Disney California Adventure opened as the Disneyland Resort's long-awaited second gate on February 8, 2001. It's the sixth most-visited park in America, with 10 million visitors last year.
DCA might have the same Pan Pacific Auditorium-inspired entrance as Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios, but it shares a focus on seasonal food festivals with Epcot, staging the Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival, Lunar New Year, and Festival of Holidays.
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The Disneyland Resort is located in Anaheim, California - about 25 miles south of downtown Los Angeles and 30 miles from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Orange County's John Wayne Airport (SNA) is just 15 miles away, but it's not as well served by nonstop flights from around the world as LAX.
Parking is at either the Mickey & Friends and Pixar Pals parking structures (they are connected) northwest of the parks or the Toy Story surface lot southeast of the parks. Plan on spending at least 30 minutes to park, go through bag checks and then get to the theme parks from either location. Shuttles are available, but you can walk as well.
Start with buying your tickets before you arrive, since Disneyland Resort theme park tickets are date-specific and may sell out. "Magic Key" annual passholders must make advance reservations to visit Disney California Adventure, via Disney's website.
Disneyland's hotel guests can get early admission to the park on select dates. For assistance in planning a Disneyland vacation, please contact our partner for a free, no-obligation vacation quote.
If you want to go to Lamplight Lounge, make reservations up to 60 days in advance on the Disneyland website or the official app. Admission to viewing spaces for World of Color will be assigned via virtual queue in the Disneyland app. Watch the app when you enter the park for today's virtual queue opening times.
On its mobile app, Disneyland offers a tool called Disney Genie that will create a custom itinerary for each day of your visit. In addition, Disney offers three ways for its theme park guests to pay to access shorter wait times for many popular attractions. You can learn more about these options in our posts:
But you do not need any of those tools or upcharges to experience pretty much everything you would like in one day at the park. Still, plan to arrive at the front gate at least a half hour before opening in the morning, adding extra time beyond that to park and get to the gate. If you are staying at one of the three on-site Disneyland Resort hotels, you can go on select attractions 30 minutes before the park opens, so take advantage of that opportunity.
Again, remember to use the Disneyland app to enter the virtual queue for World of Color as soon as you can.
If you are not staying on-site, head first at park opening toward Radiator Springs Racers and then to Toy Story Midway Mania, as those are, on average, the two longest waits in the park by mid-day. After Midway Mania, head into Avengers Campus for WEB Slingers and Guardians, which will be the next longest waits in the park by early afternoon. Save Soarin' for later in the afternoon, as its average wait time does not get as bad. Again, watch Disney Genie for wait times and estimated wait times to adjust your plans throughout the day.
If you are visiting alone, the following rides have single rider queues, which can save you quite a bit of waiting time:
Ask a cast member at the ride's entrance for directions to the single rider queue, if you do not see it marked.
Monsters, Inc.: Mike and Sulley to the Rescue does not have a designed single rider queue, but cast members have allowed single riders to use a "Buddy Pass" that allows them to board through the exit. Ask at the ride's entrance.
You can find rest rooms listed on the official Disneyland app. We like the ones located between the Animation building and Disney Junior show in Hollywood Land. They are hidden behind a facade inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright's Hollyhock House, which leaves them uncrowded. Avoid the stinky ones between The Little Mermaid ride and Grizzly River Run, however.
