Five For Fighting sang about it in their track titled "It's a Nice Day, When you Wake Up in Disneyland", and it truly is a dreamy vacation spot. Kids love the rides and characters, and parents get to be kids all over again. In fact, I think I even had more fun on rides like Space Mountain and Tower of Terror (California Adventure) than my kids did.

Going to Disneyland was a childhood dream that I was never able to experience until I was in my late teens, so I wanted to make sure my kids were able to visit as soon as possible. We took them two years ago when my youngest son was only 3, and again last year when he had just turned 5.

One of our closest friends took their kids to Disneyland just last week with their 5-year old and 9-year old kids, and had a complete blast as well. It was really fun to chat with them afterwards about their vacation, and I started jotting down a list of tips and tricks that made both our trips as enjoyable as possible.

Chances are good that your wife may already have thought of these tips, but at least they'll give you some ideas to bring to the table, to make it look like you put some effort into the planning process yourself.

• Get Good Shoes

  You will walk and walk and walk all over Disneyland, and the last thing you want is a painful blister. Invest in a good pair of walking or running shoes, and far enough in advance of your trip to break them in. I chose running shoes for their lightness and high cushion factor.

• Pack your wallet with $20 bills

  I found myself peeling $20 bills out of my wallet left and right to pay for meals, snacks, drinks, and souveniers. You can plan on about $6 per kid per meal, and about twice that for adults with a beverage.

  Don't bother trying to save money by eating outside the park. The outlying restaurants have their prices jacked up just as high, and by the time you walk across the huge parking lot, find transportation (or walk to your restaurant), you'll have wasted close to an hour - and then you'll have some very tired and cranky kids in tow. Not fun in a restaurant.

  Besides, I wanted my kids to remember the times we had together on the rides; not the time we spent wandering around trying to save a few dollars on meals.

• Bring a backpack

  Each day we crammed the camera, bottled water, granola bars, and other snacks into the pack that I carried around the park. It gave us a single place to store sun glasses, character signature books, and every other imagineable miscellaneous item we could think of. All of the rides have places to store backpacks, or will allow you to set it to the side behind the public waiting lines where the attendants can keep an eye on them.

  Be sure to get a pack with outside pockets like the one shown from Luggage.com, which make it easier for your kids to grab water bottles. Otherwise you'll be taking the pack off every few minutes to keep them hydrated.

• Invest in a dual-screen portable DVD player

  We drove to Disneyland on our last visit, and brought plenty of books, games, and Highlights magazines for the kids. But those only last so long. Our dual screen DVD player really helped fill in the boring stretches of highway, with one screen behind the front seat and one behind the middle row of seats in of our Toyota Sequoia SUV.

  There was one time in particular where the electronic babysitting these screens provided was priceless - when we were driving around Redmond, CA looking for a hotel and discovered there was a conference that weekend. All the hotels were booked, and we tried several before deciding to press through and keep driving that night.

  Imagine 3 tired and hungry kids arguing with each other in the back seat while mom and dad try to find there way around an unfamiliar city. Switch on the DVD player, and presto - it's quiet! Definitely priceless. I found a dual screen DVD player complete with carrying case and car power accessories for only $179 at Shop.com.

  If you decide to fly instead of drive, then hopefully you'll be able to save some money on a package deal. The first time we went we found a "Kids fly free" package from Alaskan Airlines that cut the travel bill in half. If you're planning a trip to DisneyWorld, Wyndham Vacation Resorts has a deal that'll save you a lot of money: Orlando 3 Nights for $189 includes Hotel Stay + Park Tickets

• Pick the off-season times

  There's nothing worse than standing in a line for a half hour or more, especially when your 5-year-old has an attention span of about 30 seconds. Add the heat factor of the hot California summer sun, and we're talking complete meltdown!

  I'd much rather travel to Disneyland after the first week of school or the week before/after Spring Break. Line times were no more than about 15 minutes each time we went in the off season, and there were many times where we just walked right up to the entrance and hopped on with no waiting.

  The weather was still in the mid-70s to mid-80s, which was just right for us. There was one day that it rained, but nobody seemed to mind. After all, many of the rides are indoors - like Space Mountain and Souring Over California (part of California Adventure).

  Your kids won't mind missing a week of school either, and their teachers considered it an educational experience (especially since we combined Sea World and the San Diego Zoo in our plans).

• Choose a hotel with a pool and continental breakfast

  There's no point paying $30 to $40 every morning for breakfast if you can find a hotel that includes breakfast, and it's also one less restaurant experience you'll have to deal with each day. You can stroll over to the breakfast buffet line in your slippers with your kids, while your wife takes her time blow-drying her hair and putting on make up. You can even score points with your wife by bringing her breakfast back to your room, along with hot coffee and a bagel.

  Your kids will love the pool too, and it'll make a great way to kill a couple hours on travel days (e.g. when you arrive to the hotel but it's a little too late to go to Disneyland that day). If it's a hot day in California, then it might be smart to take a break after lunch and cool off in the pool, or to take a dip in the evening to relax before bedtime.

• Give yourself time to rest afterwards

  Even though Disneyland is a complete blast, you're going to be dead tired when you get back home. You'll have walked many more miles than you ever thought possible, let alone any time zone changes you may have to pass through on your way there and back. Try to plan your trip so that you arrive back home on Friday and have the weekend to rest up before heading back to the daily office grind.

I hope these tips give you some good ideas for making your Disneyland trip a memorable and enjoyable time. Please feel free to post any tips that you've found helpful as well.