Ticket AND Reservation
Gone are the days of spontaneously going to Disneyland. Ever since Disneyland reopened in April of 2020 you are now require a ticket AND a park reservation. But don’t worry, this is not as complicated as it sounds. We always purchase our tickets through our friends over at Undercover Tourist. Click HERE to check them out. Not only do they have discounted ticket, they also have the best customer service! After purchasing your tickets you need to make a reservation. You can do this through Disneyland’s website HERE or on the Disneyland app by pressing the bottom middle (+) then click “Make a Park Reservation”. So simple! And if for some reason your day you’d like to go is not available, check back daily because days open up!
Your hotel plays a big roll into this!
I know you are thinking, what does my hotel have to do with my day at Disneyland? Well there are 3 things we look at when booking a hotel.
1. Location–is it within walking distance of Disneyland? It costs $30 to park at Disneyland, so to us we love staying within walking distance. This plays into the beginning of your day because you need to make sure you know how long it takes to walk from your hotel to the park so that you can get there at a good time!
2. Breakfast–having a hotel with a good breakfast is awesome. We love it for two reasons, one, it’s important to start out your day with a fully belly and two, you don’t have to waste time getting breakfast at the park and spend that crucial time getting on rides!
3. Price–this one is obvious since we are Disney on the Dime! We try to find a hotel within the $85-$120 price range depending on the time of year.
SO once your belly is full and you’ve had a full nights rest it is time to head to the parks!
Rope Drop
If you’re not Disney obsessed like us you may not know what the term rope drop means. Rope drop is the official time of when the park opens. Back in the day there used to be an actual red rope across Main Street that would drop to let guests in! Now this is very, very important advice. We recommend getting to the parks 30-45 minutes BEFORE rope drop. And we say 30-45 minutes we mean being INSIDE the park by then, not parking your car or going through security. So with that being said:
If you are WALKING we would suggest leaving your hotel room (assuming it’s a 15 minute walk) AT LEAST one hour before the park opens. That will allow for the 15 minute walk, 15 minutes for security, then into the park.
If you are DRIVING we would suggest leaving your hotel room AT LEAST one hour before the park opens. There are 3 parking structures at Disneyland. They open 90 minutes before the park opens and it costs $30 to park for the day.
Mickey and Friends or Pixar Pals Parking offer a tram (which is supposed to come back in 2022!) or you can walk through Downtown Disney to get to the park entrance.
Toy Story Parking offers a bus taht will take you to the park entrance.
Now once at the park you will have to go through security. This line tends to move fast so don’t be alarmed if the line looks long!
Where should I go first?
OK here we go! If you have older kids, or are a group of adults I highly suggest right at rope drop going straight to Rise of the Resistance in Galaxy’s Edge. This line does get long quick! If you get to the parks 10 or 15 minutes after rope drop forget heading to this ride first, the line will already be 60+ minutes. If you want to get on this ride with a short line you have to be at the park before rope drop and head straight here when the park opens!
Now if you have little ones I highly suggest heading to Peter Pan. Peter Pan’s line is always long, all day long. Get to the park before rope drop and head straight here as soon as it opens!
After you have hit up your number one priority ride some other rides I suggest doing first thing in the morning are Indiana Jones, Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain, Matterhorn and Splash Mountain. These rides tend to have long lines but in the morning you can get on to a few of them within a couple hours! This is why we love rope drop so much, because you can get so many awesome rides done in just a couple of hours!