We went 440 days without visiting Disneyland and it was NOT fun. But we finally got to go to Disneyland during COVID and we had our newest family member in tow! Disneyland was definitely different with all the restrictions and limits, but we still had a blast. We changed up our game plan from how we typically do Disneyland (find my other itineraries HERE) and I wanted to share the biggest changes we made to ensure we got the most out of our trip!
Arriving at the Park
We stayed in a Harbor side hotel (the Tropicana) and were in line at 7:30am. We were lined up in the Uber dropoff area. Once the line started moving we got to the esplanade very quickly and were inside the park by 8:30! To help crowd control, the lands were not roped off so we went straight to the Pirate’s line and were the first ones on the ride at 9am!
Itinerary
With new rides open and lots of favorite attractions closed, we had to change our itinerary and schedule for doing rides. Here is the order in which we did everything, we managed to hit all of our favorites and our longest wait time was 35 minutes!
-Pirates – if you want to ride this without a 60 minute wait, get here first thing in the morning! We were the first ones on the ride and the line was horrible the rest of the day.
-Haunted Mansion
-Splash Mountain
-Winnie the Pooh
-Big Thunder
We opted to skip Galaxy’s Edge, but if you wanted to see that then go there after Winnie the Pooh.
Take the shortcut to Fantasyland.
-Tea Cups
-Alice in Wonderland
Break for lunch at Galactic Grill
Walk to Toon Town
-Visit Toon Town characters
-Gadget’s Go Coaster
We did not ride the train, but this line gets long as well so do it early if it’s a priority for you.
-it’s a small world
-Snow White’s Enchanted Wish
-Peter Pan
-Dumbo
-Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride
-King Arthur’s Carousel
We also did not visit Tomorrowland since Astro Blasters is closed and only one of my kids is tall enough for Space Mountain.
Dining Options
We were able to mobile order our lunch at Galactic Grill with about a 1 hour notice, but I’ve heard since the park capacity increased that you need to plan further ahead! We did try to get Dole Whips but were too late. By 3:30pm they were booked out until 6pm! We had no issues finding a place to sit, and there were tons of tables and benches designated for dining which was nice.
The line for churros was pretty long since they don’t have all the carts out, and if you want a popular treat I recommend ordering that early on! We always get beignets in the park but this time we got them in Downtown Disney at the Jazz Kitchen and it was nice to get that out of the way the night before.
Character Meet and Greets
We hardly saw any characters while we were in the park which was kind of sad! We saw Pluto, Goofy, Chip and Dale, Elsa, the Evil Queen, and a handful of princesses from afar. The best place to see lots of princesses is by the Royal Fantasy theater, they rotate them through there pretty frequently and there’s usually someone in the tower as well. It was nice that they had Elsa and Anna in Disneyland since they normally stay over in DCA!
Was it Worth it?
So, was going to Disneyland during COVID worth it? This trip was different, but I’m glad that we went! The kids had fun and didn’t seem to mind the differences. I know they were sad they didn’t get to go meet the princesses, and they missed Astro Blasters and Jungle Cruise. But they expressed they enjoyed the trip and were sad we only got to do one day. That being said, we won’t be going back until some sort of annual pass is available! In my opinion it was just too expensive to do multiple one day visits.
Outfit Information
Reagan’s shirt: HERE
My romper: HERE
Girl’s headbands: HERE
My mask: HERE
Girl’s masks: HERE
Hunter’s rompers: HERE