When my boys were young my parents bought us annual passes to Disneyland one year for Christmas. We lived in Utah at the time, but we would visit at least twice a year and spend 6 days at the park each visit. We loved the memories we were building together as a family so much we renewed our passes for many years.

In many ways, I feel like my boys grew up in the park. We charted the boys’ growth every year by talking about which rides they were now tall enough to ride. My middle son was always a little bit shy, but when he got into pin trading he wouldn’t hesitate to ask a cast member to see their pins. My oldest son was asked to be in the Disneyland parade one visit. We have many, many great memories of our visits to the parks. Disneyland is our happy place.

When our kids were in Elementary school we could take them out of school and enjoy a trip to Disneyland in the “off-season”, however as they got into Middle School and High School, it just became difficult for them to miss school. We have had to learn how to manage our visit during the busier times of year.

We’ve put together some of our favorite tips for enjoying the parks on a crowded day.

1. Don’t try and see everything in one day

Over the years we’ve met a few families who absolutely hate Disneyland. It sounds so crazy to us, but in talking with them, we found out they had come to Disneyland on a super busy day and tried to fit everything in, in one day.

Disneyland tickets are expensive, but did you know that it gets cheaper the more days you stay? If you’re spending the money to come to Disneyland, spend just a little more to stay a couple of days. Having a couple of days in the park gives you the flexibility to see and do everything you would like to do and still enjoy your visit.

2. Download the Disneyland Resort App

Download the official app for the Disneyland Resort before you head to Disneyland. The app allows you to purchase tickets, see ride wait times, browse maps, purchase and manage the Max pass, locate Disney Characters, manage Disney Cast member photos, Play games, and order food online in the park.

3. Get the Max Pass

In recent years, I have been the fast pass “manager” for our family. I would gather everyone’s park tickets and head across the park to pull fast passes. While I was gone, my family would get in line for another ride. After I pulled the fast passes, I would head back across the park and get in line with my family. It was exhausting.

Disneyland recently introduced an “online” fast pass system called the Max Pass (see photo below). There is a small fee per day to purchase the Max pass, but we feel it’s worth paying for. The Max Pass allows you to connect your group together and schedule fast passes through the app on your phone. When you purchase the Max Pass, it also includes the Photo Pass, which gives you the opportunity to download any ride or cast member photos that are taken of your group while you have the Pass.

The best part is that every time you book fast passes it tells you what time you can book your next ones. I set an alarm on my phone for the next fast pass time, and no matter where I was at in the park, I was able to book our passes. You guys, this is a game changer! Shorter lines to ride the most popular rides plus all of our Disney Photos – we love the Max Pass!

You save $5 per person if you add the Max Pass at the time you purchase your tickets through Disneyland.com. If you purchase your tickets through an outside source, you have the option of purchasing the Max Pass through the app after you enter the gate every morning. In this case, we recommend purchasing it right after you enter the gate in the morning so you can take full advantage of the pass.

For more information on the Max Pass, click here. (Don’t forget to get the photo numbers of all your ride photos so you can download the photos as part of your pass.)

If you decided to not splurge on a Max pass, make sure you always have a fast pass pulled for your group.

4. Use the Single Rider line

In an effort to get as many people onto attractions as they can, Disney has added the “Single Rider” line to many of it’s most popular attractions. If everyone in your group is over the age of 7 and each member of your group is willing to be separated from each other while you are on the attraction, it’s a great way to get on some of the most popular rides fairly quickly.

For example, the stand by line for Racers was 100 minutes, but we were able to get in the single rider line and our entire group was on the ride within 15 minutes.

5. Arrive early and stay late

You will find the shortest lines in the park for the first few hours of the day and the last 2 hours at night. Arrive at the park early and hit a lot of rides. If you need to take a break in the afternoon, ride the train around the park, attend a show, or go back to your hotel room to rest for a little bit. During the evening parade and firework show, the rides tend to be a little shorter. Many people leave the park after the evening firework show.

Some of my kid’s favorite memories in the park are going on Big Thunder Mountain 5 times in a row because there was nobody in line for the attraction. As fast as they could get off the attraction and get back in line, they were on the ride again.

6. Visit Animation Academy

Have some time to kill while waiting for your next fast pass? Are you wanting to take a break from walking around? Head over to Animation Academy located inside Disney’s California Adventure on Hollywood Blvd. You have the opportunity to learn how to draw Disney characters from an actual Disney Animator.

Animation Academy is a FREE class located inside an air-conditioned building so it’s a perfect rest stop on a warm day. All ages of our family have enjoyed the class and we’ve been able to uncover some animation talent we weren’t aware we had. Classes run about every 30 minutes and people begin lining up a few minutes before the class begins.

7. Play Games!

My kids want to ride as many rides as they possibly can when we are at the park, so while we are waiting for a fast pass time, we will usually stand in line for a ride that doesn’t have a crazy stand-by line (under 45 min). While waiting in line we enjoy playing games.

An easy game to play in line with a group is “Heads up!” You can download the app and take turns holding the phone up to your forehead and guess what the word is based on everyone’s clues.

Disney recently added “Disney Play” to their app (see photo below) which has an interactive park for you to play at, tons of really fun trivia, and pieces you can uncover and collect throughout the park. You’ll see signs for Disney Play around the park. We had a lot of fun answering the trivia questions as a group. For more information on “Disney Play” click here.

8. Order your food through “Mobile Order Pick-up”

We were all hungry. We finally decided to eat at “Smokejumpers Grill” in DCA by “Soaring over the World”. We sent one family member outside to get a table and the rest headed inside to order our food. As we opened the door to go inside, we discovered the lines to order were all the way back to the doors. We closed the door, walked over to where our son had saved our table, and sat down.

We opened up the Disneyland App, went to “Mobile Order Pick-up” and chose “Smokejumpers Grill”. Then we passed the phone around to each family member so they could enter their order. We paid for the order through the app and let them know we were ready to pick it up. Within 10 minutes we were notified that our order was done. We then went to the “Mobile Order Pick-up” window and got our food. It saved us so much time and we were able to wait for our food at the table relaxing instead of standing in line.

Mobile ordering isn’t available at every restaurant in Disneyland and DCA, but it’s available at a lot of them. Save yourself time and hassle and check the app when you’re getting ready to eat at the parks. You can find additional information on “Mobile Order Pick-up” here.

9. Take a break on a “Relaxing” Rides

Whenever we need a break from walking around we go on what we call one of Disney’s “relaxing” rides. Rides like “Pirates of the Caribbean”, “It’s a Small World”, “Disneyland Railroad”, “The Monorail”, and “The Little Mermaid” at DCA are what we call “relaxing” rides. Did you know that the “Pirates of the Caribbean” ride at Disneyland lasts about 16 minutes? Because each boat holds a lot of people and they operate a lot of boats, the line for “Pirates” tends to move pretty quickly, and a 16-minute ride gives you a nice break from walking around.

Did you also know that you can stay on the “Disneyland Railroad” however long you would like? When our kids were young and they would start to get tired and grumpy one of us would volunteer to ride the train, which secretly meant “let them take a nap”. The relaxing ride around the park would usually put them to sleep. We would ride the train around the park a couple of times to let them sleep for a while or transfer them to their stroller when we got off. It’s the perfect power nap for them to enjoy the evening.

10. Start Pin Trading

When my kids were young, we realized pretty quickly that we didn’t want to buy them big bulky souvenirs that we would have to haul around the park all day. A Disney Cast member introduced us to Pin Trading and we’ve been hooked ever since. Disney pins are small and light weight, so they make the perfect souvenier.

There are a few guidelines to begin pin trading in the park, for example, you are only able to trade official Disney pins with cast members. As long as the cast member doesn’t already have the pin that you are wanting to trade, they will trade your pin.

One of our favorite things about pin trading is that Disney releases special sets that you can only get by pin trading with the cast members. Our days at Disneyland have turned into “treasure hunts” as we are on the look-out for cast members with pin lanyards that we can trade with.

Disney sells Pin starter kits that come with a lanyard and a couple of pins to help you get started on your pin trades.

We hope these tips will help you make the most out of your next Disney Vacay.

If you have tips for enjoying the park on a busy day, we’d love to hear them in the comments below.

Much Love,

Mama Leish