So we are travelling over to Anaheim for the first time from the UK early August. We have the 3 day park hopper (and then a day at Universal). My daughter is 9 and pretty brave and my son turns 6 whilst in the parks!
Yay! My mother and I returned from our first trip to
Disneyland several weeks ago, and we loved it. We are from the Midwest USA, just for context for my answers.
I will read through the forums for guidance but it seems such a minefield. Key thigs for us as this may be our only visit due to living so far so what are the things we really MUST do? We are staying in a condo about 10 mins from the park.
Are you guys "into" Disney such as the history of the park and Walt? Have you been to Disney World in Florida before?
What time should we aim to arrive?
If you want to be in the front of the line, then be there 45-60 min before the park opens. If you want to be near the front, but not in the absolute lead, 35-45 min before open. What everyone says here on the boards is true; you can do more in the first hour of the park being open then any other time of day. Plan to do solid riding for that first hour at the very least.
If we go back for a rest, what's the best time to do this?
We were closer, as we stayed on property, but we did go back to the hotel in the heat of the day at around 1:30 - 3:00. We would eat lunch in the parks, then take in a ride or two, and shop on our way out to the hotel, that way if we bought anything it was going straight back to the room and we wouldn't have to carry it.
What are the rides we simply must do?
We were going for the history aspect of Disneyland, so rode all the "original" rides we could. But, it all depends on your priorities and likes.
What shows should we priototise?
World of Color was excellent, and we really liked the fireworks at Disneyland (again, the tips given on this board were spot-on; if the fireworks are a priority, try to seem them on the earliest night in your trip that you can, because they can be cancelled... they were cancelled the first night we tried.) They were to start at 9:30pm, there was an announcement shortly before then that they "may" be cancelled and then they were cancelled at around 9:40.
On my son's birthday... what can we do to make it extra special?
Definitely get him a birthday button, as others have said, and be sure to tell them wherever you eat if that won't make him crawl under the table! lol Castmembers and Characters who see his button will comment, so if he has certain characters he wants to meet, make sure his button is on or he tells the character it's his birthday.
Any advice would be very much appreciated. FYI we have Grandma with us who is happy to queue for us/walk anywhere we need her to as she doesn't like the rides!!
Even being our first trip there, it felt like we had plenty of time with 3 full days. So, be more excited than anxious! We are from a place in the US that gets hotter than Anaheim, and a ton more humid. Yes, it was hot and sunny (in the 90's) but we never really felt overwhelmed by it, it really was a "dry heat." lol The only time we really "felt" it was standing in line for Pirates of the Caribbean in the full sun for around 30 min (remember the cues here are largely outside). There were no clouds in the sky, by the way, which did make a difference. If your fam wears hats, definitely take them with, and drink drink drink water. You can get free icewater from any counter service restaurant you see, just by asking. I also drank out of the water fountains, and handled that water just fine (taste was fine and didn't get sick). When the sun goes down there is a lot of relief from the heat.
There will be rides that break down, even if you are in line for them for a long time, and you'll have to give up on it for awhile til they fix it. Pirates of the Caribbean did break down while we were in line for around 40 min, and we had to come back the next day.
At sundown every evening they have the "Shaboom" at Cars Land. That is when all of the neon is lit up on the street, and was a neat thing to see. We grabbed supper at Flo's V8 Cafe and then hung out outside until the lighting.
Hope you have a safe trip and that it's a blast!
