Purchasing theme park admission is often the most expensive part of a Disneyland vacation. Do you really need Park Hopper tickets, which let you visit more than one park per day? Are there ways to save on tickets that are safe and legitimate? And how does the Disneyland reservations system actually work? Understanding all of your options is vital to actually having a happy time at the Happiest Place on Earth.
After visiting Disneyland regularly for the last couple of decades, I’ve purchased nearly every ticket type there is, including an annual pass (now known as a Magic Key).
Here’s everything you need to know about buying Disneyland tickets so you can make the right choice for your trip.
Disneyland ticket basics
Single-day tickets
Let’s start with the most basic option: one-day tickets to a single park at Disneyland. There are two parks at Disneyland (Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park) and a single-day ticket will give you admission into only one of the two.
Single-day tickets at Disneyland are variably priced and have multiple price tiers depending on the day you plan to visit. However, there is no price difference between a ticket to Disneyland Park and a ticket to Disney California Adventure Park. Prices for single-day, one-park-per-day tickets are as follows:
- Tier 0 — $104
- Tier 1 — $119
- Tier 2 — $134
- Tier 3 — $154
- Tier 4 — $169
- Tier 5 — $184
- Tier 6 — $194
At Disney, adults are considered to be anyone age 10 and over, while child tickets are for ages 3 through 9 — anyone under age 3 is admitted for free.
Disneyland categorizes days into its tier system about six months in advance. For example, one-day ticket pricing is currently only available through December. This corresponds to its park reservations calendar, which is released 180 days in advance.
As you might expect, peak demand periods (like weekends and holidays) are categorized as higher-tier days. Historically, Tier 0 days (which are the least expensive) tend to be midweek in lower-demand months and are harder to find. If you don’t know what day you will want to visit or think you might need to cancel and reschedule after you book, it’s safest (but also more expensive) to purchase the highest-tier ticket. Upgrading to a higher tier type at a later date is usually not possible.
Daily Newsletter
Reward your inbox with the TPG Daily newsletter
Join over 700,000 readers for breaking news, in-depth guides and exclusive deals from TPG’s experts
Multiday tickets
If you are planning a longer vacation to Disneyland, multiday tickets are also available. Per-day prices tend to decrease the longer you stay. The most basic multiday ticket also allows admission into one park per day. So, guests with a three-day, one-park-per-day ticket could spend two days in Disneyland Park and one day at Disney California Adventure but could not go to both parks in a single day.
Unlike at Walt Disney World Resort, where multiday tickets have variable pricing based upon the date of your visit, Disneyland’s multiday ticket prices are mercifully static. There are no tiers that ticket holders have to navigate.
Regular prices for multiday, one-park-per-day tickets in 2024 are:
- Two-day ticket — $310
- Three-day ticket — $390
- Four-day ticket — $445
- Five-day ticket — $480
Multiday tickets are only valid for 13 additional days after first use. This makes them a great option for reducing costs for people coming from out of town who would like to visit the park for several days. However, that also means that they’re less ideal for locals who would like to space multiple visits out over a longer period of time.
Disneyland ticket options and add-ons
There are, of course, additional options that increase the cost of park tickets for Disneyland guests. Some ticket add-ons include:
Park Hopper
The most basic tickets at Disneyland permit entry into a single park per day, but it’s also possible to purchase the Park Hopper option for an additional charge. As the name suggests, Park Hopper tickets allow guests to “hop” between Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure an unlimited number of times a day. Since the parks are just steps apart, park-hopping is much easier than at Disney World.
How much does the Park Hopper feature increase ticket prices? It depends on the length of your visit.
- One-day Park Hopper — $65
- Two-day Park Hopper — $65
- Three-day Park Hopper — $70
- Four-day Park Hopper — $70
- Five-day Park Hopper — $75
My family likes the flexibility of hopping between parks if we find one park too crowded on a given day. Park-hopping has actually been a huge part of our line-avoidance strategy at Disneyland over the years. I usually recommend Park Hopper tickets to most friends as well, except for guests planning a two-day trip who want to spend a single day in each park.
However, for the foreseeable future, park-hopping comes with one additional limitation it didn’t before: a time restriction. Guests cannot park-hop until 11 a.m. or later, subject to capacity restrictions. This additional limitation may not make the Park Hopper option as valuable as it once was.
Disney Genie+
When Disney Genie+ was introduced in December 2021, it quickly became a necessity for me during Disneyland visits. Disney Genie+ allows guests to skip the standby line for a shorter Lightning Lane at select Disneyland attractions and includes other perks like unlimited PhotoPass downloads during your visit.
At Disneyland, you can purchase Disney Genie+ as an add-on to your vacation package or on the day of your visit, though you’ll save money by purchasing it ahead of time.
- Prearrival Disney Genie+ — $30
- Day-of Disney Genie+ — variable, starting at $30
Related: How I maxed out Disneyland’s Genie+ and rode 26 attractions in a single day
The majority of Disneyland’s most popular attractions are included with Genie+, but you will still need to purchase an Individual Lightning Lane entry to access Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance at Disneyland Park and Radiator Springs Racers at Disney California Adventure Park.
Disneyland’s reservation system
There is one more wrinkle when it comes to Disneyland tickets: As of 2021, in addition to purchasing admission, Disneyland now requires guests to make advance, daily reservations for the theme park they want to enter each day.
If you buy tickets directly with Disneyland, the reservations process is now integrated into the ticket purchasing process. If you purchase tickets elsewhere (usually to snag discounts and deals), you will have to make reservations after purchasing a ticket and then must load it into your Disneyland account.
So, before you even think about getting tickets, it’s a good idea to check Disneyland’s reservation calendar for availability. It’s essential to ensure that the parks you want to visit are able to accommodate new reservations on the days you want to visit.
Note that there are two calendars with different reservation availability: There’s a calendar for one-park-per-day tickets and another for Park Hopper tickets. Be sure to click the tab that matches the ticket type you plan to purchase.
Disneyland ticket discounts and the best times to buy
Unfortunately, super-deep ticket discounts for Disneyland just aren’t realistic (and if you see them, they are probably fraudulent, so steer clear). However, there are still ways to save.
Single and multiday Disneyland ticket discounts
One easy way to save is by purchasing multiday tickets to Disneyland through a legitimate ticket broker, such as Get Away Today or Undercover Tourist.
These brokers regularly list tickets at least a few dollars below official Disney prices, and their tickets come with the same benefits and ease of use. Occasionally, you might even find additional specials like a fifth-day-free bonus, which will reduce costs even more. Be sure to shop around because pricing fluctuates regularly.
Disneyland rarely discounts its one-day tickets, so don’t waste time searching for deals if you are just going for a single day. However, the easiest way to save on single-day tickets at Disneyland is to buy discounted Disney gift cards and pay for a ticket directly with Disney with the gift cards. If you can get a deep enough discount on gift cards, they will sometimes even beat ticket brokers’ multiday pricing.
Of course, there are a number of other places to find discounts (Costco, AAA, grocery stores), but they rarely top the prices offered by ticket brokers or when using the discounted Disney gift cards trick.
Military discounts
There are a few other ticket discounts to be aware of if you are part of an eligible group. Historically, the best discounts are the ones available to members of the military and their spouses. These tickets can be purchased only at participating military bases. Some limited blackout dates apply. Military ticket prices at Disneyland for 2024 are:
- Three-day Park Hopper ticket: $268.50
- Four-day Park Hopper ticket: $314.25
Price increases
Finally, watch out for dreaded ticket price increases. The latest increase was in October 2023. It probably goes without saying that the best time to buy Disneyland tickets is right before the price increase hits.Thankfully, there is a workaround!
Even when a price increase happens, discount ticket brokers can sell tickets at the previous year’s prices for a short time (usually about a week or two after the announcement). Therefore, I highly recommend doing some Disneyland vacation planning now if you want to travel to Disneyland in late 2024 or 2025 to lock in these lower prices.
Disneyland annual passes — now known as Magic Keys
Last, but certainly not least, annual passes are another option for discounted theme park admission to Disneyland. In the summer of 2021, Disneyland revamped its annual pass program, renaming the passes “Magic Keys.”
Guests planning to travel to Disneyland Resort may find a Magic Key to be of better value than purchasing two or more multiday tickets. Annual passes are also more valuable to many local Southern California residents.
The key (pun intended) is to do the math. Be sure to consider additional Magic Key dining, shopping and parking discounts, which can add up to more savings.
It’s also essential to read the fine print and find out whether each pass type has blackout dates that conflict with your vacationing patterns. Multiday tickets don’t have blackout dates and will give you more overall flexibility to visit any day of the year.
It’s also important to check the Magic Key reservations calendar. It has different availability and often books up more quickly than the reservations calendar for regular park tickets. If you can’t plan that far in advance, a Magic Key may leave you in the lurch if the date you want to visit is already sold out.
Purchasing a Magic Key can sometimes prove elusive. Disney paused Magic Key sales June 5, with no indication of when they may go back on sale.
See TPG’s complete guide to Disneyland Magic Keys for all the details.
Bottom line
Tickets are undoubtedly a major expense when it comes to Disneyland travel. However, with a little planning, an analysis of the extras you need and knowledge of available discounts, it’s still possible to save a decent amount of dough.
If you’re planning a Disneyland vacation, check out these money- and time-saving tips:
Discover more from reviewer4you.com
Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.
