Travel advice for families
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© Disney
“To all who come to this happy place - welcome. Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past and here youth may savour the challenge and promise of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideas, dreams and the hard facts that have created America… with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world. Thank you.”
Walt Disney, July 17, 1955
Disneyland Resort is the home of the original Disney theme park, and over 50 years after Walt Disney made that memorable quote, it remains as popular and magical as ever. It also includes Disney’s California Adventure theme park, three official Disney hotels and the Downtown Disney open-air shopping mall. It is many parents dream to take their children to Disneyland and if you do choose to take make the trip it won't disappoint!
Disneyland
Disney's California Adventure Park
Helpful Information
The Main Entrance to Disneyland: © Disney 
Jungle Cruise Ride: © Disney
Disneyland, the park that started it all, is spread out over 75 acres and divided into eight "lands" or sections. Each land has a theme it tries to stick to, with rides, shows, stores, and dining to choose from.
Map of Disneyland: Click to enlarge
Adventureland — Home of exotic lands and interesting people. The Jungle Cruise is this lands signature attraction, though Indiana Jones may be more popular.
Critter Country — Follow Brer Rabbit into the briar patch or ride a beehive through Pooh's hunny dream.
Fantasyland — The busiest part of the park and where all the great animated classics come together.
Frontierland — Head out to Old West to ride a mine train, a pirate ship, a riverboat, or just see a show.
Main Street, U.S.A. — Themed to a turn-of-the-20th-century rural town, it has all the standards: city hall, bank, arcade, fire station, cinema, and soda fountain among others. Main Street station for the Disneyland Railroad is the first things you'll see when you enter the park.
Mickey's Toontown — As shown in the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, this is where all the classic characters live.
New Orleans Square — Find yourself in the French Quarter, perhaps eating at The Blue Bayou, right on the water. This is the land where Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion battle it out for the title of greatest Disney ride of all time.
Tomorrowland — Look to the future, or perhaps look at how people used to look to the future.
Soarin' Over California: © Disney
Sunshine Plaza: © Disney
Disney's California Adventure is a lavishly themed and decorated park, located the opposite side of the esplanade (the section between the two parks entrances) to Disneyland. It is spread out over 58 acres with only five official areas of the park, however some are significantly further subdivided. As a general rule, DCA will close two or three hours earlier than Disneyland on a given day, and as early at 6 p.m. on off-season weekdays. The park also generally opens an hour later than Disneyland.
Map of Disney's California Adventure Park: Click to enlarge
A Bugs Land — Dedicated to the Pixar-animated film A Bug's Life; includes the Bountiful Valley Farm and Flik's Fun Fair areas.
Golden State — Explores the widely varying geography of California; includes the Condor Flats, Grizzly Recreation Area, and Pacific Wharf areas.
Hollywood Pictures Backlot — Themed to be a Hollywood studio backlot
Paradise Pier — This area is a throwback to the old oceanside boardwalk parks that used to dot the California coast.
Sunshine Plaza — The park's entry area.
Pirates of the Carribean: © Disney
Space Mountain: © Disney
TICKETS
The Spinning Tea Cups from the "Mad Hatter's Tea Party" ride with the Matterhorn in the background: © Disney One-day tickets entitling guests to admittance to either Disneyland Park or Disney’s California Adventure (DCA) are available but for non-local visitors, the most popular type of tickets are Park Hoppers. 2, 3, 4, 5 and 14-day Disneyland Resort Park Hopper tickets can be purchased which entitles guests to admittance to both Disneyland Resort theme parks including visits to both theme parks on the same day. All Park Hopper tickets expire 13 days after first use and each day of use of Disneyland Resort Park Hopper ticket constitutes one full day of use. Note -be sure to get your hand stamped when leaving one of the parks if you intend to go back in later.
Ticket booths are located at both ends of the Esplanade, as you approach either from the Harbor Blvd. side or the Downtown Disney side. If you already have tickets, you can proceed directly to the park entry gates; tickets are not sold at the entry gates. The tickets themselves are non-refundable so for security reasons, if you purchase your tickets from a travel agent you will most likely be given a voucher which you exchange for the actual tickets once you get to the Disneyland Resort. You make this exchange at one of the ticket booths so we highly recommend that if you have time, go to the Disneyland Resort at least the day before you plan to enter the parks for the first time. Line up at a ticket booth and swap your voucher for the tickets. This way, when you arrive at the parks to enter, you can go straight to the entry gate line. This is often a process you can combine with a visit to the Downtown Disney area – it really gets you in the Disney spirit!
EARLY ENTRY
Entrance to Tomorrow Land: © Disney
Currently your purchase of a 3-Day, or longer, Park Hopper pass includes one Early Entry ticket. Early Entry allows the ticket holder to enter Disneyland one hour earlier than regular park opening. Select shops and dining on Main Street are open and Fantasyland will be completely open with all rides available. Early Entry days are currently Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. The early entry option can only be used once during your stay.
FASTPASS
You can make the most of your Disneyland Resort day with Disney’s FASTPASS service. While you’re off enjoying all the adventures, shops and restaurants of Disneyland Park or Disney’s California Adventure Park this FREE Guest Service saves your place in line. Just go to any participating attraction, insert your admission ticket into the FASTPASS machine and receive a FASTPASS ticket. The ticket assigns you a designated one-hour window of time to return and enjoy the attraction with a minimal wait.
When visiting the parks during peak times the FASTPASS system is invaluable
so we recommend you understand how it works before you get to the parks. A
couple of helpful links to explain it are:
http://www.mouseplanet.com/al/docs/fast.htm
http://www.mouseplanet.com/misc.php?pg=fastpass
CHILD SWAP (SWITCHING OFF)
The Matterhorn: © Disney
Some rides at the parks have minimum height restrictions which sometime means that not all members of a family are tall enough to ride. This normally results in either Mum or Dad having to stay behind with the shorter member of the family. Child Swap gives that parent who stayed behind the chance to ride afterwards without having to wait in the queue. Child swap is available on every attraction at Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure. With a child swap the first person gets their child swap pass from the Cast Member that stands at the beginning of the line, at the exit or in the FastPass area. They then stand in the queue (either the FastPass or the standby line) for the ride. After the first person has completed the ride, the pass is then given to the non-rider who will enter through the exit to enjoy the attraction without having to wait in line. Another benefit of child swap is that two people may use the rider switch pass when the rest of their party returns so if you have an older child he/she can ride the attraction with both parents.
STROLLERS
You can rent a stroller, similar to a jogging stroller at both Disneyland and California Adventure, but it is often better to bring your own. Your baby or toddler will often be happier in a familiar stroller and although rental strollers can be taken from Park to Park, they cannot be taken to Downtown Disney or back to the hotel and you could end up carrying a very tired, very heavy child back to your hotel room.
Whenever you go on a ride, you must leave your stroller in the designated stroller parking area near that ride. We recommend you never leave anything of value inside and attach something personal to make it stand out amongst all the other strollers, often some identical to yours.
If you do decide to rent a stroller, it is US$8.00 a day, or 2 for US$14.00(2007). At Disneyland, they can be rented right inside the turnstiles, or at Star Traders in Tomorrowland. At Disney's California Adventure, the stroller can be rented across from Guest Relations near the Entry Plaza, or in Condor Flats at Fly 'n' Buy. Make sure you put something identifiable on your rented stroller too - they do all look alike. If a rental stroller is lost, it can be replaced by showing your receipt.
© Disney
While a stroller is an obvious need for a young child, we still highly recommend that even if your child walks, a stroller is still used while at the Disney Resort. For example, while a 3 year old will enjoy walking, he/she could also quickly become too tired to walk. While holding a child this size for short periods of time is not so bad, traipsing through the park with 13 additional kilos in your arms will wear you out quickly. Plus having a comfortable stroller can help facilitate nap taking when walking around the Parks. For these reasons, a stroller is recommended at the Disneyland Resort, even if you would not use it for everyday situations.
Information current as of 01 October 2007