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As you know, we are a traveling family. We love to see new things and go where we’ve never gone before, but there is one place that we will always go back to - Disneyland! Not Disney World, Not Disneyland Paris, but the original - Disneyland.

Yep, we’re those people who regularly go down to Southern California and find our Happy Place.

As I’ve been thinking about this episode, I have been remembering a lot of the questions we get asked about Disneyland all the time so I thought, Hey, why not just put down our answers here for the next time these questions are asked!

The first question is almost always, “Which is better, Disneyland or Walt Disney World?”

And I always say that I think it has a lot to do with the first one you went to but for me and my family, it is for sure Disneyland. Why? Practically, the size and distance between the different parks - Disneyland and Disney California Adventure - makes park hopping something that is easy to do.

I can almost hear some of you asking, Wait, what’s park hopping? Park hopping is where you start out in one park and then go to the other one. You have to buy special tickets - called Park Hoppers - to do this, but it’s a fun way to spend a day!

In Walt Disney World, you CAN technically park hop, but the parks are so far apart that it takes a lot more effort.

We love Disneyland more than Disney World because, well, it’s closer to us, being that we’re also on the west coast. It’s just a couple of hours flight from us as opposed to being on the completely opposite end of the country.

We love Disneyland because the rides are better. There, I said it. These are the original versions of the rides for the most part and they are just more fun. And, while I don’t like riding the Matterhorn, I don’t like it when it’s not there!

We’ve been to both Disneyland and Walt Disney World and while there are things about Disney World that we love - EPCOT and Animal Kingdom to be exact - when we think Disney, we think Disneyland.

Disneyland is easier to just go to, there’s not as much planning involved. In Disney World, everything needs to be planned MONTHS out, whereas with Disneyland, you can have an excellent time with very little planning.

The next question we’re often asked is, “Isn’t it expensive?”

Well, yes. Disneyland does cost some money to go, but there are ways to save, a little at least.

My first suggestion on how to save is to be flexible with your travel days. Disneyland has tiered pricing where some days are cheaper than other days so definitely pay attention to that.

If you’re a member of Costco, you can get pretty good travel deals for a Disneyland package that includes a hotel and sometimes a character dinner. Sam's Club may have the same thing but since we’re from the land of a thousand Costcos, I’m not sure.

You can also save some dollars by buying Disney Gift Cards at Costco or Target - if you have the Target red card - at a discount. Then you use those Gift Cards to buy the tickets or for food or whatever you want to spend them on!

We also have found that the food is where we really spend a lot of money, so we often eat breakfast before we go - we are not rope droppers - bring our lunch - homemade lunchables all the way - and then have dinner in the park. We usually just pack our lunch with us, but you can also rent a locker at different places in the park.

One of the best ideas I have found for kids is to give them a gift card and they can use that to get their own souvenirs. Some kids, like Trooper, will hem and haw the whole time and then get one big thing, where others will buy a few little things along the way. We’ve found that there’s a lot less whining when it’s the gift card’s fault that we can’t get that. 

Then the question inevitably goes to, “What age is the best age to go to Disneyland?”

To this question, I feel like my answer may not be exactly what everyone agrees with. I think the perfect age is 8. They still believe in a bit of magic but they can walk for longer time periods and there are far less potty accidents. They’ll probably be tall enough to ride a lot of rides so you won’t be stuck on Dumbo all day - which I love but the spinning - And they will more than likely remember the fun they’re having!

BUT, we took Trooper when he was 2 because I couldn’t imagine not going for years and years and I am so glad we did! He may not remember it but I will.

I’ll remember him lighting up as we walked through the gate. I’ll remember him seeing Woody and yelling, “Hey Woody, where’s Buzz?” because he liked Buzz better.  I’ll remember him dancing to All My Friends Are Low Riders in Cars Land and a little girl coming up to talk to him and him getting shy. I will remember his laugh when he rode his first roller coaster. And I will remember him taking my hand and saying he would protect me so we could go on the ferris wheel. (Though I won’t be doing that again - cute little face or not!)

So, I guess what I’m saying is, there is good and bad about every age and Disneyland. Littles need strollers, which can be a pain in the bum, but also nice to store stuff in. Bigger kids can get grouchy when they don’t get their way. Siblings don’t always agree on what rides to ride or what to do. (I hear that is a great time to bring in a grandparent) And everything in between.

But I’ll let you in on a little secret. Brent and I went to Disneyland A LOT before Trooper came around and I was worried about what it would be like to go with a kid. We definitely had to slow down our day and change our expectations, but honestly, I love going with Trooper and I love an adult trip every once in a while - mostly so we can eat what we want to eat without having to think about what Trooper will eat.

Trooper has always been an outgoing kid but also a cautious kid so before we went to Disneyland the first time, we watched a lot of YouTube videos on the rides. If you search a ride - say Pirates of the Caribbean - and add POV (which means point of view) at the end, you will get tons of videos that people have uploaded of the ride. That helped Trooper know what was going to happen on the ride, so he knew that it wasn’t scary. Though we do have a pretty funny picture from EPCOT in Disney World when he rode the Frozen ride for the first time and we went down the first drop.

The next question I get asked is, “What’s the best time to go to Disneyland?” And that depends on your tolerance for people and for heat.

Disneyland is in Southern California and it can get warm there. It’s not humid like Disney World, but 90 degree days are still 90 degree days. I have a low tolerance for hot weather, so I wear a lot of hats and cooling towels, but it can still be fun and the sun isn’t up the whole day. This is the time to rope drop (which means getting there before the park opens and then they drop a rope when it does open), take a nap in the hottest part of the day, and go back at night.