Theme park admission options are pretty straightforward at Disneyland Resort. You have only two things to decide:

1. How many days admission you'll need.
2. The dates when you plan to visit the theme parks.
3. Whether you want to go to both Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park on the same day. This is known as park hopping.

In addition, for the foreseeable future Disneyland is requiring guests to make date- and park-specific reservations, and only those with valid tickets are able to make reservations. If you purchase directly from the Disneyland website or app, you will make reservations during the ticket purchase process. Otherwise, as soon as you purchase your admission you should make a reservation for the first park that you plan to visit each day of your trip. See our Disneyland Reservations page for details.

In 2016 Disneyland started implementing price tiers for 1-day theme park tickets, charging more for admission on dates when demand is higher. There are several separate "tiers" of 1-day ticket pricing. 1-day tickets are priced at $104, $126, $142, $164, $180, $196, and $206 for those age 10 or older. Tickets for kids aged 3-9 are $98, $116, $132, $154, $170, $186, and $196. The cheapest tickets (Tier 0) are found mid-week when school is in session. The most expensive tickets (Tiers 5-6) are for busy holiday seasons like Spring Break, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Our Crowd Calendar shows what price tier Disney has set for each day of the year.

Disney says its tickets expire within 14 days of the first day of use. In practice, they really mean 13 days after the first day of use. If you purchase a 4-Day ticket on June 1 and use it that day for admission to Disneyland, you'll be able to visit a single Disney theme park on any of your three remaining days from June 2 through June 14. After that, the ticket expires, and any unused days will be lost.

If you mistakenly bought multi-day tickets because you were not aware of the 13-day expiration, call 714-781-7290 or 714-781-4565 and ask to be connected to Guest Communications, which has the authority to issue you a voucher for the unused days on your ticket.

All admissions can be purchased at the park entrance, at the Disneyland Resort hotels, from the Walt Disney Travel Sales Center, on the Disneyland website, and at most Disney Stores in the western United States. One- and two-year-olds are exempt from admission fees.

The more days of admission you buy, the lower the cost per day. For example, if you buy an Adult 5-Day/1-Park ticket for $511, each day will cost $102, compared with up to $206 per day for a 1-day pass to Disneyland or Disney California Adventure. The "Admission to 1 Park Per Day" tickets include between 1 and 5 days of park admission and admit you to exactly one theme park per day; you can re-enter your chosen park as many times as you like on that day.

As the name implies, with a One Park Per Day ticket you are allowed to enter only one of the two parks each day. You can leave and return to the same park, but you cannot "hop" from park to park within the same day.

Multiday tickets do not have to be used on consecutive days, but they do expire 13 days after their first use.

And in case you're wondering, you cannot use 2 "days" of a multi-day One Park Per Day ticket to visit two parks on the same day. We have tried it, and it does not work: Disney's admission computer systems prevent that.

When purchasing a Disneyland ticket, for $32 per day on your ticket (e.g., $96 for a 3-day ticket) you can add-on Lightning Lane Multi Pass, Disney's for-pay way to wait in shorter lines at most attractions. (If you want Lightning Lane Multi Pass, you can instead make a same-day purchase via Disneyland's app on any day you want it, but the price might exceed $32.)

Debuting in August 2021 after Disneyland ended its annual pass program, Magic Key passes provide a unlimited number of visits to Disneyland and Disney California Adventure theme parks for one year.

Unlike the previous Annual Passport program, Magic Keyholders must make a reservation in advance of the day they wish to visit. All Magic Keys are subject to reservation availability. There are several levels of these passes, each of which has different blockout dates (blockouts can be park-specific, although most of the time blockouts apply to both parks). Magic Keyholders are not able to use their Magic Key to enter a park on a day when that park is blocked out for that pass. Parking is only included in the highest level Key (Inspire Key). Those with Magic Keys also get perks including food and merchandise discounts and seasonal offers such as room-rate discounts at Disneyland Resort hotels.

Magic Keys are not valid for special ticketed events like Oogie Boogie Bash or Disneyland After Dark (although there may be Magic Key discounts for such events).

Magic Key "No-Show" Policy

Disneyland Resort's Magic Key program has a no-show policy which is designed to deter people from making reservations they won't actually use. Keyholders who make a reservation and don't enter either Disneyland or DCA 3 times within 90 days will lose their ability to make reservations (and, thus, use their pass) for 30 days. This can be avoided by canceling a theme park reservation, which Keyholders have up until 11:59 Pacific Time the night before to do so.

Disneyland Magic Key Prices

• Inspire Key - $1,749 (valid nearly all days of the year)
• Believe Key - $1,374 (valid most days of the year)
• Enchant Key - $974 (summer, holidays, and most Saturdays blocked out)
• Imagine Key - $599 (Southern California residents only; basically Monday through Thursdays, excluding summer and holidays)

Disney limits the quantities of each type of Magic Key, so you may find that some or all of these Magic Keys are not currently for sale or are only available for renewals. Note that the pass types have different blockouts days, number of simultaneous park reservations, parking discounts, merchandise discounts, Lightning Lane discounts, etc. See Disneyland's Magic Key Passes page for details and purchase information.

See Disney's Magic Key Access Calendar for blockout dates. No Magic Key passes offer access during the Christmas/New Year's period.

Below a list of potential Disneyland admission discounts that may be available to certain groups and individuals. (Note that some of these programs may be suspended.)

AAA / CAA

Members can buy passes for a discount of 3 - 5%. Each AAA/CAA club sets its own prices for Disneyland tickets. Buying from AAA/CAA is usually cheaper than buying from Disney.

Convention-Goers

Disneyland, Universal, SeaWorld, and other parks sometimes set up a link cited in convention materials to purchase discounted afternoon and evening admissions. See DisneyConventionTickets.com and SeaWorldGroupEvents.com.

Disney Corporate Sponsors

If you work for a Disneyland corporate sponsor, you might be eligible for discounted admissions or preferential treatment at the parks. Ask your employee-benefits office.

Military

Active-duty and retired members of the U.S. military can buy special Military Promotional 3-Day Park Hopper Tickets for $269. (See Disneyland's page on Military Promotional tickets for details.) That's $236 less than a comparable ticket sold to the general public. (Heavily discounted 4-Day Park Hopper tickets are also available.) Tickets must be purchased from a "U.S. military base ticket office," and pricing may vary a bit by office. Military personnel can buy a discounted admission for nonmilitary guests as long as the military member accompanies the nonmilitary member. If a group seeks the discount, at least half must be eligible for the military discount. Note that there are blockout weeks surrounding Christmas and Easter, so before purchasing make sure your travel dates are included in the promotion.

Disney Imagination Campus

Disney runs programs for K-12 students to learn how the parks incorporate everything from performing arts to physics. The program runs every day and offers substantial ticket discounts (with substantial restrictions). Disney usually requires a 10-person minimum to attend these events, but waives the minimum on occasion. See disneycampus.com for more information.