When my girls were two and four, we took a three day trip to Disneyland and California Adventure in Anaheim, California. It’s the most magical place to take little kids, and we had so many great moments that I’ll never forget. I didn’t feel torn between Disneyland vs Disney World since I grew up in LA and know Disneyland so well. I want to share my experience at the Magic Kingdom with my girls. I’ll share the rides and activities they loved, and why we chose the Disneyland Park over Walt Disney World resort. I should mention that I’ve never actually been to Disney World, but Los Angeles sounds so much easier. If you’re planning a Disney trip are are in between Disneyland vs. Disney World with small children, I’d urge you to consider California since it’s easier to navigate. 

Why We Chose Disneyland vs Disney World

Disneyland is the original park and is, in my opinion, a better option for young kids. Sure, it’s not as big, but the Disney Magic is still magical at all Disney theme parks. Now keep in mind that I’ve never been to Disney World, but the California parks are a much smaller size and seem a lot more approachable. The biggest difference is the size and number of attractions. The Disneyland Resort is approximately 0.8 square miles vs the larger Walt Disney World Resort in Florida which is about 43 square miles which is a major difference. If you’re planning a first Disney trip with young children, Disneyland is a great start. You can easily knock the park out in one day. 

The thought of a week at any amusement park sounds not great (like a nightmare) to me, and the smaller park means a shorter trip, and spending less money. I’m going to do my best to cover all of your questions about Disneyland resort hotels, naps, waiting for rides, and what rides my kids loved. 

So here’s my complete guide to spending a few days at Disneyland with young kids. 

A Guide to Each Disney Lightning Lane Pass at Disneyland

Which one is worth it?

Read the Post

Disneyland vs Disney World

Since I grew up in California and have only been to Disneyland, it felt really nostalgic taking my girls there. I know the parks very well so navigating our way around was quite easy. I also don’t exactly politically align with Florida, and have zero desire to go there. Nothing against anyone who lives in FL – I just strongly prefer Southern California. 

Disneyland is significantly smaller than the parks in Florida. And while I have zero experience with Disney World, everyone I know who has gone has stayed a full week. Three days was more than enough (we could have done two) so with younger kids, I really do think California would be a lot easier. 

My 4 year-old also  loves Nightmare Before Christmas. The Haunted Mansion in California is completely redone in Nightmare Before Christmas style for the holidays. Both girls loved it! 

Disneyland vs California Adventure

If you’re in-between the two parks, I would choose Disneyland. I just love walking down Main Street. But it was always our plan to go to both, mainly to experience Pixar Pier. My girls love Toy Story, so so missing it wasn’t an option. But I would love to get them to Toy Story Land at WDW someday. 

Disney California Adventure park has some great options for adults and older kids. And it’s got that west coast flair. Ha. There were a lot of rides we could and would not do with two young children, and I’m pregnant so there were a lot of rides that were off-limits for me, too. 

Where to Stay

Disneyland has 3 on-site hotels to choose from. There’s The Disneyland Hotel, Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel and Disney’s Paradise Pier Hotel – all are within walking distance to the parks. We just walked through Downtown Disney District and we were right there. And bonus – we could pick up Starbucks on the way. This was my first time visiting Disneyland in about 15 years and my first time staying at one of the Disney Resort hotels. Growing up in CA, I would just drive to Anaheim for the day as a child. We wanted to be on-site  for our first trip. Staying at a property hotel also gets you into the park 30 minutes early for rope drop.

I chose The Disneyland Hotel since it’s less expensive than the Grand Californian, and I wasn’t crazy about the lodge decor anyway. We stayed in one room with two full beds, and each shared a bed with one of the girls. I didn’t love it, and I know there are perks, like the Magic Hour where you get early entry to the park. It’s only 30 extra minutes, and we’re not early risers.

For our next two trips, we stayed at the JW Marriott Anaheim which I found to be much nicer. Non-Disney hotels are much more my vibe, and we paid $200-300 less per night. We payed for a ticket and just drove to the park, which was honestly really nice at the end of the day. 

Planning Your Trip

When purchasing a park ticket, a park hopper multi-day ticket is a great way to experience both parks. We bought multi-day tickets with park hopper, and added Lightning Lane tickets to each day. When you schedule your park reservations, you’ll be able to choose which pass to add on to each day. You’ll avoid waiting in long lines for all Lightning Lane rides, which is so worth it. I’d recommend the Premier for one day, and the basic one for your second day. 

Our Experience with DAS

For those who asked, yes, we did quality for DAS (the disability pass) for our trip back in 2022 since my daughter had just finished cancer treatment. We did not use this on our most recent trip, and opted for Lightning Lane passes. If you have a child with any physical or sensory issues, I would recommend looking into DAS. I just went to the Disney site and video chatted with a live operator who set it up for us. They did need to see Margot and take her photo, but I handled the rest. 

Disneyland with young kids

We brought our Valco snap duo trend and I cannot imagine having had any other stroller with us. Traveling with a larger stroller is definitely different than traveling with a yo-yo, but Margot napped in the stroller (Kate doesn’t do that) and the basket and canopies were needed. You could rent a stroller, but I would not recommend this for younger children if you have a comfortable double stroller. Just make sure your stroller is on the list of Disney approved strollers. 

I brought and extra outfit, sweatshirts, jackets, water bottles, and snacks to the parks for the kids each day. And I used these stroller hooks to hang our backpack and any extras. We used Margot’s backpack but I wish I had gotten this for the trip.

My phone, wallet, and hotel key was in this crossbody. I wore jeans or leggings and sweatshirts from The Great every day. The biggest outfit mistake was bringing my Vejas. They’ve never felt uncomfortable prior to this trip but I’ve never done 3 days of that kind of walking in them. My feet were pretty sore – I should have brought these. 

You can see the girls’ outfits here. I probably went a little overboard, but ended up buying a handful of outfits for the trip, and they really loved them. The minnie ears were purchased at the park along with Kate’s Mickey and Minnie. 

Our schedule with a 2 and 4 Year Old

The first day, we drove in from Santa Monica, so we weren’t in the park until closer to 11AM and left at 3:00. I wouldn’t normally plan such a short day but we had 2 more days there, and I knew they’d be longer ones. It was my hope Kate would nap on the car ride back to the hotel, and she did. Margot no longer naps, so we just stayed at the park all day. One of the days, we got lunch at La Brea Bakery (wouldn’t recommend it) just outside of the park. 

The other two days, the girls were up at around 6AM (CA is 2 hours ahead of IL) and we went to the park at 8AM. We picked up Starbucks for breakfast since it’s on the way at Downtown Disney. Day 2 was spent at the main park with friends. We started in Fantasyland and spent most of our time there, working our way to Tomorrowland for Autopia, Buzz, and lunch. At that point, Conor took Kate to the hotel for a nap. We had Kate back at the hotel for bedtime at around 6/6:30, and I stayed at the park with Margot for a while longer. 

On our last night, we stayed until 9:30 to see the fireworks but sadly, they were canceled. Margot fell asleep in her stroller at around 8:30, so I let her rest, and never woke her to see them. 

Our Schedule with a 5 and 7 Year Old

Since we had our Premier Lightning Lane pass one day (which was a huge addition to the cost of our theme park tickets) we were able to get a lot done. The second day, I booked the more affordable pass, and it was still a great experience. I wrote an in-depth post about both passes, and would highly recommend getting lightning lane passes when visiting any Disney park. Our trip was so much fun! We definitely needed a stroller since it’s a lot of walking, but they went on slightly more adventurous rides, we didn’t have to worry about naps, and they loved pin trading! 

Planning your days

Since I know the parks so well (like to the point that I can tell you where every single ride is within each land), I didn’t really plan. But – I knew that with two very young children, we would want to start with the simplest rides in Fantasyland. I would do this with any child under 6. 

The Best Rides for Toddlers

Casey Jr. Train
Dumbo
Small World
Teacups
Jungle Cruise
Little Mermaid
Carousel
Peter Pan is one of our favorite rides

(she was napping when we went on Winnie the Pooh but would have loved it)

Great Rides for Ages 4+ (and Adventurous Kids) 

Margot is a bit of a daredevil. If she had been tall enough, she would have gone on the Matterhorn bobsleds and she told me she knew she could handle space mountain but didn’t meet the height requirement. She was tall enough for big thunder mountain railroad but we didn’t bother going on since Kate and I couldn’t join. She did say Pirates of the Caribbean was “a little much” but still liked it. We watched most of the rides on Youtube before visiting so she knew what she wanted to go on. 

My daughter LOVED Star Wars Rise of the Resistance at age 7. She’s never even seen Star Wars but said it was one of her favorite rides. 

The best rides for Little Kids

Small World
Teacups
Alice in Wonderland
Dumbo
Autopia
Haunted Mansion
Winnie the Pooh
Both Toy Story rides (there’s one at each park)
Jungle Cruise
Emotional Whirlwind at CA adventure
Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway

The Worst Rides for Little Kids

Any/all fast rides. Most of those start at 42″ anyway and Margot is about 40.5″. 

Pinocchio is dark and scary. I forgot how scary. Margot had her head in my lap the entire time. Kate was napping and did not join us. We really avoided most physically dark rides for Kate. 

Pirates. And I’d only do Haunted Mansion during the holiday months if your child happens to like Nightmare Before Christmas. 

The Best Place to Meet Disney Characters

Meeting Minnie and Mickey Mouse was a highlight for both girls. When walking into the park, if you go under the tunnel on the right, there are usually characters off to the back right (right when you walk in). We saw Mickey Mouse, Pluto, Goofy, Donald Duck, and both Chip and Dale there. 

We had some luck just running into characters throughout the park. There’s also a spot straight outside of Small World where we saw Mickey and Minnie. 

If you want to meet princesses, there is a round building outside the castle (on the left if you’re looking at the the Sleeping Beauty Castle). Margot’s life was made when she met Rapunzel there. And the Toy Story characters were in Pixar Pier – another huge hit.

And I cannot stress this enough. Do. Not. Miss. The. Parade! 

The Food

Dining options are…not great. But it’s theme park food so I didn’t expect much. Our only good dining experience was at the Club 33 lounge in California Adventure. One of my oldest friends happens to be a member and met us there for dinner.

We had pizza from Pizza Planet and chicken tenders from Galactic Grill in Tomorrowland. Neither were great, but the kids didn’t seem to mind. One of our days there, I picked up peanut butter and jelly at Starbucks and brought that in (which is allowed) and I always had applesauce pouches and other snacks for the girls. 

There are a few stands with bananas and fruit, so there are healthy options to choose from. But the dole whips (outside of the Tiki Room), churros, and other treats are all so good. 

Character meals are very, very expensive and just didn’t feel worth it when you can see characters in the park. And with the pandemic, I’m just not there yet anyway. 

Would I recommend taking young children to Disneyland? 

To the mom who asked if i would go with just a  2.5 year old, I don’t think I would, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t. If your child knows and loves all the Disney characters and can really verbalize their likes and dislikes, sure. My daughter was great about telling us what she did and did not want to do, and what was “too cary” (scary) so I knew what worked for her.

I think everything is easier closer to age 4, and really don’t want to travel until our youngest is 3. Our 4 year-old did great on both flights and adjusted so well. That’s not to say that our 2 year-old wasn’t amazing, because she was. It’s harder for them to sit still and some rides seem scarier, but she had the best time. Just start slow and simple with the little ones. Even when you’re exhausted, watching all the magic through their little eyes is truly one of the best things you’ll ever do as a parent. 

And now that I’ve been with a 5 and 7 year old, I know how much more fun it can be, and how much easier it is. Disney is so expensive, so I wouldn’t bother with a child under 3 or 4 unless you live in CA or FL. 

This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase something using my links, I may earn a small commission at no cost to you.