.

California Adventure Dining

Carthay Circle Restaurant is our favorite restaurant in DCA. The restaurant participates in the World of Color reserved-viewing program, so if you order off a special prix fixe menu you’ll get a FASTPASS to the round, central viewing area for the show. Lamplight Lounge at DCA seems to be the new “get” for restaurants, but we haven’t tried it yet, so I can’t say whether it’s worth getting up early to score a reservation.

The Grand Californian’s Napa Rose, which is virtually inside the park, continually ranks among the top restaurants in Orange County. Entrees cost the same as or a few dollars more than those at the Blue Bayou, but the food is WAY better, and it’s easier to get a reservation. Napa Rose also has a more traditional menu, so it might be a better route for groups that include picky eaters along with the foodies. We used to eat here for my birthday almost every year, so here’s a hot tip: If you’re angling for a free birthday dessert, be sure you don’t get the server who goes by the name “Saucy”—he’s stiffed us every time!

We have been pretty underwhelmed by California Adventure’s counter service. Although I’ve never found the food anything to write home about, at least there’s a fairly diverse mix of cuisines, especially in San Fransokyo Square. My only favorite counter-service place in the park is the Ghirardelli Soda Fountain. There’s nothing better than sipping on an ice-cold chocolate shake in line for Radiator Springs Racers!

Touring

Disneyland now uses Lighting Lanes (via the Genie+ add-on) for reserving your place in line on rides. There are no wristbands—everything’s done on the Disneyland mobile app—and you don’t have to be staying at a Disney resort to use them. Lightning Lanes are like the old FASTPASS system, which allowed you to use an expedited lane to access the attraction when you return during a specific window of time. The difference is that Genie+, the service you need to access Lightning Lanes, costs $30/person, and you can only use the Lighting Lanes included with Genie+ once per attraction per day. Disney also offers paid “Individual Lightning Lane” access to Rise of the Resistance and Radiator Springs Racers. These cost $15–$26/person (pricing fluctuates by date and attraction).

The best thing to do during high season is get to the park about 60 minutes before it opens and then, when you get in, use the app to grab a Lightning Lane for something as you head to your first ride. The app will tell you when you are allowed to collect another Lightning Lane, and sometimes it may be less than an hour later. Disneyland does enforce the one-hour return window, although there is usually a 5- or 10-minute grace period on the end of the return window.

Another note about opening: On days when Disneyland doesn’t open one hour early for Magic Morning (usually Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday), guests are allowed to enter 30 minutes early and congregate around the rope at the far end of Main Street, U.S.A. until the park officially opens and the rope is dropped. The shops and the bakery are open, so it’s a good time to grab breakfast without cutting into your touring time.

Of the most popular rides, it’s a good idea to do the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, Pirates of the Caribbean and Peter Pan early in the morning because they don’t have FASTPASS. Over at California Adventure, Radiator Springs Racers and Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout FASTPASSES are still selling out, so grab some of those first thing.

Single-rider lines (or back entrances) are a great way to cut waits, and your party should finish the ride around the same time even if you’re not all in the same car. At Disneyland, Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye, Matterhorn Bobsleds and Splash Mountain have single-rider access. At California Adventure, it’s California Screamin’, Soarin’ Over California, Grizzly River Run, Goofy’s Sky School and Radiator Springs Racers.

Rides that are better in Disneyland (or nonexistent in Florida): Space Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye, Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, Storybookland, Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin, and the Columbia Sailing Ship.

Haunted Mansion is different in fun ways, but you may prefer the Magic Kingdom’s more recently refurbished version. Winnie the Pooh is pretty disappointing in Disneyland. Don’t waste your time, unless you want to see the hidden trophy heads of Max the buck, Buff the buffalo and Melvin the moose—all that remains of the Country Bears attraction Pooh replaced. (Look up and behind you as you leave the Heffalump/Woozle room.) Buzz Lightyear is also not as good here.

Fireworks

The Disneyland fireworks shows are fantastic. They also change depending on the season. Our Fantasmic! is considered superior because it takes place right on the Rivers of America and involves the Columbia and the riverboat. If you go to the 10:30pm show instead of the 9pm one, you can show up right at 9:20 or 9:30 as people leave the first show and get a good spot without waiting for 3 hours. And don’t bother with Disneyland’s Fantasmic! dessert party—you still have to wait in line for an hour if you want one of the few decent seats, plus the desserts are pretty lackluster.

For information on World of Color, click HERE.

If you get sleepy in the afternoon and don’t have a hotel nearby, you can nap on the train or on the comfy sofas in the Grand Californian’s lobby. The hotel is located inside California Adventure, so if you have a park hopper, leave Disneyland, enter California Adventure, and then head to the right toward Condor Flats. Follow the path around and you’ll see the entrance to the Grand Californian. Alternatively, you can enter through Downtown Disney.

 

Back to Top

8 Responses
  • Laura
    June 14, 2023

    Hi Carrie-
    I think we will finally make it to Disneyland this Autumn after 20+ trips to Disney World! Is the information above still accurate?

    • Carrie
      August 6, 2023

      Hi Laura! That’s awesome! Having just returned from Disneyland, I would say that most of this stuff still applies. Lamplight Lounge at DCA seems to be the new “get” for restaurants, but we didn’t try it so I can’t say whether it’s worth getting up early to score a reservation.

      MaxPass has been replaced by Lighting Lane and Genie+ but they work mostly the same. The big difference is that you can only get a LL pass once per attraction, instead of being able to grab them over and over until they’re sold out for the day like we used to do with FastPass/MaxPass. I found MickeyVisit.com to be a good resource for explainers and touring tips.

      By using Early Entry as hotel guests, we were able to knock out a lot of rides first thing without needing Lighting Lane, then we began collecting those as the park opened. I caved and did the paid LL for Rise of the Resistance because my nephews are huge Star Wars fans. But even that can be stressful because, if the ride breaks down and you end up needing to leave the park for the day before it comes back up—but it does come back up—you don’t get a refund. Fortunately for us, it came back up right as we were headed out of Galaxy’s Edge.

      I thought California Adventure would be easier with LL because there are fewer attractions, but it actually means that more people want them and return times jump deep into the day quickly (mind you, we were there the week after 4th of July, so it was CROWDED). Also, sometimes the popular rides don’t open when the park does, which can throw off your whole touring strategy. We ran to Spiderman and got to ride it twice in a row but then had to wait for Radiator Springs Racers to open. We thought we’d ride Guardians of the Galaxy standby while we waited, but its wait jumped from 20 minutes to 70 minutes after we’d been in line only 5 minutes!

      All of this to say…. it’s a bit different now, but a lot of the general touring advice still applies. I did a lot of research on newer blogs before we went, but even that couldn’t fully prepare me for all eventualities. So… it helps if you’re flexible!

      • Laura
        November 22, 2023

        Hi Carrie-

        Thank you so much for the tips. We visited the end of October and had an amazing time. We spent 2 days at Disneyland Park and one at California Adventure. We ended up not getting Lightening Lane/Genie+ and were able to ride plenty of rides, taking adventure of single-rider, getting to the park at opening and a whole bunch of pixie dust. We both agreed that we like Disneyland Park better than Magic Kingdom but did not love the Haunted Mansion Nightmare Before Christmas overlay. Which means we will need to come back sometime. 🙂

        • Carrie
          November 29, 2023

          Hi Laura! Thanks for sharing how it turned out! I’m so glad you had a great time—and how awesome is it that you were able to do it all without needing to pay for Genie+? 🙂

  • heather
    April 4, 2012

    Bummer! No, I didn’t. I’ll check my spam folder… we are planning to spend our last day in Hollywood so I’d love to see your tips if you could try and re-send. This is going to be our last hurrah for a while. The oldest is going to college in the fall (I know, I look waaaay too young) so it’s going to be a vacationless existence for a while. We have some friends in Chino Hills so we are slumming with them. We are going be there from Friday May 11th – Monday May 14th, so if you’re around that weekend, the offer stands. Miss the blog updates, but I know you’re busy with the new podcast, which sounds great. I just checked out the first couple episodes.

    Thanks!
    H

    • Carrie
      April 4, 2012

      Dang! I’ll re-send it, and maybe you’ll see it at the top of your junk folder this time. 😉

  • heather
    April 4, 2012

    Hey Carrie,
    I’m the dweeb who e-mailed you bunch of questions before reading the FAQ. This post answered it all! Maybe we’ll see you in DLR. We can split a Monte Cristo!

    • Carrie
      April 4, 2012

      Hi there! Did you get my reply? It had a bunch of tips for touring LA in it too!

What do you think?

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.