11 Common Mistakes People Make At Disneyland and How To Avoid Them
Many people, especially those new to Disneyland, make a lot of mistakes both during the planning stage and while they’re there. It’s easy to do. There’s so many moving parts that it can be hard to keep up.
So based on our knowledge and first-hand experience, we decided to compile a list of eleven common mistakes people make when visiting the Disneyland Resort.
While this list focuses on Disneyland in California, everything on this list could apply to any of the other Disney Parks around the world. For each mistake, we will give our suggestions on how to avoid making them yourself.
Let’s get into it!
1) Not Taking Breaks
As much as we love the parks, being there all day long just isn’t in us anymore. If you’re an open-to-closer, more power to you. For the rest of us, taking mid-day breaks is a must. This especially applies to those with little ones.
What We Suggest
Get there early (rope drop) and spend the morning hours knocking out as many attractions as you can. A Disneyland vacation is not a time for sleeping in. Take advantage of the majority who are and you’ll be rewarded with little to no wait times.
At mid-day - when the park is most crowded and warmest - go back to your hotel for a break. We typically go back for two to three hours. Then you can take a nap, eat lunch, relax in the pool, etc.
Once you’re feeling rested, head back to the park. By this point, the crowds will have subsided a bit, the sun starts working its way down and you’ll soon see the park’s lights in a dazzling display.
2) Not Planning Ahead
As we’ve covered in some of our other Disneyland articles, a Disney vacation - for better or worse - takes some planning. Between tickets, lodging, dining reservations, attractions you want to ride, etc, you NEED to plan.
What We Suggest
It’s simple, really. Plan, plan, and then plan some more. There are hundreds of great resources out there that can help you if you don’t know where to start (our site, for example). The YouTube channel, “Fresh Baked Disney”, has hundreds of excellent videos that are great resources.
Make sure you sit down with your family ahead of time and decide which restaurants and/or attractions you each must experience and go from there. Check which rides are down for refurbishment and which restaurants accept reservations.
One of your biggest considerations is where you’ll stay. There’s a myriad of options as it pertains to hotels near the park but you also have AirBNB and RV Parks to choose from. Research it ALL so you get the best deal.
3) Not Dining in the Parks
Listen, we get it. Disneyland restaurants are not cheap and it only gets worse if you have a family of four or five. One simple dinner has the potential of setting you back a good chunk of change. But hear us out…
What We Suggest
It’s your vacation! If you can, splurge a little. We’re not saying you have to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner in the parks but even if you decide on just one, it’ll be an incredible memory for your family.
Here’s a few of our favorites, where they’re located on property, and their price range indicated by the number of dollar signs (three being most expensive):
Lamplight Lounge: California Adventure - ($$)
Wine Country Trattoria: California Adventure ($$)
Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen: Downtown Disney ($$)
Bengal BBQ: Disneyland Park ($)
Carnation Cafe: Disneyland Park ($)
Blue Bayou: Disneyland Park ($$$)
Cafe Orleans: Disneyland Park ($$)
Whether it’s a high dollar, full-service restaurant or one of the many great quick service eateries, try to fit at least one of them into your budget. After all, you can’t dine at these places anywhere else!
We typically bring breakfast and snack items to hold us over so we can splurge on dinner that night. Disney will allow you (to a certain extent) to bring food into the park. So don’t be shy about it.
4) Not Using the Disneyland App
When it comes to theme parks, Disney has always been at the forefront when it comes to implementing technology into the parks. If there’s a way to increase profit and improve guest experience, Disney is going to do it. Case in point; the Disneyland app.
What We Suggest
The app has steadily risen to become the number one most important planning tool for a Disneyland vacation. Not only can you utilize it in the planning stage, but there’s plenty of ways to utilize it during your trip as well.
In short, download the app and create an account, if you haven’t done so already. We wont go into great detail about the app here because we’ve already written a separate article about it, but we will do a quick break down.
Some of the features include:
Book dining reservations
Purchase & store park tickets & Magic Keys
Utilize Disney Genie & Genie+ (Coming Fall 2021)
Use as a hotel key (if staying on property)
Mobile order dining at many quick service restaurants
Book virtual queues
Much, much more….
The app is simply too useful to not utilize. Sure, one could argue it takes away from the experience by causing you to look at your phone a lot. We get it, but in our opinion the benefits far outweigh the negatives.
5) Not Living in the Moment
Full disclosure, this is one instance where I need to heed my own advice. I am super guilty of this. Since I’m a Photographer and we’re running a travel related blog, I tend to get lost in always trying to photograph everything I see and not just enjoy the moment.
What We Suggest
My better half will often remind me that while I do need to gather content for the site, I also need to enjoy myself. Stopping to, “smell the roses”, is important to any vacation. Even a business one.
So put down the camera from time to time and take in the sights, sounds, and smells of the park. Sometimes, allowing a moment to exist only in your memory makes it that much more special.
6) Not Making Advanced Dining Reservations
We’ve already discussed dining inside the parks above, but there’s an important aspect of this you need to be aware of; making reservations for some of the more popular eateries as soon as possible - sixty days out is preferable.
What We Suggest
Dining reservations for most sit-down restaurants at the Disneyland Resort can be made up to 60-days in advance. By sit-down, we mean the pricier joints such as Lamplight Lounge, Napa Rose, and Blue Bayou.
If one or more of the above is a must on your vacation, depending on the time of year you’re visiting, we recommend making your reservations right at the sixty day mark, especially if you’re planning to visit in the summer or holiday seasons.
Here is a list of all restaurants at the Disneyland Resort that currently accept reservations (*Denotes restaurants that are particularly tough to get a last minute reservation):
Disneyland Park
Blue Bayou*
Cafe Orleans
Carnation Cafe*
Oga’s Cantina*
Plaza Inn Character Dining*
River Belle Terrace
California Adventure
Carthay Circle Lounge
Carthay Circle Restaurant*
Lamplight Lounge*
Magic Key Terrace
Wine Country Trattoria
Grand Californian Hotel
Princess Breakfast Adventures*
GCH Craftsman
Napa Rose*
Storyteller’s Cafe
The Disneyland Hotel
Goofy’s Kitchen
Palm Breeze Bar
Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar*
Pixar Place Hotel
Great Maple Modern American Eatery
Downtown Disney
Naples Ristorante
Jazz Kitchen Coastal Grill & Patio
Splitsville Luxury Lanes
Tortilla Jo’s
Uva Bar & Cafe
While it’s still entirely possible to get a table by walking up (my parents scored a table at Blue Bayou on a busy Saturday night just by asking nicely), we still recommend securing a reservation to ensure you get the restaurant, date and time you really want.
7) Not Staying Near the Park
There are dozens and dozens of options when it comes to accommodations around the park. Some people like to splurge and stay at one of the three on-property hotels. Others prefer to save some money by staying at what Disney refers to as a, “Good Neighbor”, hotel.
What We Suggest
If you’re looking for the ultimate Disney experience, go all out and book one of the Disney owned hotels on property. Those are:
However, if you’re looking to save some cash and put it elsewhere in your budget, this is where you can save big while still staying close to the action.
Our recommendation is to stay at one of the Good Neighbor hotels on South Harbor blvd near the park. Rates fluctuate based on time of year but unless you’re going during the dead of summer, you can usually get a room for less than $200 per night.
A few of these that we have personally stayed at and can vouch for are:
Clarion Hotel Anaheim Resort
Four Points by Sheraton (formally Hotel Menage)
Desert Palms Hotel & Suites
Howard Johnson Anaheim Hotel & Water Playground
Motel 6 Maingate (off South Harbor, down Disney Way)
It may be tempting to book a cheaper hotel that’s further from the parks, but that choice comes with its own downsides. You’ll either be dealing with lengthy shuttle rides, paying for Uber rides, or driving yourself and paying $30 bucks to park.
8) Not Buying Souvenirs Ahead of Time
If there’s one company who has mastered the art of monetizing their IP, it’s Disney. We have seen them turn even the most basic idea into a highly sought after collectable that people literally throw money at (popcorn buckets, anyone?) However, it often comes at a steep price.
What We Suggest
If you know you’re going to be buying souvenirs, particularly if you have children tagging along, do yourself a favor and buy them ahead of time. You’ll not only save precious park time, but you’ll likely save money as well.
For instance, instead of buying Mickey Ears in the park, buy them from a designer/seller on sites like Etsy. Sure, Disney comes up with some adorable designs, but the ones you’ll find on Etsy are usually much more creative and unique.
9) Not Bringing Your Own Snacks & Drinks
We may be contradicting what we said in number three on this list but like we said, food at Disneyland is expensive. While we stick to what we said about dining in the parks, that doesn’t mean you can’t save a little money while you’re at it.
What We Suggest
We recommend bringing your own bagged snacks and drinks in the park with you. Reusable water bottles are great as you can fill it to your hearts content (even at quick service restaurants) and you’ll avoid paying $3-$4 bucks per bottle.
Also, salty snacks are a great way to help you stay hydrated on warm, summer days. Salt helps you retain water and it’s one of the ways we stay hydrated while hiking. It may make for some unflattering photos, but it’s better than the alternative.
10) Not Using PhotoPass Photographers
On a family vacation, there’s always that one person (typically Mom or Dad) that are always behind the camera. So much so, it can feel like you were never there after going through them. Thankfully, Disney has a solution; PhotoPass.
What We Suggest
We absolutely recommend utilizing PhotoPass Photographers as often as possible. They’re at most of the popular photo spots and will take around 5-6 photos of you and your group. Plus, they’ll add in fun surprises (as pictured above).
Unfortunately, Disney Photographers (or any Cast Members) are not allowed to use your phone or camera anymore. This is to help limit the spread of Covid-19. This could (and probably will) change in the future.
For now, you can purchase an individual photo for $14.99 or $19.99 for that entire days worth of photos. Obviously we recommend spending the extra $5 bucks and getting all of them. Soon, though, you’ll get all your PhotoPass photos included in the purchase of Genie+. Speaking of which…..
11) Not Buying Genie+
Genie+ is the successor of former time-saving services, FastPass and MaxPass. Disney did away with those two in favor of this one, though in many ways, Genie+ is a lot like MaxPass.
What We Suggest
We wrote a detailed guide explaining Genie+ and it’s three tiers (you can read that one here), so we’ll just do a quick rundown.
The three tiers of this new service are:
Genie: A free planning tool park guests can utilize to plan their day-to-day activities. Not sure which attraction to ride? Want suggestions on where to eat? Just ask the Genie and he’ll point you in the right(ish) direction.
Genie+: This paid option costs $30, minimum, per person/per day and allows users to bypass the stand-by queue at attractions such as Haunted Mansion, Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, and Space Mountain.
Individual Lightning Lane: This option will allow guests to pay to completely skip the line on select premium attractions such as Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance and Radiator Springs Racers, a la carte. This can cost anywhere between $7 and $30, depending on attraction and demand.
Conclusion
There you have it. Our list of the eleven most common mistakes people make when visiting Disneyland. Truth be told, there are SO many more mistakes our there. So much so that we could easily write another article or two about this subject (perhaps we will).
Tell us, what are some mistakes you have seen first timers or just people in general make at the parks. Is there something you’ve done that you’ve since learned not to do? Tell us about it in the comments below!
It is our hope that you’ve found this article helpful in planning your trip to Disneyland. If so, please support us by sharing it with your family and friends on your favorite social media site. You can further show support by staying on and reading one or more of the related articles above!
Thanks for reading and safe travels!
