Disneyland Vacay: Expectations VS Reality
Our family just returned from a Disneyland California vacation (May 2025) and I’m reflecting on all of my expectations versus how it really turned out. If you’re planning a trip soon, this might help manage your expectations and plan for the unexpected.
Expectation: By staying in a hotel close to the park (.7 miles away to be exact,) we would be willing to go back to our room to rest in the afternoon.
Reality: There is no time to waste at Disneyland.
We were go-go-go all day everyday. We couldn’t imagine leaving the park for an hour or two to rest, knowing that we’d miss out on multiple rides during that time. Not to mention, we didn’t want the extra steps.
My oldest two and I did walk back to the hotel one day after we got soaked on Grizzly River Run, because it was overcast and chilly. The extra 1.4 miles felt like a marathon! We decided to forego Tiana’s Bayou Adventure the next day to avoid going back for dry clothes.
Tip: You will not want to return to your room for anything, so don’t be afraid to over pack your stroller. Bring an extra set of clothes and shoes if you plan on doing water rides. Or at least bring ponchos and dry shoes.
Bonus Tip: Bring a stroller, even if you have older kids. My ten-year-old even caught a ride every now and then.
Expectation: By planning to be there from rope drop until closing, we wouldn’t feel rushed throughout the day and we could take our time.
Reality: You cannot have a chill day in Disney when there are rides to be ridden and characters to be found.
As I said above, we were going nonstop all day. My husband is one of those guys who cannot walk behind slow people in a crowd, so the kids and I spent the day speed walking (basically jogging) to keep up while he serpentined around the crowd. We were exhausted.
Tip: Take some time to sit down during the day. Whether it’s to eat an actual meal (Hungry Bear Barbecue Jamboree in Bayou Country was my favorite place to eat) or to watch a show (we loved Turtle Talk with Crush and Mickey’s PhilharMagic at California Adventure.) I called it productive breaks.
Expectation: There would be small crowds at rope drop and we’d get right on a ride.
Reality: Crowds were crazy at rope drop, but we did still manage to walk right onto each ride we chose in the morning.
Even though the standby line for the popular rides looks a mile long, get in it! With nobody on the ride first thing in the morning, the line goes super duper fast. We were most strategic on our last day and chose Rise of the Resistance for our rope drop ride. The line started so far from the actual ride entrance, but it was constantly moving and we maybe waited ten minutes max (for a ride that was never below 55 min the rest of the day.)
Tip: These would be my recommendations for rope drop rides, based on the fact that they seemed to constantly have high wait times throughout the day:
California Adventure: Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: BREAKOUT!, Incredicoaster, Radiator Springs Racers, Soarin’ Around the World, or Toy Story Midway Mania!
Disneyland: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Dumbo (if you have toddlers), Hyperspace Mountain, Indiana Jones Adventure, Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, Meeting Micky and Minnie at their houses, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, or Tiana’s Bayou Adventure
Bonus tip: Keep an eye on rides that temporarily shut down. If you’re close to one when it reopens, you can get on quick!
Expectation: We wouldn’t need to splurge on Lightning Lane passes.
Reality: We absolutely did need to get the Lightning Lane passes to make it possible to ride some of the most popular rides without making our kids wait in 90 min lines.
With lines over 90+ minutes long, we really needed to utilize the Lightning Lanes to get to everything. We opted to just do it for one day while on the Disneyland side of the park. We were able to get to almost every ride at California Adventure in one day without Lightning Lane. If I could go back, I would have just got the pass for myself, my husband, and our two older kiddos, rather than the whole family. Most of the rides that we used the pass for, the little two couldn’t (or wouldn’t) ride anyway.
Tip: If you have a little one and bigger kids, pair the Lightning Lane with the Rider Switch, it’s a game changer! My husband would wait in line with the big kids on a thrill ride while I took the little ones on a kiddie ride or met a character, and then as soon as they were done, I could ride the big ride with one of the older kids without waiting.
Expectation: We would be waiting in hour long lines.
Reality: I would say our average wait time was about 20 min.
There were a handful of rides where we waited 45-60 min, but also some rides that we literally just walked on without waiting. Most rides we waited about 15-25 min. If you strategize properly, you can avoid the longest lines and still ride all of your favorites.
Tip: Read the whole article for all of my tips about choosing a rope drop ride, utilizing Lightning Passes with Rider Switch, and more.
Expectation: I would be off my phone and living in the moment.
Reality: I was on my phone constantly checking the map, ride times, menus, and character locations. Not to mention booking Lightning Lane passes.
The day that we used a Lightning Lane pass was the most mentally exhausting for me. Managing our booked rides and simultaneously trying to find the short lines that we could ride in between…. I spent a ton of time on my phone. By day two, I finally had my husband and oldest son download the Disney app so they could look at ride times too and give me a break.
Tip: Get a portable charger. They have them for rent there if you’re in a pinch, but it’s best to think ahead and get your own.
Expectation: There would be low crowds.
Reality: Crowds were terrible. Despite all of the research I did with crowd calendars, we still managed to face dense crowds. I blame the Magic Key holders.
We went the first week of May. I figured between Spring Break and Summer Break would be a good time to go since most people wouldn’t be vacationing during that time (we homeschool, so we always plan our vacations while everyone else is in school.) The crowd calendars seemed to agree and most said that crowds would be low. But if these were low crowds, I would hate to see what high crowd days look like!
The worst crowds were around Adventure Land in Disneyland and Cars Land in California Adventure.
Tip: Check out the blackout dates for Magic Key holders and try to coordinate that around other crowd calendars. Honestly, I don’t know for sure if it would help with the crowds, but that will be my strategy on the next visit.
Expectation: The weather would be beautiful.
Reality: Even a high of 80 degrees is HOT when you’re walking around and standing in lines all day (and that’s coming from an Arizona native.)
The first two days of our trip were overcast and chilly, it was amazing. The lines for the water rides were nonexistent and we were comfortable in pants and sweatshirts. The second two days had a high of 80 and it got miserable as soon as the afternoon hit. We were constantly searching for shade and water!
Tip: Bring plenty of water bottles and refill them all any time you pass a fill-up station (they aren’t easy to come across.)
Expectation: We would spend hundreds on food everyday.
Reality: We spent under $150/day for our family of six.
We really tried to be frugal with our food budget and it worked. We brought bagels to eat for breakfast in our hotel each morning and I packed sandwiches and tons of healthy snacks to bring to the park. When we sat down for lunch and dinner, none of us were starving, so we were able to share plates. Because of this, we were able to splurge on some treats.
Tip: Check out my post where I share all of the healthy snacks that we packed! I also highly recommend getting each kid their own cross-body bag/fanny pack for snacks so they can be in charge of their food for the day and mom doesn’t have to be the snack dealer.
Expectation: It would be a magical family experience.
Reality: I mean, it was pretty magical for my kids, but I couldn’t help but notice all of the childless adults who were there and it kind of tainted the experience for me.
I quickly was peeved with all of the adults who were there without any children or teens. These are my grievances against them:
They would get in line to meet characters and spend time having full conversations with them and then little kids at the end of the line would miss their turn to meet their favorite princess or character. I’m talking full grown adult men, running to meet and hug princesses. It was creepy and disappointing.
The lines for kiddie rides were super long partly because adults would ride them solo. Multiple times, I saw parties of two adults split up and take multiple cars. On Dumbo, I watched an adult woman in one elephant posing through the entire ride while her boyfriend/husband in the elephant in front of her filmed. Why tho?
Adults were blocking the view of children during shows and character appearances.
The clothing that some people were wearing was completely inappropriate for a family establishment. The booties hanging out of shorts, massive cleavage, and half shirts walking around the park was appalling.
Tip: Expect to be disappointed and annoyed with some of the people you find at Disneyland. There’s no way around it.
I know this blog post sounds like one giant complaint and I don’t mean for it to read that way! Our family had an absolute BLAST at Disneyland, but I did feel like it would be helpful to put my experiences out here to help prepare others for the trip.
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