California Adventure has an array of amazing attractions, shows, character meets, restaurants and it all depends on what you want to enjoy. On our last visit we split our time with 2 days in Disneyland and 2 days in California Adventure and just about managed to do ‘everything’ (see our vlogs below). However these were busy days and if you want to take it slower, or meet some extra characters, enjoy some more meals etc then we’d suggest a little longer. Likewise if you’re happy to skip some of the smaller attractions then it’s perfectly possible just to visit for the day and enjoy what you can!

Park tickets can just be bought directly through the Disneyland website, and you can buy single day tickets or multi-day tickets ranging from $104 up to $206 per day per person at the time of writing (2025). So for a family of 4 you’re talking around $2,200 for 4 days over the summer. This includes both parks with a small additional charge to be able to hop between parks during the day (in our opinion worth doing). When booking you need to select your dates to make a reservation but can hop between the parks after 11am.

Disneyland operates a Lightning Lane system enabling you to skip the queue, much like the one in Florida. You can purchase single Lightning Lane’s for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance or Radiator Springs which are NOT included in the multi pass. Then you can also buy the multi-pass which can be used once on each attraction. This is very handy but if you have enough time and you’re smart you can get by without it by rope dropping the major attractions etc.

Early entry is granted to anyone staying at a Disney resort - a very handy perk. This gets you into the parks 30 minutes before everyone else. That’s not a lot but means you can be almost first in line for a headline attraction (or maybe two) and save a load of queuing time.

The equivalent of Main Street in the Disneyland park, this entranceway doesn’t pack the same punch but is fun nonetheless. Calling back to old 1920’s Los Angeles, this little street/area focuses on shopping and dining as you might expect. It does however have one attraction in Mickey’s Philharmagic - a fun 3D show. This is also a great spot to meet characters with Mickey, Minnie and Goofy often here, as well as well as others.

As well the usual array of souvenir and merch shops, there are several dining options, most notably the Carthay Circle restaurant and lounge - classed as fine dining. There’s also a few quick-service options including Award Wieners, Fiddler, Fifer & Practical Cafe, and Mortimers Market.

The rest of the park spreads out from here, although not in the typical hub-and-spoke layout so it takes a moment to find your way around. By the end of the day though you’ll be hopping from Cars Land to Grizzly Peak to Pixar Pier and back again.

A funny little corner of the park, and almost an extension of Buena Vista Street, Hollywood Land is an underused area of the park, with really just the one attraction - Monsters Inc, Mike & Sulley To The Rescue. This was being refurbished when we visited but looks a fun family dark ride. Among the rest of the fake sound stages, there’s also a Moana meet and greet and the giant building which houses the Animation Academy, Turtle Talk With Crush, Sorcerer’s Workshop and Anna & Elsa’s Royal Welcome. This is admittedly a nice collection of activities but we can’t help but feel this area would be perfect for the new Avatar Land which has been announced.

There are some dining options here but nothing major - Hollywood Lounge, Studio Catering Co. and Fairfax Market.

Avengers Campus - the newest area of the park and our favourite. This land is simply superb, even if you don’t like Marvel. With two headline attractions (and more to come in the next development), loads of character meets, shows and great dining options - be prepared to come back here several times throughout the day.

Web Slingers is a brilliant Spiderman themed attraction where you shoot webs at spiderbots and is loads of fun. Guardian's of the Galaxy - Mission: BREAKOUT is a twist on the classic Tower of Terror ride with a Marvel overlay and is incredibly funny, with a great soundtrack. Both of the these rides are must do’s and will attract big queues.

Moving on to the shows these include the Awesome Dance Off outside Guardians of the Galaxy, Warriors of Wakanda, Avengers Headquarters and Ancient Sanctum - all of these feature your favourite Marvel heroes and create a brilliant fun atmosphere throughout the day. Also don’t miss the Spiderman stunt show on the roof of Web Slingers - the effects are amazing.

In terms of character meets, these vary regularly but you can usually meet the core heroes like Iron Man, Captain America etc but they also add short-term meets around new movie and tv show release dates. At the time of writing for example you can meet Black Widow, Black Panther, Ms Marvel, Spiderman, Ant Man, Captain America, Captain Marvel, Doctor Strange, Loki, Shang-Chi, The Wasp, Thor and Groot.

For dining, you’ve got Shawarma Palace and Pym Test Kitchen where you can enjoy small and large quick-service food and is a place kids will love.

Another stellar land, Cars Land transports you to Radiator Springs and the theming here again is superb. This is one of Adventures by Knapps favourite lands in all of the parks!

Radiator Springs Racers is one the most popular rides in the park - so much so it requires its own individual Lightning Lane. It’s loads of fun - similar to Test Track in Orlando but taken up a notch in terms of theming. Be warned it is glitchy - we’ve been walked off this ride when it broke down and it’s gone down numerous times while we were queuing - it’s worth persevering though.

Elsewhere there are two more rides aimed at the younger generation - Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters and Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree - both are fun and worth trying regardless of how old you are! You can also take your picture with Lightning McQueen and Mater if fancy too.

The land has a couple of great quick service dining options - Cozy Cone Motel has a few different options, and Flo’s V8 Cafe is one we went back to a few times.

These two mini lands form a sort of buffer between the front and back of the park. With no attractions to speak of, unless you include the Bakery Tour, and just character meets with Baymax and Hiro the main reason for coming here is to pass through to the back of the park or to get some food.

Dining is where these lands come into their own. Wine Country Trattoria is a lovely sit down option and Sonoma Terrace is another quick service option. Over in San Fransokyo Square there are numerous options and given it’s central location makes it a great spot for lunch.

Off on the far side of the park is Grizzly Peak, themed around the forests and national parks of California. The main attractions here are Soarin’ Around the World - a superb glide around the World, just like the version in Orlando, and Grizzly River Run - a fun river rapids ride that will cool you down (i.e. soak you) on a hot day. Our kids also love the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail - a big outdoor playground that kids could spend hours on.

Pluto, Chip and Dale and Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde can also be spotted around this area and make for some fun character meets. For food, Smokejumpers Grill is a good option.

Another top area of the park, Pixar Pier adds another much-needed dimension to the park and is a lovely area around the lake.

There are numerous rides here, the biggest of which is the Incredicoaster - an intense supper fast rollercoaster which is very popular. Toy Story Midway Mania is another great attraction as you play 3D midway games against each other and is one of our favourites.

There are also a couple of family rides like Jessie’s Critter Carousel, Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind and Pixar Pal-A-Round. Note for this one you can pick swinging or non-swinging. The swinging option is surprisingly intense but so much fun!

Pixar Pier is a good spot for characters too - Anger, Joy, Sadness, Bo Peep, Buzz, Woody, Jessie, Mr Incredible and Mrs Incredible can all be spotted here.

For food, Lamplight Lounge is superb, with classy Pixar theming and great food by the water. Quicker options are available all along the pier at different kiosks. Bing Bong’s Sweet Stuff and Adorable Snowman Frosted Treats are also not to be missed for some treats.

On the other side of the lake opposite the Pier is Paradise Gardens Park. At the top end of the land there are more attractions which are fun but none of them headliners. Silly Symphony Swings, Golden Zephyr, Jumpin’ Jellyfish and Goofy’s Sky School are all fun but not essentials.

Back towards the middle of the park there’s the Little Mermaid - Ariel’s Undersea Adventure. Outside of here is the World of Colour seating area. The lake is the location for the wonderful nightly light and water show that’s a must do. We enjoyed a desert party package here on our last visit that provides your own table to sit and enjoy the show and is well worth considering.

There aren’t any formal character meets in this area but there are some dining options with the main ones being Boardwalk Pizza & Pasta and Paradise Garden Grill.