In this post we walk you through the process of planning a day at Disney California Adventure at Disneyland resort. We’re focusing just on that one park—not the other park at the resort, Disneyland park. We’ll introduce what the itinerary covers before walking through an example day, explaining how to make decisions about what to visit when. Read on to start planning your day at Disney California Adventure!
About This Post and Related Posts
If you’re interested in learning more about the offerings at the park, we have a Disney California Adventure Rides and Entertainment Guide. We also have a full Lightning Lane Strategy covering Disneyland and Disney California Adventure.
This post makes frequent references to the Disneyland app, which you will need in the parks. Download the Disneyland app now if you haven’t already.
Our itinerary posts are meant to provide you with the tools and understanding for building your own day at the park. Disney California Adventure is easier to fit into a day than Disneyland, but that means your schedule and approach can differ wildly from ours. On an average day, there’s a lot of flexibility here.
This post is based on a day with Disney California Adventure park hours from 8AM to 10PM. Park hours, attraction hours, and entertainment schedules vary. Be sure to check the exact schedule for you day on the Disneyland website ahead of time and in the app the day your visit.
Although our toddler makes appearances in this post, the itinerary is actually based on someone who meets all the height requirements and isn’t using rider switch. You can read more about the Disney California Adventure Height Requirements and Rider Switch here. There is a good amount of time in the day, though, if you need to use rider switch a few times.
Lightning Lanes at Disney California Adventure
We have a full post on Lightning Lanes at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure, so this section is just meant to provide a brief overview, mainly just the context necessary for this post.
Should you buy Lightning lane Multi Pass at Disney California Adventure?
We recommend buying Multi Pass at Disney California Adventure. As covered in our Disneyland One Day Itinerary, we recommend a full day with Multi Pass at each park. Unlike Disneyland park, you probably could do most rides at Disney California Adventure without Multi Pass most days of the year, but you’d usually wind up with a few waits of an hour or more. We think the time savings is worth the cost of one day of Multi Pass here.
It’s worth mentioning here that we generally have the perspective of a once-per-year or less frequent visitor. If you’re visiting multiple times in a year, you’ll be able to get by with Multi Pass less often even if there’s some risk that you miss a few rides.
The example itinerary in this post uses Multi Pass, but we hopefully provide enough context for people without Multi Pass to plan a successful day, too. Particularly, you can see how much free time (free of rides, at least) our strategy leaves in the afternoon and evening. If you didn’t have Multi Pass, you’d theoretically be able to fit a few hours of waits in at that point.
Should you buy the Radiator Springs Racers Lightning Lane?
Over in the other park, we said Rise of the Resistance was “sometimes” worth buying, our example itinerary didn’t buy it. Radiator Springs Racers is a little trickier.
As part of a “do everything” plan, we’d recommend buying the Radiator Springs Racers Lightning Lane. It’s a fantastic ride and waits can spend entire days above 60 minutes. But if you’re open to missing out on one or two rides, you can forego the purchase and probably just start your morning at Radiator Springs Racers. Or you could usually just wait the 60-90 minutes without ruining the rest of your day.
The ride also has a single rider line, but we’ve had mixed results with it. Sometimes it moves quickly, but sometimes the wait is nearly the same as the standby wait.
The example itinerary in this post does not use the Radiator Springs Racers Lightning Lane. If you did purchase it, we recommend aiming to grab a time around 2PM to 3PM. In that case, you’d have more flexibility at rope drop.
Things to do at Disney California Adventure
Let’s start with what this post covers. Here are the things we’re trying to experience as part of a single day at Disney California Adventure.
Rides with Lightning Lane Single Pass. There is one ride with a Lightning Lane Single Pass at Disney California Adventure—Radiator Springs Racers in Cars Land. It’s the most popular ride in the park, despite both Avengers Campus rides being newer.
Rides on Multi Pass. There are nine rides with Lightning Lanes that are a part of Multi Pass:
Hollywood Land (1) - Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue!
Grizzly Peak (2) - Grizzly River Run, Soarin’ Around the World
Avengers Campus (2) - Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: BREAKOUT!, WEB SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure
Paradise Gardens Park (2) - Goofy’s Sky School, Ariel’s Undersea Adventure
Pixar Pier (2) - Incredicoaster, Toy Story Midway Mania!
Rides without Lightning Lanes. There are nine rides without Lightning Lanes at Disney California Adventure. Broken up by land, they are:
Buena Vista Street (1) - Red Car Trolley
Cars Land (2) - Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters, Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree
Paradise Gardens Park (3) - Golden Zephyr, Jumpin’ Jellyfish, Silly Symphony Swings
Pixar Pier (3) - Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind, Jessie’s Critter Carousel, Pixar Pal-A-Round (two versions)
Core Entertainment. The only consistent core piece of entertainment at Disney California Adventure is World of Color - ONE, the nighttime fountain spectacular. As of this update, World of Color uses a virtual queue for the bulk of the viewing space. We recommend reading more about the virtual queue and World of Color generally over at Disney Tourist Blog. There are occasionally seasonal things added to the lineup, like the “Better Together” Pixar parade.
Other attractions, entertainment, and characters. Particularly since the addition of Avengers Campus, Disney California Adventure has enough ancillary activities to keep you occupied for the day. There are streetmosphere shows like The Amazing Spider-Man! and Five & Dime. The Animation Theatre alone houses three attractions and a character encounter.
Before your visit, we recommend opening the Disneyland app and visiting the Attractions, Entertainment, and Character menus to see the sorts of things that are available. On the day of your visit, confirm the exact offerings in the app.
Quick Tips on Disney California Adventure Touring
Our standard tips, more important and covered in more depth in our Disneyland One Day Itinerary, are set priorities, think geographically, know operating hours and showtimes, and keep lists. Those all still apply here, but rather than repeat the details discussed in that post, I want to add some thoughts specific to California Adventure.
Of the six Disney parks in the United States, I’d say Disney California Adventure is the one that calls for the most flexibility. This isn’t because it’s complicated or hard to see, but because I think its highlights are spectacular and its lowlights completely missable.
As always, this is a matter of personal preferences. Personally, I’d happily skip most of Paradise Gardens Park and Pixar Pier in favor of multiple rides on Mission: BREAKOUT! and Radiator Springs Racers. My toddler would gladly skip the enter rest of Disneyland resort just to ride Jessie’s Critter Carousel. (And, for what it’s worth, Paradise Gardens Park in the morning with a 40”-tall toddler is perfection.)
Disney California Adventure has a reputation for a bit of clunky design (for years Guardians of the Galaxy Mission: BREAKOUT! was a part of “Hollywood Land” for example), but the end result is actually a collection of beautiful lands.
Cars Land is one of Disney’s best. Avengers Campus can feel incomplete, but it’s still a fun place to hang out. Pixar Pier is an imperfect overlay on old Paradise Pier but the design, stores, and atmosphere all shine. It’s a great park for a stroll (particularly with an adult beverage, if that’s you’re thing).
While I’ll let my personal preferences impact this itinerary slightly, for the most part it will still to our traditional approach of helping you plan to experience as much of the park as possible.
Brief Outline
We’ll start our day at Radiator Springs Racers. From there, you ride the two rides in Cars Land without Lightning Lanes before using our first Lightning Lane for Mission: BREAKOUT! and then heading to Pixar Pier and Paradise Gardens Park.
There you navigate the deep lineup of rides around the boardwalk—some Lightning Lanes, some short waits early in the day. Once waits pick up, you stick to the age-old approach of “book a Lightning Lane, fill the time before the Lightning Lane, use the Lightning Lane, repeat.”
Arrival, Parking, and Security
We know nothing about parking at Disneyland resort. We typically stay at a Disney hotel or a nearby hotel that’s walkable to the parks. I’d recommend Disneyland Tour Guide if you need information related to parking and getting to the parks from parking.
However you arrive, you’ll have to account for time spent going through security and on the walk to the park gates (and tram time, if parking). As a rule of thumb, we recommend accounting for 15 minutes from the Harbor Boulevard entrance for bag check and walking to the gates, but that’s a really flexible rule of thumb.
Many times, particularly earlier in the morning, this will be more like 5 minutes, but other times…well I just don’t know how to describe some of the ridiculous things you’ll see other times. We don’t visit Disneyland frequently enough to want to mess with these lines—arrive early
The entrances to Disneyland and Disney California Adventure are opposite each other on the Disneyland Esplanade. Except for the fact that guests of Grand Californian and Pixar Place Hotel have dedicated entrances to California Adventure, and directions/timelines for getting to the entrance of one park will work for the other as well.
Days With Disney California Adventure Early Entry
Early Entry is a perk at Disneyland resort that grants guests of Disney hotels an extra 30 minutes in the morning at one park each day. This means if you have Early Entry and that perk is available at Disney California Adventure, you’ll be able to access select rides 30 minutes before the other guests.
We have a post that covers Early Entry at both Disneyland Resort parks, and I don’t want to rehash the entire thing here. As of this update, the main thing to note about this list is that it doesn’t include Radiator Springs Racers. For us, this means our goal for Early Entry is usually just to queue for Radiator Springs Racers, saving us the cost of the Lightning Lane later on.
If you don’t have Early Entry but are visiting on a day with Early Entry, you still have a few options. Radiator Springs Racers, Guardians of the Galaxy Mission Breakout, and WEB Slingers will all have some wait when you enter the park, but crossing one big ride off your list early is still a good idea.
Alternatively, if you can rely on Multi Pass and the possibility of a Radiator Springs Racers Lightning Lane, then you can start with Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters and Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree, two rides without Multi Pass and that won’t have long waits despite Early Entry.
Rope Drop On Days Without Early Entry
We recommend arriving at the gates 15 to 30 minutes before the park opens. We have a separate post covering rope drop at Disney California Adventure, but we pretty strongly feel that starting with Radiator Springs Racers makes the most sense.
Once you’re inside the park, you can grab Guardians of the Galaxy — Mission: BREAKOUT! as your first pick on Multi Pass. (Guardians has the disadvantage of taking you away from Paradise Gardens Park and Pixar Pier, where you’ll want to spend the bulk of the morning. Toy Story Midway Mania is a good alternative first pick if you want to minimize steps or have a slower group.)
You can also buy the Lightning Lane for Radiator Springs Racers as soon as you enter the park, if you’re planning to use that Lightning Lane. You might also wait to see if you need it later in the day, but as always you want to make sure it doesn’t sell out if you’re going to want to buy it. (Available times roll forward as they sell out.)
After Radiator Springs Racers, your goal is to get on Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters before its wait goes up.
Luigi’s is a very frustrating ride. It has low capacity and the queue always seems to move even slower than you’d expect. If you want to ride it, get there early. I know some kids love Luigi’s, but ours is just as enamored by Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree and Jessie’s Critter Carousel (both of which usually have shorter waits than Luigi’s), so Luigi’s is at the top of our “skip it if it’s going to cause trouble” list.
On your way from Luigi’s to Mission: BREAKOUT!, you’ll pass WEB SLINGERS. If it has a short wait, you might go on now in hopes of riding twice in a day. I don’t think WEB SLINGERS is worth two rides, and my arm would be so worn from the first ride (it’s a game-style ride) that I don’t think a second visit later in the day would be very enjoyable (no joke).
To that end, my plan is to bypass WEB SLINGERS at this point, instead fitting both Luigi’s and Mater’s, before going to Mission: BREAKOUT!, saving WEB SLINGERS for later.
8:17AM - Radiator Springs Racers
8:38AM - Luigi's Rollickin' Roadsters (13 min wait)
8:45AM - Mater's Junkyard Jamboree
9:02AM - Use Guardians of the Galaxy Mission: BREAKOUT LL, grab 10:20AM Toy Story Midway Mania LL
Mid-Morning at Disney California Adventure
If you’re hoping to ride as many rides as possible, your goal for the morning is to get through as much of Paradise Gardens Park / Pixar Pier as possible. There are six rides without Lightning Lanes and four rides on Multi Pass in this part of the park, and many of the rides regularly carry 5-minute waits for the first few hours of the day.
You don’t so much have to worry about the correct order to visit the rides. Toy Story Midway Mania! is a more popular Lightning Lane than the other two (Incredicoaster, Goofy’s Sky School), which is why we picked it first.
Pixar Pal-A-Round will be the first of the rides without a Lightning Lane to build a significant wait, but it’s also the longest of the rides in this area (figure about 10 minutes), so we’re hesitant to rush right to it. There are two versions of the ride. Non-swinging is a traditional Ferris wheel experience. Swinging involves cars that slide along rails. It’s more intense than you’d expect, but quite fun. We prefer the swinging version.
Finally, The Little Mermaid is located closer to the rest of the park, which makes it fine to save for later.
9:18AM - Golden Zephyr
9:26AM - Jumpin' Jellyfish
9:33AM - Silly Symphony Swings
9:41AM - Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind
10:02AM - Pixar Pal-A-Round (15 minute wait)
As always, think geographically. There’s just no way I want to have to come back to this part of the park later (I probably will, at my leisure, of course), and I’m already waiting on my Toy Story Midway Mania Lightning Lane—it makes sense to wait 15 minutes for the Pixar Pal-A-Round in this case.
Using my Toy Story Midway Mania Lightning Lane at 10:20AM, I was able to grab an immediate return for Incredicoaster. Incredicoaster often but not always has amazing Lightning Lane availability, particularly early in the day.
After Incredicoaster, I looked at Grizzly River Run and Soarin’ for my next pick. In California’s temperate climate, it’s common to see Grizzly River Run keep short waits until the afternoon heat arrives, at which point the wait will jump. Seeing Grizzly River Run still at 5 minutes, I opted to book a Soarin’ Lightning Lane, planning to wait standby for Grizzly River Run.
10:20AM - Use Toy Story Midway Mania LL, grab 10:30AM Incredicoaster LL
10:30AM - Use Incredicoaster LL; Grab 11:30AM Soarin' LL
10:55AM - Grizzly River Run (10 minute wait)
This left a little time before the Soarin’ Lightning Lane, but luckily we’ve made our way back toward the hub of the park, where options abound. This time is good for shopping, meeting characters, and getting coffee from the in-park Starbucks, “Fiddler, Fifer, & Practical Cafe.” In our experience, there are often several characters, including Mickey Mouse, meeting in the area around the hub, and their waits are usually not too bad.
Once the time for my Soarin’ Lightning Lane came, I headed there, using that and booking Monsters Inc. next. Booking Monsters Inc. leaves Goofy Sky School (not a personally high priority) and WEB SLINGERS for later. WEB Slingers is in Avengers Campus, which has a good restaurant (Pym Test Kitchen) and good entertainment.
Soarin’ has a long load time even if you have a Lightning Lane, which is why we don’t really bother with it too early in the morning at either Disney California Adventure or Epcot.
11:30AM - Use Soarin' LL (still 15 minutes to board), Grab 12:15PM Monsters Inc.
Lunch at Disney California Adventure
With a short gap before Monsters Inc., this is a good time for lunch.
It should be clear by this point in the day that you don’t have to always think only geographically. In particular, while there are two good restaurants between Soarin’ and Monsters Inc. (Award Wieners and Smokejumpers Grill), I want to eat at Pym Test Kitchen and Flo’s V8 Cafe today. Pym’s is slightly closer, so that’s lunch.
Any time you’re going to be in Avengers Campus it’s worth checking the entertainment schedule to see if you can catch anything. In this case, the 12PM Warriors of Wakanda performance was going on during lunch. Depending on where you sit you might be able to have a mostly obstructed view from a table, or some members of your party can step out to watch the show while someone else stays with the table.
As noted earlier, you will want to make sure you’re prepared to join the World of Color Virtual queue, which, as of this update, opens at 12PM daily.
After lunch I rode Monsters Inc. and secured my 3:50PM booking for WEB Slingers. Since the time was more than two hours out, I’d make my next booking at 2:35PM, two hours after I made this booking.
Lunch at Pym Test Kitchen, watch Warriors of Wakanda
12:35PM - Use Monsters Inc. LL, Grab 3:50PM WEB Slingers LL
This is a good time for a progress report.
Progress Check
At some point in the middle of the day you need to do a serious progress check. While you should be keeping tabs on progress throughout the day, I still recommend taking a few minutes to make sure you’re set for the afternoon. Use the app to confirm attraction closing times, final showtimes for entertainment, and character greeting times.
For rides, I’ve only got Red Car Trolley, Jessie’s Critter Carousel, The Little Mermaid, and Goofy’s Sky School left. Goofy’s Sky School will probably be the last Lightning Lane booking I have to pay attention to. Jessie’s Critter Carousel is all the way on Pixar Pier and missable (don’t worry, Zoe rode separately!). The Little Mermaid is centrally located, widely available on Multi Pass, and easy to squeeze in later. Red Car Trolley is a “ride it if you see it at a stop” sort of ride, so maybe I make it, maybe I don’t.
The top of my list for the afternoon is Avengers Campus entertainment. In particular, I’d like to catch The Amazing Spider-Man, Avengers Assemble, and Guardians Dance Off. If these can be batched around the Avengers Campus rides, that would be ideal.
Early Afternoon at Disney California Adventure
With a 3:55PM Lightning Lane for WEB Slingers booked, it’s a good to look specifically at the entertainment schedule. It was pretty straightforward to spot the following showtimes as one’s I’d want to see: 4:00PM - The Amazing Spider-Man! 4:10PM - Avengers Assemble!, (use WEB Slingers LL), and 4:45PM - Watch start of Guardians of the Galaxy Dance Off.
Before that lineup, I’ve got three hours to fill. Nearby are some great options to start with.
The Animation Building in Hollywood Land houses a few attractions and is where I’ll head next. An alternative would be Philharmagic, across the street. This is a 12-minute 3D show that is worth a watch but not something you usually need to prioritize.
The Animation Building houses three attractions—Animation Academy, Sorcerer’s Workshop, and Turtle Talk with Crush. There’s also an Anna & Elsa greeting. If you pop in early in the day you can grab a picture of the Animation Academy schedule to see what characters will be drawn. Crowds line up early, so we recommend arriving 15 minutes early for this one. If you happen to be in the building as a class starts, there’s still often space.
1:00PM Animation Academy
1:25PM Sorcerer’s Workshop
1:55PM Philharmagic
Late Afternoon at Disney California Adventure
This left about two hours of to fill. I opted for a lap around Pixar Pier / Paradise Gardens Park. Along the way I stopped at the Bakery Tour, a quick walkthrough attraction where you get a free piece of bread and can watch the resort’s sourdough loaves get made.
My 2-hour timer went off, and it was time to book another Multi Pass Lightning Lane. The Little Mermaid was offering immediate return times (as I’d hoped it would), so I was able to grab that and then immediately use it and grab my last one of the day—Goofy Sky School for 5:40PM.
2:38PM - Grab 2:45PM Little Mermaid LL
2:45PM - Use Little Mermaid LL, Book Goofy’s Sky School LL for 5:40PM
Jessie’s Critter Carousel was posting 5 minutes still, but I waited 7 and it moved up to 10 shortly thereafter. Being on this side of the park there’s no reason not to just check this box. There are some good stores on Pixar Pier, along with pay-to-play carnival games and the popular ice cream stop, Adorable Snowman Frosted Treats.
3:23PM - Jessie’s Critter Carousel
Back at Avengers Campus, I arrived a little early in order to grab a drink from Pym Tasting Lounge. This is the bar outside Pym Test Kitchen which is also available for mobile order. Keep an eye on mobile order times, particularly later in the day, as they can get quite late.
The Amazing Spider-Man! is held over by the WEB building. It’s altogether an embarrassing setup for a cool show. Crowds arrive pretty early and line up along the narrow pathway, and Cast Members have to keep them to the side while simultaneously directing traffic through while the show goes on.
Luckily, it’s a short show with a quick, cool payoff, as you’re really there to see the acrobatic animatronic. If you stick around you can usually get a high five from Spider-Man.
4:00PM - The Amazing Spider-Man!
4:10PM - Avengers Assemble!
4:20PM - Use WEB Slingers LL
4:45PM - Watch Guardians of the Galaxy Dance Off
Avengers Assemble is held on the main building in the land and features the Avengers facing off against a few bad guys. The Guardians of the Galaxy Dance Off is a goofy (because Guardians) show in front of the Mission: BREAKOUT! tower. I wouldn’t go out of my way for it, but if its playing before or after my Lightning Lane I’ll watch it.
Evening at California Adventure
The timing now is less than ideal. At 5PM I’m at Avengers Campus with a 5:40PM Lightning Lane booked for Goofy Sky School. I don’t really want to go all the way over there at the moment, especially since I just spent a bunch of time in that area. Happily, you can modify Multi Pass reservations! I was able to modify Goofy Sky School to an 8:15PM time.
Other than that, the two major things left in the evening are dinner and World of Color at 9PM. But just as much as we emphasized Disney California Adventure being a good park to walk around in the day, it’s even better at night. Cars Land at night is particularly stunning. The land illuminates—in the same way it does in the movie—usually right around sunset and takes on a new life at night.
Finally, filed under “pay attention to closing times”—the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail closes at 7:45PM. This playground / ropes course area is particularly fun for small children and definitely worth a visit for families at some point in the day. Ideally I would have liked to have visited it with Zoe earlier, but luckily we’ve still got time for it.
Since we had lunch at Pym Test Kitchen, our plan for dinner will be Flo’s V8 Cafe, with specific plans to sit outside and watch the cars on Radiator Springs Racers go by.
There are usually a few character greetings still ongoing until mid-evening. On this night, Meet Pixar Pals and Meet Disney Pals were both ongoing until 8PM.
We don’t have a specific recommendation for when to arrive for World of Color. We’ve never heard of people with virtual queue spots being turned away, but that is explicitly allowable by the terms Disney spells out on the virtual queue. As a rule of thumb, we think 30 minutes early is fine unless you’re still squeezing things into your evening, in which case we think arriving 15 minute early is fine, too.
Walk Around / Redwood Creek Challenge Trail / Meet Characters
7PM Dinner
8:15PM - Use Goofy Sky School LL
9PM World of Color
As always, if the park is open until 10PM you should be allowed to queue for any open ride right up until 10PM. I always like to plan a buffer to try and make sure I’m in my last line a few minutes before the park closing. Some rides may close earlier, as noted in the app. Since we accomplished everything we set out to do, we don’t feel the need to pack in anything into the very end of the day.
Conclusions
As noted at the opening of this post, we find California Adventure to be an unbalanced park. The highlights are awesome, and the lowlights are missable. On top of that, you can see that on a pretty typical day (Thrill Data pegged crowds at 6/10), a successful morning makes for a very easy day.
While the park probably could fit into a day of, say, 9AM to 5PM, it’s the morning hours that really make the rest of the day easy, and it’s the evening hours where the design of the park really shines.
All Your Other Disneyland Planning Questions Answered
Don’t be overwhelmed by Disneyland planning! Take a second to check out our most important content and you’ll not only be an expert, but you’ll save big $$$ along the way.
Just starting out? Check out our Disneyland Planning Guide. When it comes to hotels, we’ve got reviews of all three Disney hotels: Disneyland Hotel, Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, and Disney’s Pixar Place Hotel. As for tickets, check out where to find discount Disneyland tickets.
Know what to ride with our: Disneyland Rides Guide and Disney California Adventure Rides Guide. And just as important, know how to get on the best rides without the wait with our Disneyland Lightning Lane Strategy! For the complete guides to a day at the park, we have a One Day Disneyland Itinerary and a One Day Disney California Adventure Itinerary.
We always recommend arriving at the parks early. If you can get access to Early Entry at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure, you’ll have the most time in the parks. Even without those bonus hours, you’ll need to know Rope Drop Strategy at Disneyland and Rope Drop Strategy at Disney California Adventure.
Finally, before you head out, be sure to check out our to-the-point packing list, 10 essentials you forget to pack for every Disney trip. And if you’re interested in saving, there’s no better list than our 53 Ways to Save on your Disney trip from start to finish.