Happy Place

One of the best day I had when we went to California Disneyland! It is the place where my childhood memories brought back.

However, we just went there for one day. For sure, One day is not enough but I still enjoyed it despite of limited time we had.

Knowing that the Happiest Place on Earth can be also one of the busiest places on Earth, it’s helpful to have some strategies in play when you hit the parks.

Therefore, here is a list of tips that will help you maximize your time at Disneyland, so you won’t encounter what I experience when I went to Disneyland for the first time:

1. Buy tickets online. 

When you buy tickets in advance, you’ll go straight through to the entrance and won’t have to spend any time in ticket booth lines, which can save you an hour on a busy day! Also, if you purchase a 3-day ticket or longer, you’ll be eligible for Magic Morning. With Magic Morning, you can enjoy one day of early admission to Disneyland Park usually on Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday.

2. Pick the best times to visit. 

While it’s always a good time to visit Disneyland, there are times during the year that are better than others. Holidays, school schedules and annual passholders have a big impact on Disneyland’s schedule

3. Stay on property as close as you can

I know the three onsite hotels—Disneyland Hotel, Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel and Disney’s Paradise Pier Hotel are quite expensive. So, if the budget can’t afford the onsite hotels stay in the offsite hotels near Disneyland. There are some hotels that are actually closer than the resort hotels and less than a 5-minute walk to the Esplanade that connects the entrances of Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure. If you stay close by, you won’t have to pay to park at Disneyland and you won’t lose any time in the parking garage. There are other benefits of staying at hotels near Disneyland too! There are also hotels that are a short walk to the free parking lot shuttles.

4. Ease your way through the security line. 

The best way to get through the security line quickly is to be prepared. Make sure all of your bags are out and open for the cast member to peek into. Have keys, cell phone, coins and any metal devices ready to be passed to the guard at the security scanners. Have something that you know will buzz, such as a belt? Take it off and shove it into a bag for a moment.

6. Get to the parks before they open.

I say this over and over again to my friends, but it’s true—the very shortest waits of the day are in the first hours of a park’s opening. When you arrive at the park before it opens, you will be one of the very first people inside the parks.

7. Make use of Fastpass.

The Fastpass system is one of the best ways to maximize your time at Disneyland. In case you’re not familiar with the system — select attractions in both parks allow you to insert your park ticket and get a pass that gives you a return time to the specified attraction.Hop back through the Fastpass Return line for a minimal wait.

There are a few fine points worth mentioning. You can only use the Fastpass during the specified one-hour return time window. You’ll grab your new Fastpass after a waiting period once the return time window opens for the current pass you are holding or two hours have passed since you obtained your most recent Fastpass. The earlier you arrive at an attraction, the earlier in the day the Fastpass return time will be. Finally, many attractions do run out of Fastpasses, so don’t count on Fastpasses to be available at the most popular attractions later in the day — especially at Disney California Adventure.

When we went to the Disneyland for the first time, we didn’t know that there is a Fastpass. So, it took us long time to line up all attractions we tried.