With the recent introduction of Pixar Pier and the ongoing festivities at Pixar Fest, not to mention the impending debut of Marvel Land and Star Wars Land over the next two years, you’re bound to run into big crowds and long wait times no matter when you choose to visit Disneyland. These are issues that inevitably complicate any trip to any Disney Park, but there are a few easy ways to reduce stress while dealing with the constant foot traffic and crowd craziness that seems to live at the parks 24/7.
1. Avoid the maingate entrances when possible.
Image: David Lofink, Flickr (license)
There’s nothing worse than exiting the tram at Downtown Disney and finding massive crowds still waiting to enter Disneyland—or, worse, entering from Harbor Boulevard only to run into a multi-hour line for the security checkpoint. Skip the crowds and long lines (which, it should be said, will definitely leave you baking in the direct sun on a hot day), and head straight for the Monorail station in Downtown Disney, where the lines are guaranteed to be significantly shorter and you can wait in the shade for the next available train. You’ll also get the benefit of entering the park in close proximity to Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, Autopia, Matterhorn Bobsleds, the Tomorrowland Disneyland Railroad Station, and Space Mountain.
Although there’s no Monorail station inside Disney California Adventure, you can still beat some of the crowds by visiting Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel off of Disneyland Drive and using the park entrance next to Napa Rose. It’ll put you out right by Grizzly River Run and Soarin’ Around the World, so you can avoid the somewhat-crowded walk down Buena Vista Street and head straight for the attractions. It’ll also give you a slightly shorter walk to Pixar Pier if you choose to follow the path that runs up to Ariel’s Undersea Adventure. Keep in mind, however, that if you’re planning on hotfooting it to Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: Breakout! or Radiator Springs Racers first thing in the morning, you’ll be slightly closer to those attractions if you elect to go through the maingate entrance.
2. Take the scenic route.
Image: Loren Javier, Flickr (license)
It may feel like speed-walking is the best way to move through a crowd, and if you’re tackling the parks solo, that’s more or less true. If you’re traveling with family or friends, however, you’re probably already aware that it’s no easy feat to move through the parks quickly, particularly during peak travel times in the summer or during the holidays. You can spare yourself some serious stress (and foot pain) by making use of some of Disneyland’s underutilized methods of transportation. The most obvious is the Disneyland Railroad, which has four stops on Main Street, U.S.A. (at the top of Town Square), New Orleans Square (adjacent to the Haunted Mansion and Mint Julep Bar), Mickey’s Toontown (next to the Fantasyland Theatre), and Tomorrowland (behind Autopia). While the wait times vary by station and time of day, it’s the most convenient and hassle-free way to move around the parks without first fighting your way through crowds.
Of course, if you’re inclined to head straight for the Partners Statue, Sleeping Beauty Castle, or the attractions within Fantasyland and Fantasy Faire, the Disneyland Railroad will be of little use to you. Instead, try for one of the many old-fashioned vehicles that run up Main Street and let out in the Hub, from the fire engine (8-10 passengers) and horseless carriage (8-10 passengers) to the horse-drawn streetcar (30 passengers) and double-decker omnibus (45 passengers). They don’t move more quickly than the average pedestrian, but can beat a crowd on a busy morning and all but the fire engine offer welcome shade to their passengers. It’s worth noting that many of the vehicles are not wheelchair- or stroller-friendly, however (the omnibus is the only one that permits strollers, and none of the vehicles are equipped to accommodate wheelchairs or ECV), so if you find yourself navigating the parks on foot, stick to some of the less-traveled paths when possible—for instance, the corridors that run down either side of Main Street and the trail that loops behind Fantasyland and Frontierland.
Disney California Adventure offers far fewer transportation options, unfortunately, but you can catch the Red Car Trolley from its Buena Vista Street stop all the way up to Mission Breakout… that is, when the cars aren’t being coopted by the Red Car Trolley News Boys during their six daily shows. No alternative forms of transportation are currently offered at the park.
3. Make the Disneyland app work for you.
Image: Disney
Here’s one mantra to live by when you visit any theme park: Don’t wait longer than you have to. There are plenty of attractions, shows, and experiences worth waiting for, but you can still cut corners to save yourself some valuable time and energy throughout your trip. The Disneyland app’s most popular perk may be the $10 per-person, per-day MaxPass that allows you to make FASTPASS selections from anywhere within the parks, but it offers a lot of free features as well. Not only can you make dining reservations on the app, but you have access to every restaurant’s menu, pricing, and location within Disneyland and Disney California Adventure. In April, the app rolled out a new feature that allows you to place orders, pay remotely, and pick up your meals at several of the parks’ quick dining locations, too (thus avoiding the 20+ minutes you’d otherwise spend in line before ordering); it’s currently offered at the Gibson Girl Ice Cream Parlor, Jolly Holiday Bakery Café, Bengal Barbecue, Hungry Bear Restaurant, Red Rose Taverne, and Galactic Grill. In Disney California Adventure, that option expands to include Clarabelle’s Hand Scooped Ice Cream, Award Wieners, Flo’s V8 Cafe, Pacific Wharf Café, Lucky Fortune Cookery, Cocina Cucamonga Mexican Grill, Paradise Garden Grill, Corn Dog Castle, and Smokejumpers Grill. You’ll still have to wait
If you don’t have a smartphone or don’t want to run up data fees while you’re out and about, you can still make sit-down dining reservations in advance on Disneyland’s website and configure your plans to allow for frequent trips to the FASTPASS kiosks throughout the parks.
4. Plan your day around parade times.
Image: Scottb211, Flickr (license)
Few things are more frustrating than trying to book it to your next FASTPASS or dining reservation and getting inadvertently caught in one-way traffic around Main Street and Buena Vista Street. Thankfully, this is an entirely avoidable nuisance as long as you remember three simple things: at Disneyland, the parades run at 3:30 PM and 6:00 PM, and at Disney California Adventure, it runs at 8:50 PM. The Disneyland parade route begins by “it’s a small world” at 3:30 PM and runs all the way around the Matterhorn Bobsleds, through the right side of the Hub (facing the castle), and down Main Street to its endpoint at Town Square. It reverses that route for the 6:00 PM parade, though it’s worth noting that on the days where only one parade runs, it follows the original route. In DCA, the evening parade starts over by Boardwalk Pizza & Pasta, moves through the park to Hollywood Land, and ends up right by Mission Breakout—essentially cutting the park in half.
As long as you avoid, say, booking a lunch reservation at Café Orleans at 2:45PM and a FASTPASS for Space Mountain at 3:40 PM, you should be in fine shape to dodge the worst of the crowds. Should you still want to take in some of the sights without the hassle of camping out for a good spot, however, read on…
5. Make strategic dining reservations.
Image: Ken Lund, Flickr (license)
If you’ve visited Disneyland before, you know the worst of the crowds come out for the evening shows and fireworks displays. Main Street becomes a madhouse, and it’s near-impossible to “swim upstream,” so to speak, in order to make it over to Fantasmic! in Frontierland right after the fireworks end—not only because of the enormous mass of guests trying to exit the park, but because cast members need to direct foot traffic in one-way lanes around the Hub.
One of the best ways to minimize stress here is to make strategic dining reservations that grant you quick and easy access to some of the viewing locations for the fireworks and/or evening shows. For example, you can book a table at Carnation Cafe on Main Street for 8:15 PM, then walk out to the center of Main Street at 9:00 PM and all but guarantee yourself a prime spot to watch the fireworks at 9:30. You’ll have avoided the rush of parkgoers around the Hub, the long (and often chilly) wait on the sidewalks, and cut down your wait time from 1-2 hours to just 30 minutes.
You can do the same thing with a reservation at any New Orleans Square spot for Fantasmic!, which has two showings at 9:00 PM and 10:30 PM (in this case, it’s recommended that you enter the park and immediately take the train from Town Square to New Orleans Square rather than struggle through the crowds on foot). In Disney California Adventure, your best bet is to grab dinner at one of the many dining options in Pacific Wharf or the large terrace linking Boardwalk Pizza & Pasta with Paradise Garden Grill. Both will keep you in relatively close proximity to the World of Color viewing areas, though it’s worth noting that the show isn’t scheduled to return to Disney California Adventure until the end of 2018.
Have any of these crowd-busting tips helped make your trips to Disneyland run more smoothly? What would you add to the list? (For tips on how to avoid crowds at Walt Disney World, check out Jett’s list here.)
