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The Lilly Belle at Disneyland is legendary. Until recently, it was a very tough ticket to get! If you wanted to ride the Lilly Belle train at Disneyland, you had to take some specific steps that involved rope drop and singular focus! Here’s how I rode the Lilly Belle at Disneyland- and how you can too!?

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If you followed on social media last week, I had an uber-geek out moment in my Disney loving life. ?This one left me in tears, y’all, because I’d had my heart set on riding the Lilly Belle at Disneyland for a while now.

I legit cried at least three times. My apologies for my fellow passengers who probably thought I lost my dang mind.

This one was sentimental, linking my Jacob and our Walt (even though Walt didn’t ride in Lilly Belle as Lilly Belle- but I’ll get to that in a minute!).

 

Take a Ride on the Lilly Belle at Disneyland

 

 

Some of you are probably scratching your head and thinking- what the hey is Shenanigans talking about?

Who or what is the Lilly Belle and why was this such a big deal? I’m getting there, I promise!

The Lilly Belle Presidential train car is a unique car that runs as the caboose on the Disneyland Railroad.

This car was carefully designed and cultivated by Lillian Disney herself to provide an exceptional experience for her personal guests. It runs on a limited schedule with limited availability?throughout most of the year.

What does this mean to you? It means that getting on the Lilly Belle is the hardest “Fast Pass” to come by in all of Disneyland.

 

I tried at least five times during the past three years to catch a ride in this fabled train car, to no success.

Until last week.

Huzzah! Persistence and a bit of luck paid off.

Here are the steps we took to attempt a ride on the Lilly Belle.

 

Ride the Lilly Belle at Disneyland Step 1: Arrive early.

I’m talking pre-rope drop early.

Yes, that’s stupid early, but if you want a chance to ride Lilly Belle, what’s missing out on a little extra sleep?

We hit the front gates of Disneyland around 8 am Friday morning.

We had just finished watching the Avengers 5K and stopped for Starbucks on the way through Downtown Disney.

That put us in line with about ten people in front of us to enter the park at opening.

 

 

Ride the Lilly Belle at Disneyland Step 2:Beeline straight up the steps to the train station.

The park will allow guests in about 30 minutes earlier than the official opening.

You want to be one of those first people in the gates and one of the first at the Train Depot.

Do not stop for a picture, do not check your map.

Do not get distracted by characters (they are often in Town Square as you enter the park).

here will be time for that later!

If you want to ride the Lilly Belle you need to be one of the first 14 people in line at the train station when the park officially opens.

 

Ride the Lilly Belle at Disneyland Step 3: Get in line and cross your fingers!

You’ll need a couple of things to happen at this point.

Hopefully, a conductor will emerge from the train depot early and let you know the status of the Lilly Belle that day.

Sometimes you will get the disappointing news that the train car is not running.

At that point, your mission focus can change to making Peter Pan’s (first) Flight.

Sometimes the conductors do not know until park opening, and you will be left in suspense for a bit.

That’s not fun, but try to make the most of it by chatting with your fellow Lilly Belle hopefuls.

 

Ride the Lilly Belle at Disneyland Step 4: May the odds ever be in your favor.

When you get the news that the car is running, the conductor may also give you the times available.

In our case, there was one trip and one trip only happening that day.

The car holds about 14 people, so we quickly started counting the people in line.

My group ended up being 9-12. ?Phew. ?We just lucked out!

 

Ride the Lilly Belle at Disneyland Step 5: Sign up and get your return time.

You do not have to have your entire party present to sign up.

So in theory, the person first in line could snag all 14 spots on the train.

#WhompWhomp

I’ve heard that does indeed happen.

The conductors did not start taking names until the park officially opened at 9 am.

When it did, we proceeded in an orderly fashion. ?We walked up, put our name down on the conductor’s list, and skipped away happily.

 

 

Ride the Lilly Belle at Disneyland?Step 6: Return about 15 minutes before the scheduled time.

This is when you get your tickets and necessary information.

The trip took the grand circle tour around Disneyland, and we spent the whole time in the Lilly Belle.

As you can see, it takes a bit of luck and things to fall into place in just the right ways to ride the Lilly Belle.

Right place, right time, and the right amount of trips and passengers all factor in.

Something I forgot to mention before: the weather plays in as well.

The Lilly Belle is an enclosed car without any air conditioning. ?It will not run or will not take passengers if the temperatures are too high.

Summer trips on the Belle are not as likely as the fall-spring trips.

 

 

Our trip was all that I hoped it would be.

We had a wonderful cast member who accompanied us and shared details about the car and how it came about.

For example,?Lillian and the Imagineers were in charge of this project. Walt may have ridden on this train before it officially became the Lilly Belle, but he did not ride it in present form.

We learned about the time Nick Cage was booted from the love seat by two pirates.

Not to name drop or anything, but Captain Jack and Will Turner weren’t having that business on their love seat!

 

 

Apparently, there’s only room for two!

We were allowed to move around during the stops to load passengers and take all the pictures we wished.

Here are a few (of the 80 gazillion) I took of the interior.

 

 

This trip was well worth the effort of getting up and getting out early!

The Lilly Belle, along with all the trains, will be on a hiatus while work starts on Star Wars Land. ?If you are at Disneyland before January 11, 2016, you might want to try to take this special tour.

It (was*) free, and it’s magical.

And even better with friends!

 

 

*The Lilly Belle train at Disneyland has now become part of a paid tour experience.?

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