3 Days at Disneyland with Your 3 Year Old (Part 1)

This post has been a long time coming, but I finally sat down and went through our pictures to do it.

Back in August I posted about how I was excited, and I was very vague about it...

our last day at Disneyland

We went to Disneyland for our baby girl's third birthday!

The month before we left I researched my butt off. I read tons of blogs for tips, tricks, and must dos, then cross referenced it with the height restrictions to make the ultimate list of what we could do with our birthday princess. She was only 38" (96.5cm) tall at the time, making our ride choices limited. We opted for a couple of Fast Passes and got one Rider Switch Pass on her birthday though!

I have since shared that information with several people and figured I would make a post to help others who are interested as well!

This entry will be about California Adventure ONLY. If you just want my list of rides (for three year olds), scroll all the way down!

We had a very early start the day before our daughter's birthday, landing in LAX at about 5:30am. Needless to say we were exhausted (that is 2:30am Hawaii time!) but we were very excited to see my cousin, who kindly picked us up and drove us to Disney and spent most of the day with us.

We stayed at the Paradise Pier Hotel using our Disney Vacation Club membership. Our room was not ready at 7am, so we checked in, gave bell services our bags, and then searched for Downtown Disney. We got lost and arrived shortly before the Earl of Sandwich opened for breakfast at 8am. We ate breakfast there all three days, you can't beat $3.99 sandwiches!

standing outside the Lego store!

Before leaving the island we bought 3-Day Disneyland Resort Park Hopper passes. The plan was to spend one day at California Adventure, one day at Disneyland, and then go to both on the last day to see the stuff we missed. It is perfect if you are just going to those two parks, and I highly recommend buying beforehand so you do not have to waste any time standing in line to buy tickets. If you can swing a room at a Disney resort, you are also able to go in an hour before the general public. SCORE!

make sure you get everyone in the picture!

We started off getting a PhotoPass when we walked in. DEFINITELY GET A PHOTOPASS! It doesn't matter if they take one picture or one hundred, the price for all your images on a disc is the same, so take as many as possible! If you don't want to buy the photos like we did, you can ask them to take a picture with your camera too.

After getting our PhotoPass, we headed to a bug's life and passed through Hollywood Land, where we went on her very first ride: Monster's Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue!

we had to stop because she saw Sulley and she loves him!

There were several rides she rode on with no problem at a bug's life, such as Flik's Flyers, Francis' Ladybug Boogie, and Heimlich's Chew Chew Train. She also played in the Princess Dot Puddle Park and loved it, but she was not a fan of It's Tough to be a Bug! To be fair, I'm not a fan of that one either... I am severely arachnophobic!

driving her bumper beetle!

We wandered around for a while, going through Cars Land, where we took pictures with Mater, and then headed to Pacific Wharf but we were all really tired. We headed back to the hotel, got our swimsuits out, and spent a couple of hours poolside. The front desk texted us with our room number when it was ready, and after we oohed and ahhed over the room and view (more on that later), we all took a nap.

she loved jumping into the water!

After napping and freshening up, my cousin left us for a baseball game and we headed back to the park just the three of us. We went back to Hollywood Land to see the Mad T Party, Turtle Talk with Crush, Character Closeup, and the Sorcerer's Workshop. After that we headed to Grizzly Peak to do the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail.

She loved running and climbing!

At that point all we had left was to go to Paradise Pier (not the hotel). We rode on King Triton's Carousel and Ariel's Undersea Adventure before grabbing dinner at Boardwalk Pizza & Pasta. I was not happy with it, and remember wishing we went to a restaurant in Downtown Disney instead.

On the bright side, we were given free sodas because of the bad experience! When researching before our trip, I found out that ice water is free at the park. So, because I'm cheap, we drank water for most of the day. Having soda with dinner was a nice treat.

We picked up some cupcakes from a stand in Downtown Disney and then walked back to the hotel to catch the World of Color show from our hotel room.

It wasn't until after that show that we discovered we could have listened to the music on our television, but it was beautiful to watch even in silence!

What a day! A wonderful start to a wonderful vacation. Stay tuned for more! ;)


As promised, my list of rides for three year olds. My three year old was 38 inches (92.5cm) tall.

a bug's land for
Flik's Flyers
Francis' Ladybug Boogie
Heimlich's Chew Chew Train
It's Tough to be a Bug!
Princess Dot Puddle Park

Buena Vista Street for the Red Car Trolley!

Cars Land for
Luigi's Flying Tires
Mater's Junkyard Jamboree
Tuck and Roll's Drive 'Em Buggies

Grizzly Peak for the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail!

Hollywood Land for
Character Close-Up
Monster's Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue
Muppet Vision 3D
Sorcerer's Workshop
Turtle Talk With Crush

Paradise Pier for
Ariel's Undersea Adventure
Golden Zephyr
King Triton's Carousel
Mickey's Fun Wheel
Toy Story Midway Mania!

Pacific Wharf for
Bakery Tour Boudin Bakery