Disneyland + Spring Break = Magical Family fun…. for you and millions of other people! If you are planning a Spring get away to Disneyland you are surely in for a great time. To get the most out of your trip here are some tips and considerations.

First of all, expect crowds, but know that even with crowds there is plenty of fun to be had if you plan accordingly. Spring Break is like other peak times, lots of people fill the parks each day. This means the hotels, restaurants and Downtown Disney will also be more crowded. To combat the crowds get to the park early! It’s a good idea to get to the park at least 20-30 minutes before they open to get in line. Most days they begin letting people in up to 30 minutes before opening, so if you can it may even be worth it to arrive up to an hour early. While you wait in line be sure o link all of your park tickets to your Disneyland app on your phone. (You can link your tickets on multiple phones which is a great idea for bigger groups. Linking your tickets allows you to use your phone for park entry as well as for entry to rides I. Which you’ve scheduled a fast pass. The app will also alert you when your fast pass time occurs.

Once in the park you get to walk to certain areas of the park and at opening time ropes will be removed so you can go to your first attraction. If You are staying at a hotel that includes magic morning and you can bypass the crowds waiting behind the ropes and begin going on rides right away up to an hour before everyone else! All guests staying at a Disney owned property get Magic Morning access, so when you are pricing out hotels or making your daily plan be sure to take this into consideration.

Our next tip is to have a plan. When there are huge crowds to wade through and long lines it will be helpful to know ahead of time what each member of your party wants to do so you can plan your fast passes accordingly and make sure you aren’t running back-and-forth across the park. Even with crowds and long wait times you can still get on plenty of rides. First plan which rides you want to do, next obtain your first set of fast passes right away. (Be sure to take note of when you can schedule your next fast passes. For a much easier way to plan fast passes you can purchase max pass through the Disney app for $15 per person per day. We found this to be extremely useful and very worth the cost! As an added bonus you also get Disney photo pass for that day for each member who purchases max pass. This allows you to download photos from rides and Disney photographers). While you wait for your fast pass time you can go on all the other rides with short lines. Schedule your next fast passes as soon as you are able to. If you have young children or anyone who doesn’t want to ride certain rides remember not to get them fast passes for that ride and instead book passes for another ride.

Tip 3, if you have small children In your party ask for a rider switch pass upon entering the line. Whether you’re using a fast pass or not the rider switch your pass will allow three members of your party to ride the ride again using the fast pass. This allows one person to stay back with the littles then switch with another adult so everyone in your party can ride (and some may get to ride twice.

One thing to note, rider switch passes do not have to be used right away. This means your group can get the pass at the ride entrance, then the adult with the littles can take them to another attraction and return with your party later when it’s convenient. I suggest making this process a part of your plan if you have littles and plan who will ride and what the group with the littles will do while waiting. Since ride lines are long already you don’t want little ones waiting extra for grown ups to go on rides. For example one morning our group split up so our littles could get on as many Fantasyland rides as possible while the bigger kids and adults could ride the bigger rides in Adventureland and Frontierland. We started by getting 4 fast passes to Indiana Jones. We arrived at the line and obtained a rider switch for 3 more of us to ride later. Then I took the littles to Fantasyland. We rode plenty of rides to keep them happy, headed over to It’s a Small World and finally finished our morning in Toon Town where our littles were able to meet Minnie, play on Goofy’s Playground and explore a few other attractions. Meanwhile, the rest of our group went on Indiana Jones, Splash Mountain (twice) and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Just before noon we all jet back up in Critter Country for the Winnie the Pooh ride and lunch at the Hungrybear a Restaurant. After lunch it was time for me to get on Indiana Jones. Then we headed to California Adventure with all the kids while grandma and one adult took a rest. Without a plan or splitting up we would have done a fraction of the rides and there would’ve been a lot of waiting in the hot sun. Instead everyone was happy.

Next tip, leave the park to rest at mid- day. The middle of the day is the absolute busiest time at Disney parks. This is a good time to retreat from the park, and take a nap or better yet utilize your hotel’s swimming pool to cool off! By leaving the park for a few hours you will miss massive crowds and also allow your self to re-charge so you can take in the many wonderful nighttime shows. You could also plan a character brunch or other fun sit down dinner at one of the many lovely restaurants in the area.

Our last tip for this post… bring snacks. This may seem obvious (especially if you are on a budget) but it’s easy to forget and will cost you a fun of time if you do forget. We like to order groceries to our hotel. Fruit, cheese sticks, nuts and anything else small and nutritious are great picks. We still stop for the occasional churro or popcorn and sometimes even lunch, but having small snacks will save you time from having to stop and they help pass the time in ride lines.

We could go on and on all day with little tips and tricks especially for busy days at Disney Parks. Hopefully these tips will help you and your family get a bit more magic out of your trip. We’d love to hear your favorite Disney travel tips in the comments.

Recap

1. Get to the park early.

2. Use Magic Morning if you have it.

3. Use Fast Passes and begin getting them as soon as you can each day.

4. Use the Disneyland app to get fast passes faster and easier.

5. Have a plan and follow it (mostly).

6. Use rider switch passes.

7. Pack snacks.