As we walk through this Disneyland Resort planning journey step-by-step, we are moving from deciding when to visit Disneyland (see that previous post here) to purchasing tickets for that visit. Keep reading as we guide you through purchasing tickets for your visit to Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park.
Why Buy Disneyland Tickets Now?
If you are wondering why we are looking at buying tickets this early in the planning process, we have two reasons for that.
First, Disneyland tickets do regularly increase in price. The good news is that, as long as your tickets have not expired, you can use them even after a price increase. By buying tickets early, you are locking in the current pricing. You can read all about it here: Do Disneyland Tickets Increase in Price?
Second, Disneyland Resort currently requires park reservations for anyone visiting Disneyland Park or Disney California Adventure Park. We are going to explain more about park reservations later in this article. It is important for you to know that these reservations can and do run out. Maybe you will decide to buy tickets at a later date, but we suggest at least looking at reservations now to see if they are available. Reservations can be changed without any extra fee or penalty.
When to Wait to Buy Disneyland Tickets
We just gave you two good reasons to buy (or at least look at) Disneyland tickets today. There may also be a good reason to wait: if your planned travel dates are still awhile out, you might be able to take advantage of ticket discounts.
No one knows what ticket discounts Disneyland will release in any year, but if you feel comfortable waiting, we recommend that you sign-up for emails from Disneyland Resort to be alerted to new discounts. You can sign-up for emails at the Disneyland website here and check for current discounts.
Keep reading for the process once you are ready to purchase those park tickets.
Purchase Your Disneyland Tickets
Time to purchase your admission tickets. For a guide to Disneyland’s standard ticket types, we strongly recommend heading over to our guide here. That guide is going to walk you through the one to multi day tickets plus explain the ticket add-ons that are Park Hoppers and Lightning Lanes.
In that guide we have a visual flowchart to help you decide what specific ticket will work for you. After you have a chance to look at that, meet us back over here!
General Disneyland Admission Tickets, The Essentials
Now that you have taken a look at our ticket types guide, hopefully you have decided (1) the length of your ticket, (2) whether you will add park hopping and (3) whether you will add Lighting Lane. If you still need some help sorting through these options, we have some further tips at: How to Choose Your Best Disneyland Ticket.
Discounted Disneyland Tickets
Okay once you have decided on your ticket type, we recommend looking through those available offers and discounts, and then purchasing your tickets in advance of your visit. We all like to save money on tickets!
What we do NOT recommend is purchasing tickets from anyone but Disney or a reputable third-party seller. There are many ticket scams out there, and the best way to avoid them is to purchase from Disney directly or from authorized sellers including Get-Away-Today, Undercover Tourist and familiar retailers like Target or Costco. These sellers can and do offer small additional discounts.
If you are planning to attend any after-hours events, you will also need to purchase separate tickets.
Special Events Tickets
Special or “hard ticket” events require a ticket purchase outside of your general admission ticket. Examples of this include Oogie-Boogie Bash or Disneyland After Dark parties.
If you would like to attend one of these events, it is a good idea to really plan ahead. These parties have been known to sell-out, and sometimes on the very day that ticket sales open. We have a schedule of these events with dates and hours for 2025 here: Disneyland Schedule for 2025: Plan Your Visit!
Make Park Reservations for Disneyland Park or Disney California Adventure Park
Entering Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park during general admission hours (i.e. not a special event) requires a park reservation. If you have a special event ticket (see above), that ticket is date specific, and you do not need to make an additional reservation. For all other tickets, you will need to pair them with a park reservation.
Decide Where to Start Your Day
To make a park reservation, you will first need to know the dates you plan to visit Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park.
Next, you will need to decide which park you want to visit each morning. If you have a Park Hopper add-on, you will be able to cross freely between both parks after 11am, unless one of the parks reaches capacity (this is unlikely on all but the busiest days).
You will make your park reservation for the first (or only) park you plan to visit on any given day. The good news is that you can change your park reservation without any fee or penalty right up to your visit. The only restriction on these changes happens if park reservations run out. There are a limited number available for each park on each day.
Make Your Disneyland Park Reservation
If you purchase your ticket directly from Disney, you will be asked to make a reservation as part of the purchase process. But, if you purchased your ticket from one of those authorized sellers we wrote about, you will need to make the reservation separately.
When you purchase tickets from a reputable place like Get Away Today, you will receive vouchers for those tickets. You will then need to link those vouchers to your Disney account, and they will be your Disneyland tickets. The seller should provide instructions on how to do this.
Once you have linked your tickets, they are now part of your Disney profile. You can go online or open the Disneyland app to make park reservations before your visit. This is also where you will find calendars showing available park reservations for future dates.
We suggest checking these calendars before making a ticket purchase. You will not be able to use a ticket or pass without a corresponding park reservation.
Tip: The number of park reservations available is dependent on the ticket type being used, and they do run-out. Opting for a different ticket type (for example, adding Park Hopper) MAY open-up availability. You can change your ticket type and compare calendars before your purchase to see if this might be the case.
Changing Your Disneyland Park Reservation
There is no penalty for changing your Disneyland park reservation before your visit. As long as reservations are available for the day and park you wish to book, you are free to change your reservation using the Disneyland app or website.
However, if you ticket is a one-day ticket, it is subject to tiered pricing. This means that your park reservation day must be for your designated ticket tier or lower. If you want to switch to a higher-tier day, you can upgrade and pay the difference in tier price. For more specific information on ticket tiers and what it takes to switch a one day ticket reservation, see our ticket tier guide here. That post is one of our most popular, and it will walk you through different scenarios for changing your one day ticket.
Thanks for reading this article on purchasing tickets and making park reservations for Disneyland.
Do not forget to take a look at that ticket decision guide here.
This post is the second step in our Step-by-Step Disneyland Prep series. To see the first, please visit Your Best Time to Visit Disneyland: A Complete Guide. Our next step along the way involves transportation, so stick with us and see ya real soon!
One response to “Essential Tips for Disneyland Tickets and Reservations”
[…] ←Previous: Essential Tips for Disneyland Tickets and Reservations […]