Best Times of Day for Rides at Disneyland

Disneyland is famous, but not only for the rides and endless eye popping attractions. Both Disneyland and Disneyworld are famous for long wait times in line. A peak day at Disneyland for example can bring 70,000 people to the park. It's amazing given the crowds that Disneyland gets that Disneyland's ride lines move as fast as they do. In peak season, the average waiting time for key rides at Disneyland during the peak attendance hours of 11:00-7:00 p.m. is only 60 minutes. But , and this is a big but, 60 minutes at Disneyland can be a long, long time. Most people are only at Disneyland for two or three days and you want to spend all of that time on rides, not waiting in line for them. This is especially true if you wait with small children. Here then is what I found to be the very best ways to minimize time spent in line at Disneyland and maximize time spent enjoying the park. I used to live one mile from Disneyland. These do's and don'ts for Disneyland should apply equally to Disneyworld.

1. Go off-season
This is the best tip I could possibly give you. I used to live close by to Disneyland and I had a relative with an endless supply of park passes so I've been there at least 50 times. The difference between the length of the lines in peak season and off season is at least, I would say 50%-75% shorter in the off-season. Disneyworld has its own peculiar on and off-seasons which can make a dramatic difference in terms of how long you wait in line. For example, do not go on the 4th of July. I waited in line for almost 90 minutes at Pirates of the Caribbean the one time I went on the 4th of July. I will never do that again. At other times of the year I walked right on that ride and all the others. I have written another article on this called Disneyland: When to Go to Avoid the Crowds.

2. Go early in the morning
Arrive at the parking lot about 45 minutes before the park opens. The ride lines are always the shortest early in the morning. The earlier the better. The lines start to substantially increase at about 10:00 - 10:30 a.m. but that gives you a good block of time to hit a lot of rides in a short time. Plan your route through the park so you don't lose time wandering about for the next ride's location. Don't sleep in. You can do that next week. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays are the least busiest days at Disneyland. Weekends are at least double the weekdays with Saturdays just a little more busy than Sundays.

3. Skip the middle of the day in peak season
After11:00 a.m. in peak season the parks are mobbed. I would recommend shopping, eating, hitting attractions that don't draw crowds, and why not go back to your hotel room and relax by the pool. If your in one of the Disneyland or Disneyworld theme hotels there's lots to do at every one. You can lose two hours waiting in line for food and a table and eating your lunch in the park so try lunch at 10:45 a.m. or around 2:30 p.m. The Monte Cristo Sandwich in New Orleans Market Square is my favorite and the best you'll ever have. It is also huge and will serve two adults. Do not go shopping during late afternoon hours or the hour before the park closes. The stores will be packed. In California, The California Adventure part of the park will be somewhat less crowded than Disneyland itself during peak hours

4. Come back after dark to do more key rides
After an early dinner go back to the park, again with a schedule of rides you want to hit. Find out when and where the evening parades are. During the parades and Fantasmic the lines are going to be much shorter at the rides that are around the parades. Don't leave after the parades. The last hour, especially the last half hour, is about as good as it gets in terms of not waiting in line for a ride. Disneyland will also not turn you away if your already in line for a ride when the park officially hits closing time. They'll let you stay and have that last ride. In California, dress warm. The temperature drops quite quickly as the evening goes on, even in summer.

5. When it rains, pour it on
If you have the freedom to do it, watch the weather forecast and go off-season when it is cold and drizzly outside. I have been to Disneyland at least five times under these conditions and literally had the park to myself all day long. No lines anywhere all day long. Believe me, you will quickly forget about the rain and cold. Best months for rain and cold at Disneyland are December, January, February, and March.

6. Single rider lines
Rides like Splash Mountain, Indiana Jones, California Soarin' and others have a thing called single rider lines which always will move much faster than the regular lines. Take advantage by researching which rides have single rider lines and putting them into your plan.

7. Use FastPass
Both California and Orlando Disney parks have a well honed system designed to reduced the time we spend waiting in line. They call it FastPass. Basically it is a self-serve ticket from a machine that gives you a time frame of 30 minutes (like 10:45-11:15 a.m.) to return the ride within those 30 minutes and get on the ride without waiting in the regular line. There are at least a dozen good rides at Disneyland that allow you to do this, including Twilight Zone, Tower of Terror.
Learn how to use the FastPass machine before you get to the park. It's not hard and you'll be glad you did.