Disneyland/DCA parks - top tips please!

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Hi all - earlier this year I asked on here for top tips for WB studio tours in Watford and MNers delivered!

So this time I need tips please for Disneyland and Disney California Adventure Park. We are going this Sunday and next Monday so not long to go.

We're flying out Thursday lunchtime and it'll be part of a longer road trip with DH and DC DD11 and DS15 but DH won't be coming to Disney, it'll just be the three of us.

We are staying nearby at the Cortona hotel so plan to walk there (15-20 mins) and back.

I've got park hopper tickets for us to start in Disneyland on Sunday and DCA on Monday. I've also got the lightening passes.

To be honest though I'm a bit overwhelmed with all the information I can find online. (Might be a bit of perimenopausal anxiety kicking in too.)

Please please can you help me out. We all like Star Wars and Avengers but I want to do the classic things too. I have downloaded the app and we can book dining options but I don't even know where to start with that.

What to take, what to run to first, where to eat, must sees etc.

Thank you hugely in advance ☺️

The park turnstiles generally open more than 30 minutes earlier than posted. If you're early, you can usually enter up to the ropes and when the park officially opens, you will hear an announcement and the cast members will pull back the ropes. This is called "rope drop." Once the rope drops, you can enter the rest of the park and go straight to the rides. For the most popular ride, such as Rise of the Resistance, you'll head through Frontierland.
At Disneyland, focus on Indiana Jones and Pirates just after park opening or at the end of the night.
Watch the Rise of the Resistance standby line wait times. Parade time is a great time to ride.
At DAC, focus on Guardians of the Galaxy or rides without Lightning Pass at park opening.
Use single rider when available (if your party can split up).

Make a mobile food order while you're in line for a ride or at the back of the long restaurant queue. If you know where you want to eat and approximately when, order early. You can choose an order window that is several hours away. You can always cancel or change it to later. Don’t forget to tap "I'm here, Prepare my order." We know you're supposed to wait until you arrive to say you're there, but it takes time to prepare the food, so we always tap ahead of time while we walk over. Order ahead for popular spots.

Thanks @Forgottenmyphone - these are really useful tips. I was thinking we'd have to run to Rise of the resistance on opening but are you suggesting we aim for Indiana jones and Pirates (I assume you meant (Pirates of the Caribbean?) first instead?

Is it worth going to eat in sit-down places or just grab and go? Do you have any favourite places to eat?

Thanks again.

Do not walk there!. Many hotels in Anaheim run their own shuttle bus to the Disney parks.

Head to the Rise of the Resistance ride first.

Thanks @AttilaTheMeerkat - I remember your helpful tips on my other thread when I was asking about convertibles. Thankfully I persuaded DH and DS round to my way of thinking so we have a booked a sensible car.

The hotel is just down the road and we're happy to walk but I'll check if there is a shuttle bus :)

I answered on the wrong thread.
I found LL very helpful for our day. Although we walk passed Indiana Jones and it had a 20 minute wait so we jumped on it. It had closed and just reopened.
We had a sit down meal at Cafe Orleans, the chicken was really bland and very boring. So I wouldn't go there again, although husband's beef looked good.
But meal times get busy so if you want to sit down and you might want an aircon break book something ahead of time on the app.
The parks are small compared to DW so with older dc it is easy to get around. Your LL will help you get on the big rides without waiting in lines. We filled the time between the big rides we had LL's for with smaller rides.
The swinging Ferris wheel 🎡 in DCA is surprisingly terrifying!

Bumping for the evening crew :)

I've only been to Paris and Hong Kong, but as a general strategy decide which are your must visit rides, I usually have a top priority, middle priority and low priority list in my head and check the queues on the app at various times of day tomorrow and Thursday (and whilst away if you have the opportunity), so you have a rough plan of attack. Keep in mind that what looks like a 5 minute walk between rides probably takes more than 10 minutes when there are people literally everywhere, but the parks should be quietening down a little bit at least as American schools are back. If you are happy to pay for fast pass (I assume that is what lightening lane is) then you'll get on more rides. My husband always laughs at me for my obsessive planning, but it has always been beneficial. Slow down, and/or hide in the a/c watching a show if it's really hot, as everyone gets a bit miserable.

Also to say I find the mouse hacking website really useful, they have a guide to the rides at each of the California parks and a suggested one-day itinerary for each park. They also cover the Florida parks and Paris parks, so make sure you find the right pages. I don't suggest you try and follow their itinerary exactly, but they gist of their Paris one is pretty spot on.

Thanks @TeamGeriatric - great tips and I'll definitely check out that website 😀

We found that everyone runs to Rise of the Resistance first, so it’s worth waiting until late evening or during a parade or show.

You must go on the big wheel in DCA - it looks like any big wheel but it’s actually so scary - you’ll find out why when you’re on it !

i’m here at the moment. i’ve just finished day two but my kids and DH are still in the park. It’s too much for me. i needed wine😁. we did day 1 in disneyland and day 2 in DCA. It’s extremely hot so bring water bottles because you can fill them up in the parks and a parasol and a fan. as others have said the food isnt great and expensive so bring some healthy snacks. there is a walgreens that sells food and wine(!) outside the park but i couldn’t find anywhere selling fresh fruit. if you want to eat in one of the restaurants just outside the parks then reserve a table now because they’ll be full up when you get here. Arrive in the park at 730 as you go through security and then into the parks for rides opening at 8am. LLP worked brilliantly in Disneyworld, we never waited more than 10 mins. but at DCA the LLs are a lot longer. in the afternoon it was still 90 minutes for guardians of the galaxy. Disneyworld is really busy but shorter queues, DCA quiet but with huge queues! some DCA rides take photos. when you come off take a picture of your photo code then add it to the app to see your photos. DCA has a light show, you can’t book it until 12 so set an alarm as it’s supposed to be amazing.

you can come in and out of the parks if you just need to decompress or decent food!

oh and i agree about the ferris wheel! my teens went on the incredicoaster 5 times no problem but screamed their heads off on the wheel 😂

Thanks all - especially @MoreDataPls!! I'll be prepared for the queuing in DCA then - we are due to start there on Monday but at DL on Sunday.

How did the LL work? I'm nervous that after spending all this money I want to get the best of the days for the DC which in turn will make it awesome for me ☺️

@Forgottenmyphone thanks for that tip. We might head there first and see what the queue is like then. We can always leave it until the end of the day. Rides stop at 10pm I think or is that when the parks shut and the last rides are before then?

your LL access is on your ticket. there are two lanes LL access and normal, you scan your phone to go into the LL. make sure you all have the app and tickets on your phones, put phones onto low power mode to conserve battery and take a battery pack if you have one. you only need one phone to access rides but the other phones can be used if your battery dies.

the app shows you the current wait times. they do shift so i’d recommend doing the rides you really fancy first. it’s definitely quieter before 11am though.

Pirates of caribbean ride queue is really long and is v bizarre. like a trip to Jorvik centre but without the history 😂 so if you are short on time give it a miss.

Grizzly river run is great fun! you will get so wet. there are lockers opposite the run to leave your bag but it’s $7! we took ours on the ride and put it in the centre where you hold on. you could take a carrier bag to cover your bag so it doesn’t get wet. also pop your heels on the step to prevent your shoes getting saturated. this was a long queue but kids were happy to wait twice as they enjoyed it so much.

best tip - have wine in fridge for when you get back to your hotel 😂.

enjoy!

Does California have the same genie system? If so then watch some videos about how to 'play the slots' because if you are good at that you can go on tons of rides and never queue.

forgot to add two things; lines close about 930 and rides stop at 10. at DCA rides around the lake close earlier for the light show. Single rider lanes (signposted if they have them for a ride) is usually quicker than LL in DCA so my two did the incredicoaster a lot

It doesn't and the genie system has just changed to something more like the old fast pass.
Just as I understood how to use it!!

@MoreDataPls thank you so much for all the tips!

I've just spent nearly two hours with the DC in our hotel room reading up on using the LL and thinking of our strategy.
We're going to head to Rise of the Resistance straight away and just put up with however long the queue is at that time. We've sort of scored the rides out of ten at both parks just to give ourselves a rough idea of the ones we really want to do.

No idea about food though apart from as a veggie I would like to have the giant meatless meatball at the Pyms place. I'm tired though so those discussions will have to wait until we're waiting in a queue...

Thank you to everyone who posted on here. We had the most amazing time over the last two days especially once I'd worked out how to use the app properly 😂

Lots and lots of highlights but it was all fantastic!