This month, during Theo’s fall break from school, we went to Disneyland and California Adventure. This was Theo’s first time to a Disney theme park and we deliberately waited until he was 9 years old to take this family trip. The last time either Dave or I had been there was years ago, in our own childhoods. It was worth the wait!

Friends have been asking us about our impression of this trip and if I had any advice or tips for other families who may be heading there. We are NOT experts in this and these are only our own thoughts, but I would say the most important aspect of this trip that added to our enjoyment was the purchase of the MaxPass with our Disneyland app. It is an additional $10/person (per day) but it was totally worth it. This allowed us to select and use our FastPasses on our phones, without having to run around the parks collecting the FastPasses and then going back to wait for the actual rides. We waited for less than 10 minutes for popular rides like Radiator Springs and Soarin’ Around the World. The MaxPass also comes with PhotoPass, which means that all of the photos that are taken of your family via the official park photographers and on the rides are automatically saved to the app on your phone, for you to download. We normally wouldn’t have purchased or spent time waiting for the official photographers, but when it’s included already, it was a great benefit!

He tried the “Grey Stuff” (literally how it’s listed on the menu) and it WAS delicious!

We got the most out of our 1-day Park Hopper pass and stayed from 8:00am until 12:00am at both Disneyland and California Adventure. We ate at the Red Rose Taverne in Disneyland and The Hungry Bear in California Adventure. Theo’s favorite ride was Soarin’ Around the World and we went on it twice. We also went on classic rides like it’s a small world (the official title is all in lowercase like an e.e. cummings poem).

We had a great time at Disneyland and are grateful to my college roommate, who works for Disney/ABC, who gifted us with the park passes. Our family had a very happy day together at the Happiest Place on Earth!