How long of a stay will I need to see all there is to see at Disneyland?

Part of the question of "How long of a stay will I need to see all there is to see at Disneyland" depends on what days of the week you are planning to be there. You are able to see much more if you avoid weekends because the crowds are much larger on weekends. We always plan our trips from Monday-Thursday to avoid the large crowds.

There are 55 "attractions" in Disneyland, although really only 36 would be considered rides, and there are another 15 rides at California Adventure. When I talk about seeing all there is to see, I'm referring to both Disneyland and California Adventure since if you're going to Disneyland, you might as well get the park hopper ticket and go to CA Adventure too.

Lindsay with Trey and Shelby

The first time I took my step kids to Disneyland, Lindsay, my 14 year old at the time, was determined to go on every ride there was at both Disneyland and California Adventure. We were staying for 3 nights and had 4-day park hopper tickets so she didn't see why she wouldn't be able to do it. Even my wife found it hard to believe when I told her that there was no way she could do it.

It takes about a day to familiarize your self with the layout of the land if you've never been there before. As funny as this may sound, it's advantageous to look at a map of the park (maps can be found at disneyland.com), and even print one out and study it, before you go. That way when you get there, you spend less time walking around trying to find a certain ride you want to go on and more time going on the rides. With that said though, we spent part of the first day just taking everything in - taking our time and looking at all the details in the construction that makes Disneyland the magical place that it is.

After getting back to the hotel room the first night, we planned out where we wanted to go and what we wanted to do the next day, including what rides we wanted to go on again and what parts of the park we wanted to go to that we didn't see the first day. That helped us make the most of every second.

Mickey's Soundsational Parade

The third day was more of the same - going on favorite rides, trying out new ones, and exploring the park - and the fourth day involved just running around early getting in as much as we could before we had to leave, and then once again taking it all in and creating pictures in our minds to remember until returning the next year.

Another thing to consider when deciding on how long of a visit to plan is that to see all of the parades and night time entertainment such as Fantasmic, The World of Color, Fireworks, and The Magic the Memories and You, you'll need AT LEAST two days to see it all. And to see the shows requires saving seats for a half hour to an hour which cuts into the time you have to go on rides.

Four days is the perfect amount of time for my family to see all there is to see because we don't feel extremely rushed the first couple of days since we know we have a couple more left. Three days would be the minimum I would suggest if visiting for the first time, and even three days didn't feel like enough time for us in 2016 when we tried switching from 4 days to 3. One day would just be enough to leave you frustrated that you didn't see all that you wanted to, and two days, while maybe giving you time to physically see all the parts of both parks still wouldn't give you enough time to really feel and enjoy both parks.