Going to Disneyland has always been a treat for young children and those young at heart. Unfortunately, a trip to Disneyland isn’t like going to the movies. Aside from the costs of traveling to Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California or Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida, ticket prices start at $97 for a single-day pass. If that’s a lot, imagine the costs of renting out Disneyland all to yourself!
Naturally, you’ll want to save for your trip and make the most out of what you’re spending. But if you’re planning to visit Disneyland more than once in the next year, consider Disneyland’s Annual Passports for big discounts. In this article, we teach you how to choose among Disneyland’s different types of passports, when and where to buy it, and how to cancel should you change your mind.
Take note that this article focuses on the two parks in Disneyland Resort in Anaheim: Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park. For questions and pricing about the Orlando resort and other Disneyland Parks in other countries, visit their websites here:
- Walt Disney World (Florida, USA)
- Disneyland Paris (France)
- Tokyo Disneyland (Japan)
- Hong Kong Disneyland (Hong Kong)
- Shanghai Disneyland (China)
Disneyland Ticket Pricing
The cost of Disneyland tickets varies by date. If you’re planning to buy a ticket for a trip today or sometime within the next two weeks, you’ll have to pay the peak-season price which starts at US$149. If you’re going on a month like September when schools are starting the school year and families are less likely to go out, you can pay the regular price which starts at $129. Special events like spring break, Christmas, and summer aside, you’ll find that Disneyland charges peak-season prices on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, while the rest of the week is considered a regular-day price.
This is the case for single-day passes, though. If you’re considering multiple-day passes, though, the price to enter for the day is much lower and does not change according to peak or regular season. A two-day ticket to one Disneyland Park starts at $225 – that’s $112.5 per day. However, your two visits must be used within two weeks of each other. So, if you buy a two-day ticket and enter on August 1, you have to visit another Disneyland park by August 14 if you want to make the most out of your money.
The same applies for multiple-day tickets: Three-day passes start at $300 ($100 per ticket a day); four-day passes start at $325 ($81.25 a day); and 5-day passes start at $340 ($68 a day). Unlike the one- and two-day pass, these three passes offer a “Magic Morning,” one early admission into nearly all of Disneyland’s attractions, entertainment, or dining locations an hour before the gates open to the rest of the general public. This is a great perk for people who hate waiting in long lines and have that one place they want to visit without large crowds. However, the two-week rule also applies here, so you can’t spread out the three, four, or five visits within a matter of months and have to visit within two weeks to make the most out of your tickets.
Disneyland Annual Passes
If you feel like you wouldn’t benefit from the multi-day pass tickets due to its two-week availability, you’ll probably find the Annual Passports a lot more convenient. Annual Passports (also known as Annual Passes) are basically tickets that allow you to visit both Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park as many times as you want within the year.
Aside from providing entry, Annual Passes also provide you with merchandise, food, drinks, Downtown Disney, and guided tour discounts. People with Annual Passes, called passholders, are also given early or exclusive invitations to special Disneyland events.
There are four kinds of passes, each with different pricing starting at $599. Each type comes with special perks that the one before them does not have. These include:
Disney Flex Passport
This is the most affordable and basic level Annual Pass, one passport costs $599 annually with an option to upgrade to a MaxPass (a perk where you can download and save PhotoPass photos in rides and skip the long lines) for an additional $100. Aside from this, you also get up to 10 percent discounts for merchandise, food, and beverages.
Unlike the other three Annual Passports, however, the Disney Flex Passport does not necessarily mean you can walk into Disneyland any time of the day. While there are some days you’re allowed to walk-in without the need for reservation, on weekends and peak-season days, you’ll have to reserve your admission dates. In some cases, if one or both parks hit their reservation or booking capacity, you won’t be able to reserve for those dates. You’re also not allowed to reserve during Christmas and New Year season, as plenty of people will be showing up.
Disney Deluxe Passport
Starting at $799, the Deluxe Pass doesn’t require you to make a reservation, but you aren’t allowed to use your Annual Pass on dates when there are most likely a lot of people attending. Based on Disneyland’s calendar, this means you can’t use it on certain weekends, Christmas season, late-June, the entire month of July, and early-August.
Disney Signature Passport
Starting at $1,149, the price of the Disney Signature Passport is much pricier than the first two, but it provides more perks. While the Christmas and New Year weeks are still blocked off and unavailable to use, for the rest of the year – even during peak days – you can enter without reservations.
Additional perks include waived parking fees (which cost $25 for a one-day voucher), a 20 percent discount on merchandise as well as a 15 percent discount on food and beverages.
Disney Signature Plus Passport
The most expensive at $1,399, the Signature Plus Passport offers the most perks and highest discounts. Note that unlike the other Annual Passes, I said it costs $1,399 and not starting at $1,399. While it doesn’t mean that you get access to all events that require a special ticket to enter, you get the MaxPass feature within this package deal.
Unlike the other three Annual Passports, the Signature Plus Passport has no blockout dates and can be used any day of the year. You also get parking, 20 percent merchandise discounts, and 15 percent food and beverage discounts.
Southern California Select and Southern California Discounts
While it’s not an official part of the Annual Pass list, discounts are available for California and Southern California residents. However, these can only be used during regular days.
Cancelling Disneyland Annual Passes
You can’t cancel your Annual Passport, nor is it refundable or transferrable. Because the Annual Pass is in your name, you can’t share it with someone else or let someone else take it completely. These are under Disneyland’s Terms and Conditions, which you have to agree to upon purchasing your passports.
However, according to some park visitors online, it is possible to request a transfer or extend an annual pass but only during extreme circumstances. For example, rumor has it that Disneyland employees who have Annual Passports can transfer their passport to friends and family since employees get the same perks for free. In another anecdote, families who cannot use their Annual Pass due to serious and personal reasons can ask to suspend their pass while they cannot use it and then reinstate it when they can.
Spending on an Annual Pass
These annual passes are definitely more expensive than a one-day or multi-day ticket that will cost a few hundred dollars. So, if you’re planning on buying an Annual Passport, you’ll need to make the most out of your pass and make sure that you’re actually planning to go to Disneyland multiples times in a year.
