Everything you need to know before going to Disneyland
We just got back from our first trip to Disneyland in over a year and a half and we had the best time ever. Pre-pandemic, we were Disney annual pass holders and would find ourselves at the park two to three times a month. To say we missed the Disney magic is an understatement. It felt so good to get back inside the parks and with Nati hitting the 40 inch mark, she was able to ride pretty much all of the rides!
Current Disneyland Guidelines
With all of the California COVID regulations and updates to Disneyland over the past several months, it is hard to keep up with all of the changes. As much as wanted to rush to Disney the second they announced the parks opening, we decided to wait it out a bit. We are still cautious with the pandemic and want to make sure we keep our family safe.
When Ari said she wanted do to Disney for her birthday, we finally agreed. Danny and I are both fully vaccinated and felt Disneyland was doing their part to reduce capacity in the parks.
To go to Disneyland you’ll need two things:
- A ticket to the park
- A reservation for the day you want to go
As easy as it sounds, park reservations still fill up pretty quickly. The parks are now open to residents outside California but they are still limiting the amount of people they allow in every day. We somehow managed to snag a July 4th reservation but it took about an hour of refreshing on the computer to find a weekend date that worked! Nevertheless, you’ll want to plan ahead to ensure a smooth process when visiting.
As of June, masks are no longer required.
You will see signs throughout the park, as well as notifications on the app, reminding you that Disneyland urges everyone to stay safe, practice social distancing and wear a mask if you are not vaccinated. While we did have our kids bring their masks with them, we did not have them wear them the whole time and no one was around enforcing it either. From what I was told by friends who visited the parks before June, cast members would walk around and ensure mask wearing was enforced at all times. That meant no eating while walking and designated areas were in place where you could only remove your mask when eating.
The lines also look like they are a lot longer than they really are as people are spread more apart and the majority of the lines for rides are outside, rather than inside. I personally found this a lot more comfortable as I would rather wait in a line in open air than inside a ride.
There are currently no fast passes.
It sounds terrifying, but I promise it’s not. I used to rely on fast passes for all of the “big rides” but with the lower capacity within the parks, the lines don’t get too long. If you are planning just one day in the parks and want to get on rides like Splash Mountain, Star Wars, Guardians of the Galaxy, Space Mountain, etc. in one day, that might be a challenge without the fast passes but you can still choose your top 3 “big rides” and likely find success.
I recommend going into the park early to get a head start on some of the more popular rides. Note that if you have a park hopper, you will have to select which park you’d like to go into first, and then you will be able to go into the second park after 1 p.m. Ari and I counted and we were able to get on 13 rides with a one-day park hopper and we felt very accomplished (and tired).
Take advantage of the virtual queues
If you are wanting to get on the new Spiderman WebSlingers ride (at CA Adventure) or Star Wars Rise of the Resistance (at Disneyland) you will need a virtual boarding pass to get into the ride. Disney has set up two times for its virtual queues on its app- at 7 a.m. PST and 12 p.m. PST.
For example, if you are starting your day at CA Adventure, you’ll want to be refreshing your Disney app under the virtual queue 2-3 minutes before 7 a.m. As soon as it prompts you to get a boarding pass, you’ll want those fast fingers to come out to grab one for your part. If you are parking hopping, set a second alarm for just a few minutes before 12 p.m. to get your second pass.
Make sure your passes and tickets are pre-linked to the account before time. If not, this can cause you to lose out on a spot. Seems intimidating but we were able to get boarding passes for both of the rides just by setting an alarm and getting on the app right on time. If you’re traveling with a group, I suggest everyone teams-up to get the passes together.
Food can be ordered through mobile ordering or at restaurants.
When Disneyland first opened they were only accepting food orders through the mobile app. I heard this caused a ton of issues with people not being able to get food and restaurants were running out of food left and right. Luckily, that is not the case anymore.
Many of the snack carts are open and from what I can tell it looked like all the restaurants were open too. The restaurants were still accepting mobile orders (highly recommend still) and in-person orders. Note the lines to order food without mobile ordering were quite lengthy, which is why I recommend sticking to the app. It makes it easy to pre-order your food while you’re still walking around the park or in line for a nearby ride. You select the time frame that works for you and then let the app know that you are there to pick up your oder. No lines, no wait, less hassle.
Where to stay
The prices at the Disneyland hotels are pretty outrageous right now. It’s a must that we stay nearby the parks when we visit and we’ve been staying at the Howard Johnson Hotel & Water Playground for the past several years. It’s an eight minute walk to Disneyland and has a waterpark on the property. The kids absolutely love the water park but note you do need to make a reservation to get in. Reservations are made 30 days in advance of your stay and are made in two hour increments. It’s the perfect way to cool down in the summer heat and the kids have a ton of fun.
The Howard Johnson recently renovated their building 1 and 2 so if you’re looking for a newly renovated room, I highly suggest staying in one of those buildings. For our last stay, we stayed in building 2 and had a view of the garden pool. It was clean, functional and exactly what we needed. If you’re looking for a view of the fireworks, you’ll want to stay at one of the higher up rooms in building 1. Either way, you really can’t go wrong.
You can enter these discount codes to save when booking your next stay!
20% off Disneyland Annual Passholder Discount Corp code: 1000025935
15% off Discount for everyone! Corp code: 1000022077
