Disneyland California Day 1 ✨ FIRST TIME EVER in Disneyland California, rope drop & pure magic 💫🐭🏰

👋 Welcome to my FIRST EVER DAY at Disneyland California! This is my first time visiting Disneyland Park in Anaheim, and in this vlog I’m sharing our full Disneyland Park Day 1 - from rope drop to sunset magic. If you love Disneyland vlogs, first-time Disney reactions, ride strategies and snacks, you are going to LOVE this one. 🏰✨

We kick off the day bright and early with walk down Main Street USA (the castle was not as tiny as I thought!) and a rope drop into Tomorrowland to ride Space Mountain, before hopping straight onto the Matterhorn (iconic!) and spotting Donald Duck roaming around Toontown. We head over to say hi to Mickey Mouse in his house, then absolutely zoom through the queue for Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway.
Next up was Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin (not one I’d rush back to in future, if I’m honest 👀), before heading into Galaxy’s Edge for a breakfast Ronto Wrap. I still cannot believe that Galaxy’s Edge is in the same park as Fantasyland and Toontown - Disneyland is honestly WILD.
We then sprint over to Rise of the Resistance when it suddenly comes back up (a total line-skipping HACK)… only for the lights to come up after a couple pre-shows and we got evacuated 😅 But honestly, no stress, because we then discovered that Big Thunder Mountain was OPEN (we thought it was down for refurb!) and we were absolutely THRILLED - it’s one of our all-time favourites.

Snack time is very important around here, so we grab Mickey-shaped beignets from the Mint Julep Bar in New Orleans Square, which is STUNNING by the way. And then… one of the most magical moments of the entire trip happens. ✨

We stop to watch the band on Main Street USA in front of the castle, when suddenly all the characters come out and do a dance for the Disneyland 70th anniversary. We follow them all the way up Main Street to the train station and it was just… pure Disney magic. I’ll never forget it. 🥹💛
After a quick shop browse, we ride The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (our fave), followed by Pirates of the Caribbean - which has the WILDEST queue system in my opinion. Disneyland is so similar to Walt Disney World… yet completely different at the same time, it blows my mind!

We then hop on Jungle Cruise, grab the most unreal cheesy garlic pretzel bread from Edelweiss Snacks (it was HUGE), and spot Princess Anna deep in conversation with The Evil Queen?!?

We head back into Galaxy’s Edge to use single rider on Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run (massive success) and then redeem our Lightning Lane for Rise of the Resistance, which thankfully stayed up this time! Walking back through New Orleans Square at night was absolutely perfect, even though it was rammed. The lights, the vibes… I’m obsessed.

We made our way back to Main Street, admire the beautiful Christmas tree by the train station, and then accidentally fall onto the Disneyland Railroad for a full loop around the park (highly recommend).

After hot-footing it through Downtown Disney and narrowly avoiding World of Disney shopping temptation, we head back towards the hotel for an early night.
Dinner is a very nostalgic stop at Denny’s, just two minutes from our hotel - such a throwback to childhood Florida trips. 🥹

Back at Best Western Plus Stovall’s Inn, I recap the day, share our step count, tell the story of cutting my fringe with kitchen scissors I had to trade my PASSPORT for (don’t ask 😭), and chat through what’s coming up next…
✨ Tomorrow: Disney California Adventure Park! ✨
Think rides, Pixar, snacks, cocktails, sunsets, incredicoaster and more West Coast Disney magic!

✨ FOLLOW ALONG
Instagram:   / alicepreecey  
If you love Disneyland vlogs, first-time Disney reactions, rope drops, ride strategies, and pure Disney magic, make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss the rest of the series! 🏰💫


FYI: This Disneyland California vlog includes rope drop strategies, Rise of the Resistance tips, Galaxy’s Edge food, Disneyland Park rides, character interactions, and first-time Disneyland reactions.