JH87
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2010
I think Roz has a thing for people in glasses....she always picks on my sister and comments on her glasses.
Best Secrets in Disneyland
- Thread starter *EWooWDW*
- Start date
I think Roz has a thing for people in glasses....she always picks on my sister and comments on her glasses.
hkkatie
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2011
We just went to Disneyland and California Adventure last week.
Disneyland:
I found a perfect spot to watch the fireworks at Disneyland. Between the Matterhorn and Tomorrowland. Hardly anyone is there, you are right under the fireworks, and you can still see Tinkerbell and Dumbo. It was great.
Also, if you want to get on Peter Pan or Mr. Toad's right after the fireworks, they have a line on the left, right next to Mr Toad's. They let all of those people in line first before letting everyone else in to that section that is closed off during the fireworks. (Wish I'd known that before standing like a dork at the front of the rope. We were trying to get on Mr. Toad's but nobody told us we were also supposed to get in the line. I only heard them say it was for Peter Pan.)
For those who question just how scary Snow White's Scary Adventure (or whatever it's called) really is, it is really scary. Especially at 11pm at night. My kids (4 & 8) were both terrified, and the trees are really creepy.
I remember hearing this tip before, not sure if it was in these forums or somewhere else, but if you go to the left first after Mainstreet, (Adventureland / Frontierland), the lines are super short. Maybe run over to Star Tours first to get a fastpass, and then book it over to Adventureland. You can get on Indiana Jones and the Jungle Boat Ride immediately with no line. Also, if you go to Autopia earlier in the day, the line is fairly short, too.
If your child's ice cream melts off the stick and falls on the ground (yes, this happened to my 4 year old), take the remnants to a cast member (or your crying child may be enough, lol. It was for us!) and they will write you a voucher (a "No Strings Attached" form) to get a replacement. Or just go back to where you got the ice cream, and they'll replace it. Sure made a world of difference to my daughter.
California Adventure:
It was our first time at DCA, and we loved it. I don't have too many tips, because I was busy just taking everything in. We got there at 9:45 and immediately went to get our fast passes for world of Color. We got Blue section for the 9pm show. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that people started lining up at 7pm to get their spots, so by the time we were ready to get in line, it was already too crowded.
If at all possible, go to Toy Story Midway Mania as early as you can. We were in line for a whole hour. The ride was super fun, but I don't think I'd ever stand in line for an hour again.
If you go see the "it's tough to be a bug" show in bug land, be forewarned that their signs saying "this show may be frightening for small children" are true. There are a couple scary parts that we didn't enjoy too much, but overall it was a fun show.
Don't miss the Aladdin show. It was awesome.
Don't miss the Monster's Inc ride. It's kind of hidden away (I thought) but it was really cool. Really well done.
That's all I can think of for now. We had such a great time. I wish we had 2 more days!!
Disneyland:
I found a perfect spot to watch the fireworks at Disneyland. Between the Matterhorn and Tomorrowland. Hardly anyone is there, you are right under the fireworks, and you can still see Tinkerbell and Dumbo. It was great.
Also, if you want to get on Peter Pan or Mr. Toad's right after the fireworks, they have a line on the left, right next to Mr Toad's. They let all of those people in line first before letting everyone else in to that section that is closed off during the fireworks. (Wish I'd known that before standing like a dork at the front of the rope. We were trying to get on Mr. Toad's but nobody told us we were also supposed to get in the line. I only heard them say it was for Peter Pan.)
For those who question just how scary Snow White's Scary Adventure (or whatever it's called) really is, it is really scary. Especially at 11pm at night. My kids (4 & 8) were both terrified, and the trees are really creepy.
I remember hearing this tip before, not sure if it was in these forums or somewhere else, but if you go to the left first after Mainstreet, (Adventureland / Frontierland), the lines are super short. Maybe run over to Star Tours first to get a fastpass, and then book it over to Adventureland. You can get on Indiana Jones and the Jungle Boat Ride immediately with no line. Also, if you go to Autopia earlier in the day, the line is fairly short, too.
If your child's ice cream melts off the stick and falls on the ground (yes, this happened to my 4 year old), take the remnants to a cast member (or your crying child may be enough, lol. It was for us!) and they will write you a voucher (a "No Strings Attached" form) to get a replacement. Or just go back to where you got the ice cream, and they'll replace it. Sure made a world of difference to my daughter.
California Adventure:
It was our first time at DCA, and we loved it. I don't have too many tips, because I was busy just taking everything in. We got there at 9:45 and immediately went to get our fast passes for world of Color. We got Blue section for the 9pm show. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that people started lining up at 7pm to get their spots, so by the time we were ready to get in line, it was already too crowded.
If at all possible, go to Toy Story Midway Mania as early as you can. We were in line for a whole hour. The ride was super fun, but I don't think I'd ever stand in line for an hour again.
If you go see the "it's tough to be a bug" show in bug land, be forewarned that their signs saying "this show may be frightening for small children" are true. There are a couple scary parts that we didn't enjoy too much, but overall it was a fun show.
Don't miss the Aladdin show. It was awesome.
Don't miss the Monster's Inc ride. It's kind of hidden away (I thought) but it was really cool. Really well done.
That's all I can think of for now. We had such a great time. I wish we had 2 more days!!
larina
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 11, 2011
This is such a great thread! I'm more excited than ever about our Christmas at Disneyland!
greenkai3000
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2011
I'd love it a lot if you could share an updated list of all the tips, and secrets that are still good and valid.
I'll be going to the DL Resort with my family for the first time this October and want to make sure I'm able to share all the fun stuff with them. Thank you! 
Thank you to everyone that has posted 'secrets', helpful hints. I have read this entire thread and made a checklist
that I will take with us as we tour the parks. It will be fun to see how many we manage to do and see. Those I miss will go the the top of the list for the next visit!
Keep 'em coming
Would you share your checklist, too? Maybe we could have the OP pin it to the first page so newbies don't have to read the entire thread to get the top tips?
HanSoloRider
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2011
If you want the best spot for Wold of Color eat at either Ariel's Grotto or Wine Country and have the World of Color dinner. At the end of your meal you'll get a special fast pass to view the show in the middle. Make sure you make reservations though.
KCmike
Never have fallen asleep on any
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2007
We stayed at the GRand California last year and got fast passes as soon as you can in the morning (like 20th person back in line) and still received the second level which I think was blue) so are you saying by eating at one of the nicer restaurants I can get closer to the front railing?
HanSoloRider
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2011
You get "seating" in the very center of the show, it is much less crowded especially if you go to the later showing 9:00 I think it is. here is the website disneyland.disney.go.com/disneys-california-adventure/world-of-color/dining/
sonnyjane
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 11, 2009
Take a look at the new color areas in the first post of the superthread: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2542717&highlight=woc+superthread
To get "front and center", you'd need preferred dining (in green), but you can get pretty darn close to that by choosing to go in the "wet zone" in either the blue or red sections. Blue FP's can be obtained for free by getting them early from the machines, or guaranteed by booking a WOC LUNCH at Wine Country Trattoria (the dinner gets you into the preferred section, lunch just gets you a blue FP). You can get the red FP's for from the GRR machines as well, but they are the last color to be distributed. Once you get one of those, you just have to make sure you line up 60-90 minutes early to ensure that you get the front railing spot that you want.
One caveat is that the view is actually not as great from the very front row, as you can't really see everything that's happening, but it sounds like you've seen the show before and just want to see it from up close for fun.
From my experience (seen the show 30+ times), the Yellow and Red sections are the most central colors against the front-most rail.
Blue does not have front rail AND center views.
If you want to be against the rail, you need to get a Red or Yellow showpass and then get in the Wet Zone seating.
Preferred Dining "seating" is center, but is not against the rail/ in the Wet Zone.
The area against the rail, directly in front the Preferred Dining area is Yellow. Red is right next to yellow (on the right side if you're facing the water). If you're in the Red area, get as close to Yellow as possible to get the more center spot.
Hope this helps!
From my experience (seen the show 30+ times), the Yellow and Red sections are the most central colors against the front-most rail.
Blue does not have front rail AND center views.
If you want to be against the rail, you need to get a Red or Yellow showpass and then get in the Wet Zone seating.
Preferred Dining "seating" is center, but is not against the rail/ in the Wet Zone.
The area against the rail, directly in front the Preferred Dining area is Yellow. Red is right next to yellow (on the right side if you're facing the water). If you're in the Red area, get as close to Yellow as possible to get the more center spot.
Hope this helps!
skiingfast
<font color=teal>Has had no bacon<br><font color=b
- Joined
- Mar 12, 2010
disneylilbigkid
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- May 28, 2012
If you're like me, and reading this in 2012, you may or may not have had the patience to run through the 28 pages in the thread.
But if you're still like me, you went backwards and got to page 15 or so before getting nauseous scrolling
.
Anyway, some updates and repeats for you in case you are just looking at the current post instead of going through the past few years:
Some things I don't recall seeing through the pages/updates currently that I've seen:
- They're now having cast members draw water art on the floor in certain places of the park. If you can't see this in person, there's always youtube. And though it might spoil the idea with knowing that they're actually trained to do this... there's still a million people in the park that will think that each person is just doing it for the heck of it.
- At DCA, the Aladdin musical once literally had a flying carpet during one of the scenes, but also does not take place anymore
You'll be able to youtube that as well.
- If you've never been to the restrooms by Alice in Wonderland... well, you should for a special theme.
- Indiana Jones: I haven't seen it yet, but there's a skeleton with Mickey Mouse ears on the ride.
- Indiana Jones: There's actually only ONE track at the beginning, even though it looks like there's 3.
- Walt's old apartment is right about the firestation in Main Street. Supposedly, the light is allwaayys burning, and the only time it isn't is when his daughters are in the park out of respect for him.
- Did you know, at DCA, there's an ENTIRE section that you may not know about? Walk through one entrance and in there there's a lot rooms such as where you can draw your own moving pictures, do voice overs for different disney scenes, discover what character you most are like in the Beast's library, other animation rooms to learn from. (Area is near where you can talk to Crush).
Repeated/reviewed/you might know for the first time:
- The eyore sign can be seen mostly at the front of the line in the projection room of Indiana Jones. You CAN see it in the normal dark lighting, but that's if you already know it's there.
- To REALLY see it, the CM has to shine a flashlight in the direction of it.
- There's a huge Mickey head on the wall also in the projection room. Hard to spot a bit, but you kind of have to let your imagination roll with it.
- Walking through the caves of Indiana Jones, have you seen the temple in it? (Discovered that the other day but I haven't run across it on the boards or sites).
- HIdden Mickeys are EVERYWHERE. The most popular/easy ones that I can think of are at the ticket booths, and on the Haunted Mansion ride (think food for the 2nd one).
- Mrs. Potts and Chip are somewhere in the Tarzan treehouse.
Random tips:
- If you hate the taste of fountain water like I do, bring a waterbottle, but whenever you have to refill it, use one of those flavour packs you can add to flavour the water.
- Don't assume that EVERY SINGLE Cast Member has to be perfectly nice to you. PLEASE remember they're human too, so if they treat you a certain way for 5 seconds, be an adult and maybe ask a few minutes later "Are you okay?" or "I don't necessarily like how we were treated..." You don't know if they got called into work and are missing a family birthday, maybe they're stressed about school/work, or maybe a customer right before you just cursed them out or set them in a wrong mood and it was not their fault. Maybe something is going on. And YES they're paid to give you that 120% Disney experience, but they could have been Disney perfect all day long until those few moments you got to them... so being grouchy toward them isn't going to make anyone's trip better. Just maybe you reacting positively toward them will help their day continue better as well as yours.
That's all I can think of off the top of my head. Disneyland makes me extremely happy, and I'm not really sure why. I hope these few sentences have also did nothing but add a little happiness in your day. Back to reading the boards for me .
But if you're still like me, you went backwards and got to page 15 or so before getting nauseous scrolling
.Anyway, some updates and repeats for you in case you are just looking at the current post instead of going through the past few years:
Some things I don't recall seeing through the pages/updates currently that I've seen:
- They're now having cast members draw water art on the floor in certain places of the park. If you can't see this in person, there's always youtube. And though it might spoil the idea with knowing that they're actually trained to do this... there's still a million people in the park that will think that each person is just doing it for the heck of it.
- At DCA, the Aladdin musical once literally had a flying carpet during one of the scenes, but also does not take place anymore
You'll be able to youtube that as well.- If you've never been to the restrooms by Alice in Wonderland... well, you should for a special theme.
- Indiana Jones: I haven't seen it yet, but there's a skeleton with Mickey Mouse ears on the ride.
- Indiana Jones: There's actually only ONE track at the beginning, even though it looks like there's 3
.- Walt's old apartment is right about the firestation in Main Street. Supposedly, the light is allwaayys burning, and the only time it isn't is when his daughters are in the park out of respect for him.
- Did you know, at DCA, there's an ENTIRE section that you may not know about? Walk through one entrance and in there there's a lot rooms such as where you can draw your own moving pictures, do voice overs for different disney scenes, discover what character you most are like in the Beast's library, other animation rooms to learn from. (Area is near where you can talk to Crush).
Repeated/reviewed/you might know for the first time:
- The eyore sign can be seen mostly at the front of the line in the projection room of Indiana Jones. You CAN see it in the normal dark lighting, but that's if you already know it's there.
- To REALLY see it, the CM has to shine a flashlight in the direction of it.
- There's a huge Mickey head on the wall also in the projection room. Hard to spot a bit, but you kind of have to let your imagination roll with it.
- Walking through the caves of Indiana Jones, have you seen the temple in it?
(Discovered that the other day but I haven't run across it on the boards or sites).- HIdden Mickeys are EVERYWHERE. The most popular/easy ones that I can think of are at the ticket booths, and on the Haunted Mansion ride (think food for the 2nd one).
- Mrs. Potts and Chip are somewhere in the Tarzan treehouse.
Random tips:
- If you hate the taste of fountain water like I do, bring a waterbottle, but whenever you have to refill it, use one of those flavour packs you can add to flavour the water.
- Don't assume that EVERY SINGLE Cast Member has to be perfectly nice to you. PLEASE remember they're human too, so if they treat you a certain way for 5 seconds, be an adult and maybe ask a few minutes later "Are you okay?" or "I don't necessarily like how we were treated..." You don't know if they got called into work and are missing a family birthday, maybe they're stressed about school/work, or maybe a customer right before you just cursed them out or set them in a wrong mood and it was not their fault. Maybe something is going on. And YES they're paid to give you that 120% Disney experience, but they could have been Disney perfect all day long until those few moments you got to them... so being grouchy toward them isn't going to make anyone's trip better. Just maybe you reacting positively toward them will help their day continue better as well as yours.
That's all I can think of off the top of my head
. Disneyland makes me extremely happy, and I'm not really sure why. I hope these few sentences have also did nothing but add a little happiness in your day. Back to reading the boards for me .
disneegrl4eva
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2004
If you're like me, and reading this in 2012, you may or may not have had the patience to run through the 28 pages in the thread.
But if you're still like me, you went backwards and got to page 15 or so before getting nauseous scrolling
hahaha right? oh and welcome to the DIS
lwilkison
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2010
Yes please do not give away the location of the secret bathroom. I had to find it on my own and so should everyone else
lvstitch, I totally agree! LOVE
that bathroom especially when you have kids that need to go now and you know (most of the time) that bathroom is available!! 
TwingleMum
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2002
Great thread thanks for all the tips!!
MotoXPrincess99
<font color=darkorchid>Yep, mine is new too<br><fo
- Joined
- Apr 9, 2007
lwilkison said:lvstitch, I totally agree! LOVE
The Secret Bathroom is no longer accessible.
Tiradan
All five in one year
- Joined
- Jul 9, 2012
DoodlesMom
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Dec 17, 2006
Awesome thread
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