My Best Tips to Sprinkle Some Magic in Your Next Disneyland Vacation

Our family loves to visit Disneyland and we are always on the lookout for ways to make our experience in the park the best it can be. I got away to Disneyland last week and have some tips to share about navigating the park right now including ideas on where to stay, what your morning routine should be, where to eat, and how to get Rise of the Resistance ride tickets.

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There are so many great ways to experience the magic of Disneyland! Here are my tips from my trip to Disneyland last week. Hope they help you when you are planning a trip to the Happiest Place on Earth.

Accommodations

We love staying in a hotel that is close enough to walk to and from Disneyland. On this trip, we stayed at the Residence Inn by Marriott and loved it. The room was actually two rooms with a kitchen/family room area plus a bedroom with two queen beds. The sofa in the family room was a pullout bed. We also loved the big pool area with a nice hot tub, firepits, and a splash pad.

Ticket Reservations

As soon as you know what day you want to go to the park, buy your ticket and reserve the day you will be in the park. Disney Parks are currently restricting the number of people allowed in the park each day and you must reserve a specific day.

Morning Routine

Grab some breakfast at 6:30 am and then start walking to the park. Be sure that right at 7 am you are on the app to get your Rise of the Resistance tickets. Be in line for security right after 7 am, then move through that line and get in the gate line. At 7:30 am, the gates will open and you will scan your tickets and then head to the end of Main Street where you will wait until 8:00 am for the rope to drop. Then head off to your first ride of the day! Go where the lines will be long later in the day. Great rides to go first: Space Mountain, Millenium Falcon, and Indiana Jones.

Dining

Make reservations ahead of time if you want to eat at any of the table service restaurants. If you can’t find an open slot, you still have an opportunity in the park to snag a spot. There are three restaurants in the park that have a QR code at the restaurant. Scan the code and you will be taken to a website where you can make a reservation. For Cafe Orleans, the window for walk-up reservations started at 11:30 am. This is the time you need to go to the website and keep refreshing until you get a time slot.

If you don’t want to hassle with table service, there are some great order at the counter options. My favorite is Docking Bay 7 in the Star Wars area. We also like Bengal BBQ right by Jungle Cruise.

Getting into the Virtual Queue for Rise of the Resistance and Web Slingers

Rise of the Resistance Is at Disneyland and Web Slingers is at California Adventure. You have to reserve a spot for these rides in the app in order to ride them. This begins at 7 am on the dot. Do not be late. 15 seconds after 7 am, the spots will be gone. You can reserve the ride for the park where you will be starting your day.

If you miss out on a spot at 7 am, don’t despair! You have another chance at noon that day.

The Undercover Tourist gives great instructions on how to get into the virtual queue. I also watched this video for more tips on getting a spot in the virtual queue. It seems intense (and it kind of is) but the effort is worth it.

Hopefully, these tips will help guide you on your next Disneyland adventure! Say hello to Mickey for me!