Update: This post has been replaced by a new, updated Disneyland One Day Itinerary.
There are a wide variety of factors that go into putting together a one-day Disneyland itinerary. Even assuming you want to visit every ride once, things like crowd levels, FASTPASS availability, temporary closures / refurbishments, and your personal ride priorities all come into play. Plus, now you’ve got Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge to plan for!
The good news is that by arriving early—check out our post on rope drop at Disneyland park—and using FASTPASS—check out our post on FASTPASS and MaxPass at Disneyland—you’ll be in good shape to visit all or most rides on everything but the most crowded days.
This post has four sections. First, we start with quick tips and related posts on touring Disneyland. Second, we explain the different elements that go into planning your day—rides, entertainment, and characters.
Next we begin the actual itinerary—we break the day into different sections, providing an overview and sample schedule (from an actual visit) of each section. Finally, we provide you the entire minute-by-minute schedule we used on that visit. (Click here to jump to the complete itinerary.)
This post covers Disneyland park only. It does not include Disney California Adventure. You can check out our one-day Disney California Adventure itinerary here.
TIPS ON TOURING Disneyland
We’ll start with a few tips for touring Disneyland. First, you won’t do everything. Can you ride every ride at Disneyland in a single day? Yes. Often easily. Can you experience everything Disneyland has to offer in a single day? No. This is more true than ever now that Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge has opened.
There’s too much entertainment, too many characters, too many attractions that require decent amounts of time, and a park that’s too complex and beautiful to be taken in quickly. Our example itineraries—and our strategies generally—are very rides heavy. Keep that in mind if other things—particularly characters—are important to you.
Second, five rides have single rider lines. Space Mountain, Indiana Jones Adventure, Matterhorn Bobsleds, Splash Mountain, and Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run have single rider lines that will allow you to ride with a shorter wait.
Groups will be broken up (that’s the point, after all), but it’s a good way to double up on some fun rides. Rides sometimes stop issuing Single Rider passes if they get too busy.
Third, rides go down. Be prepared for things to break down or to open late during your visit. Most of the time you’ll just have to rearrange your schedule. Our example schedule contains several occurrences of this.
Things To Do at Disneyland
There’s more than rides in Disneyland. Putting together your itinerary requires that you pay attention to rides, characters, entertainment, and anything else that goes into your day. Before we move on, we’re going to outline these elements.
Rise of the Resistance
Beginning January 17, Disneyland will have its newest attraction—Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. Per the OC Register, the ride will utilize a boarding pass system (similar to what is being used in Florida) to queue people for the ride. If you’re unfamiliar with the boarding pass system, you can read more about how it works in Hollywood Studios here.
The the downside of the boarding pass system is you won’t know exactly when you’ll get called, so your day will always be a bit in flex. The upside of the boarding pass system is that you don’t have to plan how to fit one of the world’s best rides into your day—you’re just at the mercy of the system.
Because that’s the case, we’ll be leaving our itinerary untouched—you’ll just fit in Rise of the Resistance when you get called. You’ll want to get a boarding group as soon as possible, and if it gets called in the morning, plan to queue for the ride toward the end of your group. Otherwise, visit whenever in your two-hour window works best. Whatever you have to miss for Rise of the Resistance—it’s worth it.
The Attractions of Disneyland (Except Rise of the Resistance)
Depending on exactly how you count, there are around 30 rides at Disneyland, plus several other non-ride attractions. If you’d like to learn more about these individually, we have a complete guide to the rides of Disneyland.
Ten of these rides utilize Disneyland’s FASTPASS system to allow you to “skip” the lines. We always recommend starting your day with the same three rides at rope drop.
Beyond those 13, there are 17 others you’ll need to plan to wait in line for. Here’s the complete breakdown of the 30 rides we’ll be covering in this itinerary:
FASTPASS (10): Space Mountain, Matterhorn, Indiana Jones Adventure, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain, Roger Rabbit Car Toon Spin, “it’s a small world”, Star Tours, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters
Fantasyland Rope Drop (3): Peter Pan’s Flight, Alice In Wonderland, Dumbo
Fantasyland Standby (7): Casey Jr. Circus Train, Storybook Land Canal Boats, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, Mad Tea Party, Snow White’s Scary Adventures, Pinocchio’s Daring Journey, King Arthur Carrousel
Tomorrowland Standby (3): Autopia, Astro Orbitor, Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage
Galaxy’s Edge Standby (1): Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run (plus Rise of the Resistance discussed above)
Other Standby (6): Gadget’s Go Coaster, Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Davy Crockett’s Explorer Canoes, Disneyland Railroad
As noted above, you’ll visit Rise of the Resistance, the other Galaxy’s Edge ride, whenever your boarding group gets called.
In addition, there are several “leisure attractions.” These are attractions with short or no waits where you can relax a bit, sometimes in the shade or indoors.
The leisure attractions are: Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough, Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room, The Disneyland Story Presents Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, Main Street Cinema, Main Street Vehicles, The Disney Gallery, Mark Twain Riverboat, Sailing Ship Columbia, Tom Sawyer Island, the Toontown Play Areas, Tarzan’s Treehouse, and the Star Wars Launch Bay.
Characters
Our itineraries don’t include character greetings. There are a few reasons for this. First, we don’t often visit characters. Second, character appearance times tend to vary greatly. Third, everyone has different characters they have to meet, so it’s silly for us to pick a few we might like and squeeze them into our plans while leaving others out.
The best source for information on meeting Disneyland characters is the Disneyland app. The app has an entire section devoted to characters. Clicking through each character will tell you when and where to find them. Make a list of characters you want to meet and when you want to meet them.
“Fixed Points” & Entertainment
Fixed points are things that will happen (or that you will experience) at a specific time no matter what. Besides the obvious—park opening, your arrival time, meal reservations—you’ll want to look at the Disneyland entertainment schedule. The entertainment schedule is available both in the Disneyland app and in the physical Times Guide available at the park.
Most events occur frequently enough that you can plan for them somewhat on the fly. Things like parades and nighttime shows will have only one or two occurrences, so you need to mind those carefully. Make a list of entertainment options along with some possible times to view them.
One Day Disneyland Itinerary
Now let’s get to meat of the post—building your itinerary, along with a sample from a day we spent at Disneyland.
Rope Drop & Your First FASTPASS
We have a separate post on rope drop at Disneyland. We also have a separate post on Extra Magic Hour and Magic Morning at Disneyland. This post assumes there is no Magic Morning or Extra Magic Hour the day of your visit.
We always recommend starting with Peter Pan’s Flight, Alice In Wonderland, and Dumbo (yes, this remains true even with Star Wars Land being open). These are three rides with waits that quickly jump up and that do not have FASTPASS.
For your first FASTPASS, we recommend Space Mountain. As we’ve written in our separate post on FASTPASS at Disneyland, we suggest having MaxPass for at least one day. Your second FASTPASS should be for Matterhorn.
Remember, during the early hours you’ll be planning to get on your FASTPASS rides as late into their windows as possible, allowing you to get on as many short waits as possible.
Early Morning — Fantasyland and Tomorrowland (8AM to 10AM)
Altogether, you’re looking to get through as many of the following rides from Fantasyland and Tomorrowland in your first two hours:
Rope Drop: Peter Pan’s Flight, Alice in Wonderland, Dumbo
FASTPASS: Space Mountain, Matterhorn
Standby - High Priority: Astro Orbitor, Autopia
Standby - Mid Priority: Casey Jr. Circus Train, Storybook Land Canal Boats, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride
Standby - Low Priority: Mad Tea Party, Snow White’s Scary Adventures, Pinocchio’s Daring Journey, King Arthur Carrousel
That’s fourteen rides. Typically, we’re happy if we get through the top seven—leaving the mid- and low-priority rides for later. We try to push Autopia as late into the morning as we can—waiting for its wait to get to 10 or 15 minutes—because it can have a long unload time and is located relatively remote.
Conspicuously missing from this list is Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage. Simply put, we’ve never felt it’s worth it to force this long ride into your morning.
Because of the high concentration of rides over in Fantasyland and Tomorrowland, it usually won’t make sense to leave that area until about two hours into your day, having used two FASTPASS slots on Space Mountain and Matterhorn.
But if you’re not so interested in the Fantasyland rides, you might avoid them in favor of riding FASTPASS rides like Star Tours, Buzz Lightyear, Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain, Indiana Jones Adventure, and Big Thunder Mountain with short standby waits so you don’t have to worry about FASTPASS for them later.
Here’s an example from a day we spent at Disneyland. Astro Orbitor was being refurbished this day. FASTPASS activity is bolded.
7:45AM - Turnstiles Open
7:48AM - Enter Park, Grab 8:30AM FASTPASS for Space Mountain
8:00AM - Rope Drop
8:01AM - Peter Pan’s Flight
Alice In Wonderland temporarily closed
8:08AM - Dumbo (posted 10 minute wait)
[This is probably when we would have headed to Astro Orbitor]
8:18AM - Mad Tea Party (posted 5 minute wait)
8:24AM - Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride (posted 10 minute wait)
8:30AM - Grab 8:55AM FASTPASS for Matterhorn
8:35AM - Storybook Land Canal Boats (posted 5 minute wait)
8:53AM - Casey Jr. Circus Train
9:02AM - Autopia (posted 10 minute wait, boarded 9:24AM)
9:34AM - Scan into Space Mountain FASTPASS (posted wait 60 minutes)
9:48AM - Scan into Matterhorn FASTPASS (posted wait 45 minutes)
That morning we covered nine rides by 10AM—two FASTPASS, two of the three rope drop, and five other Fantasyland rides. Altogether we would have the following rides left to wait in line for in Fantasyland and Tomorrowland:
Fantasyland (4): Alice In Wonderland, Snow White’s Scary Adventures, Pinocchio’s Daring Journey, King Arthur Carrousel
Tomorrowland (2): Astro Orbitor (not operational), Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage
Mid-Morning — The Rest of the Park & Short Waits
About two hours into your day, you’ll want to expand your horizons to include the rest of the park—Adventureland, Frontierland, New Orleans Square, Critter Country, and maybe Toontown. Between 10AM and Noon you’re looking to just fit in as many short waits around the park as possible.
Even thought we’re typically 10AM coffee break people at Walt Disney World, in Disneyland we try and have coffee and a snack before we arrive and then push our first break of the day closer to noon.
This is basically when the park is “filling up” and short waits will start to be hard to come by. If you don’t like walking, your best bet will just be to visit more rides in Fantasyland. We prefer to try and tackle Jungle Cruise and Pirates of the Caribbean.
As far as FASTPASS goes, we prefer to use our third one for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Most people favor Indiana Jones Adventure, and on busy days, or if you’re a huge fan, we think that’s fine. We find the FASTPASS queue for Indy takes too long, so we tend to push it into the afternoon.
After that third one, just keep rolling with the Disneyland FASTPASS strategy, trying to grab whatever is next on your priority list or whatever fits well into your schedule.
You’ll also want to grab a Fantasmic! FASTPASS during this time. The kiosk is located opposite the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad entrance, by the Mark Twain Riverboat entrance.
Here’s an example schedule for this part of the day:
10:02AM - Grab 10:55AM FASTPASS for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
10:07AM - Grab Fantasmic! Reservation
10:08AM - Pirates of the Caribbean (posted 15 minute wait)
Jungle Cruise wait at 30 minutes, longer than we prefer; skip it for now
10:43AM - Snow White’s Scary Adventure (posted 5 minute wait, ride breaks down at 10:47AM)
10:47AM - Pinocchio’s Daring Journey (posted 5 minute wait)
10:57AM - Grab 11:30AM FASTPASS for Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters
11:05AM - Snow White’s Scary Adventure (posted 5 minute wait)
11:15AM - King Arthur Carrousel (posted 5 minute wait)
11:27AM - Scan into Buzz Lightyear FASTPASS (posted wait 45 minutes)
11:31AM - Grab 12:10PM FASTPASS for Haunted Mansion
11:45AM - Scan into Big Thunder Mountain Railroad FASTPASS (posted wait 45 minutes)
As you can see, the unexpectedly long wait for Jungle Cruise sent us back to Fantasyland for some short waits. We often like to push those rides into the afternoon, but they’re good options at 5 minutes.
Lunch & Planning Your Afternoon
Now, at lunchtime, it’s helpful to look at our overall progress. Here’s what we have left:
FASTPASS (6): Indiana Jones Adventure, Haunted Mansion (booked), Splash Mountain, Roger Rabbit Car Toon Spin, “it’s a small world”, Star Tours
Fantasyland (1): Alice In Wonderland
Tomorrowland (2): Astro Orbitor (not operational), Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage
Galaxy’s Edge (1): Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run
Other (5): Gadget’s Go Coaster, Jungle Cruise, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Davy Crockett’s Explorer Canoes, Disneyland Railroad
This means our list of 30 is now down to 15, four hours into the 16-hour day. That looks like excellent progress, but it’s actually only okay. Unfortunately, now waits will be high and we have so much other stuff to do in the afternoon, including entertainment and leisure attractions.
Hereon, we’re balancing five things—Galaxy’s Edge (Star Wars Land), FASTPASS times, entertainment, “leisure attractions,” and standby waits. We go into more detail about Galaxy’s Edge below.
At lunch you’ll want to look at the times guide and entertainment schedule to start pinning down when you’ll be visiting everything. You also should make a list of rides you have left, dividing them into FASTPASS and standby.
The entertainment schedule and the FASTPASS times that you wind up with form the outline of your schedule. Around those times, you’ll want to either be waiting in standby lines or visiting “leisure attractions.”
As a reminder, the “leisure attractions” are: Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough, Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room, The Disneyland Story Presents Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, Main Street Cinema, Main Street Vehicles, The Disney Gallery, Mark Twain Riverboat, Sailing Ship Columbia, Tom Sawyer Island, the Toontown Play Areas, Tarzan’s Treehouse, and the Star Wars Launch Bay.
Finally, use the app to check the closing times on anything left that you want to do. Things can actually get quite tight at this time, with Main Street Vehicles often closing at 2:15PM and Sailing Ship Columbia often closing around 4PM.
Planning for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge (Afternoon)
Given that it’s still in its first year, many guests will want to dedicate more time to Galaxy’s Edge than other lands. The land also has several activities—like Oga’s Cantina, Savi’s Workshop, and Droid Depot—that can take hours out of your day. We have a Guide to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge that explains the land more generally.
If you make an advance reservation for one of these activities in the afternoon, you’ll be getting the most out of a time when lines across the park are at their highest. Otherwise, this is still a good time to wait in line for Smugglers Run, which continues to see hype-related peak waits in the morning.
You can’t control when your Boarding Pass for Rise of the Resistance gets called, but if you can time your boarding pass selection to be in the afternoon, that’s another great strategy.
Around mid-year—when the land turns one year old and when we expect boarding passes for Rise of the Resistance to be done—we’ll be integrating Galaxy’s Edge more organically into our itinerary. For now, it’s up to you, and if you’re looking for the short version:
Wait for Smugglers Run in the afternoon or as your last ride of the day
Ride Rise of the Resistance whenever your boarding group gets called.
Afternoon at Disneyland (12PM to 6PM)
There’s no perfect way to do the afternoon. This really becomes more about priorities and what you’re willing to wait in line for. The time from 1PM to 4PM tends to be the most sluggish part of the day. You’ll be hot and a little tired (kids may be very tired). Lines will be long, and you’ll need to start checking off some pieces of entertainment.
If you skipped the minor Fantasyland rides earlier, you may want to spend some time visiting those. If you’re not absolutely in love with them, though, push them late into the evening when they’ll have almost no wait.
With crowds and heat at their highest, running around the park isn’t a good idea now. Try hard to plan chunks of your afternoon geographically.
On the west side of the park you’ve got rides like Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain, and Winnie the Pooh to balance with leisure attractions like Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room, Tarzan’s Treehouse, Tom Sawyer Island, Mark Twain Riverboat, and Sailing Ship Columbia.
On the east side, you’ve got the rides of Fantasyland, Tomorrowland (including FASTPASS on Star Tours and Buzz Lightyear), and Toontown to balance with the Toontown Play Areas, Star Wars Launch Bay, the Fantasyland Theatre, and everything on Main Street.
Whether you break for the early parade (usually 3:30PM) or the late parade (usually 6PM)—and keep in mind your day may only have one—just comes down to how the rest of your schedule works out. We don’t really have a preferences.
Here’s how our afternoon went:
12:11PM - Grab 3:10PM FASTPASS for Splash Mountain
12:33PM - Scan into Haunted Mansion FASTPASS (posted wait 45 minutes)
1:05PM - Watch Mickey and the Magical Map
[Galaxy’s Edge Note: This 1:30PM to 4PM time period would be great for visiting Galaxy’s Edge]
1:29PM - Gadget’s Go Coaster (posted 20 minute wait)
1:43PM - Grab 3PM FASTPASS for Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin
Eat Dole Whip, Visit Disney Gallery, Visit Main Street Cinema, watch Dapper Dans
2:55PM - Scan into Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin FASTPASS (posted wait 45 minutes)
3:05PM - Grab 8PM FASTPASS for Indiana Jones Adventure
3:30PM - Board Sailing Ship Columbia
4:00PM - In Splash Mountain FASTPASS queue; eventually leave line at 4:34PM
4:38PM - Grab 8:35PM FASTPASS for Splash Mountain
4:38PM - Davy Crockett’s Explorer Canoes (posted 10 minute wait)
4:56PM - The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (posted 20 minute wait, boarded 5:09PM)
5:20PM - Jungle Cruise (posted 25 minute wait)
6:00PM - Mickey’s Soundsational Parade
Obviously that afternoon was less than ideal. We missed the closure of the Main Street Vehicles at 2:15PM purely out of negligence. And we got hit hard by problems with Splash Mountain. Altogether, we rode six rides and are left with eight rides:
FASTPASS (4): Indiana Jones Adventure (booked), Splash Mountain (booked), “it’s a small world”, Star Tours
Fantasyland (1): Alice In Wonderland
Tomorrowland (2): Astro Orbitor (not operational), Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage
Other (1): Disneyland Railroad
Remember we said it would be sluggish? We started our day with 15 rides in four hours. In the afternoon we only managed six rides in six hours (along with other attractions and entertainment). That’s why rope drop matters.
Evening at Disneyland (6PM Onward)
Evenings have the most rigidly fixed points of your visit because nighttime entertainment is typically only held once or twice a night. In the case of our visit, there was a 9:30PM show, Mickey’s Mix Magic, and a 10:30PM show, Fantasmic! When you see a schedule like that, you know you’d like to use a FASTPASS at 10PM.
You can also plan on a few rides between 11PM and Midnight (the closing time of the park). Disney policy is typically to let you get in line for a ride anytime up until closing. In our case, we also already had two FASTPASS bookings for 8PM (Indiana Jones) and 8:35PM (Splash Mountain).
Note: Never, ever save the best ride for last unless it’s a repeat ride. If an attraction goes down 30 minutes before close, there’s a good chance Disney will just close it for the night.
Of our remaining eight rides, the only two we’d want to head to right after the parade would be Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage and the Disneyland Railroad. These are both close to the parade route and are really the least convenient rides (as far as wait times and ride times) we have left. It’s best to get the most problematic rides out of the way first.
Otherwise, the evening is just for covering everything you have left! Here’s how our evening went:
6:09PM - Grab 6:35PM FASTPASS for “it’s a small world”
6:16PM - Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage (posted 30 minute wait, boarded 6:35PM)
6:40PM - Grab 9PM FASTPASS for Star Tours
7:03PM - Scan into “it’s a small world” FASTPASS (posted wait 25 minutes)
Dinner
8:16PM - Scan into Indiana Jones Adventure FASTPASS (posted wait 45 minutes)
8:41PM - Scan into Splash Mountain FASTPASS (posted wait 60 minutes)
9:13PM - Disneyland Railroad
9:30PM - Watch Mickey’s Mix Magic
9:53PM - Scan into Star Tours FASTPASS (posted wait 15 minutes)
10:30PM - Fantasmic!
11:20PM - Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room
11:41PM - Alice In Wonderland
11:58PM - Monorail to Downtown Disney [or Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run]
As we note in our instagram story chronicling this day, we actually skipped Fantasmic! and did the last three attractions during the 10PM hour. We rebuilt it like this for the convenience of the reader and because we don’t consider it a significant edit.
Conclusions
This day really reminded us how challenging Disneyland can be. Ride breakdowns in particular really caused us problems. We had to push Alice In Wonderland late in the day, we wasted 35 minutes in line for Splash Mountain, and we had that small hiccup with Snow White’s Scary Adventures breaking. We also had issues with posted wait times being way off early in the day.
The biggest failure of the day—not riding Main Street Vehicles—was a simple mistake. I’ve ridden and written about it dozens of times over the past few months, but today I just forgot about it.
But even if we made a few better decisions, Disneyland is not a one-day park. We didn’t see the Disneyland Band. Both Astro Orbitor and Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln were not operational this day. We didn’t make it to the Fantasy Faire Theatre or Tom Sawyer Island, either.
Could you get all the rides done in a single day? Easily. But once you start fitting in the entertainment, things get complicated.
Complete Itinerary
The times listed for rides at the time we entered the queue. We also give the posted wait time. For waits that were significantly different than posted, we’ll also indicate when we boarded the ride. I’ve bolded FASTPASS activity.
Whenever Boarding Group Called - Rise of the Resistance
7:24AM - Arrive
7:45AM - Turnstiles Open
7:48AM - Enter Park, Grab 8:30AM FASTPASS for Space Mountain
8:00AM - Rope Drop
8:01AM - Peter Pan’s Flight (posted 30 minutes, boarded 8:04AM)
Alice In Wonderland temporarily closed
8:08AM - Dumbo (posted 10 minute wait)
8:18AM - Mad Tea Party (posted 5 minute wait)
8:24AM - Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride (posted 10 minute wait)
8:30AM - Grab 8:55AM FASTPASS for Matterhorn
8:35AM - Storybook Land Canal Boats (posted 5 minute wait)
8:53AM - Casey Jr. Circus Train
9:02AM - Autopia (posted 10 minute wait, boarded 9:24AM)
9:34AM - Scan into Space Mountain FASTPASS (posted wait 60 minutes)
9:48AM - Scan into Matterhorn FASTPASS (posted wait 45 minutes)
10:02AM - Grab 10:55AM FASTPASS for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
10:07AM - Grab Fantasmic! Reservation
10:08AM - Pirates of the Caribbean (posted 15 minute wait)
Jungle Cruise wait at 30 minutes, longer than we prefer; skip it for now
10:43AM - Snow White’s Scary Adventure (posted 5 minute wait, ride breaks down at 10:47AM)
10:47AM - Pinocchio’s Daring Journey (posted 5 minute wait)
10:57AM - Grab 11:30AM FASTPASS for Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters
11:05AM - Snow White’s Scary Adventure (posted 5 minute wait)
11:15AM - King Arthur Carrousel (posted 5 minute wait)
11:27AM - Scan into Buzz Lightyear FASTPASS (posted wait 45 minutes)
11:31AM - Grab 12:10PM FASTPASS for Haunted Mansion
11:45AM - Scan into Big Thunder Mountain Railroad FASTPASS (posted wait 45 minutes)
Lunch
12:11PM - Grab 3:10PM FASTPASS for Splash Mountain
12:33PM - Scan into Haunted Mansion FASTPASS (posted wait 45 minutes)
1:05PM - Watch Mickey and the Magical Map
[Galaxy’s Edge Note: This 1:30PM to 4PM time period would be great for visiting Galaxy’s Edge]
1:29PM - Gadget’s Go Coaster (posted 20 minute wait)
1:43PM - Grab 3PM FASTPASS for Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin
Eat Dole Whip, Visit Disney Gallery, Visit Main Street Cinema, watch Dapper Dans
2:55PM - Scan into Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin FASTPASS (posted wait 45 minutes)
3:05PM - Grab 8PM FASTPASS for Indiana Jones Adventure
3:30PM - Board Sailing Ship Columbia
4:00PM - In Splash Mountain FASTPASS queue; eventually leave line at 4:34PM
4:38PM - Grab 8:35PM FASTPASS for Splash Mountain
4:38PM - Davy Crockett’s Explorer Canoes (posted 10 minute wait)
4:56PM - The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (posted 20 minute wait, boarded 5:09PM)
5:20PM - Jungle Cruise (posted 25 minute wait)
6:00PM - Mickey’s Soundsational Parade
6:09PM - Grab 6:35PM FASTPASS for “it’s a small world”
6:16PM - Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage (posted 30 minute wait, boarded 6:35PM)
6:40PM - Grab 9PM FASTPASS for Star Tours
7:03PM - Scan into “it’s a small world” FASTPASS (posted wait 25 minutes)
Dinner
8:16PM - Scan into Indiana Jones Adventure FASTPASS (posted wait 45 minutes)
8:41PM - Scan into Splash Mountain FASTPASS (posted wait 60 minutes)
9:13PM - Disneyland Railroad
9:30PM - Watch Mickey’s Mix Magic
9:53PM - Scan into Star Tours FASTPASS (posted wait 15 minutes)
10:30PM - Fantasmic!
11:20PM - Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room
11:41PM - Alice In Wonderland
11:58PM - Monorail to Downtown Disney [or Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run]
All Your Other Disneyland Planning Questions Answered
Don't be overwhelmed by Disneyland planning! Take a second to check out our most important content and you'll not only be an expert, but you'll save big $$$ along the way.
Just starting out? Check out our Disneyland Planning Guide. If you're still picking dates, we've got everything you need to know about Disneyland crowd calendars.
When it comes to hotels, we’ve got reviews of all three Disney hotels: Disneyland Hotel, Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, and Disney’s Paradise Pier Hotel. As for tickets, check out where to find discount Disneyland tickets.
Know what to ride with our: Disneyland Rides Guide and Disney California Adventure Rides Guide. And just as important, know how to get on the best rides without the wait with our Disneyland and Disney California Adventure FASTPASS and MaxPass Strategy! For the complete guides to a day at the park, we have a One Day Disneyland Itinerary and a One Day Disney California Adventure Itinerary.
We always recommend arriving at the parks early. If you can get access to Extra Magic Hour at Disney California Adventure or Extra Magic Hour and Magic Morning at Disneyland, you’ll have the most time in the parks. Even without those bonus hours, you’ll need to know Rope Drop Strategy at Disneyland and Rope Drop Strategy at Disney California Adventure.
Finally, before you head out, be sure to check out our to-the-point packing list, 10 essentials you forget to pack for every Disney trip. And if you're interested in saving, there's no better list than our 53 Ways to Save on your Disney trip from start to finish.