Disneyland Step 2: Research and Plan your “General” Daily Itinerary
Now that you have everything booked, you’ll have a bit of a wait before you really need to do anything else. This is a great time to do some research for your trip. Your next specific task will be 60 days out, when you’ll book dining reservations. I use this in-between time to binge the Ropedrop & Parkhop podcast, read The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland plus other blogs and websites, and order clothes and various things we might need for our trip.
Sources of Information:
The Ropedrop & Parkhop podcast is run by 2 moms who love Disneyland and travel there frequently from out of state. They have episodes about hotels, food, rides, everything. At the beginning of each episode they also spend 5 minutes or so going over “news” from Disneyland and the world of Disney. If you’re listening to an old episode you can skip over this, but when you’re getting within a few months of your trip you’ll find some great information within this news bit of the podcast that will certainly pertain to your upcoming visit. Each episode is usually around 30 minutes and my boys really enjoyed listening to them as well – especially the episodes that include their kids.
The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland book is updated frequently and coordinates with their website and app. In Step 6 I’ll discuss the touring plans, but I cannot stress how valuable these are to your wait times and overall park experience. So, using this book as a research tool has lots of benefits down the line and therefore a great option.
Other blogs and websites that are popular are:
disneylanddaily.com – this Disney expert has great strategies for how to attack the parks to get the most out of your days
thehappiestblogonearth.com – another Disneyland “mom” blog
Disneyland.com – obviously, this is an important source of information!
Also – if you haven’t done so already, download the Disneyland App on your phone. Create a log-in for yourself and spend some time navigating through the map and other features. This will help you hit the ground running when you arrive at the park.
Finally, be sure to spend some time as a family watching all the movies and shows that will be represented in the parks during your visit. Here’s my full list of what you need to watch before your trip to Disneyland.
“General” Daily Itineraries:
Through this various research we were able to put together a general idea of what our plans were going to be each day. This is important, because at that 60 days out marker you’ll want to make dining reservations – let me rephrase that: you HAVE TO MAKE DINING RESERVATIONS if you’re at Disneyland with small kids and you want to eat at a sit-down/reservation spot. Unless you just want to grab a corn dog at the pier (which I highly recommend and we definitely did one night), you really need to have a reservation for any restaurant that takes them. Otherwise you’ll be waiting for 30-60 minutes, plus! This is true for dinner AND lunch.
Here’s what I mean by a “general” daily itinerary:
Early Entry (previously called Magic Morning)
A section of the park in the morning
Lunch at 11:30 – usually with mobile ordering at a quick service spot
More rides and/or a play area (Redwood Trail, Tom Sawyer Island) in the early afternoon
Reserve 1 or 2 Lightning Lane rides for after dinner
Back to the hotel for naps or pool (or if you’ve got big kids you can opt to stay in the parks)
Dinner at 5:30 – usually with a reservation
Lightning Lane rides and any other less crowded rides or activities in the evening
Nighttime Parades and events (if you can make it until 10:00 pm!)
Because I was making dining reservations 60 days out, I wanted to roughly know what area of the parks we were planning on being in throughout each day. You don’t want to have lunch reservations at Café Orleans right after you hop off Toy Story Midway Mania in California Adventure – for those of you that don’t know, these are in 2 totally different parks, probably a 30-minute walk from each other.
Spend some time researching the lands, figure out what is going to be fun for your family, and put together a little road map of what your days will look like. Also consider things like: parades, shows, nighttime events – many of these have specific scheduled times, that you’ll need to plan around. All this will help with making your various reservations and ensure that you won’t miss anything.
If you’re planning to leave the parks for an afternoon rest, I highly recommend having dinner reservations – it’ll motivate you to go back into the parks. It costs $10 per person to cancel within 2 hours of your reservation, which isn’t totally unreasonable, and you could easily change plans that day if you just want to stay-in. But Disneyland and DCA are so fun in the evenings – you don’t want to miss out!
Later, when you get closer to your departure day, you can create more detailed touring plans for your days using the The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland website and app.
If you’re curious, here’s a couple examples from our trips.
This is what our first “little kid” visit to Disneyland looked like:
Day 1 (Monday):
Late Afternoon: Arrive on afternoon flight and take Shuttle or Uber to The Grand Californian
Dinner Plan: Reservation in Downtown Disney
Evening Rides/Activities: No Park today – to bed early!
Day 2 (Tuesday):
Early Entry: Disneyland
Morning Activities/Lands: Fantasyland, Mickey’s Toontown, & Tomorrowland
Lunch Plan: Minnie’s Character Breakfast at Plaza Inn (10:45 reservation)
Early Afternoon Activities/Lands: Finish Morning Lands
Lightning Lanes to book for PM: Soarin’ and Radiator Springs Racers (Individual Lightning Lane)
Mid Afternoon Break: Naps at Hotel
Dinner Plan: Wine Country Trattoria (Reservations)
Evening Rides/Activities: Radiator Springs Racers, Cars Land, Neon Lights, Soarin’
Day 3 (Wednesday):
Early Entry: California Adventure
Morning Activities/Lands: California Adventure Favorites
Lunch Plan: Flo’s V8 Café (Mobile)
Early Afternoon Activities/Lands: Redwood Creek Challenge Trail
Lightning Lanes to book for PM: Big Thunder Mountain
Mid Afternoon Break: Pool and Grizzly River Run in swimsuits
Dinner Plan: Café Orleans (Reservations)
Evening Rides/Activities: Big Thunder Mountain and any other DL rides with low wait times
Day 4 (Thursday):
Early Entry: Disneyland
Morning Activities/Lands: Adventureland, Frontierland, Critter Country
Lunch Plan: The Tropical Hideaway & Bengal BBQ (Mobile)
Early Afternoon Activities/Lands: Tom Sawyer Island and Splash Mountain – very last
Lightning Lanes to book for PM: Toy Story Midway Mania
Mid Afternoon Break: Pool
Dinner Plan: Lamplight Lounge (Reservation)
Evening Rides/Activities: Midway Mania, and other DCA favorites
Disneyland Fireworks in PJs just before bed
Day 5 (Friday):
Early Entry: Disneyland
Morning Activities/Lands: Re-Ride Disneyland Favorites
Lunch Plan: Carnation Café (Reservation)
Early Afternoon Activities/Lands: Fly out late afternoon
Here’s what our 2022 trip looked like when our kids were bigger and could go the full day:
Day 1 (Monday):
Early Afternoon: Arrive on early afternoon flight and take Shuttle or Uber to The Grand Californian or Disneyland Hotel
Afternoon: Pool at Hotel
Dinner Plan: Reservation in Downtown Disney
Evening Rides/Activities: No Park today – to bed early!
Day 2 (Tuesday):
Early Entry: Disneyland
Morning Activities/Lands: Disneyland favorites (thrill rides in strategic order of easiest to scariest to ease them in! Ride Guide in this order)
Lunch Plan: Mobile Order at whatever is nearby
Early Afternoon Activities/Lands: Disneyland
Lightning Lanes to book for PM: Soarin’ and Radiator Springs Racers (Individual Lightning Lane)
Mid-Late Afternoon: Disney California Adventure
Dinner Plan: Flo’s V8 Café (Mobile)
Evening Rides/Activities: Radiator Springs Racers, Cars Land, Neon Lights, Soarin’
Day 3 (Wednesday):
Early Entry: Disney California Adventure
Morning Activities/Lands: Disney California Adventure Favorites
Lunch Plan: Mobile Order at whatever is nearby
Early Afternoon Activities/Lands: Disney California Adventure Redwood Creek Challenge Trail
Lightning Lanes to book for PM: Big Thunder Mountain and Rise of the Resistance (Individual Lightning Lane)
Mid-Late Afternoon: Disneyland
Dinner Plan: Café Orleans, Blue Bayou, or Carnation Cafe (All need reservations)
Evening Rides/Activities: Big Thunder Mountain, Rise, and any other DL rides with low wait times
Nighttime Parade and Fireworks (Fireworks are often cancelled last minute due to wind)
Day 4 (Thursday):
Early Entry: Disneyland
Morning Activities/Lands: Disneyland favorites
Lunch Plan: The Tropical Hideaway & Bengal BBQ (Mobile)
Early Afternoon Activities/Lands: Tom Sawyer Island
Lightning Lanes to book for PM: Toy Story Midway Mania
Mid-Late Afternoon: Disney California Adventure Favorites
Dinner Plan: Lamplight Lounge (Reservation) or Mobile Order at whatever is nearby
Evening Rides/Activities: Midway Mania, and other DCA favorites
World of Color Dessert Party (Reservations)
Day 5 (Friday):
Early Entry: Disneyland
Morning Activities/Lands: Re-Ride Disneyland Favorites
Lunch Plan: Mobile Order at whatever is nearby
Early Afternoon Activities/Lands: Fly out late afternoon
Here’s a printable that you can use to create your own version of this schedule:
General Itinerary Chart – Blank
Do your research, be organized, and get excited!!!!
