Park Delights with Little Ones

Favorite chill spots at Disneyland Park

While you are waiting for rope drop, mobile order something to pick up later in the day at Jolly Holiday. They sell out of some treats early!

If you Rope Drop Fantasyland, you can do all these things in the first hour

Carousel

Snow White

Pinocchio

Mr. Toads

Dumbo

Casey Jr Circus Train

Canal boats

Mad tea party

Alice in Wonderland

Peter Pan

Red Rose Tavern

Go to the left at the entrance. There's a back room. It's quieter. There is a water bottle refill station. The restrooms are great. We chill here with some tater tots until everyone poops

Outdoor nap spot

Between Fantasyland and Frontierland. There's a Guest Relations kiosk. Great people watching. There's a shaded bench for you to sit and great ambient noise.

New Orleans Square

Harbour galley - Soup in bread bowl, cookies

Tiana's palace - open 10am-9pm

Mint julep bar (Beignets) - open 8am-10pm

I love the restrooms here. There is a drinking fountain you can use to refill water bottles

You could ride Haunted Mansion or Pirates

Pirate Lair on Tom Sawyer Island

Mobile order something to eat and take the ferry over to the island

There are restrooms and a bottle filling station but no food (bring your own)

Rivers of America

I’ve never seen Fantasmic! but there are some dining packages

Mark Twain Riverboat

Sailing Ship Columbia

Davey Crockett Explorer Canoes

Ship to shore marketplace = Breakfast chimichanga and frozen lemonade

There's a little view of the river from the marketplace where there used to be tables. The fresh cool air coming off the river is really nice to stop and snack.

Frontierland

Restrooms at Rancho del Zocalo, but there’s usually a long line there

The chill thing to do here is watch the ducks

Albert got a kick out of playing with the cannon

You can find a shady bench

We’ve never eaten at River Belle Terrace, Cafe Orleans, Plaza Inn, Blue Bayou. Pretty much any place that requires reservations.

We’ve never eaten at the Golden Horseshoe, but I heard they have a root beer flight right now which sounds really fun

Royal Theater

we’ve never done, I just don’t think Albert has enough patience to sit for a show

If you bring quarters, you can do the shooting gallery at Frontierland and some other fun stuff in Adventureland inside the Bazaar.

Hanging around the Hub

Food from Quick Service / Food Carts

Maurice's Treats - open 8am-9pm

Churros near sleeping beauty castle - opens 8:30 am

Little Red Wagon Corn dogs - opens 8am - midnight

Pretzels near big thunder MTN - opens 11am - 11 pm

You can ride the Main Street Vehicles.

Toontown

Cafe Daisy

Bottle filling station near Chip & Dale gadget go coaster

Also low stimulation cave and picnic area way at the back of Toontown

These restrooms are so crowded

You can sometimes see characters like Goofy and Pete

We’ve never waited in line to see Mickey and Minnie at their house(s)

Disneyland Railroad

Good for an afternoon nap

Or if it’s really hot, we take a nap inside the waiting area of Great Moments with Mr Lincoln

Main St characters (we usually catch them in the afternoon before the 3:30PM parade)

We get popsicles if it’s hot from the food carts on Main St (strawberry sugar-free) and sit at the train station. We get popcorn from the cart for the walk back to the hotel

Troubadour Tavern

(near Toontown and the Fantasyland Theater) has good, kid-friendly food

Baked potato

Chicken nuggets and mac

Prince and Princess restrooms (we love these)

Adventureland

Swiss Family Robinson treehouse, be prepared to climb it at least 6 times

Tiki Room + Dole Whip (you have to mobile order it)

Jungle cruise

Bengal bbq You can mobile order and then sit inside, it’s shady

Restrooms are closer to the Tiki Room and castle

Tomorrowland

(this is pretty at night when all the neon lights are on)

Autotopia

Galactic Grill (good to mobile order and sit outside)

Pizza Planet (one pasta dish can feed two people for sure), Albert does a good nap here too

Inside the restaurant is dark and air-conditioned & there’s ambient sounds that put him to sleep

Nemo

Monorail

Buzz Light-year

Restrooms are behind Autotopia and usually not crowded

Small World

you can get a lightening lane for this I think

Parade - find out when it is and plan to be somewhere to avoid or watch it.

King & Queen restrooms near Alice in Wonderland. This is my fav parade-watching spot

Main St near Tomorrowland

Baby care center - you can get diapers here if you run out. They will give you a sticker. If your child gets lost, this is where you can find them.

Silhouette studio - 8am- midnight

Usually we get ice cream at Gibson Girl on the way out

Galaxy's Edge

is another great nap spot. It has ambient noise that puts my kid out!

If he’s in the stroller and getting fussy, we get a blue milk and walk through Batuu until he falls asleep. I think you can also watch the fireworks from back here now. You can mobile order food and drinks here that’s good for adults. Kids might not like it because the food is all weird

Droid depot the robots will interact with your kid.

Milk stand

Ronto roasters

Docking Bay 7

Water bottle refill stations at both restrooms, rarely are these restrooms too crowded

Critter Country

*I think most of this is closed at the moment

But I wanted to say that the Hungry Bear was great for kids, we enjoyed sitting on the second level overlooking the train, the riverboats, and they have some ambient nature sounds that are very relaxing. I love the bathrooms on the ground level, closer to the river.

Favorite chill spots at Disney California Adventure Park

Fiddler, fifer & practical cafe (Starbucks) in Carthay Circle. 

We love getting a snack while waiting for rope drop.

Paradise Gardens Park

Rope drop The Little Mermaid and ride it for a while. They will let you circle around again and again if there’s no line. The line gets long later in the day, so we usually do this one first.

There's a cappuccino cart near the bridge to Sanfransokyo square if you need a coffee

Pixar Pier

restrooms by Paradise Garden Grill and Goofy’s Sky School are okay

Jesse’s Carousel (there are nice restrooms behind the ride)

Toy Story Midway Mania (if you can get a Lightning Lane)

Pixar Pal A Round (do the NON SWINGING)

Sanfransokyo Square

The Bakery Tour - 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM

Get a Baymax or Mickey Vampire Bread and feed the ducks

Restaurants open at 10:30 AM - Aunt Cass Cafe takes mobile orders

They have mac & cheese in a bread bowl that is kid-friendly and big enough to share

The Baby Care Center is next to Ghirardelli Soda Fountain and Chocolate Shop and across from The Bakery Tour. There’s a nice spot to change a diaper, a family restroom with a tiny potty, high chairs for feeding, etc.

The bathrooms here have a water bottle filling station

Grizzly Peak

Redwood Creek Challenge Trail - make sure mom & dad have on sturdy shoes or be prepared to lose your child for a while. This is a ropes course with lots of stairs. Great to get wiggles out.

Our best nap spot in DCA is in the Grand Californian Hotel Lobby

It’s cool and quiet and pretty. You can get snacks right there at the Grand Californian Great Hall Cart or you can get food from the GCH Craftsman Grill. You can order food from the poolside GCH Craftsman Bar even if you’re not a hotel guest. But that’s going to take longer.

There are so many little courtyards within the hotel grounds for kids to toodle around. It’s shady most of the day. You can access this from Downtown Disney too so it’s a great spot to know about whether you have a park reservation or not.

You do have to go through security to re-enter the park from the hotel but it’s worth it.

There’s a water bottle filling station in the hotel gym.

Another great nap spot is the walking path behind Grizzly River Run. Apparently it used to be the smoking area, but it’s not anymore. There is a unique sound of the flume ride that provides enough white noise to get a kid to sleep. Plus the humidity from the water ride makes that area significantly cooler. You can park the stroller on a bridge over the splash zone and whoever is not sleeping can watch people doing down the drop

Sometimes you can find a photo-op with Goofy or Pluto near the airplane near Soarin’

There’s a really quiet spot near the restrooms across from Soarin and Smokejumpers

It’s like a closed alleyway that goes nowhere but there’s a bench there. Great spot for breastfeeding or eating a popsicle and avoiding the crowds and noise

It’s between the gift shop and the restrooms.  I think there might be some lockers there.

Going back through Carthay Circle and down Hollywood Blvd

Hit up the Disney Jr Dance Party. It’s quite loud but short and fun for the kids

Animation Academy is a fun place to chill out. It’s cool and dark. I’ve never got Albert to nap in there but it feels like it could work for some kids. You do have to park your stroller and leave it outside, so that’s a drawback. 

We've never done Turtle Talk with Crush but that's also in this building

Turning the corner to Sunset Blvd

It’s a good spot to watch any DCA parades. 

There’s a Shawarma Cart that you can get breakfast or lunch. Really yummy

There’s an open courtyard behind the shawarma cart and the Hyperion theater that sometimes isn’t used for anything. It’s a nice place to sit and eat and you can sometimes find shade there

Avenger’s Campus

We usually get some food at Pym test kitchen and watch a show at Avenger’s Headquarters

Black Widow and Black Panther do a thing on top of the building near the quinjet

Spiderman does a thing at Web Slingers, it’s short but the kids get a kick out of it

Starlord does a thing in front of mission break out, a dance-off

The Ancient Sanctum is a garden that is nice and quiet (low stimulation). I heard Dr. Strange used to do a magic show there but I don’t think it’s running now. Still nice to see

The restrooms are by Web Slingers, but they tend to have long lines

Cars Land

It’s hard to love Cars Land because my kid always wants to buy something and he’s not big enough to ride the Radiator Springs Racers

If it’s winter, I try to do Cars Land at sunset because you get to see the neon come on and people do a funny dance to the Sha-boom song. It’s worth trying to time it that way.

If it’s hot we eat inside Flo’s V8 Cafe. 

The tables and theming are really cute and the food is definitely kid-friendly. 

The restrooms are there in Flo’s but sometimes they have really long lines.

I think there’s a drinking fountain or water bottle filling station there.

Cozy Cone Motel

is hard to navigate but they have some fun snacks

Cone 1 = churros

Cone 2 = ice cream

Cone 3 = queso (mac & cheese in a bread cone)

Cone 4 = chimichangas and frozen adult beverages

Cone 5 = popcorn

You have to know which cone you want in order to mobile order food, but it’s worth it.

Definitely mobile order because if you do walk-up it can take over 10 minutes for your food

It’s worth waiting in line for the photo op with Mater, Cruz or Lightning

You can ride Mater's Junkyard Jamboree or Luigi's Rollicking Roadsters but they're very jerky

Hollywood Backlot

It’s nice if they have entertainment on the Hollywood Backlot Stage

That whole area is chill because there’s only Monster’s Inc as a ride.

We usually get food from the Studio Catering Company (a food truck)

There are sometimes tables right there or you can sit in the bleachers for the stage

I like Mickey’s Philharmagic. It’s dark in there and the show is music so the kids love it

There are some little tables right there and that area is mostly shaded

We usually hit Trolley Treats on Buena Vista St to get some Churro Toffee for the ride home

Night Stuff and Fancy Adult Stuff

If you know anyone with a Magic Key, the magic key terrace is nice

I’m sure you could enjoy dinner at Wine Country Trattoria, but I’ve never eaten there

We’ve never eaten at Carthay Circle Lounge or Lamplight Lounge or Storytellers Cafe

I’ve never seen World of Color, but there are dining packages you can get

For dining reservations, you want to grab those 60 days before your trip and I just never remember. You can ask to be put on a waitlist for walk-up and they may or may not call you

Disneyland Hotel

We love to order the sweet potato fries and sit out by the pool at Tangaroa Terrace

They have low chairs that are good for kids and the music / vibe is nice

I heard the Coffee House at the Disneyland hotel just reopened with a good menu

The Adventure Lawn Gazebo is a great wiggle spot for kiddos. As long as there’s no wedding

Pixar Place Hotel

Small Bytes is a bodega type store

Sketch Pad Cafe is a quick service

Great Maple is a sit-down, I think you need reservations

I've never been to any of these because they've only recently opened.