How To Brave Disneyland Alone

When I decided to extend my stay in Los Angeles I was determined to go to Disneyland. I had only been to Disney World and I was around 10 years old, but I was dying to go as an adult. Disneyland was gracious enough to provide me with two park hopper tickets (this means you can pop back and forth between California Adventure and Disneyland with ease), however, it was just me. Disneyland alone can be pretty intimidating, but here are a few things I learned from spending the day at Disneyland alone.

My family thought I was crazy for going to Disneyland Alone, but I didn’t care what people thought I was going to go and have fun! Sure maybe I got some strange looks but I had one of the best days of my life!

Prior to going to Disneyland, I did a lot of research, I researched the best foods/most Instagrammable foods and their locations along with the best rides and the order to ride them in. I printed out a map and color-coded/highlighted it with where to start and what to do.

Obviously I flew into LA from Arkansas and didn’t rent a car because ubering was just easier for the first part of my trip. I was staying in Hermosa Beach and ubered straight to Disneyland where the drop off was not far from the entrance at all. On the way there it took me about an hour and my Uber was around $50 with tip. The price was the same on the way back to my hotel, but it took a little longer with traffic at about an hour and a half.

Tip: Ubering is way easier and probably cheaper than renting a car, parking and walking.

I had my plan and was ready to go, but when I walked in the gate I was completely overwhelmed and ended up wandering around until I found myself in Tomorrowland. It was raining so that kind of threw off my plan. I found myself standing under a monorail track overwhelmed and lost. I decided to go into one of the stores to buy some ears and create a plan for there.

I went into a store got my rose gold ears, my button that said First Time Visitor and created a new plan. Since it was raining I decided to wait in line at Space Mountain, primarily because a majority of the line was inside and of course the ride was inside. This was the PERFECT ride to start with because it’s completely dark and no one could see me. I lifted my hands, screamed and let loose. I was smiling and having the time of my life. This set the mood for the day because I didn’t care at that point if I was alone because I was having so much fun.

When I came out of Space Mountain it had stopped raining and I was ready to go! I headed to the main entrance to grab some pics and then headed to Indiana Jones and Pirates of the Caribbean.

After Pirates, I sat down with Dole Whip, of course, got a picture, facetimed my family, did a little people watching and popped over to California Adventure.

Tip: the employees or “cast members” of Disney will gladly take your picture if you ask them! I even asked the professional photographer to take with my phone and he had no problem!

Tip: Download the Disneyland Mobile App for mobile ordering for even less of a wait!

California Adventure was my favorite, I feel like although Disneyland is nostalgic, California Adventure had the wow factor and was a little more spread out so it didn’t feel quite as crowded.

First on my list was Guardians of the Galaxy, the single rider option wasn’t available for this ride so I waited in line. I didn’t use a FastPass so it took me about 1.5 hours to wait, however, this was the longest I waited.

I completely lucked out and got the front row right in the middle for this ride. It was PERFECT! This was probably my favorite ride because I didn’t really know what to expect and man was it fun!

Tip: Some rides offer a single rider pass. This is a HUGE time saver and from what I could tell cuts the wait time down by about 70%.

After Guardians, I wandered around a little bit and found myself in Cars Land. I was starving at this point so I grabbed a Chilli Cone Queso (a bread cone with chili, queso, and Fritos!) and a soda and rested. I made some friends at lunch who gave me some tips on where to go next. I loved sitting and watching all the kids take photos of Lighting McQueen. Their joy was contagious!

Since I was so close I headed to Radiator Springs Racers. Again I had really no expectations of the rides. This ride had the single rider options I didn’t have to wait very long at all. At first, we went through the typical movie-Esq scene similar to the Pirates of Caribbean boat ride. Next, we took off in a race against another car and that was SUPER fun. It truly felt like I was in the movie and felt like a total kid again.

After that, I made my way to Pixar Pier and looked at the gift shops and then finally hopped in line at the Incredicoaster. This line was LONG, over 90 minutes for this ride. Hello! Single rider! I waited for about 20 minutes and it was worth every minute! This was my second favorite ride because it was your typical roller coaster style ride.

Then, I wandered around a little bit more and watched a show with Mickey on my way to Soarin. Soarin’ was the last ride on my list. I had heard nothing but good things about this ride. This time I got smarter before I waited, I grabbed a popcorn and drink and got ready to wait.

Tip: Each ride has trash cans throughout the line so grab a snack while you wait!

Soarin’ was SO cool! The smells of each country blew me away! This was also a nice break for my feet. In total, I walked close to 20,000 steps that day.

After Soarin’ I decided to head back to Disneyland to grab some souvenirs. I found myself at a Pretzel stand by It’s a Small World and took a seat to enjoy another snack. It was about 5:15 at this point. There was a parade starting at 6 PM, so I needed to decide to stay and wait it out or leave then. Since it was getting pretty dark and I had a long Uber I decided to head out so I didn’t get stuck at the parade, plus my feet were so tired!

Overall, I had the BEST time! I think I honestly enjoyed it more by myself than I would have if I would have been with people. I was able to do whatever I wanted at my own pace. I was also able to weave in and out of crowds since I didn’t have to make sure anyone was following me. If you are considering going by yourself I HIGHLY recommend it.