When taking a trip to Disneyland in Anaheim, California make sure you are prepared to walk ALOT and have a general itinerary ready to make the most of your stay.  I would recommend you plan on staying at least 3 days but preferably 5 to see and do everything.  First off look into packages that have everything included.  You can do this by going through a travel agent or on your own by visiting the Disneyland website.  They have their own package deals.  If you have AAA you can also get it through them which saves you a few more dollars than the rest.  If you don't care about price than by all means book a room at one of their resort hotels.  They are nice and within steps of the park with the exception of the Grand Californian Hotel which is located inside of the California Adventure Theme Park.  I have stayed at all 3 of the resort hotels and each one has its perks but they are very expensive especially the Grand Californian hotel.  If you want to save a little money then stay at one of the good neighbor hotels.  There are several that are right across the street from the park and are the same distance as the resort hotels.  They are also ALOT cheaper and just as nice.  As I said before I have stayed in all 3 of the resort hotels as well as a couple of the good neighbor hotels.  They are the same size inside and the same distance and if you purchase the vacation package you get the same amneties no matter where you stay.  The resorts do have valet parking and bellhops but they are expensive.  The only difference is if you stay at the resort hotel you can charge purchases to your room and have them delivered rather than carry them around with you.  My feeling is that I would rather save a few hundred dollars and carry my packages to my room myself.  If you have very young children bring a stroller with you.  They do have stroller rentals but they all look the same and when you park the stroller to ride a ride when you come out you might have trouble finding yours and someone else might take it.  Also if you do bring your own stroller, put a tag with your name and phone number on it as well as an identifiable object.  I have seen it so many times.  People walk up and say someone took their stroller because there were 2 identical strollers or that there are so many they have trouble finding theirs in the crowd.  When boarding a ride never leave anything valuable inside the stroller.  Your best bet is to only carry what is needed and for some rides make sure you have something to put your cameras in.  You do get wet on some rides.  If you purchase a vacation package you usually get a few extra perks such as early entry into the park as well as Mickey's Toon Town.  This is only at Disneyland and not at California Adventure.  Alot of people get this but still it is less crowded and you have minimal wait time on the rides.  Also it only applies to Fantasyland so I suggest you wait to visit that part of the park until then.  Mickey's Toon Town is located right next to fantasyland and you get an early entry into there as well.  There you get to meet and greet the Disney characters and visit their homes.  There is a parade just for you and you get to become an honorary member of Toontown.

What makes Disneyland so great is that it appeals to everyone no matter how young or how old you are.  I have been to Disneyland 14 times.  I live in California so to some 14 isn't very many but to others thats quite a bit and I consider myself to have some experience visiting the park.  The first time I went I was 1 years old.  The last time I went was a couple of years ago my son was 1 years old.  It was for his first birthday.  I have been to the park with my uncle when he was 70 years old,  I have been to the park with my niece when she was 16 years old, I have been to the park with my nephew when he was 5 years old, I have been to the park with my son when he was 1 years old and I have been to the park when my daughter was only 4 months old.  They all had a blast.  No matter the age there is something for everyone to do.  My daughter was only 4 months old the first time she went and she rode several of the rides.  All of the rides in Fantasyland and even some that we didn't think they would allow her on such as The Pirates Of The Caribbean ride.  Believe me I know she enjoyed it.  Her eyes were big and bright and she even gave a little smile when she met Mickey Mouse.

When you first arrive and get settled in your room visit both parks and do a quick tour.  Of course there will be 1 or 2 rides that you just have to ride right then but mostly check everything out and if you have time take in one of the shows to get it out of the way.  It's great to stay until the park closes but if you are there during the summer they stay open pretty late and if you have small children they won't last and if they do it will be really hard to get them going the next day.  You want to start early because it will pick up as far as crowds as it gets later in the day.  And if you stay until closing it is a mad house trying to get out along with thousands of other people and unfortunately some can be very rude and pushy.  Make sure you hold onto your children and the rest of your party because some adults will shove children out of their way and not even care.  Pick a park and visit that one only during that day.  You will waste alot of time going back and forth to the two parks and will have to stand in line each time.  There is also downtown disney with alot of shops and there are a few things to see and do at each of the resort hotels.  There are several rides that are considered the most popular.  Those you may want to use the fast-pass.  Its great and saves you time.  There is a fast-pass ticket dispenser.  You put your park-hopper ticket inside and it gives you a fast-pass with a time to return.  You can ride other rides, get something to eat. see a show whatever and then when its time you go back and enter through the fast pass line in front of everyone else.  Its great.  Also if you have small children that cannot ride the ride due to height or age restriction you can get a pass that allows the person who stays with the child to get on the ride right away after the rest of the party returns.  This way everyone can ride and not have to wait twice as long.  This is good for up to two people so the person doesn't have to ride alone.  I found it to be very useful and my daughter loved it because she got to ride twice, once with her dad and once with me.

The food is ok, not bad but not terrific and no doubt very expensive.  We saved quite a bit of money by using the fridge that was in our hotel room.  We bought some lunch and snack items and would head back to our room for lunch.  Most hotels offer complimentary fridge and microwave in each room and also some hotels offer free breakfast.  The hotel we stayed at had free breakfast which consisted of dry cereal and assorted pastries, coffee and juice which worked out great because the kids want to hurry and get to the park so a quick breakfast is all they will eat.  We did eat out for dinner but there are other places to eat outside of Disneyland that is much cheaper.  We did of course have a special dinner to celebrate our son's birthday as well as our daughters, we also went there for her birthday.  If you do want to have a nice memorable meal have one at the character restaurants.  Some are buffet and others are menu restaurants.  Several different characters will come out and meet and greet you.  The characters will vary depending on which one you visit.  They have one with the Disney Princesses, one with Goofy and friends, Chip N Dale, etc.  They are all fun but make sure you make reservations as soon as possible, they will take reservations up to I believe it is 3months in advance.  The sooner you do the better chance you have of getting a good seat.  We have had experiences of being seated in a far off corner to being right up front and in the middle of everything.  The characters walk around and visit all the tables but it is better to have a good seat.  I recommend out of all of them the breakfast buffet inside Disneyland at the Plaza Inn.  It is Minnie And Friends breakfast buffet.  That was the best out of all I have been to.  The characters take their time visiting each table and make the kids feel real special and the food is pretty good and the price is reasonable.  Its all you can eat which is great.  Of course you will buy snacks and drinks and it does add up.  The popcorn is great and they have a sweet shop that has tons of sugary sweets that give you a toothache just walking in.  They also have Disney dollars.  They can be used just like regular money throughout the park and in some of the shops in downtown Disney.  They are fun to use because each denomination has a different disney character on them.  The kids really enjoy them.

All the rides at Disneyland are fun and shouldn't be missed but there are a few rides that are worth mentioning.  First there is Space Mountain.  This is a really fun rollercoaster and now its even more fun because they have put rock and roll music inside, so you hear music playing throughout the ride.  This rollercoaster is inside and in the dark.  Star Tours is fun simulator ride that takes you aboard one of the ships on Star Wars.  Even has C3PO and R2D2 there.  Splash Mountain is fun with a 52 foot drop and you do get wet.  my daughter who was 5 at the time couldn't get enough of this ride.  They also take your photo when you go down that drop, you get a kick out of some of the expressions on peoples faces.  Pirates Of The Caribbean is fun with a couple of surprises during the ride.  It also has new characters from the movie there and no matter how many times you ride this ride you always get a kick out of the men trying to coax the dog with the key.  Also what makes this ride fun is how life-like they all look.  Haunted Mansion is also fun.  You begin by entering a room and weird and funny things happen.  When it goes dark and the lightning strikes look up at the very top.  Afterwards you board the ride.  Roger rabbits Car Toon Spin is also fun but alot of times the ride is closed.  If it is opened when you are there consider yourself lucky and make sure you ride it atleast twice.  The rides that the little ones will enjoy are the Jungle Cruise which also amazes me that the animals look so life-like.  Peter Pan ride is also fun and they get to feel like they are flying with Peter Pan.  Matterhorn Bobsleds are fun too but be aware that young children may be frightened of some of the scenes.  There is a height requirement but young children can still ride due to the height being so low.  My daughter was 5 when she rode it and she was a little frightened of the abominable snowman.  She enjoyed the ride but didn't like the creature.  All the rides are fun but these are some of my family's favorites.

Disneyland is geared toward family and has alot for the real little ones to do.  California Adventure is geared more for the older crowd.  There are a few rides that the smaller kids can ride but most of the rides have a height requirement.  There are 3 rides I think should not be missed.  That is Soaring Over California, Twilight Zone Tower Of Terror and California Screamin.  Soaring Over California is really fun.  You feel like you are flying high above California as the screen shows different scenes with a great finale.  The best place to sit on this ride is the front row.  The other rows are fine but you do see the other peoples feet.  If you are in the top row you have nothing in front of you.  Tower Of Terror is alot of fun and be prepared to scream your head off, oh and make sure you take nothing with you.  You will fly up out of your seat.  You want to be able to hold onto the bar so make sure you keep your hands free to hold on for dear life.  California Screamin is a rollercoaster that goes upside down inside mickey's ears.  Its really fun but only if you like roller coasters and I mean really like them.  If you are afraid of heights I suggest you pass on this one.  If you want to get wet or should I say soaking wet than ride the Grizzly River Run.  trust me when I say YOU WILL GET WET!  There is also Disney Animation which is amazing.  When you walk in there are several screens that show some Disney cartoons and different rooms that show the animation process.  The last time we went they had a room where you could meet the Disney Princesses.  My son became infatuated with Sleeping Beauty and we spent alot of time there.  Unfortunately it is no longer there but you can still meet the princesses but just not in one place.

There is also some great entertaining shows and character greeting areas where you can line up to see some of your favorite characters.  Expect a little wait for some as these areas are very popular.  It's Tough To Be A Bug show in California Adventure is really fun.  You not only see the show but you feel and smell it.  I will leave it at that.  You will have to see it to find out what I mean.  Muppets Vision 3D is also fun.  When you go to Mickey's Toontown make sure you stop by each characters house.  You get to tour Minnie's House and if you are lucky you will catch her home standing at her front door and get a photo with her as well as Donald's boat and Goofy's Bounce House.  That is the only attraction that has a height limit.  Donald's boat can be slippery at times so be careful.  When you tour Mickey's house you will get a chance to meet him at the end.  They will take your photo with him and you can purchase it at the photo booth located in Main Street.  They can get expensive but it is a nice souvineer and they come in all different sizes.  Aladdin and Jasmine have their own little show and afterwards you can meet them and Ariel has her own place where you can meet her as well.  Certain characters are found in certain areas so always keep your eyes out for them.  For example you might find Buzz Lightyear in Tomorrowland, Woody ad Jesse in Frontierland, Winnie The Pooh and his gang in Critter Country, one of the princesses in Fantasyland and various characters around Main Street.  Usually right when you come into the park and enter Main Street there are one or two characters hanging around.  Everytime we went we would usually see Goofy, Mickey Minnie, sometimes Donald and on the very rare occasion Daisy and Pluto.  We went during the 50th anniversary celebration and we saw characters that you don't normally see such as Alice, Mad Hatter, Peter Pan, Wendy, Captain Hook, Cruella de Ville and Chicken Little.  There has been alot of different celebrations going on so these characters may be seen more often than before.

If you enjoy shopping then you will think you are in heaven.  There are souvineer shops, specialty shops, toy shops, and some very expensive shops that have artwork, crystal, watches etc...  Plan your shopping either the last day of your visit or towards the end of the day when you are planning on heading back to your hotel room.  If you buy anything in the middle of your stay you will have to carry the packages onto the rides with you or risk the chance of someone stealing it or pay for a day locker.  Do not wait until near closing because that is the most busiest time for the shops.  They are crowded and you end up having to wait longer in line to purchase something than it did to ride an attraction.

There are a couple of things that you should not miss when visiting Disneyland.  They are Fantasmic and the fireworks show.  You want to get there as early as possible to get a good place to view the shows.  Make a plan to see one on one night and the other on another night because Fantasmic usually ends about a 1/2 hour before the fireworks so you may get a good viewing spot for one but a terrible one for the other.  There is no seating you just gather around the area it is shown.  Fantasmic is over the water and includes a lazer light show and alot of different characters performing.  The fireworks are amazing especially the one they had during their anniversary.  It was more than just fireworks and it was amazing.  Disneyland used to have the electrical parade but ended several years ago when they started Fantasmic.  When they opened California Adventure they brought it back.  You don't want to miss this show either.  It is really cute and entertaining.  You will be amazed at all the little lights that go into to this parade.  Afterwards the song that is played all during the parade will stick in your head the rest of the night.  This one also runs during the others so make sure you plan accordingly to make sure you are able to see all three.  In California Adventure there is one show that you do not want to miss and that is Aladdin...A Musical Spectacular, and it is just that SPECTACULAR.  It is 40 minutes long and if you have little ones be advised most likely they will enjoy watching the show but if they have a hard time sitting still for that long you might want to wait until they are tired out and take their nap.  If you like broadway shows you will love this show.  If you don't you will still like this show.  My husband is not a fan of these types of shows but he liked this one.  Everytime we go we always make sure we see it.  If you get a vacation package you usually get a ticket for preferred seating so you get a chance at getting a good seat.  Either sit in the middle right at the main isle or on the balcony.  There is a flying carpet and some of the characters will walk out into the audience.  If you sit up near the front you will have to look straight up in which you won't get a very good view or you will have to look behind you and miss some of the action.  The genie character is hilarious.  You will be laughing all through the show.  It's also great on a hot day because you get to spend almost an hour in a nice air-conditioned building.

There is so much more to see and do and I have only mentioned a few.  But as you can see you need several days to be able to see and do everything.  If you are limited to only two or three days make a plan as to what you want to do so you can make the most of it.  I have visited Disneyland and stayed for 7 days and believe me every day was funfilled and there was never a time when we were bored or tired of being there.  I will tell you this.  The day we returned home we were ready to go back.