Disneyland Planning Resources

We do have a love for Disneyland (and World as well). However, how to best visit the parks and strategies for your visit change or adjust yearly so the exact details of what we do every year isn't exactly applicable for future trips. However, resources we use to plan our trips are very helpful so this page is dedicated to that.

Since 2020, we have favored going to Disneyland over Disney World. In late 2020, we had a daughter and have found the better weather, the more manageable parks, more characters in the parks and family in the area as reasons we have preferred Disneyland.

The way pricing works is that (as of early 2026) multi-day tickets are good value and adding the 4th and 5th days is relatively low cost. So our trips normally have 4 or 5 park days. We have done park hopper tickets before and since the parks are so close they are useful. However, we have gone without and it is fine to do it without.

We did our first 'rest / resort day' on our 2025 visit. This was because E had broke her ankle in April 2025 causing us to move our May 2025 trip back to August. The 70th anniversary tickets we bought had to be used by mid-August. We enjoyed this a lot. Downtown Disney has enough to do for an excursion to get us out of the room and the resort pool is always relaxing. Not saying a rest day is a must but if you can make it work time-wise, it is nice.

We have visited Disneyland in:

• August 2025 - Disneyland 70th Anniversary - Daughter was 4.5 years old - E had a broken ankle 14 weeks on the mend
• December 2023 - Daughter turned 3 on the trip
• November 2022 - Daughter was 23 months old.
• August 2015 - Disneyland 60th Anniversary

We have several YouTube channels, Websites, Message Boards and Podcasts that we use to keep up with Disneyland news and strategies.

YouTube Channels (Disneyland Specific):

• Fresh Baked - This channel focuses on state of the parks, park strategy and park construction news amongst others. They do regular state of Disneyland and State of Disney California Adventure where he walks through the park talking about the lines and what is going on.
• How to Stack Lightning Lanes - This video is one the leading ones I use to trip plan and shows how to stack and get the most out of lightning lanes.
• How to Rope Drop with Lightning Lane - This video shows now to plan your park day when you pay for lightning lanes.
• SoCal Disney Dad - In my opinion, second to Fresh Baked but still has some great stuff. I would add this to the rotation of videos to check to both plan and get excited for your trip.
• Provost Park Pass - More on news, trip reports and interesting insights on the rides.

Podcasts:

• Market House - Mostly Disneyland and I am listening to them more and more.
• Rope Drop & Park Hop - Disneyland specific but doesn't normally make my rotation…
• DL Weekly Podcast - Disneyland specific and another that I check on occasion but I don't listen to regularly.
• Addicted to the Mouse - More Disney World but still good news and content
• DIS Unlimited - The original! Focuses mostly on Disney World now and the new crew gets off topic some but still a good listen for general Disney news. It would be the go to for planning Disney World trips. This and Addicted to the Mouse.

Message Boards:

• DIS Boards - Same group that does the DIS Unlimited podcast. This has many boards for Disneyworld but does have a very active Disneyland section too. Great place to ask questions and get help.
• 2026 Disneyland Resort Calendar - A user on the message board always keeps up a resort calendar for each year. This is great to know what is going on when.

Websites:

• Thrill-data.com - A website that tracks the ride's wait times and the lightning lane return and sell out times. Very good way to see how busy the parks are and how popular the big rides are for days. Great way to help plan your park day in the days leading up to your visit.

There are many airports in the Los Angeles area and the main thing to consider is what flights can you get from where you live into the area. Below is my hierarchy of airports.

Orange County Airport - SNA (John Wayne Airport) - At only 14 miles from SNA to Disneyland, its location is great. It is the preferred option but does tend to be more expensive than the other options for some reason. Also, doesn't have direct flights from Houston Hobby anymore.

Long Beach Airport - LGB - 26 miles to Disneyland so not bad. It is a smaller airport served mostly by Southwest Airlines and is also open air and is served by stairs instead of Jetways. We tend to fly into and out of here because of our Southwest points.

Ontario Airport - ONT - 39 miles to Disneyland and seems to have good non-stop options and good prices. On our trips, we tend to fly into Long Beach and then out of Ontario or vise-versa for some reason. I've done the math and even the extra cost for Uber / Lyft from Ontario is still cheaper than flying into SNA.

LAX - 34 miles but through the heart of LA to do it. Normally has the most direct options and very competitive prices so always something to check but have always gotten LGB and ONT close enough time and price wise not to have to use it.

Hollywood Burbank Airport - BUR - 46 miles to Disneyland so not that much further than ONT but because of the distance, it isn't the first consideration. Have never flown into here but always one to check when planning.

Unlike Disney World, Disneyland has third party hotels right outside of the gates. There are three Disney Hotels, which all look great but are pretty pricey. There isn't any real benefits to staying in them as the third party hotels are sometimes even closer than two of the Disney hotels.

For us, we normally stick to Hilton hotels and have a few criteria that we try to have in a hotel when visiting Disneyland.

1. Location - Close to a Disneyland parking lot for a shuttle or a close walk.
2. Free breakfast - Our daughter loves breakfast food and it is a good meal to start the day.
3. Pool / Splash pad - This depends a bit more on if we are doing a rest day or not.
4. Kitchenette / Refrigerator & Microwave - Our trips are normally 4 - 5 park days so we are at the hotel 5 - 6 nights. Having a good fridge & microwave setup allows us to reheat leftovers and fend for ourselves a bit food wise. Because sometimes you just don't want to eat out anymore.

Some of the favorites we found and our thoughts on them:
Hampton Inn & Suites Anaheim Resort Convention Center -
Pros:

• Reasonably priced
• Next door to Toy Story Parking Lot - This allows you to take a shuttle to and from the lot to save steps. We normally walked first thing in the mornings (sometimes) but then shuttled back.
• Decent free breakfast
• Family Suite - they offer a family suite for not much over a regular room. This has a separate room with bunk beds for kids. This was great when our daughter was just turning 2 and 3 years old on those two trips. We would put her down in that room to sleep and not have to go to sleep ourselves. She was also a kid that slept best without us in the room.

Cons:

• Pool - The pool is pretty standard nothing great but pending on how you are scheduling your trip, this might not be an issue.
• Only some of their rooms has a small fridge and microwave but it was passible.
• Location - While next to the Toy Story lot and their shuttle is great, it is 0.8 miles away from the gate and a bit farther than other options if walking. And to rope drop, we normally would walk.

Home2 Suites by Hilton Anaheim Resort -
Pros:

• Location - It is only 0.5 miles from the parks and feels pretty close.
• Free breakfast
• Rooms have full kitchen / refrigerator
• Rooms are bigger which is nice when staying in them for 5 - 6 nights
• Restaurant / bar in site
• Better pool / splash pad than most

Cons:

• Price - this normally costs more than other options around but isn't that bad Hilton Points wise. We really wanted to stay here in 2025 but the friends we were traveling with didn't have Hilton Points to spend so we went elsewhere.

Howard Johnson by Wyndham Anaheim Hotel and Water Playground -
Pros:

• Location - Only 0.4 miles from the parks!
• Park View - We stayed in the tower and paid up for for a park view room in 2025. It wasn't that much more per night and it was cool seeing the fireworks from our bedroom window / small balcony.
• Pool / Water Park - This place is a fav on the message boards because of the water park. We weren't overly impressed with it but it did entertain the two 4 year olds in our group on our rest day.
• Rooms had small fridge and microwave.

Cons:

• Price - Not as high was Home2 Suites in the summer of 2025 but not Hampton Inn cheap.
• No breakfast

Other Hotels I would Consider:

• Homewood Suites by Hilton Anaheim Resort Convention Center - Has it all (price, good room size, kitchen, decent-ish pool, breakfast) but location. It is 1 mile away and not near a shuttle.
• Courtyard by Marriott Anaheim Theme Park Entrance - Pricey but best pool / water park in the area. Great location too.
• Hilton Anaheim - Can have good prices pending what conventions are going on at it. Full Hilton so nicer than others in the area. Location is okay, not great but overall a nicer place. Stayed here in 2015.
• Many others within a mile of the park including smaller independently owned hotels some 0.2 miles from the park gate!