5 Things To Know: Buying Disneyland Tickets, Making Reservations

ANAHEIM, CA —So it's time to purchase your Disneyland Resort tickets!

After more than a year of pandemic closure, Disneyland will reopen April 30. But don't expect to be there on opening day; it's sold out. Buying tickets is not as easy as it used to be.

Those who wish to return to the Happiest Place on Earth will have to jump through a few hoops to get there, but once you're through, you'll have something magical to look forward to once again!

We went through the Disneyland ticket buying process and came up with Five Things We Learned About How to Buy Tickets and Make Reservations. You must do both, or you can't get in when the parks reopen. (Read our "in person" account of the experience below).

Research the days of your visit, then ... enter the virtual queue.

1. While Waiting: As long as you can see that moving cartoon icon, and the minutes keep ticking up and down, you're still in line. If you're lucky, it will pop you right over to ticket buying!
2. Once that reservation window chimes through, you'll be directed to sign in to your Disneyland Resort account. We suggest opening a separate window for each action.
   • One for the reservations calendar queue.
   • One for completing your ticket purchase.
   • One for the completed tickets to copy your ticket ID numbers onto your reservation.
3. A note to former annual pass holders. When your turn comes, the reservation page will take your account to where the "legacy pass holder" tickets can be seen. They aren't active anymore. It's sad. But there is a link at the page bottom to "Link New Tickets."
4. Complete the purchase of your tickets! They might be there when you go to reserve your tickets, but they may not!
   • Be flexible with your visit dates because you will see different price points on different days.
   • Know if you want to visit one park or park hop between Disneyland and Disney California Adventure.
   • You'll also want to figure out which park you'd rather start the day at. You will not be able to park hop until after 1 p.m.
5. Make Your Reservation! Now it's time to return to the reservation page and schedule your trip.
   • You'll need to copy and paste the ID numbers from the tickets you just purchased into your account here once you have them.
   • If you are going multiple days, make SURE that you selected days that work for your calendar. You MUST have a reservation and a ticket in order to get into the parks.

Patch took the time Friday to try the process for ourselves. It was nerve-wracking, but we got through it! Here's how it went.

The Disneyland Resort ticket purchase link takes you directly into a queue. Here, you'll see a cartoon scene of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. The billy goat is chomping on a stick of dynamite — just like the ride! — and a train zips around the track. It's adorable. Frankly, it's so cute that you almost don't notice the request below asking for your patience.

"This is taking longer than expected," the screen said. "We have a lot of guests accessing our system, so you are now in a waiting room to plan your park visit."

The site suggested that you don't leave the waiting room page and don't refresh it or press the back button. Just stay where you are. Pretend you're in line at Big Thunder Mountain.

Estimated Wait Time: 35 minutes

As I write this, I am doing the best I can not to press the back button or refresh the screen. The little train diving into the mine tunnel and the nodding T. rex skull tells me that I'm in the right place and that the site is in fact doing ... something.

Estimated Wait Time: 20 Minutes

The wait time is the perfect opportunity to open a second window and review the park dates that are open to us California residents. We are the first people allowed to return to the parks. A Sleeping Beauty's Castle icon denotes Disneyland open dates. A Pixar Pal Around icon shows open dates for Disney California Adventure.

Estimated Wait Time: 11 Minutes

Disneyland Resort is slated to reopen on April 30. That date is sold out, according to the reservation page. But dates were open through May and June when we looked. No reservation dates showed up for July, August or beyond, but they were not yet marked as sold out. That suggested that a change is coming. Should I wait to see what's next to buy tickets?

Estimated Wait Time: Five Minutes

Oh, my gosh. It's getting real.

Estimated Wait Time: One Minute

The suspense is really starting to weigh on me. Where's the credit card? How much am I willing to pay for Disneyland tickets anyway?

We were annual pass holders for nearly 20 years until the park canceled the program in January. I already miss them.

Watching the approximate wait time tick down, I tried to decide whether to get our family park hopper or single tickets. I think I decided on a day now ...

Someone on a fan page told me there would be a ding. I haven't heard a ding yet.

Estimated Wait Time: Less than a minute.

Please don't let me hit the back button by mistake.

I have a date picked. I have a credit card ready. I think we'll do a park hopper.

IT'S YOUR TURN.

I am redirected to the website now and begin the painstaking process of putting the Five Things We Learned About Purchasing Disneyland Tickets into practice.

The best part? The site does not rush you. I had a good 10 minutes to sign in, figure out what I wanted and make my purchase.

The best part? There were plenty of days to choose from. The process included many steps but was pretty easy to follow, and now I can't wait to go back.

The challenging part? As an annual pass holder for so long, I forgot how expensive it is to take a family of four to Disneyland. Still, we have about two months to save up for the journey.

Are you returning to Disneyland? Or do you prefer to wait the pandemic out? Let us know in the comments or email your Patch Editor.