First Time Disneyland Trip this April!

[Dulcee]

Hi Disneyland Pros!
I reached out a few months ago and you all were SO helpful — thank you! I got sidetracked planning our holiday trip to Disney World, and now our first ever Disneyland trip is sneaking up on me. I would LOVE any thoughts, tweaks, or suggestions you might have!

Travel Party

• 2 adults
• 3 kids (11, 7, 5)
• We’re Disney World pros
• All the kids are adrenaline junkies
• None of us have ever been to Disneyland!

Monday, April 14

• Flying in from the East Coast
• Landing at SNA around 2:00 PM
• Picking up rental car
• Tentatively planning to drive to Newport Beach / Balboa Pier so the kids can run off energy + grab an early dinner
• Then heading to Anaheim

We’re staying at DoubleTree Suites on South Harbor Blvd (traveling for my work conference).
Hoping to be in bed by 7:30/8:00 PM because of the time change

Wednesday, April 15 – Disneyland

Plan:

• Walk to the parks
• Arrive 30–45 minutes before the official opening
• We’ll have Lightning Lane Multi Pass

Thinking:

• Fantasyland first
• Grab LL for Space Mountain or Indy ASAP
• Then Tomorrowland or Frontierland
• Quick service lunch (any must-prioritize QS spots?)
• Adventureland after lunch
• Stack LLs for the evening
• Hotel break around 4 PM (I’ll check in for the conference while everyone rests)
• Back to Disneyland for the evening

Would love QS dinner recs too!

Thursday, April 16 – No Park Day

• Everyone sleeps in (except me conference at 8 AM)
• Storytellers Breakfast at 10 AM
• Kids + dad head to Downtown Disney (Lego shopping!)
• I’m in sessions until 4:30
• Conference-sponsored party with Mark Rober from 5:30–6:30 (kids are SO excited )
• Possibly drive to Seal Beach for dinner after

Friday, April 17 – DCA

• Rope drop
• Head straight to Cars Land
• Start stacking LL including some for evening

After Cars Land… where would you go next?

Plan:

• QS lunch in park (recommendations?)
• Head to conference center so kids can check out expo center
• I have sessions 1:30–3:30
• Pool time or nap break
• Back to DCA around 4:30
• Hopefully World of Color this night!

🎟 Saturday, April 18 – Park Hopper Day

• I have sessions 8–10 AM
• Then joining the family
• Hopper day to hit whatever we’ve missed

We have a tentative Blue Bayou reservation at 3 PM. I keep hearing it’s worth the time — thoughts?

Hoping to catch Paint the Night this evening as well!

Sunday

Leaving hotel around 5:45 AM for a 9:00 AM flight out of LAX back to the East Coast.

 

[China Expat]

Looks fine!

 

[LKing]

We’re staying at DoubleTree Suites on South Harbor Blvd (traveling for my work conference).
Hoping to be in bed by 7:30/8:00 PM because of the time change

What time do you want to be at the hotel? It can take 30-60 min to get from Balboa to your hotel depending on what time you leave. Sounds like the first day is flexible. How early are you planning your early dinner?

• Then Tomorrowland or Frontierland
• Quick service lunch (any must-prioritize QS spots?)
• Adventureland after lunch

Quick service around Frontierland and Adventureland - Bengal BBQ is very popular. You'll want to mobile order earlier in the day. Rancho del Zocalo has plenty of seating and might be a good option. Golden Horseshoe and Stage Door are basic park food (ex. chicken tenders). You can bring food from other places into Golden Horseshoe. It is a good place to go if you need air conditioning or if it is raining outside. If the bottom is full, walk upstairs. If your kids are adventurous, maybe Tiana's Palace.

After Cars Land… where would you go next?

Depends on how much time you spend in Cars Land. If you are just walking through to do RSR, I would go to Pixar Pier and do Incredicoaster and Midway Mania before they get crowded. If you are going to spend time in Cars Land, check out the stores, go on Luigi and Maters, etc., I would grab LL for Guardians, Incredicoaster and Midway Mania. For Monsters Inc, ask for a buddy pass. It is like single rider but you go in groups of one or two.

• QS lunch in park (recommendations?)

You'll be there during the Food & Wine Festival. I would look at the restaurants in San Fransokyo or Paradise Gardens & Boardwalk Pizza. Both have lots of seating but it can be crowded from approximately 11:30-2. Mobile order. Have one person looking for a table while the other is picking up food. Pyms might be fun. Again, one person needs to look for seating while the other is ordering food.

We have a tentative Blue Bayou reservation at 3 PM. I keep hearing it’s worth the time — thoughts?

For some people this makes their trip. Personally, I don't think it is worth the price. If you aren't sitting waterside or close to the water, it feels like any other restaurant. I think it will be a nice 3 pm break in your day. Only you can tell if the menu and cost is worth it.

Sounds like a great trip!

 

[Kit Jackson]

The plans looks good to me. If you weren't already going to, I would suggest going back to CarsLand at night after the sun sets just to see it all light up with the neon. It's worth it.

 

[twodogs]

Do you have a special ticket that only allows park hopping on one day? Usually multi-day tickets are all PH or no PH.

 

[irlandaise]

Do you have a special ticket that only allows park hopping on one day? Usually multi-day tickets are all PH or no PH.

I wondered that, too. You can add Lightning Lane to select days of a multi-day ticket, but the Park Hopper option is all or nothing.

 

[MonocularVision]

A bit off-topic, but I am curious: did you use ChatGPT or some other AI tool to generate any of your itinerary? The emoji and bullet points are typically indicative of that. No shade at all if you did, love using it for all sorts of things.

 

[hsmamainva]

Just have to post.

We are also going on our first Disneyland trip in April! Our dates are very similar. We fly in from Virginia on the 14th. Even have Blue Bayou dinner reservations on April 18th — my daughter’s birthday. We checkout on the 21st and are heading to Universal for a few days.

Happy planning!

 

[irlandaise]

Just have to post.

We are also going on our first Disneyland trip in April! Our dates are very similar. We fly in from Virginia on the 14th. Even have Blue Bayou dinner reservations on April 18th — my daughter’s birthday. We checkout on the 21st and are heading to Universal for a few days.

Happy planning!

It's so exciting to have people come to this forum who are going to visit Disneyland for the first time! I hope that your family and the OP's family have a great trip.

 

[Dulcee]

A bit off-topic, but I am curious: did you use ChatGPT or some other AI tool to generate any of your itinerary? The emoji and bullet points are typically indicative of that. No shade at all if you did, love using it for all sorts of things.

Hah! I did. I fed my own rambling thoughts and often incorrect grammer to get one that was a little cleaner and easier to read.

And for tickets, we have a mix of the conference tickets that were offered, so it is a bit of a mix and match there. It ended up being a hair cheaper than what we'd get from Disney direct.

 

[LKing]

Hah! I did. I fed my own rambling thoughts and often incorrect grammer to get one that was a little cleaner and easier to read.

I like using Chat GPT to organize itineraries and trips. With Disneyland, I've noticed that it sometimes gets the different parks mixed up. For example, I was looking for the parade route at Disneyland Paris and it gave me the route at Magic Kingdom in WDW.

 

[Dulcee]

I like using Chat GPT to organize itineraries and trips. With Disneyland, I've noticed that it sometimes gets the different parks mixed up. For example, I was looking for the parade route at Disneyland Paris and it gave me the route at Magic Kingdom in WDW.

Oh yeah, it is horrific at actually planning. Many of the models struggle to even keep dates and days of the weeks straight, much less make coherent plans for something as complicated as a Disney trip. I am a big fan of using it to streamline my own writing, as I can get wordy and hard to understand! lol

 

[Pluto468]

Your plan looks good to me! I might consider taking at Uber to/from the park, though, to save time and your feet.

For quick service:

Jolly Holiday
Plaza Inn
Red Rose Tavern
Lots of places in Toontown

 

[NVDISFamily]

As someone who visits Disneyland a lot but also has now made more than a few trips to WDW a few high level and some specific things you may want to look out for that are unique to the OG Mouse House (Disneyland) that you will find unique to our 2nd home on the west coast -

• Quick service is way better in general at DLR. Some must do items that are unique to the DLR that you cant get at WDW (to the best of my knowledge)
  • Ronto Roasters - as long as you don't mind a little spice get the Ronto-less Garden Wrap. My family and I love meat but this thing is delicious. The first time I told my wife we needed to try this I ordered two regular and two of the Ronto-less ones. The Ronto-less ones were consumed quickly by @MrsNVDISFamily and the kids and I was forced to eat the regular ones (which are good).
  • Churros are way better at DLR. Like a factor better than WDW. The best "regular" (non seasonal) churros are at the cones at DCA as they come with a free caramel dipping sauce (the app says you can also buy the sauce but this will be an extra one if your kids really need it).
  • DLR also has better corn dogs and the best ones are at the Castle in DCA. Again if you don't mind some spice, the spicy corn dog at the castle is a family favorite.
  • Monte Cristo - I'm not sure if I've seen these at WDW but they are awesome at DLR. The iconic experience is a water side table at Blue Bayou but for a great quick service option try the Royal Street Veranda
  • Bengal Barbecue has a cult like following at DLR and I know a lot of people wish they would bring something similar to WDW. Not our favorite but it's tasty.
  • Beef Birria Toasted Cheese at Jolly Holiday - it's tasty!
  • The three quick service spots at San Fransokyo Square are all solid with good options
  • Hidden Gem (please keep this secret) - right outside of the DCA entrance to the Grand Call (go left and to the end of the hall) is the quick service version of the Craftsman Grill. Same menu/kitchen as the sit down pool side but you just order and sit at the table. Likely the best pizza at the park, great breakfast burrito, huge nachos. Love that they have one of the few self-service freestyle machines so I can buy a large cup and go nuts and get my fill of coke zero (or sometimes cherry coke zero). Also the sweet treats are some awesome options at you can only get here. We are a big fan of this thing and will usually get at least one to take to the park/room on each trip - https://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2020...butter-blondie-over-at-the-disneyland-resort/
• The cars land Sh-Boom is a great experience that I would try and do. I think they still do it. It's at dusk so the time changes depending on the season. I'd ask the Cars Land CMs and try and experience it if you like great park vibes.
• Characters roam a lot at DLR and can lead to some magical experiences. If you see Mary and Bert hanging out near the carrousel in Fantasyland and see the band walking up, get over there. During our last trip we got to ride with them and the band (plus Peter Pan was on the ride too). They turn down the regular music and let the band play a classic Mary Poppins song. We have also had luck to ride the tea cups with a group of Princesses having a great time in the next tea cup over. That's a less common experience but still something to be on the lookout for. Overall if you like awesome vibes you can have some great random experiences with the characters at DLR

• Recommend you don't LL Runaway Railway if you can get a low wait time. The queue is way better at the version in Toontown.
• Pirates is better at Disneyland and you should not miss it if it's your first trip.
• From your plans, don't recommend LL for Indy. You only save about 10 to 15 min at the start as there is a lot of waiting still in the cave after the LL merge point.