Last week, I managed to drag my husband to my most favorite place to take a vacation, Disneyland! He had never been (which is shocking considering how often I take the kids) and I was determined to show him a good time. I only got an annual pass one year ago, and every trip I’ve taken has been with my kids so I was pretty unsure how to take an adults only trip. I used the knowledge that I already had, in addition to asking some friends and family for advice to create an itinerary that allowed us to go on every big attraction ride, even the new Rise of the Resistance ride (two times)!! Here is our adults only Disneyland itinerary, in chronological order of what to do on your next adults only visit!
MaxPass
First things first, EVERY ticket holder needs to purchase a MaxPass. It is an additional $20 but will save you so much time and ensures you will get on as many rides as possible. You can purchase it ahead of time with your tickets at this link!
Rise of the Resistance
This hot new ride draws major crowds, so if you want to ride it you MUST plan in advance! Here are my tips for how to get on this new ride, they worked two days in a row for us despite very large crowds trying to get a boarding group
- Buy your tickets online. DO NOT wait to buy tickets at the kiosk at Disneyland.
- Get to the park at least one hour before park opening. If the crowds are bad enough, the gates will open about 45 minutes prior to park opening to get as many people scanned into the park as possible.
- Link all tickets to one (responsible) person’s phone via the Disneyland app. This can be done prior to park opening, so consider doing it the day before or at least while waiting in line for the gates to open.
- Once in the park, go to a less crowded spot away from people. Good places include Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, the Cinema on Main St., Refreshment Corner, or Plaza Inn.
- Close the Disneyland app after entering the park, then reopen it. This lets the app know that you are currently in Disneyland.
- Set alarms! One minute before the park opens, be on your app and ready to push some buttons. At the exact time the park opens, click the Find Out More button on the home page. Then click My Status. Select all members of the group wanting to ride and click join boarding group.
The second day we tried to get onto the ride, my app glitched and it took me 15 seconds to push join boarding group. We got group 108 which isn’t guaranteed to ride! I panicked and got super mopey, but Galaxy’s Edge staff have gotten incredibly efficient and we got on the ride at 5:45pm!
Ride Itinerary
Now for the rest of the rides! This is the order we got FastPasses and we had plenty of time to ride everything, plus leftover time to go rest and ride again.
Disneyland
-Pull FastPass for Space Mountain (you can do this before the park officially opens, you just have to be scanned into the park!)
-Rise of the Resistance boarding group
-Matterhorn
-Indiana Jones
-Splash Mountain (if it’s a hot day) or Big Thunder
-Haunted Mansion
-Star Tours
In between FastPasses, ride these rides!
-Buzz Astroblasters
-Pirates
-Jungle Cruise
-Smuggler’s Run (try to time this for right before or right after your ROTR boarding group)
California Adventure
-Pull FastPass for Cars, these sell out so do it ASAP!
-Midway Mania
-Soarin’
-Guardians
-Incredicoaster
In between FastPasses, ride these rides!
-Go to Guardians first and enjoy the short line!
-Monsters Inc.
-Silly Symphony Swings
-Pixar Pal-A-Round ferris wheel
-Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree
The two days we spent at Disneyland and California adventure were so much fun! Even my husband had the time of his life! The parks were pretty crowded when we went, but we still managed to do every ride once and most of them twice. We had park hopper tickets and used them the second day when we finished everything at California Adventure in just a couple of hours. If you are considering a Disneyland trip with just the big kids (aka adults) I hope this adults only Disneyland itinerary helps you plan your day to hit everything you want!
For more of my Disneyland tips, tricks, and itineraries, check out my Disney content HERE!