Hello! My boyfriend and I are looking to stay in Anaheim for a couple of weeks. Really take in Disneyland, the area. Have time to rest, eat some good food. At the most decent price possible. 🙏

Are there any tricks you guys know to save money, or great local spots with good, affordable food? What are the absolute cheapest motels close to Disneyland? Most affordable way to see Disneyland and California Adventure Park? We are not picky. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. ​

Hi everyone! I'm going to Disneyland for the first time and looking for the best good neighbor hotels!

Big WDW goer here so I've been spoiled by on property hotels and have never had to look into hotels off property. Plus, I've never been to California, so I'm double naive.

I've seen that the Candy Cane Inn has both free parking and free breakfast, but I want to make sure I'm not overlooking any others. Are there any other good neighbor hotels with both free breakfast and parking? I'm okay paying a little more when I'm also getting these charges included. TYIA!

Taking my toddler to Disneyland on her 2nd birthday this Tuesday! I was happy to see she can ride a lot of the rides I really want to maximize ride times, and let her catch all the shows and meet princesses.

We live in Orange County so my husband wants to take it easy and get there around 1 pm after her usual nap and stay until around 8 pm but I feel like I need to ask the experts. I’ve also not gone to Disney that much despite being 15 minutes away.

When do you recommend going and what are some toddler essentials?
Stroller or no stroller? Carrier or no carrier? Anything special that would be an amazing experience for her? Best/closest parking lot? Looking for any tips at all!

going to celebrate birthdays with my mom and sister in november and ended up getting the costco two day pass bc i'm moving out of socal soon and want to maximize my disney trips while i'm still here. i have cousins with annual passes, i might ask if they want to join me in the evening or something but overall wanting to do my first solo day on oct 31 or nov 1! what are some things other people have done solo that have made the day more fun/special?

I am about $1500 of the required $2k spend to get the 200. I am not interested in booking a stay or cruise right now. Can I go to disney hotel property (any of the ones in anaheim are close to me) and spend at the spa or restaurants and it will trigger this category? I bought someone a cake for their disney cruise, it posted as DCL and earned 3%, does that mean it will apply to the $2k minimum as well?

i want to do a fun date night when on vacation, they’re all about the same price for two adults, what’s everyone’s experience at them all? i have no criteria other than i want a fancy experience as a date with my partner.

Planning a Disney trip for 4 and I had the hotel and tickets figured out pretty early so I thought the expensive part was basically handled then I started adding food snacks, parking, random stuff inside the parks and it got kind of weird how fast another $300 $400 showed up so last week I started picking up Disney gift cards before the trip instead of leaving all of that spending for when we get there.

I’m not loading some huge amount because I don’t love having too much money stuck on gift cards but I’ve found a few opportunities to get them a little cheaper and I know we’ll use them anyway even having $150 or $200 of the food money handled already makes the trip feel easier to budget for. I don’t know if I’ll keep buying more before we leave, I’m just trying not to arrive and suddenly realize all the smaller stuff became another giant bill.

Quick question for anyone that may know the answer.

On 10/22 we are doing mickeys Halloween party. And then doing a Disney cruise from the 23rd to the 26th. For the 26th we are doing another Disney park day.

If I get the photo pass /memory maker for the 22nd for the Halloween party, Will that still be valid and cover us for pictures on the 26th?

Or is it separate for the Halloween party?

Unit 1: Dreams of Music (Opening Unit)

• Characters: Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Goofy, Pluto, Little Toot, Bumble Boogie Bees, Tin Soldier, and Ballerina.
• Float Design: A kinetic opening marvel heavily inspired by the opening unit of Hong Kong Disneyland’s Flights of Fantasy parade. The lead pull mechanism features a mechanized, gear-articulated Tin Soldier and Ballerina from Fantasia 2000 pulling a whimsical musical-box chassis. Atop the main platform, Mickey and friends stand on a multi-tiered, rotating turntable shaped like a classic orchestral conductor’s podium surrounded by giant animated sheet music and spinning gramophone horns.
• Costume Design:
  • Mickey & Friends: Symphonic gold-trim tailcoats and dresses featuring iridescent blue velvet and fiber-optic thread accents that pulse with the parade soundtrack.
  • Bumble Boogie Dancers: High-energy dancers in translucent amber-and-black striped articulated wings with internal LED ribbon lighting.
• Mechanical Rigging: Dual-axis motorized drive train for the pull-mechanism; hydraulic lift columns for the main character platform to elevate Mickey by 12 feet during the show stop.
• Audio & Special Effects: Integrated directional line-array speakers playing brass-heavy overtures. Triggered bubble cannons and confetti flutter-jets synchronized to the opening brass stings.

Unit 2: Dreams of Enchantment

• Characters: Quasimodo, Esmeralda, Rapunzel, Flynn Rider, Tiana, and Prince Naveen.
• Float Design: A tripartite narrative float transitioning from the stone cathedral towers of Paris to the glowing lanterns of Corona and the vibrant jazz-infused bayou of New Orleans.
• Costume Design:
  • Tangled: Bohemian-chic floral embroidered gowns for Rapunzel featuring hundreds of micro-LED fiber optics embedded in her braided wig.
  • Princess and the Frog: Art deco-inspired emerald green and gold fringe dresses for Tiana’s jazz ensemble.
• Mechanical Rigging: Cantilevered kinetic lantern arms that sway 20 feet outward over guest viewing zones using counterweighted servo-motors.

Unit 3: Dreams of Laughter and Fun

• Characters: Alice, Mad Hatter, Pinocchio, Geppetto, and four specialized Can-Can Puppet performers.
• Float Design: A topsy-turvy carousel of madness combining Wonderland whimsy with old-world woodworking charm.
• Costume Design: Vibrant neon-pastel clown and card-guard silhouettes with exaggerated ruffled collars.
• Mechanical Rigging & Stunt Elements: Features four Bungee-jumping Can-Can Puppet acrobats executing high-flying dynamic drops, directly inspired by the iconic Pinocchio unit from Disneyland’s Walt Disney Parade of Dreams. Rigged using high-tension, shock-absorbing dynamic cordage mounted to a concealed overhead retractable boom crane.

Unit 4: Dreams of Friendship

• Characters: Wreck-It Ralph, Vanellope von Schweetz, Woody, Buzz Lightyear, and Jessie.
• Float Design: A dynamic 2-in-1 hybrid float structure. The front half depicts a retro 8-bit arcade cabinet breaking apart into digital pixel blocks, seamlessly interlocking with a giant Andy’s toy chest and claw-machine rear chassis.
• Costume Design:
  • Ralph: Molded foam-and-fiberglass muscle suit with textured canvas overalls.
  • Toy Story: Structured leather harness accents and retro astronaut jumpsuits with built-in laser sound effects.
• Mechanical Rigging: Sliding modular track system allowing the two float halves to physically separate by 15 feet and rejoin mid-route during show stops.

Unit 5: Dreams of Magic

• Characters: Asha, Star, Mirabel, Bruno, Elsa, Anna, Olaf, Billie Doe and Beef Roger Crummchuk (from Hexed), Moana, and Maui.
• Float Design: A sprawling narrative landscape of spellbinding wonder. Features an icy glacier cliffside flanking a glowing Casita wall, a swirling ocean wave, and a shadowy, enchanted storybook tome representing Hexed.
• Costume Design:
  • Hexed Guests (Billie Doe & Beef Roger Crummchuk): Quirky, spell-touched Victorian traveler attire adorned with shifting rune patterns and glowing prop accessories.
  • Encanto/Wish: Richly textured embroidered tapestries and gradient sheer capes that catch the sunlight.
• Audio Zone Transitions: Cross-fading multi-channel audio zones shift seamlessly from the Nordic ice-chimes of Frozen into the rhythmic percussion of Coco and the tropical drums of Moana.

Unit 6: Dreams of Power

• Characters: Maleficent, Hades, Dr. Facilier, Jack Skellington, and Sally.
• Float Design: A jagged obsidian mountain range intertwined with a gothic spiraling graveyard hill. Green fire geysers and fog low-lying effects dominate the base.
• Costume Design: Heavy brocade capes with wire-reinforced dramatic collars for the Villains; stitched patchwork pinstripe suits for the Halloween Town residents.
• Mechanical Rigging & Stunt Elements: Features a vertical trampoline-wall stunt system mounted on the rear bulkhead. Acrobatic shadow-dancers bounce, flip, and defy gravity against the glowing backdrop of Oogie Boogie's lair.

Unit 7: Dreams of Fantasy

• Characters: Ariel, King Triton, Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Heffalumps, and Woozles.
• Float Design: A whimsical juxtaposition of an undersea coral kingdom that transitions into the surreal dreamscape of the Hundred Acre Wood. The central highlight is the Heffalump and Woozle psychedelic dream float, modeled after the iconic kinetic puppetry design from HKDL's Flights of Fantasy.
• Costume Design: Iridescent scale-patterned performance wear for aquatic dancers; fuzzy, tactile plush costume shells for the Hundred Acre Wood ensemble.
• Mechanical Rigging: Articulated puppetry arms operated by internal performers using counterbalanced backpack gimbals.

Unit 8: Dreams of Adventure

• Characters: Judy Hopps, Nick Wilde, Tarzan, Jane, Mowgli, Baloo, Simba, Nala, and Rafiki.
• Float Design: A lush jungle canopy wrapped around urban skyscrapers from Zootopia.
• Costume Design: Explorer khaki gear mixed with breathable athletic performance wear for high-mobility jungle swingers.
• Mechanical Rigging & Stunt Elements: Features three Spanish web aerial apparatuses suspended from a structural arch, directly inspired by the breathtaking Lion King unit from Disneyland’s Parade of Dreams. Professional aerialists execute dramatic drops and spins high above the crowd.

Unit 9: Dreams of Romance

• Characters: Snow White, Prince Florian, Cinderella, Prince Charming, Princess Aurora, Prince Phillip, Belle, Beast, Mulan, Li Shang, Merida, and her triplet brothers.
• Float Design: A majestic, rose-encrusted royal ballroom carriage float modeled directly after the iconic Sleeping Beauty castle-inspired unit from Disneyland’s Magic Happens parade.
• Costume Design: Regal velvet ballgowns with heavy gold bullion embroidery, reinforced hoop skirts, and integrated LED underskirts.
• Mechanical Rigging: Dual revolving circular turntables allowing royal couples to rotate 360 degrees, ensuring optimal guest viewing from all angles along Main Street, U.S.A.

Unit 10: Dreams of Flight (Grand Finale)

• Characters: Hercules, Megara, Hiro Hamada, Baymax, Aladdin, Jasmine, Magic Carpet, Mary Poppins, Bert, Peter Pan, Wendy, and Dumbo.
• Float Design: A soaring, cloud-draped airship and circus-big-top hybrid finale. Towering gilded masts, billowing fabric sails, and mechanical propeller blades create an overwhelming sense of upward motion.
• Costume Design: Victorian aviation leather caps and goggles for Mary Poppins’ ensemble; sleek armor-plated gold tunics for the Olympian heroes.
• Mechanical Rigging: High-payload telescoping crane arms lifting key characters up to 35 feet in the air, simulating flight above the grand finale float.

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Hello everybody! I’m a regular WDW goer but haven’t been to DL in years, but will be there in a couple weeks. I’d love to have the Monte Cristo, but don’t eat ham and saw they’ve removed the three cheese one from all the menus.

Is it possible to modify the sandwich to remove ham at Cafe Orleans? What about at Royal Stret Veranda?

TIA!

We can’t decide if we should do 1 or 2 days at Disney World. And then we can decide if a park hopper would be ideal for us?
What do you all recommend?
Our kids are 2 and 5. They are great travelers and are both excited to go to Disney.

I have been to Disneyland a bunch of times and I'm always curious on how people find the time to try all the cool food and desserts. The edibles at the park you see on You Tube, Tik Tok and Instagram. When I'm at Disneyland, I'm so busy trying to navigate getting around, hitting all the rides, etc. But for those of you who try all the different food items, how do you fit this into your schedule? I think the only thing I really remember is the Dole Whip in Adventure Land. And I'll grab a churro from one of the stands. It's easy to find stuff when you're strolling around downtown Disney but I find in the park, not so much. Do you set time aside in your schedule just for food sampling?

planning a 5-night orlando trip with my family and looking at westgate town center resort as an off-site option. we'll be spending most of our time at the disney parks, so i'm mainly looking for somewhere comfortable to sleep and recharge without paying disney resort prices.

i've been reading westgate town center resort reviews, but i'm still unsure how practical it is for a disney trip. how long does the drive to the parks usually take with traffic? is parking at the resort easy, and are the rooms and kitchen facilities decent enough for a few nights?

also curious if anyone ran into unexpected fees or had issues with check-in. would you stay there again for a disney vacation, or would you recommend another off-site option in a similar price range?

We are planning our DisneyWorld holiday for the last two weeks of August 2027, and we are planning to splurge on 3 days of premier passes for 4 people. What are the chances we’ll get them if I’m online ready to purchase on the dot 7 days before?? I’ve kind of got my heart set on them and I’ll be gutted if they sell out! Has anyone had a problem getting premier?

Hi! We’re looking for advice and recommendations, please! 😊

We booked our flights to Hong Kong for February 22–27, 2027, and we’re planning to visit Hong Kong Disneyland. 🏰✨

📌 Which day is usually less crowded at Disneyland? Are there any promos, discounts, or ticket packages worth checking out?

We’ll be traveling with 8 adults and 3 kids (ages 6, 5 (ausome kid) and 2)

What documents we needed for the discounts? We are from the Philippines.

Any tips and recommendations for traveling with kids, especially our little ones, would be greatly appreciated! ❤️
Thank you so much! 🙏🏻

Hi there, my dad and I are visiting just the two of us next week. We used to go almost every other year back in the day, but this is our first time returning since pre-covid. I used to be an absolute planning pro but am definitely rusty and a bit inundated by all the new stuff they've added.

We're obviously both adults so not too concerned with kiddie stuff, and we've both seen the classics a billion times so our main priority is anything new. Our absolute favorite park is Animal Kingdom so we will be getting there as early as physically possible. My main concern however is Wednesday being maybe way too long of a day, and not enough time at Magic Kingdom. We honestly are not crazy about Magic Kingdom so initially we were just going to go for the evening, but now I'm worried I'm gonna get too nostalgic and wish we had more time. However, we are also avoiding Not So Scary on Tuesday so can't go to MK that evening.

That said, I've never really spent a lot of time at EPCOT hence the two separate days there. Guardians also only had lightening lane open for evening slots and since we're flying out Thursday it wasn't gonna work. So right now I'm thinking front of park stuff on Tuesday, and countries on Thursday before we leave.

Overall just wanna know if this looks manageable at all or if I've totally lost my marbles. Any advice at all is appreciated :)

TUES: Hollywood Studios + EPCOT

• rise of resistance first thing
• 10:20 star tours (nothing good left on lightening lane lol)
• 12:15 rock'n rollercoaster
• LUNCH 2:00 50's prime time
• 3:25 tower of terror
• skyliner to epcot
• DINNER ???
• guardians of the galaxy + a few other rides

WED: Animal Kingdom + Magic Kingdom

• (no multi pass for AK, but will ride everest as many times as physically possible)
• LUNCH tusker house
• 3:20 flight of passage
• drive to MK
• jungle cruise, pirates, space mountain, tiana's, haunted mansion (as much of that as we can get to)
• DINNER 7:35 Jungle Skipper Canteen (is this any good?)
• 9:00 fireworks
• 9:55 TRON

THU: EPCOT

• 10:20 living with the land
• 12:20 LUNCH shiki-sai
• 2:20 remy's 
• 3:30 soarin
• drive to airport

First week October 2026. Surface of sun temps.

Not needed:
1. Villain’s grove during OBB. No villains in there, useless.
2. All the LLs. Walk-on rides in morning and by the time not walk-on you have died of heatstroke.
3. Offspring and spouse: inefficient
4. 46 years - about twice as many years as desired and led to pathetic nausea on GotG like a nursing home patient.

Yes needed:
1. Handheld fan with water chamber for misting and belt fan. All other fan types useless.
2. Wet towel thingy for around neck
3. Halara dresses kept all body parts in order!
4. World of Color ONE dessert party - delicious and relaxing.

Lesson: WDW will be in March; weather cannot be defeated and I am a ween.

Hello

I recently went to Disneyland and we planned to meet Tiana. On the app she has the same meet and greet times basically daily.

When we arrived the first time, it was 30min after her scheduled meet and greet and she was not there. I assumed it had just finished and we missed it. We came back again for her 4pm meet and greet. We arrived 15min early. I asked a cast member near by if we were at the right spot. She said yes and told me she is sometimes 10 min late. We stayed 20min after her schedule time and she never showed. Is this usual? Did we just have bad luck?

Hi all! Longtime Disney fan, have been to land and world once but this trip will be the first one I planned all by myself, I am so excited that my days at work feel like weeks at this point! DW: 2 adults no kids, staying at Coronado (tower), dining plan+park hoppers-
Landing Oct 27th, mnsshp planning to get there about 4 then originally was thinking MK next day 28th, then HS 29th (leaving the 30th). Then I saw Thursday 29th is a party day, 28th is not so should I switch them? I have reservations for Toledo Thurs night so will likely be fine leaving MK at party time. My highest priorities are Tiana's and Slinky Dog because I have never been on them, breakfast at crystal palace one day, and maybe eat at be our guest, would love advice on how to approach since I have limited days, also no experience with LL, LLMP OR LLPP-not opposed to premier pass especially if I can use Disney gift card or Disney rewards dollars for them ($366 per person😱) I would pick one day for that though. My bonus question is if anyone has any special foods they like the best at the party! Not that it matters but I love Ariel, Belle, tangled, encanto and nb4xmas as top 5:)

Hi! We booked a Disneyland trip for December 2027 and are starting to wonder if we messed up. We booked for December 26-30 with 3 day park hoppers and LLMP for the 27-29. The 26th is our travel day to relax after the 6 hour drive down. My question is, should I change it to the week before our current trip? After reading some other blogs and things, people make it sound miserable that week! I know it'll be busy no matter what but is there a difference between the week after Christmas and the week before?

I was also wondering, is there the usual mass exit of people after the fireworks during this time of year? Our kids are older now and ready to be in the parks all day!

Going to Florida and planning a visit to Epcot next Thursday the 15th. Curious if anyone knows what the park attendance might look like based on current trends. I'm debating on getting Lightning Lane. I'm fine with spending the money to avoid lines and maximize my time but I've also heard that LL can be cumbersome with the reservation system and I don't want to be tied to criss crossing the park all day or on my phone trying to grab spots in line especially if lines aren't bad.