How To Avoid Lines At Disneyland - San Diego Mamas (2024)

UPDATE: I have a code for the hotel I recommend staying in with kids! It’s a 5 min walk from the park, has a splash pad / pool, the rooms are nice and it won’t kill your wallet (more money for churros).

The hotel is called The Grand Legacy Anaheim. If you use this link you get 25% off your room. The code is SDMAMAS and it will be pre-loaded if you follow that link.

Looking to visit Disneyland with little kids? You need a plan and I’ve got your back. I have been taking my kids to Disneyland regularly for six years. I have learned a few things I am going to share with you!

Having a plan at Disney will make or break your vacation. Disneyland has the potential to be crowded and hot, and consequently miserable especially if you’ve got little kids with you.

The MOST Important Thing To Avoid Crowds is…

Choosing the right day to go! If you’re reading this, you probably live in San Diego or Southern California and can visit Disneyland whenever you want. Your experience there is going to be SO much better if you go on a day that isn’t crowded. There are many crowd trackers that predict this for you. You can try this one, this one, or this one. I usually check them all before making my reservation.

I also HIGHLY recommend RideMax. I used it a ton when I was first starting out taking my kids to Disney. Now I feel like I have the flow so I don’t need a minute by minute schedule but it is excellent for first timers. It’s about $14 and it aggregates all the Disney ride data to send you to each ride at its least crowded time. You select all the rides you want to ride and then it will make a schedule for you. It’s a better value than Genie + because you only have to pay $14 once for the whole trip not $18/person every time you want to get on a ride.

Do I Need Genie+ and what the heck are Lightning Lanes?

Genie+ and Lightning Lanes replaced the Fast Pass system. Basically you opt into Genie+ for $20 a day and it allows you to make resevations to skip lines if you come back at a certain time. The Lightning Lane service is $18 per ride per person (so about $60 for a family of 4 to ride one ride). No thank you.

If you are going with just adults and have to go on a crowded day, OR you have money to burn, I would say yes get the Genie+. But if you follow all my tips I personally do not find it necessary.

You should note that they purposefully make the standby wait times longer on the app to encourage people to buy Genie+ and Lightning Lanes. I have timed the standby line times against what the app says and they are always 5-10 minutes shorter than posted.

Crowds at Disneyland

Here’s how the crowds unfold at Disney during the day. The parks start out uncrowded. 8-9 will be your best hour at Disneyland. You can get MOST of the rides in during this hour if you plan things right. Crowds start to arrive en force around 10 am, by 12/1 pm all the rides are crowded. 1-4 pm is Disney torture. It’s hot, crowded, and overtired kids who’ve skipped their naps are melting down left and right.

By 5/7 pm, the Magic Key holders show up after work and further gum up the rides. As the night wears on, the crowds thin. From 10-12 pm, the wait times are back to 5 min all over the park, excluding the teenager rides like Space Mountain.

Now that you know what to expect, here’s how to schedule your day.

Do Not Miss Rope Drop

The key to a great Disney day is making it to rope drop. This is when they open the park. They play a little song and count down and it’s a speed walking foot race to ride your favorite rides.

To make it for rope drop, plan to be AT the Disney gates 30 minutes before opening. That means if you don’t have tickets, you’ll need to wake up a little earlier to get them.

Plan on 30-45 minutes to get from the parking structure to the actual park, add 30 min to buy tickets if you need to. So if Disney opens at 8, you will need to be at the parking structure by about 7 to make it in time for the most magical hour of your vacation.

If you’re staying in a hotel, it’s a bit easier to make it to the gates by 7:30 but make sure to buy tickets the night before so you don’t lose time. There are three security entrances, one near the trams, one at the entrance to Downtown Disney, and one right near the Disney gates for the UBER dropoff area and off property hotel guests. The security lines open at 7 am. For the hotel side, we have had good luck showing up around 7:30 and just walking through security and into the gates because the initial crowd has died down.

Rope Drop Strategy

Make a plan once you are at rope drop. I like to bring breakfast and feed everyone during the half hour we are waiting there. I also make sure everyone’s bathroom needs are taken care of so we can go hard from 8-9 AM.

One last rope drop tip: head for one particular ride, but be willing to change gears if you get there too late. For example, one time we wanted to ride Web Slingers first. We got stuck on the wrong side of the rope drop crowd and by the time we got to the ride, the wait was already 80 minutes. This is similar to how long it would be at the peak of the day. Instead of wasting an hour and a half of the best ride times, we skipped our initial attraction and hit 7 different short wait rides in that time.

Later in the day, we doubled back and did Web Slingers. The wait was 60 minutes. The moral of the story: do not use the precious hours of 8-9 AM standing in line. If you encounter a big line (more than 15 minutes), go ride something else and come back to that ride later.

Morning Plan

Aim for popular rides with low ride loads first. In Disney, that’s Peter Pan, Dumbo, Rise of The Resistance, and Mickey’s Runaway Railway. In DCA it’s The Incredicoaster, Radiator Springs Racers, and Web Slingers.

Keep riding rides consistently until wait times creep above 20 min (usually around 11:30/12) and then stop for a leisurely lunch. Now it’s time to watch everyone else wait forever for rides you’ve already ridden!

This is usually the time we go back to the hotel for naps or to the car to take a break. Breaks are key for keeping stamina up at Disney and afternoons are the perfect time!

Break Spots For Afternoon Rest Time

If you can’t or don’t want to leave, find a break spot. My top spots in Disney are the new Toontown play area, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, Tom Sawyer Island, The Mickey Theater on Main Street, or take the Disney train around the park (it’s about 30 min to do a loop) until everyone falls asleep. We also love the little changing window displays at the entrance of Main Street. For DCA, we love killing high wait times in Redwood Creek Challenge Trail or The Animation Academy.

There’s also the parade around this time. Our favorite place to watch is in front of the King and Queen bathrooms near the Alice and Wonderland ride or the shady side of Main Street (on the left as you’re facing the castle).

Around 5 pm, many of the little kid rides will open up again. Just use your Disney app and look for anything with a low wait time that you haven’t already done. This is also a good time to bite the bullet and wait a long time for a ride you’re dying to do. You won’t be missing anything.

Nighttime at Disney

Once night falls, Disney becomes magical all over again! We love the fireworks show and World of Color. For the fireworks, you’ll get the full experience on Main Street, but lately we’ve loved watching from Frontierland near the Star Wars entrance, Fantasyland near Dumbo, Small World, or Tomorrowland. They light the fireworks from Toontown, so anywhere near there will give you a great view.

For World of Color, you have to make a reservation or get there early to get a good spot. We like to watch from underneath the Silly Symphony Swings. You can’t see all the animations, but you can hear the music and see the lights and you aren’t fighting a crowd.

Once the shows are over (or during, if you’ve already seen the shows), it’s a good time to catch up on any rides you missed.

Rider Switch

Rider Switch is a mom of littles’s best friend. Here’s how it works: You tell the cast member you want to use Rider Switch. They give you a return time for you and up to two people. Your party (minus the stroller baby and their guardian) wait in line. Then you come back and give them your return time ticket and the person that stayed off gets to ride. It will have your older kids praising the baby because they get to ride twice!

This used to be way more awesome because they would just hand out return tickets. Our family would hoard them all day and then use them all at peak ride times. Disney got wise (they usually do) and now you have to ride again within the hour AND you can’t hold more than one Stroller Swap pass at once.

Still, I think it’s even better for young families than Genie+ because the kids get to ride twice and many rides let you in through the exit. I also enjoy the alone time I get to have with the kid who stays off the ride. We wander the shops and just play and enjoy Disney together.

More Info!

Need more help? I totally get it, Disneyland is overwhelming and a lot of pressure for moms. I wrote this guide with first time visitors in mind. It will take you from a Disney newbie to a Disney professional and you will 100% make back the money you spend on it by following my money saving tips!

Allow me to introduce myself…

My name is Camille! I am a San Diego stay-at-home mom who is never ever at home. I share a lot of fun things to do around San Diego including parks, restaurants, LEGOLAND, the zoo etc.

My goal with my Instagram account and blog is to make any mom feel prepared for any outing with her kids so that she doesn’t have to stay home unless she wants to. Getting out with my kids was key for me in overcoming postpartum depression so I try to pay it forward by sharing what we do to help other moms in a similar situation.Read more about my story here.

Thanks so much for reading!

If you find any of this information to be incorrect or need updating, please send me an email to sandiegomamas@gmail.com or a DM on Instagram to @sandiego.mamas . There is a reason I chose to call this San Diego MamaS (plural) not San Diego Mama. It takes our whole mom community (which now includes you!) to make sure I can share the most accurate information for your family.

Sharing this post helps the mom behind you and helps my page grow! Please feel free to share this link with any other mom who might need it.

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Planning all the fun for your family is a hard job, let me help you! You can find info on signing up for that below.

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