I feel like Disneyland is just one of those places that you can go to at different stages of your life and experience different things. There’s really just something about the magic of Disney. Now that I’m going as an adult, I wanted to research all the tips and tricks I needed to know to maximize my time and experience at the happiest place on earth. From reading blog posts to watching YouTube videos, I took notes and then went and tested them all out there. Here are my top 20 tips and tricks to make the most of your day(s) at Disneyland:
1. Download the Disneyland App on your phone before you go. Seriously the most helpful thing ever. It tells you wait times for rides, Fastpass times, and is your map to the park. There is wifi throughout the park that you can utilize.
2. Before heading to the parks for the day, be prepared for the security checkpoints upon entering the parks. Have your bag open and ready to be searched, and everything in your pockets available to take out to put in the tray before you go through the scanner.

3. If you have Magic Morning or Extra Magic Hours, make use of it and make sure you show up early! The extra hour is great to get some extra time in with less lineups, but beware that not everything is always open.
4. If you have park hopper tickets, after Magic Morning ends, hop on over to the other park for their opening. If you don’t have Magic Morning, always start your day at the park that does not have Magic Morning that day.

5. If you will have cellular data, consider making use of Maxpass and Photopass. For $10 per person per day, you can utilize this new feature which allows you to get Fastpasses on your phone, as well as download all the photos that you get taken inside the parks! It will also tell you where to find Fastpass stations for things, which is super important because the stations aren’t always near the ride!
6. Get Fastpasses. This is a huge time saver and is free! You insert your park ticket into a machine to receive a ticket that gives you a specific time window to return. Perfect for popular rides that usually have insanely long wait times. You can only hold one fastpass at a time, and will need to wait either 2 hours since you last got one, or when the return window opens for your current one. Warning, they can run out of Fastpasses, especially for the rides in California Adventure!
7. Have a Fastpass runner or designated MaxPass person. For us, my boyfriend was in charge of holding all our tickets and getting our Fastpasses. If you utilize MaxPass, just have one person load all the tickets on to their phone.

8. Fastpass stations aren’t always located near the attraction they are for! Use your Disney app to look up where the Fastpass station is first, otherwise you could go in circles and waste lots of time just trying to figure out where to pick them up.
9. First thing in the morning, grab a Fastpass for the evening show you want to attend. Show Fastpasses count as separate from the ride ones! These run out really quick for the evening shows at each park: Fantasmic! at Disneyland and World of Color at California Adventure. I cannot stress enough that you need to grab one, otherwise you won’t have a spot to stand and watch the shows. World of Colour stations are by Ariel’s Undersea Adventure, and Fantasmic! stations are near Frontier Landing. Disney does an incredible job of sectioning off areas for those watching and making sure walking areas are indeed used for people only walking by.

10. The first ride Fastpass you’ll want to get is for Radiator Springs Racers in California Adventure. This ride is guaranteed to run out of Fastpasses and guaranteed to have the longest lines at all times of the day. The station to pick up Fastpasses is beside the entrance to A Bug’s Land, not in Carsland. If you want to ride it more than once, hop in line first thing in the morning for it as well, and consider utilizing the single rider lineup.
11. As I kind of mentioned above, for rides that are popular and have long lines, consider going in the single rider lineup. Yes, you might not sit with your friends or family, but you’ll skip the long lines!

12. Have a game plan. Plan out your must-do attractions, and prioritize them. We would often grab Fastpasses for the big and busy attractions, and then just wait in line for the smaller ones. As I mentioned before, you’re gonna want to minimize the amount of walking around back and forth you’ll have to do, so plan accordingly to try to plan it out so that you don’t most things in one “land” at a time.
13. Park hop – but only when you have to. We chose to do this on the last day when we knew which rides we wanted to do again. I would only recommend park hopping when you need to (such as heading back to California Adventure for your Fastpass for Radiator Springs) because honestly, it wastes a lot of your time walking back and forth. You also do a ton of walking on concrete all day, so your feet will hurt eventually so you’ll want to minimize that.

14. Have meals during off-peak hours. Don’t eat lunch right at noon, or dinner at 6. Use those times when everyone is eating to enjoy the somewhat shorter lines, and eat at other times when restaurants aren’t as busy, and you can find seating for quick service places.
15. Bring your own snacks and water. Drinks are by far one of the most expensive things to purchase at the parks and are almost never worth the money. Bring your own water, your own juice boxes etc. Also be sure to pack some granola bars for those moments you’re hungry and waiting in line. This little tip will be sure to save you some money too.
16. If you’re looking for water inside the parks, buying a bottle isn’t your only option. You can actually go to any restaurant, or up to any quick service place and ask them for a cup of water!

17. If you want Dole Whip, the booth has two sides. The one inside the Enchanted Tiki Room never has anyone there, whereas the line on the Adventureland side is always super long.
18. There is a “secret” bathroom inside the Enchanted Tiki Room. For some odd reason, no one knows it’s here and so there’s never a line. Don’t waste your time lining up to go to a bathroom when you can line up for rides instead!

19. You can ask the Photopass photographers to take photos on your phone or camera! If you’re not getting a MaxPass, those official Disney photos can be pretty expensive. Though these Photopass photographers look like they’re only available for those purchasing photos from Disney, that’s actually not true. They’d be more than happy to help you take photos of you using your device!
20. If you want to shop, do it at the end of the day. Shops are open an hour after the park closes, so you can do all your shopping then.