Today I’m sharing a list of Disneyland tips for small kids.
I first wrote this post back in May 2022 after our first family trip to Disneyland. I asked for advice and recommendations again on Instagram and received so many great tips.
Fast forward to 2025, we have now visited Disneyland a handful of times with the girls, and we learn more and more each time we go. I just updated this post with all of our updated advice and tips and tricks.
In this list of Disneyland tips, I’m covering it all: how to plan your trip, park hopper strategy, what to pack, and random tidbits that will make your Disneyland and California Adventure visit as seamless as possible.
Much of this guide is geared towards families of babies, toddlers, and small kids, but I think it’s a good overview for the general public too.
Disneyland Tips for Small Kids
Get the Disneyland app and upgrade to the Lightning Lane Multi Pass
I would go as far as to say that this is nonnegotiable. I wouldn’t do Disney without it!
Nearly every day of the year, Disney is crowded beyond all reason. The lines for rides are unbelievably long (during our last visit, many of the wait times were 100 minutes!). The Lightning Lane Multi Pass allows you to skip the standard lines throughout the day.
If you don’t upgrade your ticket, you will waste your entire day in lines and not have the chance to truly experience the entire park. It’s a hard pill to swallow after already paying for tickets to Disneyland, but it will make all of the difference in your experience.
The Lightning Lane Multi Pass costs an additional $32 per ticket (this does vary by day though). You can upgrade to the Multi Pass ahead of time when you buy your tickets to Disneyland, and I do recommend doing so since the passes are subject to availability.
You can use your Disney app to check wait times and reserve your Lightning Lane slots throughout the day. You can only have one reservation open at a time, but as soon as you check in for a ride you can use the app to reserve your next ride. We used this to skip the line for many rides throughout the day, so I thought it was worth every penny (especially with impatient toddlers in tow!!).
Stay close to the park
If you’re making a trip of it, stay within walking distance of the park. This will make the morning seamless and allow you to nap your baby or toddler in the hotel room partway through the day. There are a ton of options for every budget, especially if you are going midweek.
Disneyland Hotel
An amazing but expensive option would be to stay at the Disneyland Hotel. We just did this for the first time in January and had such a good experience. The convenience is unmatched, and having early entry access to the parks was a major thrill and such a fun way to kick off our day. Check out our review here.
GO EARLY.
Following the Lightning Lane Multi Pass, our second-best tip for Disney with small kiddos is to get an early start on your day. The park is SO fun and magical first thing in the morning and gets more crowded and overstimulating as the day goes on. It’s been our experience that the first few hours 8am-10am are actually quite calm compared to the rest of the day.
Oka, going to get a little nitty-gritty here. Here is the rough order of morning events, as I’ve gathered over the years.
6:45am: Downtown Disney opens to Disney hotel guests
7:00am: Downtown Disney opens to general public
7:20am: Park entrances start to check tickets and let people in. From here, most people will head towards the “rope drop” area on Main Street. This happens at California Adventure too. If you are a Disney hotel guest, you can head to a separate rope drop area for “early entry.” In Disneyland, this is right next to Tomorrowland.
7:30am: Early entry for Disney hotel guests opens. Please note that early entry does alternate days between the two parks, so you’ll want to double check that when you go to book your ticket and your hotel.
8:00am: Rope drop and the park opens to everyone.
We have done a few different iterations of arrival strategies over the years, and I’ve basically landed on this: you should either stay in a Disney hotel to do early entry OR plan to arrive at the gates little after 8am.
I don’t think rope drop is necessary, as the crowds are a bit intense for my taste. I think it’s perfectly sufficient to arrive at 8am when the rope drop crowd is already in. You’ll breeze through the entrance and still feel like you have the place to yourself. If you’re driving in, I would plan to arrive at the parking lot at 7:30am to give yourselves enough time to hop on the shuttle and use the restroom before you get in line at the entrance.
Pro tip: If you are not staying at a Disney hotel, consider starting your day in the park that does not have early entry scheduled. Disneyland Park has early entry for Disney hotel guests on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Disney California Adventure Park has early entry on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. If you start your day in the opposite park of that day’s early entry access, the park will start out much less crowded since there won’t be any hotel guests in before rope drop.
Park Hopper Strategy
We have started our days at both Disneyland and California Adventure, and, at this point, I don’t have a strong preference. The only thing that really matters is, as discussed, getting a good early start on your day.
Adult pro tip: However, one thing to keep in mind is that California Adventure serves what I call “walk about” alcohol, so that is one argument for starting your day in Disneyland. There is nothing quite as fun as walking around California Adventure with an IPA while the sun sets behind the ferris wheel.
Grab a Starbucks straight away
Someone told me to also grab a Starbucks right away which I thought was genius. There’s one in Downtown Disney, and then the Market House shop on Main Street serves Starbucks drinks too.
Take photos ASAP
If you’re anything like me, you’ll want to grab a family photo at the castle before it gets crowded. One of my most sociopathic traits is that I like to get pictures RIGHT AWAY because then I don’t stress about it the rest of the day.
Start the day at Fantasyland or Toontown
If you do start at Disneyland, head to Fantasyland or Toontown right away and go on as many rides as possible before it gets crowded. Also, these areas are a great place to start because there’s no height limit for most of the rides there.
If you start in Fantasyland: We recommend starting with Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland. These rides are so fun for littles. Also, neither of these offer Lightning Lane so the lines get really long throughout the day.
If you start in Toontown: I suggest beelining for Mickey’s Runaway Railway which is the cutest ride. The line can get really long, and it’s nice to kick off the day with a high note.
Height requirements at Disneyland
I recommend measuring your kids beforehand so you can all know in advance which rides everyone can go on. That way, you can set expectations with your kids before the day of.
This handy list has all of the height requirements for both Disneyland and California Adventure.
Pack water bottles and extra snacks
Surprisingly, you are allowed to bring your own food and drinks in a soft cooler into Disneyland, so we always bring plenty of water and snacks for the girls. Snacks definitely come in handy during lines. Water is the most important thing, as it can get really hot in the middle of the day.
Mobile Ordering food
You can use the Disney app to mobile order food ahead of time–one less line to wait in!
Best stroller for Disneyland
It’s a long day! We always bring a stroller, even on this most recent visit (the girls are 4.5 and 6 now). If anything, it’s nice to have the option. We also stored all of our coats and such underneath.
Emmie walked most of the day on our recent trip, but once she was done, she was done. She even fell asleep in it on the walk back to the car in the evening.
We brought our Zoe Tour this last visit, and it did GREAT. I would also wholeheartedly recommend the Zoe Traveler which has a slightly leaner frame (check out my full review here). Both of our Zoe strollers are lightweight and easy to maneuver–a MUST for a day at Disney. Use this link for $15 off a stroller purchase at Zoe.
Portable clip-on fan + sound machine for stroller
This stroller fan was particularly helpful when we visited Disney on a warm day in May. I’d also add here: portable sound machine for stroller naps.
Stroller Parking
Park the stroller once in each “land.” This might be obvious, but I still think it’s helpful. Just park it once and avoid loading and reloading everyone between rides.
Bring a tiny bag/purse for valuables
Tyler always carries a backpack with waters, snacks, etc, but I also like to keep a small crossbody purse with me for our valuables and hand sanitizer. That way, we don’t have to stress when we leave our stroller.
Hats and sunscreen
This probably goes without saying, but it gets hot in Anaheim! Bring and reapply sunscreen throughout the day. It’s always nice to have a hat on hand too.
Extra change of clothes
Like I always say: the girls don’t need a change of clothes UNLESS I forget to pack one. You just never know–spilled food, potty accident if we couldn’t find the bathroom in time, etc. For what it’s worth, I think Zara has the cutest Disney stuff, but I’ll share a few more Disney outfit ideas at the end of the post too. You might also want to bring extra socks and bandaids.
Sticker books and coloring stuff for sit down eating/downtime
I love these Usborne sticker books for travel, and these came in handy while we were waiting for food throughout the day. We also always bring coloring stuff for the girls when we travel.
Meet Disney princesses at the Royal Hall
We actually have not done this because the line is always super long, but we will get to it eventually.
Meet Elsa and Anna at the Disney Animation building in California Adventure
The one thing Emmie asked about constantly before this trip was meeting Elsa, so we decided it was time to brave the line. Elsa and Anna have this super exclusive meet up spot at California Adventure, inside the Disney Animation building. We got to the line around 1pm and had to wait for about 40 minutes for our turn. Elsa spends a couple of minutes chatting with each guest before taking a picture, and the girls absolutely loved this.
Disney Jr. Dance Party in California Adventure
Our best friends told us that we absolutely had to do this before our first visit, and it ended up being one of the highlights of the day. The girls beg to go every time now. This is the cutest little show, and the girls still dance their hearts out, lol.
Character breakfast
We’ve never done this, but a handful of friends SWEAR by it. I’ve heard of people doing this to kick off the trip or to end the trip on a high note.
Baby Care Centers
There are a few Baby Care Centers throughout the park. The centers have nursing rooms, changing tables, toddler-sized toilets, kitchen sinks with bottle warmers and microwaves, and a vending machine with baby supplies, food, etc.
Also great to know: if, God forbid, your child gets lost, the staff is instructed to escort separated children to the nearest baby center. I only mention this because I actually got lost from my family at Disney when I was two years old–it’s one of my first memories, lol. So it happens, okay?
AirTag bracelets
Speaking of, we love these bracelets for holding AirTags to put on the girls when we are in a place like Disney.
Glow sticks
A couple of people recommended bringing glow sticks for kids to wear at night which I thought was such a cute idea.
Mobile charger
Since you’ll be using your phone all day to reserve rides on Genie+, order food, and take pictures, you’ll want to bring a portable charger.
Bring an arsenal of plastic straws
I forgot to do this when my friend recommended it to me, and I regret everything. There is nothing worse than a paper straw–don’t come for me!!
First Visit Buttons
All of the gift shops have free “first visit” buttons behind the counter if you ask for them.
Provost Park Pass
Helpful YouTube account: Provost Park Pass. We watched a few of his videos and learned a lot.
Souvenir strategy
Each year, we let the girls pick out ONE thing from the big store in Downtown Disney. We make a huge deal of this and just reiterate the plan anytime we’d pass a gift shop in the park itself. This year, we actually went to the store the night before our visit which actually made things so much easier because we didn’t have to worry about leaving time for it after a long day at the park.
Go with the flow
This is worth saying one more time, I think. Keep your expectations low and go with the flow.
My strategy with travel is usually something along the lines of “research, prepare, and then let it all go” which sounds dumb but hear me out: I like to have a general idea of what’s going on and what we want to do but in the moment we kind of just let the kids lead in terms of their energy/vibe. We never force anything because they can always pick up on it, know what I mean?
Disneyland food recs
-Mickey beignets from Mint Julep (turn left out of Pirates of the Caribbean exit)
-Dole Whip from the Tiki Bar in Adventureland
-Corndogs from the red cart on Main Street
-Macarons and breakfast sandwich from Jolly Holiday on Main Street
-Breakfast chimichanga from Ship to Shore
-Churro toffee from any of the candy shops
-Garlic cheese twist from Maurice’s Treats by the castle and the Royal Hall
-Bao buns from the Tropical Hideaway by the Jungle Cruise
-Bengal BBQ Skewer from Tiki Bar
-Cold Brew Black Caf from Star Wars (my personal top favorite item!)
California Adventure food recs
-Carthay for cocktails and food
-Any and all corndogs
-Steak and egg breakfast burrito at Cappuccino Cart
-Pym’s Test Kitchen for drinks and pretzel
-Clam and corn chowder from Boudin
-QuesaBirria tacos from Cocina Cucamonga
-Cold brew, smoothies, and Nutella waffles from Schmoozies
-Ice cream bars from Clarabells
Thank you so much for checking out my list of tips for visiting Disneyland with small kids. I really hope this was helpful. Please let me know how it goes!
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