Schedule
The days
Gold rows are the things you came for. Red rows are booked, paid, or unmissable. Tap a date to jump, tap a card to tear it open.
13ThuArrive and D23 DayCall it on the day▾
14FriD23, day oneOrientation▾
15SatD23, day twoThe big one▾
16SunD23, day threeRuns backwards▾
17MonRecoveryDeliberately empty▾
18TueOogie Boogie BashOpening night of the season▾
19WedCalifornia AdventureLate start, on purpose▾
20ThuCar day and the coastRest with wheels▾
21FriDisneyland ParkCar stays parked▾
22SatFly home10:10 pm departure▾
Reference
Rules that bite
The five things most likely to go wrong, and how not to let them.
The arena bag limit
Honda Center allows nothing larger than 5 by 9 by 2 inches, which is 22.9 by 12.7 by 5.1 cm: the footprint of a paperback, half as deep. Backpacks of every kind are banned, including clear and mini ones, and the arena has no bag storage at all.
The answer you settled on is the right one: pockets. Phone, one card, hotel key, slim power bank, lip balm. A zipped pocket holds the phone, and a person with no bag walks straight through screening.
Bag check runs backwards on Sunday
Free at Arena Plaza and Grand Plaza, open until 90 minutes after the Honda Center shows end on Friday and Saturday, and until 8 pm Sunday. The Lobby A and B desk shuts at 8 pm daily and is no use on showcase nights.
Friday and Saturday: drop the day bag at 3:45 pm before the shuttle. Sunday: you leave at 11:30 am, so drop it at 11:15 and collect it at 4:40 the moment you are back.
Virtual queues run the shopping
They open at 6:00 am and 1:00 pm daily in the D23 app, and only work within 90 miles of the Convention Center. Friday morning has the deepest stock. The Walt Disney Company Store runs a virtual queue on Friday only, then standby.
Standby, since the lottery sailed
Most Convention Center panels run standby, and a good share of reserved holders never turn up. Everything before 4 pm is limited to full day badges, so morning picks face a smaller pool.
Arrive 30 minutes early for daytime sessions and give Menken a full hour. Staying on one stage means a missed session leaves you already in position for the next. Talent signings rarely crack on standby, so let those go.
Getting home at night
The rideshare zone is the Toy Story Parking Area, 1976 South Harbor, already a third of the way home. Walk there first, then look at the surge.
From the Honda Center, cars collect only at ARTIC, seven minutes on foot. On showcase nights take the free shuttle back to the hall instead and decide from there, because twelve thousand people hit the apps at the same moment.
Wayfinding
Maps
Every route you will actually need. Each opens in Google Maps with the mode already set.
The walking route, said plainly
North up Harbor for 0.85 miles, then left onto Convention Way, which runs straight to the hall. Do not carry on to Katella and double back, that is the wrong turn everyone makes. Flat, continuous sidewalk, no shade worth the name, so sunscreen goes on before you leave the room.
Craft
Park tactics
Four habits worth more than any single ride.
Single rider is your superpower
Travelling alone, the single rider queue is the biggest advantage you have, and almost nobody uses it properly. It regularly turns an hour into fifteen minutes.
Look for it at Radiator Springs Racers, Incredicoaster, Millennium Falcon, Matterhorn, Indiana Jones and Goofy's Sky School. Availability changes daily, so check the app or ask at the entrance.
Mobile order everything
Order quick service food in the Disneyland app and skip the counter queue entirely. Book the slot an hour or two ahead, because popular windows sell out by midday.
Free ice water, everywhere
Any quick service counter hands over a cup of ice water for nothing, no purchase required. Across six days in August heat, this is worth real money and keeps you upright.
Ride indoors at the hottest hour
Between two and five, choose the dark, seated, air conditioned attractions over anything with an outdoor queue. Pirates, Haunted Mansion and the theatre shows let you recover while still doing something.
Practicalities
Money and phone
Get connected before you land
You will live in the D23 and Disneyland apps all day: wait times, mobile orders, virtual queues, show times. Sort an eSIM or roaming pack before you fly, because the airport is a bad place to solve it and the parks are worse.
Park wifi exists but buckles under crowds, and the Convention Center wifi will not survive thirty thousand people.
Tipping, since it is not a New Zealand habit
Sit down restaurants expect 18 to 20 percent. Counter service, none. Rideshare drivers, a few dollars in the app. Housekeeping, a couple of dollars a night if you like. It is not optional the way it is at home.
Cards and fees
Contactless works nearly everywhere, including both parks. Tell your bank you are travelling, and check the card's foreign transaction fee, since two or three percent across a trip this size is real money. Carry a little cash for tips only.
Preparation
The kit
Tuned for someone who runs hot, arriving from a New Zealand winter, completely unacclimatised. Tap to tick. Ticks clear on reload, so treat it as a working list.
- ✓Technical or merino tees, more than one a day on the heavy days
- ✓Shorts with at least one zipped pocket, for the arena nights
- ✓One packable long sleeve for arena air conditioning, trial it Friday
- ✓Cap or light UPF top for the Harbor walks, winter skin burns fast
- ✓The broken in shoes, never new ones
- ✓Blister plasters
- ✓Sunscreen, on before leaving, reapplied at lunch on park days
- ✓Refillable water bottle and electrolyte tablets
- ✓Slim card style power bank, pocket friendly, and a short cable
- ✓Foldable tote for merchandise
- ✓Costume for Oogie Boogie Bash, packable and heat friendly
- ✓US power adapter
- ✓Optional: a small pouch under 22.9 by 12.7 by 5 cm, if pockets ever feel thin
Countdown
Before the flight
- ✓Honda Center seats arrive digitally 5 Aug: into the wallet, then screenshot all three
- ✓Watch for the will call hours email, and screenshot the will call barcode now
- ✓Save the official D23 programme PDF offline on the phone
- ✓Install the D23 app and the Disneyland app, sign in to both
- ✓Install Uber and Lyft, add payment to both
- ✓Sort an eSIM or roaming pack
- ✓Check ESTA is valid and the passport has enough runway
- ✓Confirm park reservations attached to 13, 19 and 21 Aug
- ✓Decide on Lightning Lane for Radiator Springs Racers and Rise of the Resistance
- ✓Confirm the rental includes insurance, and the LAX one way drop fee
- ✓Ask the hotel: fridge and microwave, guest laundry, luggage hold on the 22nd
- ✓Tell the bank you are travelling
- ✓Recheck the forecast around 6 Aug, revisit the walking if a heat spike lands
Late nights
Show the driver
For the 10 pm moments when pointing beats explaining. Tap the card to fill the screen.
Take me to
Anaheim Marriott Suites
12015 South Harbor Boulevard
Garden Grove, CA 92840
Tap to enlarge
Care
If things go wrong
Emergencies
Police, fire or ambulance is 911, free from any phone. Inside the parks or the convention, tell any cast member or staff member: they are trained for it and faster than your phone.
Feeling the heat
Dizzy, headachey, or you have stopped sweating in the sun: that is a signal, not something to push through. Get indoors, sit down, drink, give it thirty minutes. Free ice water is at every quick service counter, and first aid at both parks is air conditioned and judgement free.
Smaller disasters
Phone dying is the real risk, since your tickets live on it. The seat screenshots plus the power bank cover it. Lost something: each park, the convention centre and the arena run their own lost and found, so ask at guest services before leaving the building. Card declined: the bank travel notice on the checklist prevents this.