If you’re planning a trip to Disneyland, here are my tips.

1. Internet access is a must for using the Disneyland app. There is limited wifi throughout the park, but you’re going to need data. I used an e-sim from Airalo, which was easy to set up and cheap – 2 GB of data for $8. Save $3 with a referral code.
2. The Disneyland app lets you check line-ups, find characters, order food, and book Genie+ reservations (if you’re doing that). I recommend connecting it to your credit card before you arrive.
3. We saved some money on food by ordering groceries on our first day. We placed the order while we were waiting for our flight to board and they arrived at the hotel while we were checking in. So convenient! That gave us breakfast and snacks (you can never have enough granola bars) for the week.
4. If you’re spending multiple days in the park (3 worked well for us) add a rest day in the middle. Disneyland days are long and exhausting. It’s nice to just spend a day next to the pool. We had dinner at the Anaheim Packing District, which has a variety of good restaurants.
5. We intentionally visited during a relatively quiet week. Check a few crowd calendars (like this one) that try to predict how busy the park will be and choose the quiet days that still meet your other trip constraints.
6. Stay in a hotel near the park. You want to be within walking distance in the morning. It’s also nice to have the option to come back to rest during the day, but we found the kids recharged better by doing quiet activities within the park, like the animation studio.
7. Arrive early. It’s better to arrive early in the morning than stay late at night. In the morning it’s light out and the lineups are short. Aim to be at the park 30 minutes before opening, so you can get through security and the gates and be closer to the ride areas when the rope drops.
8. Have a rope drop strategy for Day 1. Know what ride you want to go on first and what your first Genie+ reservation will be. For us, with kids in our group, that was Peter Pan’s Adventure and Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway.
9. Genie+ is worth it if you want to go on a lot of rides, especially the most popular ones, and you’re prepared to be on your phone maximizing your day. Read the tips ahead of time. It’s worth noting that Genie+ reservations aren’t entirely wait-free. Sometimes it still took 15-20 minutes to go through the reservation lineup, but the stand-by line would be closer to an hour at these times.
10. Have a list of “must-do” rides and make sure you fit them in. Ahead of our trip, we watched this video that ranked all the rides and opined on which were essential and which were good if the line-ups were short. Our favourites included Space Moutain, Rise of the Resistance, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Incredicoaster.
11. We prepared line-up entertainment (games, apps, puzzle books) but never really used it. The time in line was best used to plan where we were going next, order food, or just look around. The one thing we did use was a bingo card, as a group activity to encourage people to notice their surroundings.
12. The food in the park is expensive, but otherwise pretty good. Most of the restaurants have plant-based options. Some of the themed restaurants (like Docking Bay 7 in Galaxy’s Edge) are worth checking out for the atmosphere alone. Next time I would try to get reservations for Olga’s Cantina.
13. If you’re going to Universal Studios, consider taking the train. It’s a lot cheaper and more relaxing and only takes 30 minutes longer than driving.
14. Hogwarts and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios is awesome and worth the trip alone. To get the kids excited, you can send them an invitation by OWL Post.

Expenses

A week in Southern California is not cheap, and the Canadian dollar was particularly low when we visited. Here’s what our trip for 2 adults and 1 kid cost us (in American dollars).

	Amount (USD)	Notes
Flights	$851.85	$283.95 /person.
Hotel	$1,592.36	$371.55 /night at the Howard Johnson.
Disneyland Passes	$1,501.38	$166.82 /person/day. Includes Genie+ and Park Hopper.
Universal Studios Passes	$339.04	$113.01 /person/day.
Food	$692.74	$38.49 /person/day. Includes groceries.
Local Transportation	$249.22	Airport Shuttle + Univeral Studios.
Souvenirs	$191.84
Total	$5,419.12	CAD $7,586.77