We took our son Jett to Disneyland a week before he turned 3! Yes, this was strategic, because kids get in FREE under the age of three! I wanted to take advantage of this deal, so we took this trip instead of throwing a birthday party this year.

We went with my parents and the 5 of us had a BLAST! Here are my best tips & tricks to taking a 2 year old to Disneyland.

Growing up in Arizona, I was fortunate to go to Disneyland quite a bit! I had not been since 2014 though, and this was Spencer’s first time! I have still never been to Disney World, but I figured Disneyland would be easier to navigate with a 2 year old since it’s smaller and I am familiar with it. A LOT has changed technology wise since 2014 which I will explain below.

Before you go

• Measure your child and make sure you know their height! This will determine what rides they can go on. Jett was 38″ when we went.

• Buy mickey ears & costumes in advance. They will be much cheaper on Amazon than at the park! I also bought glow sticks and ponchos and brought them with us. It had rained the day before we went. I did end up returning them since we didn’t use them, but tucked them into the bottom of our stroller just in case!

• I brought air tags – I pinned one on Jett each day in his pocket with these airtag pins, because I was so nervous if he got separated from us somehow, and I put another one inside our stroller. This gave me peace of mind that I could track it down in case it got lost or moved.

• Go snack shopping before you go – you are allowed to bring your own food into the park! This is a great way to save money. I just loaded our diaper bag full with snacks and a spare change of clothes!

Travel

If you are flying with a toddler or baby, be sure to read my blog posts on toddler travel tips and flying with a newborn. It definitely gets easier as they get older!

Booking the trip / where to stay

We booked everything pretty last minute, but there’s a few ways you can do it.

We booked directly through the hotel, a rental car through Costco Travel, and bought tickets through the park.

You can go through a Disney travel agent who will book everything for you, or you can even book through Costco Travel and get tickets that way too.

If you are able, here is a huge tip! Stay at one of the Disney properties so you can walk back to the hotel and take a nap during the day, then walk back to the park for round two later in the day! We stayed at the Disneyland Hotel and it was so fun! Everything is Disney themed of course, down to the lamps and headboards in the rooms!

It was so convenient to walk to the park through Downtown Disney and walk back for naps. Resort guests also get early access so we got into the park 30 minutes before the general public! We were able to ride at least 3 more rides this way! It was definitely worth waking up early for.

Pro tip: mobile order Starbucks in downtown Disney while you’re waiting in line to get in at opening!

Getting your tickets / plan the parks

We went to Disneyland February 28 – March 2. This was a great time to go because it was before the Spring Break crowds, the weather was great, and we went to the parks on a Thursday and Friday (again, less crowds!)

Wednesday: flew to CA, went to Downtown Disney & enjoyed the hotel

Thursday: Magic Kingdom

Friday: California Adventure

Saturday: flew home

I would NOT recommend getting the park hopper pass, as there is plenty to do at each park for an entire day and you won’t even get to it all. We did Magic Kingdom the first day and California Adventure the next day. This was perfect! We were able to do so many rides. I could have probably done one more day, but 2 was plenty for us with a 2 yr old!

***You need to book your tickets AND then make a park reservation on the Disney site itself.

Genie Plus +

If you get one thing from this blog post let it be this! Definitely splurge for Genie +! It is totally worth your money. You can add it day of through the app if you didn’t purchase it with your ticket. It was a little tricky to figure out how it worked at first, but we figured it out & I’ll do my best to explain.

Everything at Disney now operates through their app. Through the app you can load your tickets, plan your rides and see wait times, order food, find maps, and link your photos. Everyone in your party will need to download the app before you go and load your tickets on it. Getting Genie + will allow you to get in shorter lines called Lightning Lane, and also allows you to get photos taken throughout the park for free and they all load into the app!

For the Lightning Lane, you will select a ride you want to go on (in advance) and it will tell you a time window to arrive that you will be able to get in the Lightning Lane for. This saved us so much time and waiting in lines with a 2 year old is already hard! You do have to be kind of strategic, as you can only select one ride at a time. You can’t book your next lightning lane until after you have checked in for your current ride. So, as soon as you scan into the lightning lane, get on the app while you are in line and book your next ride to maximize your time.

Stroller

If you’ve read my flight travel blog posts, you know we usually travel with our smaller travel stroller. For the first time, we took our Uppababy Vista stroller because I wanted it at Disney! I was so nervous to fly with it, but it all worked out! I bought the Uppababy travel bag which kept it safe & secure, and we checked our stroller with our bags.

At the park, I was a little nervous leaving it to go on rides, but it was totally fine. Definitely tie something bright & flashy on your stroller so you can easily find it in the sea of strollers. I brought some ribbon with us and glow sticks for night time. I did try to park it towards the back, but I felt comfortable leaving it at the park and was so glad to have it there!

What to wear at Disneyland

We went to Disneyland in late February/early March and the weather was honestly so nice! I would definitely recommend going in a cooler month.

Day 1

The first day I wore my Lululemon leggings with a Mickey/Minnie shirt, and brought my Lululemon jacket that I wore part of the day then kept in the stroller when it got warmer. And my belt bag was perfect for Disney! So easy to be hands free and bring it on all the rides.

Comfortable shoes are a MUST! I absolutely love my Hokas. I wear them almost every day and they were perfect walking all day at the park.

I found these cute matching Mickey shirts for Spencer & Jett (linked below) so we all had Mickey/Minnie shirts on day 1. I put Jett in black sweatpants and sneakers and brought a sweatshirt and jacket for when it got cold.

Day 2

I wore basically the same outfit, but with a cropped shirt. I was planning on wearing my black Lululemon skirt with built in shorts on day 1 with my Minnie shirt, but it was too cold so I wore leggings twice. I put on a sweatshirt at night when it got a bit chilly.

Magic Kingdom / Rides

Now for the fun part – rides! Jett had never been on a ride before so we didn’t know what to expect. We learned quickly (after the first ride) that he is very scared of dark rides – so any ride that goes inside. He cried on a few of the rides, I felt so bad!

Plan out your first ride. If you are staying at a Disney hotel and have early access (7:30am) or get there at rope drop (when the park opens at 8:00am), you will hustle/run to the first ride. Typically people suggest going to the rides that tend to get long lines later in the day. We did Peter Pan for the first ride.

You never know what will scare kids – Jett was scared of all the “dark” / indoor rides. His favorites were Dumbo, Casey Jr. Train, Buzz Lightyear, and King Arthur’s Carousel. He was SO scared on Peter Pan & It’s a Small World. We didn’t make it to the teacups, but I think he would have liked that!

Here are the best areas of Magic Kingdom for toddlers and what we did in each place I put in bold:

Fantasyland

• Dumbo – a favorite!
• King Arthur’s Carousel – a favorite!
• Casey Jr. Train
• Peter Pan’s Flight – Jett was scared
• Mad Tea Party
• Storybook Land Canal Boats
• Alice in Wonderland

Toontown

Playground at Goofy’s Playhouse & Donald Duck’s boat

Meet Mickey & Minnie at their Toontown houses

• Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway
• Chip ‘n’ Dale’s GADGETcoaster

We didn’t do any of the rides but had a blast at the playground & meeting Mickey!

Tomorrowland

• Space Mountain (Spencer & I went)
• Buzz Lightyear astroblaster
• Autopia – a favorite!
• Astro Orbitor
• Finding Nemo submarine voyage – my anxiety did not let me go on this ride. It goes underwater!!! What if it breaks?!

Adventureland

• Tiki room – a nice break to sit down. Jett loved it!
• Pirates of the Caribbean – WAY too scary we should not have done this ride.
• Jungle Cruise

Critter Country

• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh 

Other

• Parade (twice/day) – Jett LOVED the parade! It was very well done. Definitely get there early to get a good spot to see.
• Fireworks – check schedule on the app. We did a ride instead.
• Character greetings

California Adventure / Rides

We had a blast at both parks, but California Adventure may have been the favorite!

Here is a list of toddler friendly rides. We did all of them except Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind.

• Radiator Springs Racers 40” (we did rider swap & took turns going since Jett was not tall enough)

• Luigis
• Maters

• Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind

• Disney Junior show
• Jessie’s Critter Carousel
• Monsters
• Ariel’s

• Midway Mania
• Web Slingers

Other

Disney Junior show
Redwood Creek Challenge Trail
World of Color – 9:00pm light show at Pixar Pier

The Disney Junior show was really fun! It was very well done and a chance to sit down in the AC while the kids have a dance party! There was even a surprise appearance by Mickey & Minnie! Check the app for showtimes. After this we went back to the hotel for naps & to freshen up.

Jett also loved the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail – basically a playground for kiddos to run around!

We met a lot more characters at California Adventure than Magic Kingdom. Cars Land was a favorite for sure! Since we had the early entry, we went straight to Cars Land and did the Luigi ride first. We went back for lunch in Cars Land, met Mater & Lightning McQueen, and went back at night too!

We had the best time at Disney and I can’t wait to take Jett back! I think he will appreciate it even more once he is older – I think 3-5 is a great age, especially once they are tall enough for more rides. But I wanted to take advantage of him getting in for free and I’m so glad we did!

If you have any questions feel free to DM me on Instagram @babyroloff or email me at hello@alyssaroloff.com.