Beginner’s Guide to Disneyland 2027

Disneyland is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. Millions of people walk through its gates every year. If you’re reading this, you’ve probably decided to head to Disneyland for the first time ever. That’s so exciting! I promise you’re going to have an amazing time. But if you’ve never been to the resort before, planning a first trip can be confusing because you might not know where to start. Well that’s where this Beginner’s Guide to Disneyland comes in!

This guide will go over every aspect of your vacation, from when to go to what rides to experience, all from a first timer’s perspective. I’ll also include links in relevant sections to further reading you can do to get more insight into a particular topic concerning your Disneyland vacation. Hopefully by the end of this you are more prepared and excited for your visit to the parks!

Let’s begin!

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When to Go

If you want an in-depth guide on when to go to Disneyland, click here. I’ll briefly summarize some of the points in that post.

Asking yourself when to go is probably the first question you’ll need to answer when it comes to planning a Disneyland vacation. While intuition will tell you to visit during holidays so that you can save your PTO, this might not be the best decision if you want to visit Disneyland with low crowds.

Holidays like Christmas, Thanksgiving, and the Fourth of July will usually command large crowds. The same goes for periods of the year when school is out such as Spring Break, Winter Break, and Summer. Crowds usually descend on the parks during these times, and as someone who has visited during these times before, the crowds can get a little much, which if you’re going for the first time and don’t like crowds, can potentially spoil your experience.

However, just because you avoid these times of year, doesn’t mean Disneyland will be uncrowded. In recent years, even the low season at Disneyland can still be pretty crowded. While there are still periods of the year when the crowds are undoubtedly less than, say, Christmas or Thanksgiving, I would say that more often than not you will encounter some sort of crowd at Disneyland.

There are, however, some disadvantages to going in the low season, mainly ride closures, entertainment downsizing, and shortened hours. Because Disneyland is less crowded during the off-season such as in January, February, late August, and September, they tend to shorten the operating hours of the park. In addition, some rides might be closed for refurbishment and some entertainment offerings might only be offered on the weekends.

Before you decide when to go, you’re going to need to weigh all these factors. If crowds don’t bother you, you want to save your PTO, and you’re willing to pay for things like Lightning Lane Multi Pass, then maybe visiting during peak season is right for you. If you, however, don’t do well with crowds and are ok with ride closures and shortened hours, then the low season is for you. This will all depend on you and the group you’re going with, so your mileage may vary.

How Many Days to Go

If you’d like more in-depth information on how many days to go, click here.

For a first visit, I recommend visiting for 3-4 days. That gives you enough time to see all there is to see and maybe do some extra, add-on experiences as well such as the World of Color Dessert Party or a guided tour. If you’re getting a park-hopper, I would suggest visiting for 3 days. If you aren’t, then a 4-day visit would be best. This advice is generally for those who have never been to a Disney Park before.

If you have been to a Disney Park before and are a Disney fan, then definitely consider visiting for 4 or maybe even 5 days. If you’re sure you’re going to like the experience, then visiting for longer will mean you’ll be able to do all the highlights at both parks multiple times, as well as have time for the secondary rides and attractions.

Most people pair a Disneyland vacation with a trip to visit Los Angeles, San Diego, or other nearby attractions. If you are doing so, I’d recommend visiting Disneyland for 1-2 days. If your main purpose is to see SoCal, then you should make time for other attractions as well.

On the other hand, if this is a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Disneyland, I recommend going for 5 days. If you’re in the area specifically for Disneyland, then spending 5 days at the parks will allow you to go all out and have the best vacation experience possible. However long you choose to visit Disneyland, always remember to stick to what works for you, your budget, and your time.

Park Tickets and Reservations

For more information on Park Tickets and Reservations, check out this post.

When visiting Disneyland, you can buy anywhere from 1-Day to 5-Day tickets. 1-Day tickets will vary in price depending on when you go, while 2-Day to 5-Day tickets will remain the same in price no matter when you visit. The more days you buy, the less your cost per day becomes. Do note too that price increases usually happen every October. Just something to keep in mind.

In addition, note that park hopping is not automatically included in your ticket. Park hopping is a ticket add-on that allows you to visit both parks in one day. You’re going to have to purchase the park hopper option to be able to park hop. If you don’t purchase it, your entire day will be spent in the park you made a park reservation for.

You must make a park reservation for every day of your visit. Park reservations can run out, but based on my experience they tend to run out more for Magic Keyholders (annual passholders) than for regularly ticketed guests. If you didn’t buy park hoppers, you are limited to the park you reserved for the day. If you did buy park hoppers, you may start your day in either park as long as you have a reservation for one park.

Before you buy tickets on the Disneyland website, I recommend checking out third party websites, mainly Klook and Getaway Today. They usually have some sort of promotion going on that will save you some money on tickets. Getaway Today especially has a lot of promotions going on throughout the year. Check their websites and find the deal that’s right for you.

Disney Hotels – Should You Stay In One

Believe it or not, Disneyland is the one Disney Resort where I don’t recommend staying at a Disney Hotel. This is due to two main reasons: the lack of benefits of staying on property, as well as the affordability of third party hotels located around the Disneyland Resort. Let me get into each reason below.

Disneyland used to offer Early Entry benefits to hotel guests. They have since gotten rid of this and instead replaced it with a one Lightning Lane per person per stay. That’s right, per STAY, not per day. Lightning Lane is Disney’s paid skip the line service, and only getting one per stay is a huge downgrade from the previous early entry offering. There’s no real perk to staying at a Disney hotel now because of this.

Another reason it’s not worth it is because of all the hotel options around the Disneyland Resort. Disneyland is surrounded by a plethora of third party hotels, some of them priced at a fraction of the cost of a Disneyland Hotel room. Some of them are even closer to the entrance of Disneyland than the Disney Resort hotels! You can even find suites and larger rooms that are as nice as the Disney suites but for a much lower cost. My personal favorites are the Castle Inn and Suits, the Howard Johnson, and the Alpine Inn.

Because of these reasons, it makes more economical sense to book a room outside Disneyland. While it doesn’t immerse you in the Disney bubble, it does make your visit a lot more affordable. I’ve only stayed at a Disneyland hotel once and, even though the experience was magical, I wouldn’t recommend it over just getting a third party hotel unless your budget allows for it.

Lightning Lanes

If you need an in-depth guide on Lightning Lanes, click here.

As mentioned earlier, Lightning Lanes are Disneyland’s paid skip-the-line offering that allows you to bypass a significant portion of the standby queues for some of the most popular attractions at both Disneyland and Disney California Adventure. They come in three different forms: Lightning Lane Multi Pass, Lightning Lane Single Pass, and Lightning Lane Premier Pass. I’ll give a quick summary of each of these below.

Lightning Lane Multi Pass is the most used Lightning Lane variety. For one fee, you get the opportunity to book return times for most attractions in the park that offer Lightning Lane. During your return time, you’ll get access to a shorter queue for the particular attraction that you booked. Attractions included in Multi Pass at Disneyland include Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, the Indiana Jones Adventure, and Haunted Mansion, among others. At DCA, Multi Pass rides include Soarin, Incredicoaster, and Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout, among others.

Lightning Lane Single Pass is a Lightning Lane variety where, for a fee, you’ll get access to 1 specified Lightning Lane attraction. This variety usually covers the most popular attraction at Disneyland and DCA that Disney decides to not include in Multi Pass. At Disneyland the Single Pass attraction is Rise of the Resistance, while at DCA the Single Pass attraction is Radiator Springs Racers.

Lightning Lane Premier Pass is the most expensive Lightning Lane option. Costing hundreds of dollars, it gives you 1 Lightning Lane pass per Lightning Lane attraction which you can use at any time during the day. This means that Lightning Lane Premier Passes are not bound by time like Multi Pass and Single Pass lightning lanes. This package also includes Single Pass attractions as well as Multi Pass attractions.

Single Rider Lines

Single Rider Lines are a feature at some attractions that can greatly reduce your wait time and might be helpful for you if you’re visiting Disneyland solo. What they are essentially is a separate line that is used to fill empty single seats on attractions. Instead of letting that seat go through the ride empty, they instead fill it with someone from the single rider queue.

The single rider line is usually shorter than the regular standby line, but do note that if your group ends up queuing in the Single Rider Line, then you will be split up and will most probably not ride together. If that is not a big deal to you, then definitely consider using the Single Rider Line.

Rope Drop and Park Close

For a guide on Rope Drop at Disneyland, click here. For a guide to Rope Drop at DCA, click here.

If you want to experience rides with low wait times but don’t want to buy Lightning Lane passes, then Rope Dropping and Park Closing will be your best bet. Rope Drop is the practice of arriving at Disneyland before the park opens to take advantage of the low wait times in the morning. Conversely, Park Close is when you stay at a park until it closes to take advantage of low wait times at the end of the day.

Doing either will require that you either wake up early or last until the end of the day. If you’re doing either, feel free to incorporate a rest at your hotel into your day. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend doing both on the same day, but you could (on a multi-day trip) do one on the first day, then another on the second, and space out your days that way so that you aren’t exhausted every single day.

Dining

There are two kinds of restaurants at Disneyland: Table Service and Quick Service. Table Service restaurants are like your standard restaurant where a server goes to your table and takes your order. Quick Service restaurants have you ordering and picking up your orders at counters and then proceeding to a table to eat your food.

Generally, for a first trip, I would recommend dining at a mix of quick service and table service restaurants. Table service restaurants are more expensive, so having just 1-2 reservations should be good for your trip. Quick service restaurants also take a lot less time than Table Service places, so if you’re only in the parks for 1-2 days, I’d recommend dining at Quick Service restaurants only.

There is one thing you need to know about dining at Quick Service restaurants, and that is Mobile Order.

Mobile Order

For more info on mobile ordering, click here.

Mobile Order is a way to pre-order your food on the Disneyland app so you can skip the queue to order food at Quick Service restaurants. Lines at quick service locations at Disneyland can be long, especially during peak meal times. Mobile Order allows you to pre-order your food so that when you arrive at the restaurant during your pickup window, you only have to wait about 2-5 minutes for your food.

To mobile order, simply go to the restaurant you want to eat at on the Disneyland app and click begin order. After that, you’ll pick a time to return and then add what you want to order to your cart. After checking out, you’ll receive a push notification when you can go claim your food. You can pre-order your food for the entire day starting from the beginning of the day, which can be helpful if you don’t want to think about what you’re going to eat during the day.

Can’t Miss Attractions and Height Requirements

I won’t go into detail on the exact rides and attractions you should ride as I’ve already written four other articles that go into the can’t miss rides and shows, as well as the height requirements for certain rides. If you want info on all of this, read my Disneyland Ride Ranking, my Disneyland Ride and Attraction Guide, my DCA Ride Ranking, and my DCA Ride and Attraction Guide.

What to Pack

What to pack depends on what time of year you’re visiting. If you’re visiting in late fall to early spring, jackets, sweaters, and pants would be good to bring. Visiting in the warmer months will call for cool shirts and shorts and skirts. Sunscreen is a must any time you go, and you might want to bring and wear some custom Disney themed shirts to commemorate your visit.

I would also bring a reusable water bottle that you can refill in the park so you can save on having to buy bottled water over and over again. At least two pairs of good walking shoes are a must, as well as bandaids and any other first aid items you may need. A good backpack to carry all your items will also come in handy, as will ponchos for the rare times it rains or for the water rides. A portable fan and cooling towels will be lifesavers in the summer as well.

Game Plans (Itineraries) and Pivoting

I have crafted a 1-Day Disneyland Itinerary, a 1-Day Disneyland Itinerary with Lightning Lane, a 1-Day DCA Itinerary, a 1-Day DCA Itinerary with Lightning Lane, and a 1-Day Disneyland and DCA Itinerary. Each was designed with park operation patterns and crowd patterns in mind. But as with all itineraries, they can be flexible depending on your interests and the interests of those in your group.

I do want to talk about one thing that will heavily factor into your planning: pivoting. You could have the most foolproof plan for how to attack a Disneyland or DCA day, but I guarantee you that something is going to throw a wrench into your plans. Rides will close, entertainment might get cancelled, or some unforeseen circumstance will cause you to rethink your day.

This is why I always say that the best plan is to have good planning skills. And for Disneyland, that means learning how to pivot. Study the map, learn what rides are popular and at what times, and learn the most efficient way to move through the park. If, for example, Pirates of the Caribbean goes down when you’re supposed to ride it, a good pivoter knows that Haunted Mansion and Big Thunder Mountain are nearby, so you can pivot and do those instead.

First Visit Button

If you’re visiting Disneyland for the first time, be sure to get a first visit button from any store in the park or from guest services on Main Street or Buena Vista Street. It’s a fun way to commemorate your visit, and they also have buttons for celebrations like anniversaries, birthdays, and other special occasions that you might want to commemorate while you’re there.

Beginner’s Guide to Disneyland Conclusion

And that’s it! I hope you have the best time at Disneyland. I promise you it’ll be such a magical experience. Don’t forget to do your research and, most of all, get ready to have a lot of fun! If you have any questions, feel free to reach out on my socials.

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