Its not something I thought I would ever do. I remember thinking, before I had kids (famous last words), "I wouldn't take my baby to Disneyland. They won't even remember it."
But then my in-laws generously decided to take our whole family to Disneyland to celebrate my mother in law's 50th birthday, so obviously the conversation changed! There were eight grown-ups and three little ones, ages three and under. I wasn't sure what to expect, but overall it was an amazing trip and I learned a few things along the way.
So if you, or someone you know, have a Disney trip planned with little ones in the near future, these are my top ten tips on doing Disneyland and California Adventure with littles.
1. Bring help (if possible)
Travel with a few friends or family members if it sounds nice to have help with your kids while you're there. We only had three babies and eight adults, but that seemed like the perfect ratio to me. It allowed us to all take turns riding rides, carrying babies when they refused to ride one more minute in their stroller, gave us all a chance to sit down for a meal (at least for a little bit), and helped keep us parents from melting down when our kids were melting down because we could hand them off to the grandparents if we just needed a minute.
2. Adjust your expectations
I felt like I went in to our trip with fairly low/ realistic expectations about how many rides I'd be able to ride, or about doing things that I personally wanted to do. And yet by the end of day two I was surprised at how few things I had done so far, all because my kid needed a nap, or was sleeping when I wanted to take her on rides, or had a blowout right as we were about to meet Tigger and we had to forfeit our place in line. We had five day park hopper passes for Disneyland and California Adventure, which sounds like A LOT of days, and it is, but it really allowed us to take a slower pace with the babies and really fit everything in by the end of day five. *Sidenote: do what you can to help your kiddo get the sleep they need on their trip. They may not sleep the exact same hours at night or for their daytime naps, but do what you can to help them stay rested on the trip. Everyone will be happier. We stayed at a house within walking distance to the park, and that allowed us to take babies home in the afternoon or take them home early at night if we knew that they really needed good sleep.
3. Bring what you need to the park each day, but don't bring more than you need.
Our first day at the parks, we all brought SO MUCH STUFF. Our strollers were packed to the gills. We didn't even use/ eat a lot of what we brought that day (we packed tons of snacks but really wanted to eat in the park, so many fun options)! So the next few days we got smarter about it. We boiled it down to the essentials: a few snacks (for the grown ups and babies), water, sunscreen, hand sanitizer, a diaper bag, maybe a sweatshirt for the evening. If you do bring babies and strollers, you have to park your stroller outside of every ride, so you also don't want too many personal belongings just sitting out there without you (although we had a great experience and never had anything taken from our strollers; however, we also made sure we never left our wallets and phones in our strollers unattended).
4. Bring multiple methods of transportation for your babes.
A stroller is fantastic, until your baby decides they hate it. An Ergo carrier or Solly Baby Wrap is great to help your little babies nap (except for when it is already 90 degrees outside and you have a hot little human strapped to you). For toddlers, a child leash is a great option that allows them to walk without running away from you on Main Street. And again, bring grandparents or aunties and uncles who can carry your babies when none of the above options are cutting it anymore.
5. Take advantage of Rider Switch offered for guests of the park with babies
You can read more about the details of rider switch here, but here's the gist of it. When a ride offers rider switch, it means that your group can split up for a ride (so that a few people are watching the kids while the others ride) without everyone having to wait in long lines. In our case, four of us could approach a Cast Member as we got in line and tell them that we'd like to do rider switch. They would then give us four passes (or however many we needed) for the other half of our group. After we were done, the other four adults could go up to the ride with their rider switch passes and get on the ride without having to wait in a huge line. *Total perk of bringing babies to Disneyland!
6. Find quiet spots in the park to just let your babies play and relax.
On any given day, the main streets of Disneyland and California Adventure can seem really crowded and overwhelming. But Disneyland has plenty of quiet, less crowded areas that are really great for just letting your babies crawl around, or run around without being in a crowd. In most lands there are little quiet areas off to the side with benches and some shade. We found that Critter Country was pretty quiet first thing in the morning, as well as a little area toward the back of Cars Land to the left of Luigi's. We found that sometimes all our babies needed was just to be out of their strollers and free to "play" for a little bit.
7. Go to every air-conditioned show you can!
If you're there during a warm week, sometimes the best way to give your kiddos (and yourself) a break, is to spend some time indoors at a show. Disney Junior Live and Frozen Live are a couple of great shows at California Adventure, and the Enchanted Tiki Room at Disneyland has a cute little show and is a great place to relax with a cup of Dole whip!
8. Follow Magic Kingdom Mamas on Instagram
This is probably one of THE most helpful things you can do! The Magic Kingdom Mamas are two sisters who go to Disneyland once or twice a week with their little ones, and they have made it their mission to help other mamas (and parents) navigate Disneyland and California Adventure with kids! They post pictures, helpful tips, food suggestions, holiday information, and pretty much anything else you would want or need to know it you're planning a trip to Disney with littles!
9. Take lots of pictures
Be THAT MOM. Be THAT DAD. Insist on photo ops. With characters. In front of the castle. On rides. Or literally anywhere. As stressful as parts of your trip might be with all the needs of a little one, there WILL be lots of fun moments and you'll want to remember them. At the same time, there will other moments where you're tempted to take a picture, but you know that simply pausing in the moment and taking a "mental snapshot" will be the thing that allows you to be truly present with your child and bottle up that moment in your heart forever.
10. Enjoy the magic
My daughter is not even one year old, so she won't remember anything. But there are so many moments from our trip that I hope I never forget. The noise that she made when we rode "The Little Mermaid" together. The way she danced during "Frozen" live. The way she lit up when she met "Sofia the First." The look in her eyes as she watched World of Color. The way that she kept trying to kiss Mickey Mouse's nose. And the way she laughed so hard when her daddy and her uncle were playing with her as they walked along Paradise Pier at night.
If you're taking a Disney trip with little ones soon, I salute you! I know how much work it is, and I also know that there will be plenty of sweet moments ahead of you.
To the mom whose toddler is melting down in Toon Town, I see you.
To the dad carrying your sleeping five-year-old over your shoulder out of the park at the end of the day, I see you.
To all the people who are staring at those of us with babies in Disneyland thinking, "Why? They won't even remember it", you don't have to get it. Just smile at us, maybe hold a door open for us if you see us struggling to get our stroller through, and tell us our kids are adorable and that the years fly by and we should soak up every moment.
