How to Ride the Most Attractions at Disneyland in One Day
I’ve been going to Disneyland since I was 8 years old. I grew up with Disney in my household ever since I could remember. I remember my mom taking me to see Tarzan in theaters when it came out in 1999 and I loved it. She would put Toy Story on VHS on our TV back in our apartment. I loved every single Disney film growing up and I still do. I never get tired of Disney and Disneyland. My family and I would go to “the park” as we called it at least once a year. I’m lucky enough to live near Disneyland currently, about a year ago I had the opportunity to work as a performer there and I took it. I’ve been working for the park ever since. Needless to say I’ve probably gone to the park now too many times to count.
Since I’ve gone to Disneyland so many times I’ve noticed that there are ways to beat the system so to speak. Disneyland seems to always be busy but, there are ways around the massive crowds. Sometimes there is just no getting around the crowds however, you can only do so much. Christmas season for example is a really hard time to avoid those 60 plus minute lines. Also, depending on the attraction there is no way around waiting in a long line. I’m going to give you some tips and tricks that might help you ride everything in Disneyland.
Get to the Park When They Open
Getting to the park as early as you can is just the first step into riding everything you can at Disneyland. If you get to the park at 8am you can ride all of the attractions that always have a 60 minute or over wait time first like Space Mountain, Indiana Jones Adventure, Matterhorn Mountain, among many others. You can also invest $15 dollars a day, per ticket into buying the Disney Max Pass.
Fastpasses!
Disney Max Pass is definitely handy. This is their online fast-pass system that you can buy through the Disneyland App on your phone and tap on what ride you’d like to ride and when. Since I’m a college student and can barely afford to eat, I usually don’t do that. Max Pass allows you to skip going to the physical kiosk and scanning your ticket like back in the day. Thankfully they still have this system and it’s free, but this can put a stick in the spokes on your trip depending upon your plan for the day. Kiosks are scattered all over the park and some aren’t near their respected attractions.
Let’s say you don’t get Max Pass and you don’t get to the park super early, here is a great way to still ride everything and also, some things to keep in mind in terms of how the loading process works for certain rides.
Certain Rides Load Faster Than Others
You want to ride the fast loading rides first like Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion for instance. Both of those attractions are constantly moving. Pirates of the Caribbean loads two boats at a time, they can move approximately 3400 people an hour if everything goes smoothly. Compared to Space Mountain they can only move up to 1000 people an hour.
After those two rides you can ride Winnie the Pooh which usually has less than a 20 minute wait constantly and if you’d like you can get a fast pass for Splash Mountain at the kiosk if you’d like to be soaking wet the rest of the day. After that I make my way through Adventureland to ride Jungle Cruise since that ride also usually has less than a 30 minute wait. Skip Indiana Jones Adventure for now, trust me.
After Adventureland you have two options, go to Tomorrowland and ride the rides that don’t have a long wait or ride the small rides in Fantasyland. However, both of those lands are usually busy and those Fantasyland rides can only load one car at a time making those wait times really juicy. The best time to go to Fantasyland or Tomorrowland is during a parade. A huge chunk of people stay and watch the Disneyland parade which shows at 3:30pm and 6:00pm every single day. More people watching the parade means less people waiting in lines for rides.
The After-Fireworks Crowd Dump
At this point you’ve probably rode a lot of rides. It’s getting late, you’re getting tired, you’ve been having fun in the park all day. But don’t give up! Get yourself a coffee at the Main Street Starbucks and carry on.
The final step to riding everything at Disneyland is my favorite. At 9:30 pm depending on the day and season the Disneyland fireworks play over Main Street. The fireworks end at around 9:45pm and usually over half of the park leaves. Yes, really! It’s getting late, kids are getting sleepy, and more importantly the crowd that has been there since rope drop is done for the day so over half of the Disneyland crowd leaves. This is the premium time to ride what you missed during the day. Indiana Jones is usually 20 or so minutes, Space Mountain is about 30–45 minutes compared to the 60–90 minute usual wait.
Here are Some Takeaways
Even if you don’t get Disneyland Max Pass it is entirely possible to ride nearly everything in Disneyland even if you don’t get there at rope drop. I like sleeping so I usually arrive early afternoon and do this pattern that you read above. Heading to New Orleans Square first, then making my way either to Fantasyland or Tomorrowland and going from there. Parades and the after firework crowd really helps cutting those wait times down. But you cannot forget the single rider line. As long as certain attractions keep the single rider lines going you can cut a 60 minute wait for attractions like Matterhorn Mountain down to about 10 minutes.
My point is, keep in mind the shows Disneyland offers and how rides load people in and out. This is the best way to maximize your time at Disneyland. Some rides can load people really fast, others don’t. Some rides have two lines and at times one line is faster than the other. Fantasyland rides can only load one car at a time no matter what. There is no fast pass system for Fantasyland so your only hope is to go during a show or before the park closes when not as many people are there.
Disneyland is my favorite place on earth and I’ve made so many memories there. I hope you find this helpful and may you and your family have a magical time at the happiest place on earth.
