1 Day at Disney California Adventure

We had all the questions you probably have before we spent the day at Disney in Anaheim, California. Disneyland Resort or Disney California Adventure (DCA)? Where do we park? To rope drop or not to rope drop…. and what is rope drop? Which stroller should I bring…. and will my 5-year-old really ride in a stroller?

There are so many great guides online for doing Disney right with little kids. Like most travel blogs, some advice is great and others are meh. One of my favorite Disney guides is by Wishful and Ordinary. She offers a Top 10 Do’s and Don’ts for Walt Disney World with Toddlers. But, since we were traveling to Disneyland during a trip to see family in Southern California, we were left to our own devices!

Our family visited the park in March 2022. We only had one day and chose to focus on DCA because our kids were more into Cars and Spider Man at the time. We’ll plan to go to Disneyland next time to visit the classic features you think of when you hear Disneyland. Think: Sleeping Beauty’s Castle, Dumbo, Tea Cups.

Parks

Disneyland and Disney California Adventure are two separate parks with entrances directly across a courtyard from each other. The parking and tram from the parking lots are exactly the same for both parks. You can get a park hopper pass to be able to jump to the other park mid-day.

  1. Disneyland

    • Main Street USA – traditional midwestern main street vibe that leads to Sleeping Beauty’s castle
    • Adventureland- an unlikely yet well executed blend of African Safari, South Pacific Island, and Middle Eastern Bazaar vibes
    • New Orleans Square – you’ll feel like you’re in the heart of NOLA… Mickey Beignet anyone?
    • Frontierland – feel like a pioneer in the Old West
    • Critter Country  – woodland theme meets enchantment…. because, Disney!
    • Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge – explore a galaxy that’s familiar yet far, far away
    • Fantasyland – a quaint mountain village nestled next to Sleepy Beauty’s castle
    • Mickey’s Toontown – colorful, quirky neighborhood where Mickey and the gang live. Hot dog!
    • Tomorrowland  – “the future that never was”… the future as imagined in the 1930s

  2. Disney California Adventure (DCA)

    • Buena Vista Street – Looks like 1940’s LA complete with the Red Car Trolley
    • Hollywood Land – Lots of theaters and shops off of a main street. More indoor attractions and shows perfect for a hot afternoon or rainy day, which luckily doesn’t happen that often in Southern California!
    • Avengers Campus – Rides are inside but guest appearances from your favorite Avenger characters happening as well as Spider Man show on a regular schedule…. spoiler alert – Spider Man is a robot(!). Even knowing that I still couldn’t believe it, it looks so real!
    • Cars Land – Walk through Radiator Springs, a fictional town on historic Route 66 where the Disney movie Cars is set. Grab a bite to eat at Flo’s, visit the Cozy Cone Motel, and ride the famous Radiator Springs Racers ride (our favorite!). Pretty surreal for anyone like me who has seen the Cars movies literally countless times. I was totally fangirl-ing when I “met” Lightning McQueen.
    • Grizzly Peak – Mountain-inspired rides including a white water rafting ride and an obstacle course play area great for getting wiggles out after standing in line all day!
    • Pacific Wharf – An ode to SF – grab a bite to eat and a seat to rest your feet (see what I did there). Our kids napped in the stroller while we enjoyed listening to live music and a drink with a Mickey-shaped pretzel – yum.
    • Pixar Pier– Santa Monica Pier-style fun with midway games, a ferris wheel, and a legit roller coaster.
    • Paradise Gardens Park – A victorian-era seaside amusement park vibe with spinning rides like swings and the Golden Zephyr.




Parking 

I was super stressed about parking for basically no reason. Follow the signs, they will direct you to the available lots. The parking structure at Disneyland is like a city unto itself. The parking garages are named after Disney characters. Take a picture of the character near your car and follow the signs to the tram. You will go through a bag check and load onto a tram that drops you off close to the park entrances. There is a larger tram car at the back for strollers, the line for this car can look a little longer but the whole thing runs like a well-oiled machine. It’s a quick walk from the tram stop to the park entrances – Disneyland on the left and DCA on the right. At the park entrance they will scan your tickets and do a quick security check again. Then, let the magic begin! Do it all in reverse at the end of the day.

 

Rides

So many rides, what feels like so little time. Enjoy the ones you get to ride and leave some to come back for!

Disneyland

  • Main Street USA – Disneyland Railroad, Mr. Lincoln, Main Street Cinema
  • Adventureland- Enchanted Tiki Room, Jungle Cruise, Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye, Adventureland Treehouse
  • New Orleans Square – Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion
  • Frontierland – Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Mark Twain Riverboat, Fontierland Shootin’ Exposition, Pirate’s Lair on Tom Sawyer Island, Sailing Ship Columbia
  • Critter Country  – Davy Crockett Explorer Canoes, Winnie the Pooh, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure (formerly Splash Mountain, opening 2024)
  • Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge – Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance
  • Fantasyland – It’s a Small World, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, Peter Pan’s Flight, Dumbo, Alice in Wonderland, Matterhorn Bobsleds, King Arthur Carousel, Mad Tea Party, Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough
  • Mickey’s Toontown – Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, Disneyland Railroad, Mickey and Minnie’s Houses, Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin, Chip ‘n’ Dale’s Gadget Coaster, CenTOONial Park, Donald’s Duck Pond Goofy’s How-To-Play Yard
  • Tomorrowland  – Astro Orbitor, Autopia, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, Space Mountain, Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, Star Wars Launch Bay

Disney California Adventure

  • Buena Vista Street – Red Car Trolley
  • Hollywood Land – Disney Junior Dance Party!, Mickey’s PhilharMagic, Monster, Inc Mike and Sully to the Rescue!, Red Car Trolley, Animation Academy, Sorcerer’s Workshop, and Turtle Talk with Crush
  • Avengers Campus – Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT!, Ancient Sanctum, Web Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure*
  • Cars Land –Radiator Springs Racers*, Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree*, Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters
  • Grizzly Peak- Grizzly River Run, Soarin’ Around the World, Redwood Creek Challenge Trail
  • Pacific Wharf– The Bakery Tour
  • Pixar Pier- Games of Pixar Pier, Jessie’s Critter Carousel, Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind (ferris wheel)*, Incredicoaster, Pixar Pa-A-Round, Toy Story Midway Mania!
  • Paradise Gardens Park – Golden Zephyr, Goofy’s Sky School*, Jumpin’ Jellyfish, The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Undersea Adventure*, Silly Symphony Swings, and World of Color

*indicates our favorite rides at DCA

Food/Drinks

  • All the food we had was both good and overpriced (as expected). Here’s what we ate and what we thought:
    • Flo’s V8 Diner – Burgers, Fries, Milkshakes – basic but good and the kids ate it. Gets busy at lunchtime, we ate at 11 am to try to avoid the crowds. We placed our order through the app while in the Avengers Campus then just picked it up when it was ready.
    • Mickey Pretzel – cheese sauce and mustard for dipping. As a Texan who is discerning about queso parading around as “cheese sauce”, the mustard was better.
    • Mickey Cookies – chocolate chip and churro, both were good but we liked the chocolate chip one best
  • Parent Tip – bring drinks and protein-filled snacks and fruit to keep the nutrition (and good moods) going while you splurge on lunch and a fun Mickey-shaped treat in the afternoon.
  • The Food and Wine Festival was happening while we were at DCA. We did not get tickets for it but there were pop up food carts everywhere with very gourmet selections. I think it would be fun to do if we had fewer “selective” eaters in our group (iykyk).

 




The Stroller Situation

We brought a double Bob stroller we rented on Babyquip.com. It was just under the stroller dimensions allowed at the park, gave us a small amount of storage, and all 3 of my kids could ride (2 littles in the seats and the oldest on the nose of the stroller) when little legs were tired. In the afternoon my older 2 napped in the stroller while baby sister napped in a carrier. There’s ample stroller parking in each of the park areas. Obviously don’t leave valuables in an unattended stroller but I never felt nervous leaving ours in the stroller parking areas.

 

Rope Drop 

If you’ve spent any time on Disney planning pages, you know there’s a whole Disney language that can be a bit intimidating to a newbie. I kept reading about “Rope Drop” but I had no idea what it was. So you don’t have to ask…. here is what rope drop is.

Rope drop is basically when a particular area of a park opens. The main entry gates to the park will open prior to the posted start time and you have access to the main street but will be stopped from entering into a particular “land” within the park by a rope. At the official opening time, the rope literally drops and you can enter that area and go directly up to the rides.

If you want to have the best chance of no lines on your first one or two rides, rope drop is your jam.

We tried to get there for rope drop to Cars Land but realized en route to the park that our toddler wasn’t wearing shoes (face.palm.), so we had to make a detour to Wal-Mart on our way to the parks – funny now but we weren’t exactly laughing at the time! I also got distracted by the characters (Goofy, Pluto, Daisy, and Minnie) on our way to Cars Land so we had a 45-minute wait at Radiator Springs Racers when we arrived there about 30 minutes after the official park opening time.

 

Rider Switch

If you have a child too young (or short) to ride a ride and one parent stays behind with that child, grab a rider switch pass at the line entrance. When you’ve completed the ride, the parents can switch places and the other parent can skip the line to ride again with your child(ren) that do meet the ride height requirement.

For example, my husband and I rode Radiator Springs Racers with my 5-year-old while Grandma stayed with our 2 littlest kids. We waited 45 minutes in line (first thing in the morning). When we were done, my husband and mom switched places, and Grandma and I then rode the ride again with my 5-year-old. We just walked right up – and even got to ride on Lightning McQueen!

 

Genie+ /Lightning Lane

Skip the line throughout your day with either Genie+ or Lightning Lane passes.

Genie+ is a service you purchase for the day.  It is managed through an app.

Lightning Lane is an a-la-carte option to purchase a pass the skip the line at the most popular attractions. You essentially book a time to arrive at the ride. Prices and wait times vary throughout the day, it’s all managed through the app.

Prior to our visit, I did not understand why anyone would buy a Lightning Lane pass. However, 45 minutes into a full-tilt toddler meltdown, we bought with the lightning lane passes to skip the line at Webslingers and didn’t look back. It turned our entire day around!

Parent Tip  – Sometimes it’s worth it, sometimes it’s not  — do what’s right for your family and budget.

 

 “I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing—that it was all started by a mouse.” -Walt Disney.