Disneyland has reopened at long last, but things aren’t exactly as you remember them and there’s a lot you need to know to get a ticket, book park reservations, and navigate the new park experience. Gone are the days of showing up to buy a ticket and entering the park. All theme park access must now be booked in advance, in addition to your ticket.
UPDATED: We’ve updated this guide with Disneyland’s newest way to buy tickets and book park reservations at the same time! Please see below.
Here’s everything you need to know to have a great visit and avoid some pitfalls.
First, a little treat. We have a one-minute “welcome back to the magic” video you need to hear. So turn that volume up!
(Note: This guide will continue to be updated with additional information as it becomes available.)
Disneyland Tickets Are Now On Sale!
In order to gain entry to Disneyland, guests will need both a valid ticket AND a theme park reservation for a specific day. If you already have a valid ticket from prior to park shutdowns, you just need to schedule your visit.
There are no restrictions for the number of days a guest can book at one time, but guests will be limited to 15 tickets total per reservation. Until further notice, only California residents will be able to purchase tickets. However, that could be changing soon, California has lifted restrictions on out-of-state guests who have been vaccinated. Please continue to check with Disney to see when they start selling again to folks from outside of California.
- Check prices and ticket availability now on Disneyland’s Ticket Page
Disneyland Theme Park Ticket Prices
Prices will not be changing from what they were when the theme parks closed in 2020. Official pricing has been published. However, most of the days currently available were in the highest-priced tiers. There are no Tier 1 days currently available.
If you want to save a little money, our wonderful travel partners at Get Away Today are now selling multi-day Disneyland tickets (2-day, 3-day, 4-day, or 5-day) at $2 to $5 off the Disneyland prices. For you locals, a 5 day ticket works out to just $72 per visit, so it might be a good opportunity for you to scratch your Disney itch.
Get your Discount Disneyland Tickets and Hotel Reservations HERE
How to Make a Theme Park Reservation
If you’ve already purchased and have a valid ticket: booking a park reservation is much easier than you might think.
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- Log into your Disney account on Disneyland.com or the Disneyland app to link valid theme park tickets prior to accessing the park reservation system.
- Head to Disneyland.com/ParkReservations and click “Make Park Reservation.”
- Create your party (just follow the simple steps).
- Select the day and theme park you’d like to visit. Guests with Park Hopper tickets will select which theme park they wish to start their day, pending availability, and then will be able to begin crossing over between the parks after 1 p.m. that day (based on availability).
- Review, and confirm your visit! And as a reminder, guests with multi-day tickets will be required to make a separate park reservation for each day they plan to visit the theme parks.
If you don’t have tickets and need to by them, Disneyland has updated the process to allow you to buy tickets AND book a reservation all at one time.
NEW: How to purchase a ticket and make a theme park reservation together:
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- Start at Disneyland.com/ParkReservations and click “Select Ticket.”
- Select the number of days you wish to visit the parks.
- Choose the number of tickets you need for all guests in your party, ages 3 and up.
- Select your ticket type – one park per day, or Park Hopper tickets.
- Pick a date and park for your theme park reservation, subject to availability.
• If you choose Park Hopper tickets, select your starting park for each day of your visit, subject to availability. You can then begin crossing over between the parks after 1 p.m. that day (based on availability)!
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- For added convenience, you may now select the add-on option of purchasing parking vouchers, in advance.
- Review your current selections, and purchase!
Tickets are currently available on an approximate 60-day-in-advance rolling basis.
Hotel Reservations
The Grand Californian Hotel reopened on April 29th, and the Paradise Pier Hotel returns June 15th. However, having a reservation does not guarantee admission into the parks. You’ll still need to book your ticket and make a park reservation. The Disneyland Hotel will reopen at a later date.
We recently visited the Grand Californian Hotel and produced this little video for you:
Parking
Theme park parking is at Mickey and Friends/Pixr Pals parking structures.
We encountered parking troubles on our recent visits. The number of people visiting the parks is very low; however, when they all show up to park an hour before the Disneyland opens, it creates a bottleneck. Disney is parking one car in every other space. They also want to make sure guests aren’t getting clogged up in the temperature check and security zone. So they’ve slowed down the entry process into the garage. Our advice, sleep in and arrive an hour after opening or later. All of the early morning issues resolve quickly after park opening and then the structure remains empty until guests all head back at the exact same time at closing. The park should add more hours to alleviate this issue.
Once you get through security at the structure, you’ll have to walk to Disneyland along the tram route since no trams are running. If you, or a member of your party, needs assistance, wheelchairs, ECVs, and strollers are available for rent at the structure. Since it is a pretty hefty walk from the structure, there are benches along the way to sit and rest for a few minutes.
We do have another tip for you: we’ve worked out a parking deal with one of our partner hotels on Harbor Blvd. The Anaheim Hotel is both closer to the Disneyland front gate and cheaper to park at (when you use our offer). Simply show this offer to the front desk staff at the hotel or let them know you’d like the MiceChat parking rate (based upon availability). $15 all-day parking on weekdays and $20 on weekends (see the offer terms below). If the Anaheim Hotel is full, the GardenWalk Mall is located adjacent to the hotel and offers all day parking for $30:
Theme Park Hours for BOTH Disneyland and California Adventure
Disneyland park and Disney California Adventure park are currently operating from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Downtown Disney and Main Street remain open for an additional hour. Visit Disneyland.com for operating hours on the day you wish to visit, as they are subject to change.
Park-Hopping Changes
Great news. Park-hopping WILL be available. However, it will work a little differently than before. You won’t be able to switch parks until 1pm.
PRO TIP – If you see that Disneyland one-day park reservations and Disneyland Park-hoppers are sold out, look to see if DCA park-hoppers are still available. If they are, you’d be able to jump over to Disneyland after 1pm, even on a day all other Disneyland reservations are booked solid.
MaxPass/FastPass
MaxPass and FastPass will NOT be available at first. However, a virtual queuing system will be used for Rise of the Resistance. The virtual queue for Rise will work a little differently than in the past. There will be two windows for booking. One at 7am that you can book from home or your hotel room, and another window at noon from either park (if you are booking from California Adventure, make sure you have a valid park hopper). That will allow those with park hopper tickets to visit DCA in the morning and still try for a Rise of the Resistance spot at Disneyland in the afternoon.
Getting a boarding pass is easier than ever, and much less stressful since you can do it in your pajamas from home! We have all the steps for you on How to Obtain a Rise of the Resistance Boarding Pass HERE
Everything You Need to Know About Getting a Boarding Pass for Rise of the Resistance at Disneyland
PhotoPass
And since unlimited PhotoPass was included with MaxPass (which is gone for now), a separate PhotoPass offering will be available in the Disney Parks app after April 30th. It will cost $19.99 for one-day access. Ask your photographer if there’s any extra magic they can add. There are all sorts of cute and clever things they can do with your photo (depending on location).
Lockers
Heads up! No lockers will be available in the parks. If you really need to stow your stuff somewhere, there will still be lockers available in the Esplanade.
DAS – Disability Access
We’ve received a lot of messages from folks wondering how the DAS system will work. We have good news for you: the system will function just as it did before. Guests who have any questions or concerns can chat with any Guest Relations cast member (plaids).
Speaking of Guest Relations, it has been moved outdoors into the adjacent Tour Garden next to City Hall in Town Square.
Disneyland App is the Key – Charge Up!
The Disneyland App is your hub for everything right now: wait times, dining reservations, Mobile Order, obtaining a Rise of the Resistance boarding pass, PhotoPass, etc. But some of those things might not work properly if the app isn’t up to date. So please make sure you’ve downloaded the most recent version of the app to your phone. Also, if you’ve never used the app, be sure to set up an account and acquaint yourself with how it works in advance.
Unfortunately, using the app all day can drain the battery on your phone. So you’ll want to bring a phone charger with you, or perhaps use the FuelRod service (which allows you to buy a small charging rod and swap it out as needed throughout the day at machines located throughout the resort).
Limited Attraction Operations on April 30th
While many of your favorite attractions WILL BE OPEN, there are some that won’t. Here’s what the park plans to have open and closed.
Disneyland Attractions Opening April 30th:
California Adventure attractions opening April 30th
UPDATED: Grizzly River Run has reopened at California Adventure.
Want to know what’s not operating? We have a whole article for you:
28 Disneyland Resort Attractions That Won’t Reopen With The Parks – But Soon Could!
Disneyland Parking Information
Use Mickey & Friends and Pixar Pals parking structures for theme park parking ($25). Downtown Disney parking will continue to be available at the lot next to Pixar Pier Hotel. However, note that Downtown Disney Parking has resumed charging by the hour upon exit. Here are the new fees beginning April 30th.
Downtown Disney Parking Rates:
- First Hour $10
- Validations apply only after the first hour! So everyone will pay at least $10 to park in the Simba Lot (Downtown Disney).
- You’ll get an extra 3 hours of parking after the first hour if you get a validation with a $20 minimum purchase in any Downtown Disney location – OR up to 5 additional hours from a table service restaurant.
- Without a validation you’ll pay $14 for each additional hour after the $10 first hour, with a daily maximum rate of $66.
Disneyland Dining
Dining Reservations are now available 60 days in advance of your theme park reservation.
20 restaurants/food service establishments will reopen with Disneyland and 22 at Disney California Adventure. However, both parks are already calling back staff to open additional locations mid-May.
The parks will continue to push the mobile app for mobile order, menus, and even contactless payments. Do NOT wait until you are hungry at noon to walk up to a restaurant without a mobile order or reservation, lines get very long very quickly.
However, you can make your mobile food order first thing in the morning from your own home. Pick a restaurant, pick a time, and order and pay for your food. Then when your return window opens, select “I’m Here” and they’ll prepare your food and let you know when you can pick it up. It’s a VERY important tip that will help keep you from getting overly grumpy.
34 Disneyland Resort Restaurants NOT Reopening With The Parks On April 30th
Passholder Info
There are no special ticket deals or booking windows for Legacy Passholders. Disneyland is working on a future membership program, events, and special opportunities, but that information is not available yet. Please follow the procedures above for booking a ticket and park reservations.
Think about multi-day tickets to save the maximum amount on your visits.
IT’S SHOWTIME!
While the park experience will feel very familiar, there are some big changes in operation in addition to the items we shared above that you should be aware of in advance so you’ll feel more comfortable once you get there.
Attractions (queues and seating)
Attractions with long indoor queues are now holding guests outdoors instead. Once you are let inside the queue, it’s a quick-moving path to load onto the ride.
- Indoor rides are operating with no more than 50% capacity (and in most cases much less than that). Disneyland is working hard to keep guests 6′ apart from each other in line by placing markers on the ground and reminding guests when they can.
- When seating most attractions, only one party is seated per row and often multiple rows are left empty between guests. However, there are some examples of plexiglass being added between rows to allow for more ride capacity. We’ll give you some examples below.
Here are some examples of how rides are being seated so you’ll know what to expect:
- Indiana Jones no longer seats the middle row. It’s now a plexiglass divider. Additionally, it’s only one party on the two rows they are seating. So, if there are two parties of 1 individual, the jeep dispatches with just 2 guests aboard. Expect LONG waits here.
- UPDATED: Indiana Jones now offers Virtual Queuing at certain times of day. Check the attraction listing in your Disneyland App to see if it is currently offering standby or Virtual Queuing.
- Pirates of the Caribbean is similarly leaving empty rows between guests (at least two rows between guests) and seating just one party per row and leaving at least two rows empty per party. This is resulting in very long lines at times. Keep an eye on wait times in the Disneyland app.
- Splash Mountain was only seating one party per log during our visit and Winnie the Pooh was similarly seating just one party per vehicle. These attractions are operating far under the 50% capacity limitation.
- They’ve placed plexiglass in various queues where guests might be closer than 6’ from each other. For example, the stairs up to the Big Thunder loading platform now have a plexiglass screen between the two sides, which makes for a tight squeeze for larger guests. The same is true at Space Mountain. If you have wide shoulders, you’ll be touching the screens which now separate the bottom section of the loading queue.
- Rise of the Resistance has installed a plexiglass divider between rows as well but can seat only one party per row. Elsewhere in the attraction, there are a few missing or abbreviated details in the queue (Rey’s pre-show is turned off and you walk right through). But the bulk of the experience is running as usual, including the shuttlecraft and interrogation room (with a limited number of guests allowed in the room at any given time and in specific locations). It feels just about like it did before! We have a video of the experience for you:
- Smugglers Run was also seating one party per ship, though we think there may be some wiggle room for them to increase that a bit, especially when they have two single riders (they could seat them on opposite corners of the vehicle). The empty seats are put on autopilot. In the Hondo preshow, he is facing his computer and giving a quick spiel as you walk straight through what was previously a closed-door experience.
- The Galaxy’s Edge Marketplace has one-way traffic. Guests enter from the Resistance side and exit on the Ronto Roaster’s side.
There are many more examples just like these on rides in both parks. Expect to see lots of empty rows and no one you aren’t traveling with will be seated next to you.
Shopping
The good news is that the parks will have so few guests that shopping should be easy. However, due to 50% shopping capacity limitations, all shops have a single entry and exit so Cast can control the number of people inside. For most of the day, this shouldn’t cause you any problem. We rarely saw a line. However, at the end of the night, when everyone leaves the park all at once, the shops of Main Street back up. Waits of up to an hour just to buy a caramel apple. Our advice, shop early. If you wait until the end of the night, you’ll get stuck in an unnecessary line.
If you’re going to #Disneyland in the next few weeks, make sure to do your shopping early. Here’s a shot of Main Street during the day and then at closing. pic.twitter.com/y0AYVLKYcr
— MiceChat (@MiceChat) April 28, 2021
Once inside you’ll find the usual social distancing markers near registers and reminders to keep 6′ away from others. Most stores are also now offering tap to pay options and prefer that you not use cash (though you can if you really need to). Overall, an easy experience.
Here’s a touching video of the Disneyland reopening moment on April 30th:
Characters and Entertainment
Will there be any? YES! You’ll see them all over the place. However, instead of the character being at the end of a meet and greet line, they’ll be somewhere just out of reach, usually doing something or interacting with guests in an entertaining way.
We saw the Fab Five on the steps of the Main Street Train Station, characters at their houses in Toon Town, Jack Sparrow and Tiana on the balconies of New Orleans Square, the Winnie the Pooh characters on Small World Mall. And even more characters everywhere at DCA. You won’t have a hard time spotting them, but it’s almost more fun to see them now because they really enhance the spirit of the areas they are in.
Chip and Dale were fishing off of their boat in ToonTown with hotdogs and a rubber chicken at the end of their fishing line. Adorable. Pluto was doing gardening of the huge vegetables in his garden. Jack Sparrow was shouting insults to the guests in the Pirate’s queue below. It’s really great.
Disneyland Videos
Want to see what the park looks like? Dusty takes you on some magical tours: A 2+ hour tour of Disneyland and a 1-hour tour of DCA. You can find a video where he rides the attractions on our Facebook Page HERE! There’s a lot to see, and it will give you a really good idea of what to expect in terms of crowds, navigation, and what our thoughts are.
Live from Disneyland
Live from Disney California Adventure
Disneyland Deal: Special MiceChat Hotel Offer!
We’ve worked with our partners at Get Away Today and the Howard Johnson Anaheim Resort to reserve the lowest rate on rooms across the street from Disneyland JUST FOR YOU!
All you need to do is follow our link and then use the special code mentioned below:
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- Use Code: HOJO to get an extra $20 off (for as low as $129 + tax).
- Be sure to select the MiceChat rate.
- You can only get this special rate if you click through the MICECHAT HOJO BOOKING LINK, and use the promo code HOJO.
Wishing you good luck getting your Disneyland tickets and don’t miss out on this limited hotel offer!
NEW Disneyland Tickets and Hotel Discounts JUST FOR YOU!
Disneyland has reopened and there’s never been a better time to visit the Happiest Place on Earth. With reduced crowds, it honestly feels like a dream come true for a theme park fan. Our partners at Get Away Today have worked tirelessly to create the BEST theme park and hotel deals for our readers. You can purchase theme park tickets (that are good through 2022!) HERE and book a hotel/ticket package for your family vacation HERE!
ANAHEIM HOTELS PROMOTION
In an effort to promote local tourism, Get Away Today has a special promotion for select Anaheim hotels. Get a $100 Booking Bonus ($50 Disney Gift Card + $50 South Coast Plaza Gift Card), plus free ART Transportation when you book a 4-night or longer Anaheim hotel + at least two 2-day or longer theme park tickets for travel May-August, 2021. Use promo code: VISITANAHEIM to book today!
There are all sorts of new theme park tickets and travel deals, including a 2 free days offer at Walt Disney World, hotel discounts, ticket deals to various theme parks, in addition to TICKETS TO DISNEYLAND: More details and to get a quote (HERE)
LET’S HEAR FROM YOU
Do you have any questions about park operations we can help you with. Are you excited to return to Disneyland? Let us know your comments below.
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Update Log:
- This article was created on April 6th
- It was updated on May 17th with new ticketing details
- It was updated April 9th with official pricing, ticket availability information, and getting tickets for April 30th or June 4th.
- This article received a major update on April 29th with all the finalized park operations details. We were able to attend previews on April 27th and 28th to get all the information for you.
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