My practical tips for a day at Disneyland

Every time we go to Disneyland we learn something new.  This is what's really neat about social media.  I can share what I've learned so that you can have the best possible trip just by doing some research!  Here are some of my best tips for a family going to Disneyland.

Always wear a back pack.  In it you'll be able to comfortably stow everything you need for the day.

Take a sweatshirt for evening time.  It does get cooler after the sun goes down.

You can bring food into the park.  As long as there's no glass containers you are good to go.  Bring your kids healthy snacks from home, buy a few extra boxes of granola bars and dump them into your suitcase or bring a few special treats for children with awesome behavior.  Any way you slice it, food from home is a financial win.

Waiting in line with a box of crackers

One our last few trips we've learned to take a water bottle or two into the park.  It rides on the side of the back pack.  It has been said that Disneyland fountains have some of the tastiest and best treated water anywhere.  Sometimes we take little single serve flavorings for water even the children will drink enough of.

At any walk up, counter service restaurant you can also as for a cup of water free of charge.  They are happy to give you one for each of your party.  Let's face it, eating out 2 meals a day is expensive and adding the cost of drinks is often just not necessary.
 
We always try to do breakfast at our hotel.  Some hotels we've stayed at like the Ramada Maingate have a breakfast included in your room.  If that's not a part of the accommodation we've had good success at bringing a selection of breakfast bars or granola bars and eating those for breakfast on our way into the park.

Breakfast at the Ramada Maingate

Buy your autograph book right when you get into Disneyland.  On both sides of the entrance tunnel there are little kiosks that sell the wide selection of autograph books.  Our girls have always had one at each trip for all the autographs and matching photos that they're bound to collect throughout our visit.  These books have proved to be priceless keep sakes.

Disneyland is tough on little people who try and stay awake for the whole day.  Strollers have a special place at Disneyland too.  You may think they are a great big nuisance but there is a parental code of honor at Disneyland with regards to strollers.  You can park your stroller outside of pretty well every attraction in a stroller parking section.  While your stroller is parked and you are off enjoying a magical Disney experience, it is virtually guaranteed that your stroller will not be touched nor will anything go missing from it.  It's crazy I know, but this is the code of honor.  I have seen cameras left on the top of a stroller, stuffies, blankets, you name it... if its on your stroller, its not touched.

The other thing about strollers is that you'll need one in Disneyland for far longer than you need one anywhere else in town.  Karly had a stroller right up to age 6.  I fondly recall a trip where she was wearing a pink dress and had fallen asleep in the stroller in the middle of the day.  People would walk buy and say "look there's Sleeping Beauty."

Disneyland has a neat program called Photopass.  You can go up to any one of the Photopass photographers that are located all around the parks, especially near scenic views and ask them to take a photograph of you.  They will take a photograph of your family and scan it onto a plastic card for you to look at the photos when you get home.  From there you can buy the photos if you like what you see.  What's not as well known in that the Photopass photographers will also take a photo with your camera as well.  They're quite happy to do both for you.

Other tiny tips are to wear comfortable walking shoes, take sunscreen and have a great time!

My Sister in Law Kerri, a newbie Disney pro, has come up with a few important tips herself:

1. Remember to take photos for autograph albums horizontally. You'd mentioned this before and saved me lots of cropping time! Who wouldn't take vertical photos of the princesses and their dresses?!?!
 
2. Take a large/thick sharpie for autographs. The characters with big mitts... Mickey, Minnie, Donald, etc. can hold onto them easier than pens.
 
3. Take Disney souvenirs with you to give your kids vs paying park prices. We had the princesses and Minnie "leave" our girls presents in our hotel room each day and it cut out a lot of "I wants" while in the park!