Breaking Down Disneyland

I've now been to Disneyland twice in my life.  The first time was in 1988, so I've been itching to get back for a while.  We were fortunate enough to be able to take our kids for Christmas this year, and meet Rachel's parents and her sister's family there.  I don't really remember how much fun I had when I was eight, but I'd be hard pressed to say I had more fun than I did this year.  It truly is the happiest place on Earth.  Here's a few of my observations, for anyone thinking of taking a trip there:

• If you can spend four days in the parks, do it - Disneyland and California Adventure are huge, you really need a couple days in each to see everything at a leisurely pace.  I think you can cover just about everything in three, but that fourth day was nice to knock out some of the "non-ride" attractions, like the Enchanted Tiki Room (although I'd say you could skip this one) and the Disney Jr. Live show (which you could also skip unless you have kids under five).
• TAKE BREAKS  - Can't stress this one enough.  Again, if you're on a budget and have just a day or two, this isn't going to work.  But if you've got the time, get into the park early, take a couple hour break in the afternoon, then go back for the evening/night.  Lines are shorter first thing in the morning, and a lot of the lines for rides for younger kids start to taper off as you get into the evening hours and kids who didn't take a break start to melt down.  I'd recommend taking your break back at your hotel room rather than finding a place to eat in the park, just to avoid the constant stimulation that comes with being in the parks.  You'll also save a small fortune by eating meals outside the park.  Also, taking a full day break in the middle was really beneficial for us.  We went two days, took an off day to shop at Downtown Disney and swim at the hotel, and it was great for the kids to be able to sleep in and not be walking all day.  By the end of the second day, we had to carry both kids out of the park they were so tired.
• Park Hoppers are nice, but not necessary - We paid extra for the park hopper pass, but ended up only using it on that last day to knock out the last few things.  Plus, you really can waste quite a bit of time walking back and forth from park to park.
• The Bug's Life 3D movie is NOT FOR YOUNG KIDS - This show really confused me.  The whole Bug's Life area is really geared towards younger patrons, but the show is decidedly for an older crowd.  I don't want to ruin the surprises for anyone, because it really is an entertaining show, but Jonah was practically in my lap the entire show and screamed more than once.  This is a kid who rode Indiana Jones four times and had no problems handling the bigger roller coasters there.  
• Unless you're staying at a Disneyland Hotel, Magic Mornings only apply at Disneyland - This is written on your ticket, but we missed it anyways.  We got up early to go to California Adventure, but ended up just standing in line to get in for an hour.  We ended up using our Magic Morning the next day at Disneyland, which allowed us to get on a few of the rides that have longer lines (Finding Nemo and Space Mountain) that we weren't able to really do any other day.  
• Unless you're sitting in the front, you won't get that wet on Splash Mountain - This isn't really an issue in warmer months, but the temperature was in the low 50's the whole time we were there.  The cooler temps scared most everyone off of riding it - I never saw a line of more than five minutes to ride it the whole time we were there - and that allowed Jonah and I to ride the ride multiple times without waiting.  
• You will get wet on Grizzly River Run, though - I'd heard this going in, and it's the truth.  We saved this ride for the final ride of the day, and we shed our sweatshirts before riding so we'd have something dry to put on when the ride was over.  
• Even if someone in your party has no intention of riding a certain ride, get them a Fastpass - You can only get one Fastpass per ticket, but one person could use every Fastpass.  Jocelyn wasn't tall enough to ride any of the Fastpass rides, but we used her ticket to get Jonah an extra Fastpass ride, then split our party in half and Jonah would ride twice.  
• Bring a cheap stroller for younger kids - The crowds are too big to bring your doublewide Cadillac Escalade sized stroller.  You'll end up angering everyone around you, and you'll get frustrated yourself with how long it takes you get anywhere.  We picked up an umbrella stroller for Jocie for $20 at Babies R' Us before going down, and it was a lifesaver.  Stroller rentals are $15/day at the park, so we ended up saving $40 by buying one ourselves.  

The Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boutique is expensive, but worth it for young girls - We ended up splurging for the top of the line package, which gets you VIP access to meet some of the princesses without waiting in the insanely long line.  You also get a photo shoot with your little princess in her dress, which Jocelyn absolutely loved.  In addition, every park employee will refer to your daughter as "your majesty" the rest of the day, which was quite awesome.  They do good work too:

For something special for little boys, get them in the Jedi Training Academy - Jonah loved this, and it was free!  The only catch is that kids are selected randomly from the crowd, so you could end up with a really bummed out kid if they don't get picked.  We were fortunate to have Jonah selected during the first training session we attended, though Rachel had to literally pick Jonah up and shake him to get him noticed over the other kids.  But every kid selected gets a chance to cross lightsabers with either Darth Vader or Darth Maul, and Jonah hasn't stopped talking about it since:

• Christmas is an awesome time to visit the park - Between the music playing and the extra decorations, it really is special.  A few of the rides (Jungle Cruise, Haunted Mansion, Small World) change their formats to incorporate holiday themes which makes them different from during other times of the year.  

• No matter what time you show up to the bus stop, your bus has just left - We ended up walking the 6/10ths of a mile back to our hotel just about as often as we took the bus, and it was about the same amount of time.  It just adds to your time on your feet though, which can be problematic if you have small children, grandparents, or are just out of shape.  
• Driving takes a while, but if your kids travel well, it'll save you money - It's a 14 hour drive from Albany if you're lucky to miss LA traffic like we were on the way home (and you can time your trip to make this more likely), but our kids were awesome.  I'm sure the fact that Santa brought them both iPad Mini's for Christmas helped, but they were totally content to listen to music and watch movies most of the way.  We had to fill up five times on the trip, and the average cost of a fill-up was about $50, so we spent less on gas than we probably would have for one plane ticket.  
• You'd be hard pressed to find a better place to spend a vacation - It's one of the few places where everyone, no matter your age or interests, will have a good time.  Jonah loved the rides, Jocie loved the princesses, I was fascinated by the attention to detail and level of professionalism shown by the staff, Rachel loved the atmosphere, and of course as parents we loved the looks of excitement and wonder on our kids faces, something you probably won't get if you take them to the Grand Canyon or Washington D.C. or even Hawaii.  I can't guarantee it won't be 27 years before I visit again.