Disneyland One-Day Itinerary – Globetrotting Disney Blog

Our one-day Disneyland itinerary offers an efficient and enjoyable plan to spend a day exploring Walt Disney’s original theme park. From battling pirates to stealing coaxium with the Millennium Falcon in Galaxy’s Edge, this itinerary will allow you to experience everything that Disneyland has to offer.

We highly recommend spending three days at the Disneyland Resort, with one day dedicated to each park and saving the third day for anything you might have missed. However, if you only have one day to spend at the park, then this itinerary is for you. Additionally, if money is no object, we recommend staying onsite at the Disneyland Hotel. This is our absolute favorite hotel on property and allows you easy access to the parks and Extra Magic Hours in the morning.

Notes

To begin this itinerary, we need you in front of Disneyland thirty minutes before the scheduled park opening. If the park opens at 8AM, be in front of Disneyland by 7:30AM. Or if the park opens at 9AM, be in front of the park by 8:30AM. To ensure maximum efficiency, you MUST be ready to go thirty minutes in advance.

Disneyland “unofficially” opens the park gates thirty minutes before scheduled opening to allow guests to roam Main Street and shop. All attractions and shows will be off limits until the scheduled opening, but this allows for one massive perk, Fast Pass selection. But how can one do so if they cannot walk to the attractions?

The answer? Disney Max Pass. If you only have one day at Disneyland, pay for Disney Max Pass. For $15/day per person, you can select your Fast Pass selections from your phone via the official Disneyland app.

Rather than physically walking to the ride and burning up a huge amount of time, you can just pull out your phone and pick your next Fast Pass in seconds. It’s easily worth the extra $15. Plus, it also includes unlimited PhotoPass downloads. Trust us, buy Disney Max Pass. Just do it. You won’t regret it.

With Disney Max Pass, you can pick your Fast Pass selections as soon as your ticket is scanned and you are in the park. And if you enter the park at 7:30AM, you can start picking Fast Passes.

For those without Disney Max Pass, they will have to wait till park opening, then walk to the ride and THEN scan their ticket for a Fast Pass. By the time they scan their ticket, you are already on the ride and picking your next one. Again, add Disney Max Pass. Just do it.

Once you are in the park, here is a list of what to do…

Morning: E-Ticket Rides

First thing you want to do is tackle the more popular E-Ticket rides. “E-Ticket” is Disney speak for the big-name attractions, like Space Mountain or Indiana Jones. In the morning, we want to knock these attractions out of the way first before they become too crowded. The morning is the perfect opportunity to ride these attractions.

First attraction, Smuggler’s Run. However, Smuggler’s Run doesn’t use Fast Pass. Instead, select your first Fast Pass for Space Mountain when you enter the park half hour before the park opens. By doing so, your return time should be within the hour or so. For example, if you pick your first Fast Pass at 7:30AM after entering the park, your Space Mountain Fast Pass will most likely be from 8:15AM to 9:15AM.

Once the park opens at 8AM, head straight to Smuggler’s Run, giving you plenty of time to walk to the ride and explore some of Galaxy’s Edge before using the Fast Pass. Remember, you don’t need to redeem the Fast Pass right at 8:15AM. You have the whole hour. Plan to arrive at Space Mountain at 9:15AM (Disney also gives you a five-minute buffer in case you’re a little bit late).

To recap, follow the schedule below (for an 8AM opening):

7:25AM: Be outside the gates of Disneyland in line ready to go inside the park

7:30AM: Disneyland begins opening their gates

7:35AM: Scan your pass/ticket. Once inside, immediately open the app and select a Fast Pass for Space Mountain. Remember the time you can pick your next Fast Pass (which will be the time the first Fast Pass starts)

7:45AM: Wait in the hub, looking towards Sleeping Beauty Castle.

8AM: Park opens. Head straight through the castle, walk through Fantasyland and walk towards the left to enter Galaxy’s Edge

8:10AM: Head to Smuggler’s Run

8:15AM: Select second Fast Pass (Star Tours)

Before 9AM: Once you finish Smuggler’s Run, explore Galaxy’s Edge until 9AM. At 9AM, head to Space Mountain. Don’t worry, we’ll come back to Galaxy’s Edge.

9:15AM: Ride Space Mountain

Once you finish riding Space Mountain, it should be time or close to use your next Fast Pass selection, Star Tours. The attraction is located right around the corner from Space Mountain, making it an easy win.

Once you scan your ticket and enter the line, select your third Fast Pass (Matterhorn Bobsleds). After surviving an adventure through the Star Wars galaxy, you’ll probably have some time between your next Fast Pass.

In the meantime, you can ride Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters or the Finding Nemo submarines. Both of these attractions shouldn’t be too impacted this early in the morning. Once your Fast Pass return time appears, select your fourth Fast Pass, for Indiana Jones.

Head over to the Matterhorn and ride one of Disney’s first roller coasters. The ride has made some improvements over the years, but it still can be a bit jerky in places. If the jerkiness is too much, then avoid and pick Indiana Jones sooner.

Once you finish with the Matterhorn, walk over to Adventureland. If there is still time before you can ride Indiana, ride either the Jungle Cruise or Pirates of the Caribbean, or both, depending on the wait times. Both are right next to Indiana Jones.

Once you finish with Indiana Jones, it will be lunchtime. For your next Fast Pass, we recommend selecting Splash Mountain. If its too cold, then select Big Thunder Mountain or re-ride another attraction from the morning.

For lunch, we recommend leaving the park and walking to the Disneyland Hotel. The hotel hosts our favorite bar on property, Trader Sam’s. The bar can become very busy in the evening/night, but during the lunch hours its usually not as crowded (See our full review of Trader Sam’s HERE).

Plus, this gives you some time to leave the park and relax. The bar serves awesome drinks and Asian inspired dishes. The hotel itself is beautiful and is a perfect place to calm down from the hustle of Disneyland.

Afternoon: Relax

Take an hour or so for lunch, depending on your next Fast Pass return time. Once you’re done with lunch, go ahead and walk back to the park. You can also take the Monorail back to the park, which is right outside the hotel entrance. Remember, the monorail will drop you off in the back of Tomorrowland.

As for the afternoon, the park will be more crowded and the Fast Passes fewer with longer return times. Use this time to explore areas of the park you walked by in the morning. For example, I would head back to Galaxy’s Edge and take this time to really explore its details. Try out a blue (or green) milk, check out the shops or find places to take pictures. Galaxy’s Edge was designed to be explored. Since you already rode Smuggler’s Run, you can take your time exploring.

You can also use this time to catch some shows, like Mickey and the Magical Map or Storytelling at the Royal Theater. Both shows are excellent and great things to do to escape the crowds and the heat. You can find the showtimes via the official Disneyland app.

Before the evening sets in, try to ride attractions like Big Thunder Mountain or Haunted Mansion. All are worth using a Fast Pass at this point and they even may be walk-ons.

For example, unless the park is insane, we never see Big Thunder Mountain more than 15-30 minutes. And Haunted Mansion isn’t usually a long wait, unless its the holiday period (when the mansion becomes Haunted Mansion Holiday).

To recap, there is no need for a solid itinerary at this point. You should have been able to hit all the major attractions in the morning and you are using the afternoon to take your time and ride attractions with short wait times, ones you may want to ride again, or shows.

Most importantly, just relax. After running around all morning, the afternoon is the perfect time to relax and pat yourself on the back for arriving early, purchasing Max Pass and watching everyone else scramble around.

Evening: Take in the Sights

When the evening sets in, I would focus on finding a place to eat and relax (yes, relaxing is incredibly important). Great places for a drink include Oga’s in Galaxy’s Edge (reservations only, see our full review of Oga’s HERE), Hearthstone Lounge and Craftsman Grill at the Grand Californian, and my personal favorite, the Lounge at Steakhouse 55 (Disneyland Hotel).

I highly recommend checking out one of these places for a great cocktail after a long hard day of exploring Disneyland. Personally, a double Woodford on the rocks at the Lounge at Steakhouse 55 is a great way to finish the day and prepare for the evening activities.

For dinner, we recommend eating at one of the hotels for a nice sit down dinner. Steakhouse 55 and Napa Rose are excellent signature dining locations (reservations required) or eating something quick in the park.

Ronto Wraps in Galaxy Edge are excellent for a quick bite and will keep you full for a while. Plaza Inn on Main Street offers great fried chicken or head over to Adventureland and try some skewers at Bengal BBQ.

Disneyland does not offer any great places for a sit down dinner and I would avoid Blue Bayou, as it is expensive and the food is just okay. If you want to spend money, Steakhouse 55 is your best bet. Plus, they can serve booze unlike Blue Bayou.

Once you finish dinner, the rest is up to you. You can continue to look for Fast Passes and ride attractions you missed in the morning. Lines tend to die the closer it is to park closing. Galaxy Edge looks great at night as does a lot of Disneyland. If fireworks are scheduled, it is usually around 9:30PM (check the app).

If you plan to watch, we recommend grabbing a spot around the hub about 45 minutes prior to show start time. Just leave one person to hold the spot and use the rest of your group to grab some ice cream on Main Street. You can head back to the spot, eat some ice cream and wait for the show.

Once the fireworks are over, the park may close (depending on closing time) or continue to stay open. If it’s open later, finish off those rides or head home, it’s your choice. However, you should have hit everything by now if you came right at park opening and purchased Max Pass.

But Disneyland has tons to offer other than just attractions. Remember to take in the ambiance and the atmosphere. It’s fun to escape the real world for awhile and take in the fantasy of Walt’s original park.

Conclusion

Well, we hope this guide works for your one day visit to the Disneyland Resort. We will update this post once we get a chance to ride Rise of the Resistance and fit it into our strategy. Currently, the ride is experiencing tons of issues and all boarding groups via the virtual queue are selling out within minutes of park opening. If you can’t wait to ride, I recommend arriving early and hoping you can get in.

This strategy has worked for us time and time again! But not always! If the park is especially busy it may be hard to score all the needed Fast Passes. As we said above, we recommend arriving early and on a weekday. It is your best chance for success.