Disneyland 3-Day Itinerary Without Lightning Lane Multi Pass 2025

A three-day ticket is one of the most common Disneyland ticket types as most guests feel that three days at Disneyland is the perfect amount of time to see everything. Even better if you add park hopping to the Disneyland three day ticket! If you decide to spend three days at Disneyland, is it still possible to do Disneyland without Lightning Lane Multi Pass?

It is absolutely possible to do Disneyland and California Adventure without Lightning Lane Multi Pass especially if you have three days to spend at the parks! Since this is the most popular ticket type, we’ve put together a 3-day itinerary guide for Disneyland without the purchase of Lightning Lane Multi Pass to skip the lines for rides. 

We visit Disneyland weekly and are consistently adjusting our Disneyland touring plans to maximize their efficiency so you can make the most out of your trip. I always rope drop both parks when I visit with my family and have learned through experience which rides have the longest waits and how to best manage your time in the mornings. I have successfully navigated Disneyland without Lightning Lane Multi Pass so it is possible to save that cost!

This article has been checked for accuracy for 2025 and updated with all currently available information including the addition of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure which recently opened. 

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Disneyland 3-Day Itinerary without Lightning Lane Multi Pass- Before You Arrive

Before I jump into the essential Disneyland 3-day itinerary without Lightning Lane Multi Pass, there are some steps you should take to prepare for your day at Disney before you arrive!

Click here if you are looking for a Disneyland 3-day itinerary WITH Lightning Lane Multi Pass

1. Download the Disneyland App

The first thing you need to do is to download the Disneyland app and become familiar with it. This app gives guests the most accurate wait times for rides plus you can also link your park tickets to it, make dining reservations and mobile order food!

Take a look at the layout of each park on the app so you have a rough idea of where you are going once you enter!

Guests with Disabilities- To read more about how to navigate Disneyland with disabilities, read our guide to Disneyland’s disability service.

2. Plan to Rope Drop

Rope drop is the term for when guests arrive at the theme park before opening and line up around the park to wait for the official opening music and this is when the ropes blocking guests from entering the full park are then dropped. If you are one of the first groups positioned at these ropes before the park opens then you can essentially walk right on to an attraction. To arrive in time for Disneyland rope drop or California Adventure rope drop, guests should be lined up at the front gates at least 45 minutes to one hour before official park opening.

Disneyland cast members will start scanning tickets about 30 minutes prior to park opening and let guests in the park so they can line up near the ropes blocking off each land before they start their day.

Early Entry for Disneyland Resort Guests! Guests staying at Disneyland Resort hotels are allowed to access select attractions 30 minutes prior to park opening giving those guests an advantage for some popular attractions. Read more about early entry and our advice on what you should prioritize during that 30 minutes if you have it in our Disneyland Early Entry guide!

3. Pick Your Day

What day should you visit Disneyland and California Adventure? If you have some flexibility in your choice, pick a weekend when park hours are longer and fireworks are guaranteed to make the most of your time. Disneyland’s operating hours average an opening time of 8AM to a closing time as late as midnight. California Adventure’s operating hours on weekends average an opening time of 8AM with a closing time as late as 10PM.

Weekends are also less busy since most local annual passholders (called Magic Key holders) are blocked out from visiting so contrary to popular belief, you may even experience lower crowds on a weekend too.

Read more about the best days of the week to visit Disneyland in our guide!

4. What Shows to See?

Aside from the top attractions that I will cover in our California Adventure 1-day itinerary, there are also plenty of entertainment to enjoy.

There are a variety of entertainment options offered year-round at Disneyland: stage shows, parades, and nighttime spectaculars. The time of year you visit will impact your entertainment options greatly. If you are visiting during the Disneyland Halloween season, the fireworks at Disneyland will be Halloween themed while the ticketed Halloween party, Oogie Boogie Bash, will feature an exclusive parade at California Adventure. During Disneyland Christmas, there is a seasonal Christmas parade (my favorite Disneyland parade!) and holiday cavalcades at California Adventure. If you are visiting any other time of year, then you may want to check our Disneyland parade and Disneyland fireworks guide to see which show you can expect!

Cruise the Disneyland website entertainment schedule for your park day and see what is offered and if you’d like to add that to your day. Or if you want to focus all on rides, that is just fine too!

5. Use Single Rider at Disneyland

One of our best tips for doing California Adventure WITHOUT purchasing Lightning Lane Multi Pass is to utilize Disneyland single rider. The single rider line splits your group to fill in available single seats that remain open for popular attractions.

The perk of the single rider line is the short wait but you get that perk by knowing you won’t get to sit next to your group. Sometimes you may end up next to your group anyways but this is never guaranteed.

These rides all offer single rider at Disneyland:

• Matterhorn Bobsleds
• Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run
• Space Mountain

These rides all offer single rider at California Adventure:

• Radiator Springs Racers
• Incredicoaster
• Goofy’s Sky School
• Grizzly River Run
• WEB SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure
• Soarin’ Over the World

This can be a great way to beat the lines so keep this trick in your back pocket!

Disneyland 3-Day Itinerary without Lightning Lane Multi Pass Day One

In my Disneyland 3-day itinerary I recommend that you start your first day at Disneyland. I am primarily going to focus on how you should spend your morning and then suggest my best tips on how to fill your afternoons and evenings with additional attractions and park entertainment. This itinerary can be used for either 1 park per day tickets or with park hoppers. You can adjust these plans as needed to fit your ticket type.

Read more about all the available Disneyland ticket types. 

What is most important is how you spend your time in the morning which should always be spent focusing on the most popular attractions.

Arrive at Disneyland early enough to rope drop (at least 45 minutes prior to park opening) and line up facing Adventureland. The goal in this morning is to tackle the headliner attractions at Disneyland!

• Rope drop Indiana Jones Adventure
• Ride Tiana’s Bayou Adventure
• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
• Ride Pirates of the Caribbean
• Ride Haunted Mansion
• Ride Jungle Cruise
• Ride Matterhorn Bobsleds using single rider
  • If the line is longer than 30 minutes by the time you make your way over here, consider utilizing the Disneyland single rider line for this attraction to cut down on the wait time.
• Ride it’s a small world
• Ride Star Tours- The Adventure Continues
• Ride Space Mountain using single rider 
  • If the line is longer than 30 minutes by the time you make your way over here, consider utilizing the Disneyland single rider line for this attraction to cut down on the wait time

By this point, lines will begin building and then your strategy should be to use the Disneyland app to see which rides still have wait times of 30 minutes or less. But if you at least ride most of the ones on the list above, you will have achieved most of the best rides in Disneyland with some of the lowest wait times of the day.

For lunch, check out our list of our top best restaurants at Disneyland to see our favorites and work them into your day.

After lunch, you will be approaching the time of the day that is typically the most busiest at Disneyland which is that afternoon time when the sun is the highest and the crowds may begin to feel the heaviest. Not to worry, there are still plenty of things you can do during this time even without Lightning Lane Multi Pass.

The afternoon parade at Disneyland is a great thing to build into your afternoon and also allows your group a bit of a rest as you wait for the parade to begin.

Once you finish with the parade, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is a great area to spend the afternoon in because it’s so spread out with plenty of see and do aside from just attractions. This immersive themed area is worth taking in and you can even build your own droid or create your own specialized lightsaber! This would also be a great time to use single rider to enjoy Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run.

Fantasyland may also have rides with wait times of 30 minutes or less and the afternoon is a great time to explore this classic area of Disneyland. There are also experiences in Disneyland that never have long waits and are great for exploring like Tom Sawyer Island, riding Mark Twain Riverboat or Sailing Ship Columbia.

Rise of the Resistance is a not miss ride and the standby line for this attraction will remain high until around dinner when the wait time will start to fall. I would recommend riding it at this point, even if the wait time is still around an hour, because this ride is extremely popular and often shuts down as early as 9PM. The good news is that Disneyland often inflates ride times and you may not end up waiting as long as the posted wait time for Rise of the Resistance.

The Disneyland entertainment options are what make Disneyland more than just a theme park and make the experience of spending a day at Disney extra magical! The two nighttime spectaculars at Disneyland include Fantasmic! and the fireworks. It is possible to experience both but if you only want to do one then I recommend the Disneyland fireworks.

Fantasmic! is shown nightly during peak times of the year but may only be shown on weekends during slower seasons. The show takes place on the Rivers of America and you can even time it to enjoy the fireworks once it ends as you can see them your Fantasmic! viewing spot.

Read more about all the Fantasmic! dining packages in our guide. 

If you decide to just watch the Disneyland fireworks then I recommend watching them by it’s a small world which is the easiest place to watch the show without having to reserve a spot too far in advance.

You may be tempted to leave after the fireworks but you can sneak on a few more popular rides if you commit to staying until the park closes which is often as late as midnight.

If you decide to stay, this would be the perfect time to ride two more of our top ranked Disneyland rides: Peter Pan’s Flight and Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway. Both of these attractions close during the fireworks and will reopen after they end which allows guests a great chance to get on the rides with a minimal wait time!

As you can see with some planning and dedication it is absolutely possible to do Disneyland without Lightning Lane Multi Pass which can be a great way to save money if you are traveling on a budget.

Disneyland 3-Day Itinerary without Lightning Lane Multi Pass Day Two

Now for day two of our Disneyland 3-Day Itinerary without Lightning Lane Multi Pass I recommend starting at California Adventure. This means arriving at California Adventure for rope drop and using the first two to three hours of park opening to see the shortest lines of the entire day. The order below will give you the most efficient strategy with single rider which is key to efficiently hitting the headliners at California Adventure without a long wait time.

• Rope drop Guardians of the Galaxy- Mission: BREAKOUT!
• Ride WEB SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure
  • If the line is longer than 30 minutes by the time you make your way over here, consider utilizing the Disneyland single rider line for this attraction to cut down on the wait time.
• Ride Toy Story Midway Mania
• Ride Incredicoaster
  • If the line is longer than 30 minutes, consider utilizing the Disneyland single rider line for this attraction to cut down on the wait time.
• Ride Radiator Springs Racers using single rider
  • Use the Disneyland single rider line for this attraction to cut the wait time in half.
• Ride Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree
• Ride Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters

This is about the time many families would take a break for lunch. Browse our ranking of the best California Adventure restaurants to see the best options for dining at this Disneyland park!

California Adventure Without Lightning Lane Multi Pass Afternoon

Once you’ve finished with lunch, then it’s time to use single rider to enjoy more of our favorite California Adventure attractions.

• Ride Soarin’ Around the World using Single Rider
• Ride Grizzly River Run using Single Rider
• Ride Goofy’s Sky School using Single Rider

By this point, lines will be at their peak of the day but the nice thing about California Adventure is there are plenty of attractions with reasonable wait times even at this time of day. Some of these attractions include:

• The Little Mermaid- Ariel’s Undersea Adventure
• Golden Zephyr
• Jumpin’ Jellyfish
• Silly Symphony Swings
• Pixar’s Pal-A-Round (Swinging or Non-Swinging)
• Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind
• Jessie’s Critter Carousel

Or if you want to experience other things in the park you can also find character meet and greets in the park, entertainment options and areas to explore. Here are some of the best areas you can explore during your day in the park:

• Redwood Creek Trail
  • This is a great area for kids to run around and burn off restless energy while parents relax. The best part? There is only one entrance in and out of the Redwood Creek Trail so you can let kids run free without too much worry. There’s plenty of areas to climb like a playground, a tire zipline, and a rope course to explore.
• Animation Academy
  • Draw your very own character sketch under the guidance of a Disney animator.
• Buena Vista Street
  • Buena Vista Street is the California Adventure version of Main Street and is filled with fun characters to interact with, shopping, and dining options.
• Character Meet n Greets
  • There are a large variety of unique characters to find in California Adventure including:
    • Find Marvel heroes like Dr. Strange, Captain America, Spider-Man, and more in Avengers Campus.
    • Meet Lightning McQueen, Mater, and Cruz in Cars Land.
    • Along with classics like Mickey & Minnie Mouse, Donald, Daisy, etc. around Buena Vista street.

Spend your afternoon enjoying lower wait time attractions or the experiences listed above. You could also repeat any favorite rides that had Single Rider for more reasonable wait times.

California Adventure Nighttime Spectaculars

As you plan your evening, you should consider incorporating World of Color to end your day. These special entertainment options are what make California Adventure more than just a theme park and make the experience of spending a day at Disney extra magical.

World of Color takes place in Paradise Bay in front of Pixar Pier. Guests can watch the water dance along with perfectly timed pyrotechnics and momentous music as they enjoy memorable scenes from their favorite Disney and Pixar animated and live-action films. The World of Color is one of Disney’s most impressive nighttime spectaculars that features around 22 minutes of color, magic and imagination. During the show you can expect to see classic Disney characters and songs such as The Little Mermaid, Pocahontas, Aladdin, and more. Recent Disney films such as UP!, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Tangled also make appearances in this colorful show.

Read more about all the dining packages Disneyland offers for reserved viewing and our review of the World of Color dessert party to see if you want to incorporate reserved viewing to end your day.

Now that you’ve tackled both Disneyland and California Adventure without Lightning Lane Multi Pass in two days, the third day can be a bit more flexible depending on what you want to prioritize. 

Disneyland 3-Day Itinerary without Lightning Lane Multi Pass Day Three

Now for day three at Disneyland this is where I recommend visiting both parks in one day (if you have a park hopper) or picking your favorite park of the two to spend your day. Having three days at Disneyland makes the choice of not purchasing Lightning Lane Multi Pass even easier as you can use this day to focus on rides you did have time for in the first two days of your visit. 

If you managed to get most of the rides you had on your list in the first two days this is how I would recommend approaching Disneyland without Lightning Lane Multi Pass for rope drop. 

Disneyland Rope Drop- Fantasyland 

This recommendation switches the focus from the bigger e-ticket attractions to the iconic Fantasyland rides in the park. These rides are located right next to each other which makes riding them all in the morning with the lowest wait times very easy to do. I recommend this following this order for the Fantasyland rides which prioritize the most popular first.

• Peter Pan’s Flight
• Alice in Wonderland
• Snow White’s Enchanted Wish
• Mr Toad’s Wild Ride
• Dumbo the Flying Elephant
• Storybook Land Canal Boats
• Pinocchio’s Daring Journey
• Mad Tea Party
• King Arthur Carrousel
• Casey Jr. Circus Train

Once you’ve finished with Fantasyland, I recommend taking this time to head over to Toontown and enjoy this highly themed area and the Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway attraction. It will likely have a longer wait at this point but the queue is filled with interactive elements that helps pass the time. 

If you decide to park hop to California Adventure, I recommend using Single Rider to repeat any of your favorite rides from your first day here or focus on rides and experiences that have lower wait times. 

As a reminder, the single rider lines for California Adventure include:

• Radiator Springs Racers
• Incredicoaster
• Goofy’s Sky School
• Grizzly River Run
• WEB SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure
• Soarin’ Over the World

You can also pursue the attractions situated around Pixar Pier which also incudes plenty of great snack options, shopping, and even midway carnival style games. This area of the park is always my go to if lines are long in the afternoon as it tends to be a lot more mellow.

Once you finish up your afternoon, you could decide how you want to spend your evening. Did you miss the fireworks, Fantasmic! or World of Color in your first two days? If so, I recommend using your time to enjoy those wonderful nighttime spectaculars.

If not, then you may want to considering using the evening to take in the ambiance of the theme parks and focus on rides you may not have made time for in your first two days. Or repeat your favorites. Disneyland always has longer operating hours than California Adventure so this might be a good time to finish out the day at Disneyland and stay until park closing. This is always the best way to beat the lines as everyone clears out after the fireworks.

This 3-day itinerary for Disneyland is meant to just be a guide that you can tweak and move things around depending on the priorities for your group. My best advice is to follow the rope drop orders offered in this 3-day itinerary the most closely and then after that feel free to be as flexible in your plans and repeat any of your favorite rides!

And don’t forget to keep taking advantage of single rider as this is the best way to save time on waits if you didn’t purchase Lightning Lane Multi Pass.

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