Disneyland

Over the years my family and I have developed a serious addiction to Disneyland.  Every couple of years we buy a year pass and then use the heck out of it.  One year we went to Disneyland 8 times - this is quite a feat since we live way up in the central valley of California and it takes 5 to 6 hours of driving time to get there.  Since we are such Disney addicts I thought I'd share some of the things we do to make Disneyland more fun and less painful.

The biggest issue with going to the park is money.  You can sink a wad of cash there faster than you can say Mickey Mouse.  Look for the deals online before going, specifically for your tickets - AAA, credit unions, a lot of places sometimes get Disney specials.  Disney itself offers deals sometimes if you buy way in advance.  Never buy a one park pass - you'll be sorry.  You'll want the experience of visiting both parks.  If you are considering going more than once in a year then look at the year passes.  We find if we can go 3 times then the pass pays for itself and then some.  We only buy the deluxe pass not the big bells and whistles premium pass.  We don't want to go on the block out days anyway since that is when the park is the busiest.  Disney offers a way to make monthly payments on your pass rather than pay it all at once if that helps your budget.  And the pass gives us discounts for dining in park (10% most places) and buying Disney Junk (again 10%).  If you have a Disney Credit Card you can also get discounts and points for using at Disneyland - be careful though there are two Disney Credit cards - one has a fee.  Also if you eat dinner in the park sometimes you get, on your receipt, a 20% off at World of Disney and several other locations at a specific time (like only till Noon).  We save our shopping and do it all at once with this discount. 

As far as where to stay if you have bucks to spend or are looking for a 'once in a life time' experience then stay in the Disney Hotels but if you are on a budget then remember the farther away from the park the better the price.  There are a multitude of shuttles that run from all the hotels to the park.  Some times there is a fee for the shuttles and sometimes there is not - ask.  We like to stay right across the street from the park at the Best Western.  We enjoy being able to take a break in the middle of the day to rest up for the evening activities.   There are two within easy walking distance.  One offers breakfast and the other doesn't.  We usually take the one with the breakfast - saves us money by not having to eat in the park plus we stuff our pockets with fruit and granola bars for later.  They are Bestwestern Anaheim Inn (no breakfast as of this writing but the girl assured me last time that it is on its way)and Bestwestern Park Place Inn (breakfast mostly carbs and boiled eggs but they say they are upgrading that soon).  Please note too that all hotels charge a fee for just existing, taxes and parking too.  So the price you get quoted won't include all that.  I have a membership to their 'Gold' club for Bestwestern so I earn free nights at hotels.  It does help.

I had to put this shot in - that is from the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters - this was my Son's score - actually this was where the machine stopped counting his final score was over 2 million and was the high score for the day.

Favorite times to visit Disneyland:

1) When it rains - the park just clears out of families that have small children so we watch the weather report for Southern California and cheer when a storm is coming when we will be there.

2) In the middle of the week - Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Don't ever go on Saturday or Sunday - it's crazy then. If you only have one day then Wednesday is the best.

3) And off season - fall, right after the kids are back in school and January to March before the weather gets good and spring break happens.

4) After a major holiday - we usually go after Labor day and Thanksgiving - there is no one there. Everyone has rushed in for the day and rushed out again.

Make sure you watch for the park change outs before you go. By change outs I mean the seasonal change outs and the pre-scheduled maintenance shut downs. You can easily do that online. Realize that if you are going specifically to see a specific ride it would be horrible if it was during one of the change out times. Like Haunted Mansion closes right after labor day to create the Nightmare before Christmas set up and the Small World ride closes before Halloween and opens mid November to create it's Small World Holiday.

And watch the calendar for Disneyland - Disneyland's times change every day. Some times they open early and close early and sometimes they open late and close late. And California Adventure and Disneyland's times NEVER match up. One is always open and closed before the other. We try to go at least once when the park is open till midnight so we can ride the rides in relative peace since most have given up and gone back to their hotels. And a lot of the shopping is open for an hour before and an hour after the park is open so you can actually get into Disneyland an hour early but only to shop.

Eating in Disneyland is expensive but so are all the restaurants surrounding the park.  They mark up their prices accordingly.  We usually don't eat Breakfast in the park.  Either we eat the 'Hotel' food or I bring bagels and orange juice for my family since the hotel offers refrigerators and microwaves in the rooms.  If I do eat breakfast in the park then I eat a Carnation Cafe and have Oscars Choice - eggs and hash browns.  Oscar is the chef and often times will come out and visit with guests.  Good food at not a bad price.

Lunch for us is usually Taste Pilot's Grill in California Adventure.  Plain simple hamburgers and salads.  We appreciate the open condiment area where I usually stock up on lettuce and tomatoes for my hamburger and fill up on the salad I can make with them.  They have ranch dressing in the open condiment area for dipping your fries so I just use it on the lettuce and tomatoes.   And we NEVER buy drinks - ask for water everywhere and they will give you a small glass for FREE.

Dinner - we have two places we like.  Boardwalk Pizza and Pasta in California Adventure on the Boardwalk next to Goofy's Fly School (try their chicken and sun dried tomato pasta - love it) and Rancho Del Zocalo in frontier land at Disneyland near the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (I love their chicken taco salads but my family loves their burritos). 

If you have never been to Disneyland and want to have a true Disney experience then you need to eat at the Blue Bayou.   It is probably one of the most expensive place to eat in Disneyland (that the public is allowed in) but the food is Amazing.  Oh, and it's inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride :)  My family of 4 adults usually spends $200 for dinner there and that's with watching our pennies and drinking water.  Just a heads up for this place - you need reservations.  There is a number for Disney dining and you can make reservations months in advance and they only serve Lunch and Dinner.

Another Disney experience is the Character Breakfasts - you can eat with a lot of different Disney Charaters.  Pick the character and call Disney dining to find out which locations they are in.   The places they are are usually buffet style dining.  Several are located inside the Disney hotels.  Lots of good food - lots of picture opportunities with family.

For a quick snack you can never go wrong at Bengal BBQ in adventure land.  Fairly in expensive and tastes great.   Or the Corn Dogs at the Little Red Wagon at the end of Main street.

And finally my addiction - at the Tiki Bar - the Dole Pineapple Whip Float.  LOVE IT!

Here is the Disney Menu for pricing and deciding in advance where you might want to eat.

My maiden name is Duffy - love this sign :)

Fast Passes:

This is the only way to go in Disneyland and California Adventure.  Fast pass your way through the day and you will have a great evening.  It's simple.  Start your day by getting a fast pass to something you really want to ride.  You  do this by going to the ride location and seeing if they have a fast pass kiosk area (all the big rides do).  You run your park pass through the machine and it spits out one of these little tickets.  The large time at the top is the first time that you can actually use it on that day.  The large time on the bottom means the time you have to use it by.   They used to not enforce that but that has changed.  Now you must use it between these times.  Now it's really hard to see but on the bottom before the date it tells you when you can get your next fast pass ticket.  You have to wait for that time to pass before you can get another fast pass ticket on any ride.  If you jump the gun you will get a ticket that says 'NO' actually it says something else but I can't remember what.  You use the fast passes to cut time off your waiting in line.  Very ingenious of Disney to do this.  So instead of waiting for the ride you are spending money on food or junk. 

So I hope you enjoy your stay in Disney's magic kingdom.  If you enjoyed my blog then my name is Jan and this was the Jungle Cruise, if not then my name is Bob and this storybook land 

 - sorry family joke :)