10 Disney California Adventure Hacks We Use All the Time

Disney California Adventure is home to some of our favorite rides and experiences at the Disneyland Resort. You'll find some of the best rides at Disneyland like Radiator Springs Racers, Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: Breakout!, and the Incredicoaster as well as fun seasonal festivals like the Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival and the Disney Festival of Holidays at the park.

There is so much to do and see at Disney California Adventure, and there are some smart ways that you can save time and money during your park day. We visit Disney California Adventure frequently and have some useful tricks that we've grown to rely on during our visits. We will cover some of our best Disney California Adventure hacks for beating the crowds, experiencing the most, and saving money and time.

Keep reading for the top 10 Disney California Adventure hacks you should use during your next trip! You can also see our 1-day Disney California Adventure itinerary for all of the highlights of the park you should experience.

Use Single Rider for Radiator Springs Racers

The single most important hack we'd recommend for Disney California Adventure is using Single Rider for Radiator Springs Racers. The wait times can get quite ugly for this ride, and the outdoor queue doesn't have too much interest, making this a tough ride to use the standby line for.

That being said, you don't have to immediately resort to purchasing Lightning Lane Single Pass. This is a cost you can easily avoid for this ride that would much better be spent on Rise of the Resistance if you are visiting Disneyland Park. Instead, use the Single Rider line to dramatically reduce your wait time. You'll enter what is often a much shorter line, then be split up from your party to fill spaces in the ride vehicles that are not occupied by parties in the standby line. We find that this doesn't negatively impact the ride experience at all, and there's a chance that you'll even end up in the same vehicle as someone else in your party or in the car you race against.

We use this hack every time we ride Radiator Springs Racers, and if the Single Rider line is looking too long, we circle back at a quieter time of day when it's shorter. Using Single Rider for Radiator Springers Racers is truly a lifesaver! Even when the parks are crowded, it works wonders to minimize your wait time.

Use the Pixar Place Hotel Exit for a Faster Walk Back to Your Hotel

There is a private Disney California Adventure entrance for Pixar Place Hotel guests that lands them between Corn Dog Castle and Seaside Souvenirs in the Paradise Gardens Park area. While exclusively hotel guests can use this entrance to Disney California Adventure, any guest can use it as an exit to leave the park.

If you're ending the day in Disney California Adventure, this can make the walk back to your hotel much shorter if you're staying somewhere on the Disneyland Drive side of the parks, like Best Western Pavilions Plus or the Westin Anaheim, for example. We detail this hack in our guide to the best hotels within walking distance of Disneyland. This tip works even better if you're ending the night with World of Color, as the exit will be right behind the viewing area!

Order From One Festival Marketplace and Pick Up at Another

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One of our best time-saving hacks whenever there is a festival at Disney California Adventure is to order all of our food items from one Marketplace. Some visitors don't know that you don't actually need to order individually at each Marketplace booth—as long as you have the name of the food item and the name of the Marketplace you're ordering from, you can place an order from any of the booths from whichever one you're currently at. Find the Marketplace booth with the shortest line, then order all of your items from there.

After you place your order, you'll hold onto your receipt, as you'll need to show it to the Cast Members at the booths to pick up your various items. When you're ready to pick up your food, head to the Marketplace where it's offered and hand the receipt to the Cast Member, who will mark off the item and give it back to you.

This is a great hack for avoiding the at times very long ordering lines that can accumulate at the Marketplaces. There have been plenty of times when I've gone to pick up my food order with my receipt, looked at the long ordering line, and thought to myself, “I'm so glad I ordered everything ahead!”

Ride Grizzly River Run in the Morning

While this may seem like a bold way to start your day, the best time to ride Grizzly River Run is early in the morning while wait times are very short! This hack can be especially worthwhile in summer when wait times for Grizzly River Run can soar with the hotter temperatures.

To mitigate how wet you'll get if you decide to ride Grizzly River Run in the morning, you can use a poncho that you can easily throw over your clothes—this is one of the items we recommend buying ahead of time for cheaper through Amazon before your Disneyland trip. You can also utilize Single Rider for a much shorter wait time on this ride as well if you don't want to book Lightning Lane Multi Pass for it.

Do the Grizzly River Run to Grand Californian Loop

There is another hack we have for Grizzly River Run that applies to guests who are staying at the Grand Californian Hotel & Spa. If you're a guest at the Grand Californian, you'll have access to a private entrance to Disney California Adventure that lands you in the park at Grizzly Peak near Grizzly River Run. This is already an awesome perk in itself, but it gets better.

If you have reservations about riding Grizzly River Run out of fear of getting wet, the “Grizzly River Run to Grand Californian loop” may be your solution. You can throw on your bathing suit underneath your clothes, experience the ride multiple times using Single Rider, and not have to worry about how wet you'll get, because right after you can use the exit to the Grand Californian to go straight to the pool area to relax. You can enjoy the ride and subsequent pool time knowing that you can change into new clothes shortly after. See more details about this fun unlisted Grand Californian hack here.

Find Quiet Spots in the Park to Recharge

Especially during the busy seasons at Disneyland, you may be wondering where you can escape the crowds and enjoy some quiet in Disney California Adventure. Thankfully, some of the best secret spots at the Disneyland Resort are located at this park! If you're looking for a brief reprieve from the masses, you can break off the main walkway to Grizzly Peak Pass, a quiet path that winds around Grizzly River Run. You can enjoy the sound of running water and watch the rafts floating past below.

Another great spot to take a break is the Animation Building. There's nothing quite like sitting in the main lobby surrounded on all sides by screens showing the animation process of your beloved Disney films “from pixel to pencil” and humming along to your favorite songs. You can also see the show Turtle Talk with Crush or participate in an Animation Academy class for a nice change in pace.

If you're looking for a peaceful quiet spot, the deck beneath Silly Symphony Swings in Paradise Gardens Park overlooking the water is a great option. Or, if you don't mind leaving the park, you can go to the Grand Californian lobby (one of our favorite options) and enjoy the comfortable seating and relaxing ambiance.

Enjoy the World of Color Dessert Party

There are several dining packages you can choose from when it comes to reserved viewing for Disneyland's various entertainment offerings, but one of the best options is the World of Color Dessert Party.

This is simultaneously one of the best Disneyland splurges and a favorite Disney California Adventure hack we'd recommend, as it offers the only seated viewing for the show. With reserved viewing at the World of Color Dessert Party, you'll be seated at a table with folding chairs or a high-top table with director chairs. You'll be able to enjoy a plate of treats and drinks during the experience.

You may not think you'll need seated viewing for World of Color, but after a long day walking around the parks, you'll be glad you decided to go with this option to rest your feet. Time is money at Disneyland, so investing in a dining package can help you to get more value out of your day as it saves you the additional time you would have spent staking out a good viewing spot.

Request Row 1 Section B of Soarin'

One of our favorite hacks for Disney California Adventure is requesting a specific row on Soarin' that will give you the absolute best view for the ride. There's nothing more disappointing than getting pulled out of the immersion of the ride due to dangling feet in front of you or a bent Eiffel Tower! When you've neared the end of the queue and it comes time for the Cast Member to assign a ride row for you, ask for Row 1 Section B. This is one of the best 5 ride spots we'd recommend requesting at Disneyland.

You may need to wait another ride cycle for this row if it's already been filled up, but we think it's worth the wait, as it will give you the most centered, completely unobstructed view. We think this is one of the best hacks for riding this attraction as it makes it completely immersive— you won't want to do it any other way!

Watch World of Color From Lamplight Lounge

For a unique perspective on World of Color, consider watching it from Lamplight Lounge in Pixar Pier. Lamplight Lounge is near the top of our list of the best Disneyland restaurants ranked and has a great waterfront seating area with views over Paradise Bay. The views from this outdoor patio are already stunning during the daytime, and the atmosphere in this dining area is beyond compare.

You can enjoy a really unique experience, however, if you time your reservation so that you can watch the nighttime World of Color showing from Lamplight Lounge. Seated outside, you can get a unique view of the projections from your vantage point on the patio. While we wouldn't recommend this hack if you're seeing World of Color for the first time, this is a great option for those who have already seen the show to enjoy a new perspective on it and not have to worry about getting a viewing spot. Read about the experience of viewing World of Color from Lamplight Lounge here.

For an especially unique view of World of Color, you can also ride the Incredicoaster while the show is running! I did this recently and it was really awesome to see the colors flashing by during the ride.

Last-Minute Viewing for Parades

There are several great spots along the parade route of Disney California Adventure that you can watch the parade from, which we detail in our guide to Disneyland parades. However, if you are running short on time and haven't staked out a spot yet, there's a hack you can take advantage of to still get good viewing.

Approximately 15-20 minutes before the parade starts, the walkway to Pixar Pier will be blocked off, opening up last-minute viewing. Whether you're running behind or don't want to spend a lot of park time saving a spot, this spot can be a great last-minute option for front-row parade viewing if you time it correctly. You can use this hack for any parade currently running at Disney California Adventure or the Frightfully Fun Parade at Oogie Boogie Bash.

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