Hello there Melissa from a fellow Melissa! How exciting that you're planning to take your family to the "Happiest Place on Earth", I can't imagine a better destination!
That is a great question Melissa, and the great news is that you can absolutely take a day off in between park days.
Multi-day tickets purchased through the
Disneyland Resort site or the
Disneyland app must be used within 13 days of the first use. That will allow you plenty of time to take a rest day in between busy park days.
I always highly recommend a rest day, it allows the entire family to sleep in, rest their feet, and even take a dip in the pool if it's warm enough! One of our favorite non-park day activities is to spend a day in the
Downtown Disney District shopping at the
World of Disney store. We are always hopping from attraction to attraction while in the parks, so I love to take our time shopping and browsing on a non-park day, and then we can take our souvenirs right back to the hotel instead of carrying them around.
We also love to do a
character dining experience on a non-park day, our favorites include
Mickey's Tales of Adventure Breakfast Buffet at Storytellers Café at
Disney's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, as well as
Goofy's Kitchen at the
Disneyland Hotel. The breakfast buffet at Storytellers Café is delicious, I always head straight for the Chili Verde Chilaquiles or the Make-Your-Own Omelet station. Goofy's Kitchen is great to see some of your favorite Disney pals at either breakfast or dinner, and my kids can never pass up Goofy's famous Peanut Butter Pizza!
I hope this information was helpful for your trip planning Melissa, please do not hesitate to
come back and ask me any other questions for your vacation, I'm here to help!
Have a magical day!
Melissa