2024 Disneyland guide + BETTER than Black Friday ticket deal!

Quick Version: Disneyland just increased their prices, BUT you can still get the old prices HERE!! (psst. this year the old ticket prices WILL be lower than Black Friday prices!)

We’re TOTAL “Dis-NERDS” – aka the proper term used to describe someone who’s completely obsessed with Disney. We looooveeeee Disneyland and have been annual pass holders for ELEVEN YEARS + counting! If you’re anything like us, or if you even just slightly like Disney, you may be wondering, how you can get a deal on Disneyland tickets, save on hotels AND find out which one would best fit your needs. Keep reading for ALL of the details!

Discounted Disney tickets

By far this is our NUMBER ONE question we get asked, “where can I get discount Disneyland tickets?” and our answer is RIGHT HERE! Although Disneyland just raised their ticket prices…for 1 WEEK ONLY you can still get the old prices!! This also means that the old ticket prices WILL be lower than Black Friday prices. These will be the very best prices you can find on tickets right now, but are you wondering about hotels too? Keep reading for hotel deets + deals!

Wanting to spend a few days at Disney?

Right now you can save up to $125 per ticket on Disneyland tickets by booking HERE, OR get a 5th day FREE here!! Here are some FAQ to help you know how to save + any other details!

• How much will I save by booking with Getaway Today? Right now you can buy 3-day park hopper tickets WITH a Lightning Lane Multi Pass for only $520 per child (reg. $576) – ages 3-9 and only $545 for adults and children 10+ (reg. $601)! This is an incredible deal. OR get 5 days for the price of a 4-day ticket here!!
  • 5-Day Tickets: Save $56 – $125
  • 4-Day Tickets: Save $29 – $67
  • 3-Day Tickets: Save $30 – $56
  • 2-Day Tickets: Save $22 – $46
• How long are they valid? These tickets are valid for travel until 01/12/26.
• What if I already paid in full? If you’ve already paid in-full for your tickets, you’ve already received the lowest price! No need to do anything else.
• Do I have to know my travel dates? If you don’t know when you’re going, you’ll just need to enter a general date to purchase your tickets. The date that you enter will be the date that Get Away Today sends your reminders to make theme park reservations, which are required. The date you enter is not tied to a theme park reservation and the dates you choose are flexible.

Looking for a deal on hotels?

You can save even MORE when you combine these ticket offers with the Getaway today hotel stays below! Here are some of the best hotels near Disneyland and ways to save the MOST right now:

• Cambria with 4th Night Free: Enjoy spacious rooms that include double showers, complimentary WiFi and free breakfast each morning. If you’re looking to cool down, you can experience a 30,000 sq ft. waterpark that features waterslides, pop-jets and splash pads. Plus, enjoy on-site restaurants like The Habit Burger Grill, Jersey Mike’s, YogurtLand, Starbucks and more.
  • Free Hot Breakfast
  • 30,000 sq. foot Waterpark – Free access for Get Away Today guests
  • Up to 20% OFF select rooms right now!
• Castle Inn & Suites with 3-nights reduced rates: Located across the street and within walking distance of Disneyland, the Castle Inn & Suites is an Anaheim area hotel that families have enjoyed for years. Kids love the castle theme at this value hotel! A perfect location plus an in-room mini-refrigerator give you incredible value on your vacation at an incredible price.
  • Free Parking (1 car)
  • Walking Distance to Disneyland
  • Up to 20% OFF select rooms right now!
• Desert Palms Hotel & Suites: Located one block from Disneyland, the Desert Palms Hotel & Suites offers a wide variety of suite options to suit any family and offers a complimentary breakfast, an outdoor pool, fitness center, and free WiFi.
  • Free Breakfast
  • Walking Distance to Disneyland
  • Up to 20% OFF select rooms right now!
• Element Anaheim Resort Convention Center: A short 10-minute walk from Disneyland. All-suite hotel with sofa sleeper, kitchen, and spa-like bathroom in all guest rooms. Element offers amenities like a free daily breakfast buffet, discounted parking, free WiFi, a 24-hour fitness center and more! Their suites sleep up to 6-8 people, and they have bunk beds!
  • Discounted Parking ($7 per night savings)
  • Free Full Breakfast
  • Up to 21% OFF select rooms right now!
• Fairfield Inn Anaheim Resort: Located across the street from Disneyland, guests can enjoy signature Marriott “sleep well” beds and a pull-out chair or sofa, perfect for families, and the outdoor pool while taking a break from their Disney day.
  • Sleeper chairs in every room
  • Complimentary WiFi
  • Up to 15% OFF select rooms right now!
• SunCoast Park Hotel Anaheim: Enjoy spacious guest rooms complete with a microwave and mini-fridge, an infinity pool and firework views. Plus you can explore nearby restaurants and shops across the street at Anaheim GardenWalk.
  • Free Parking ($41 per night savings)
  • Free Breakfast
  • Up to 15% OFF select rooms right now!

The Disney Genie!

One of the coolest new things you’ll be able to take advantage of at Disneyland in 2024 is the Disney Genie and Genie+.

If you haven’t heard of the Disney Genie by now, it’s a new part of the Disneyland app designed to guide you through the theme parks with tips that help reduce time in lines and take the guess work out of “what’s next” (more on this down below).

If you’re an avid Disney-goer and this sounds familiar, it’s because Disney is now doing what third party apps used to do for us in the park! Predicting wait times, and letting you know the best rides to head towards next… But it’s SO nice to have everything all in one place.

It’s also super cool because it can help you to have your ideal Disney day by “planning” out everything you need to hit (and when) according to your top interests. This is amazing for an efficient and well-spent day at the park. I love that it tells you when the ride will most likely have the lowest wait time, so you can really spend your time having fun and not waiting around!

All you have to do is select all the rides you want to go on that day – and BOOM – it gives you an efficient itinerary you can follow for the perfect Disney day.

Not only does this work with rides but it also works with restaurants and shows, too!

What’s the difference between Disney Genie & Genie+?

Disney Genie is a free part of the Disneyland app that’s available to everyone to use in the park, all day long. It allows you to see what rides have the longest lines and it’ll plan your day out for you according to your interests.

UPDATE: Disney+ is NO LONGER. Yep, Disneyland retired it and turned it into Lightening Lane Single Pass or Multi Pass. I’ll explain more below.

Is lightening lane single pass or multi pass really worth it?

We’ve used Genie+ Lightening Lane Multi Pass many times in the park. In my opinion, YES, on most days, it’s worth it! BUT IT’S NOT A DISNEY DEAL-BREAKER. If you can’t afford it, you can still have a GREAT day at Disneyland and hit all the good rides in minimal wait times if you’re willing to wake up early for Rope Drop (more on that below!), and if you really use the free Disney Genie part of the app.

If you do want to purchase Genie+ Lightening Lane Single Pass or Multi Pass, and if you’re smart about how you use it, you can go on sooo many more rides without having to sit in line, and during the in-between times of your Lightning Lane passes you can eat, sit down to watch a show, or watch the parade. It just makes for a super enjoyable Disney day with a lot less boring lines to stand through!!

But, like I said – it really does add up when the prices are starting at $25 per ticket per day for Multi Pass and can go up to $35 per person if it’s a busy day (Genie+ started at $20, so yeah, inflation). Anyway, if you’re going on a three day Disney vacation with five people, that’s an extra $375 you’re spending on your trip. It really depends on how much you hate waiting in the lines, and how much value that holds for you to have fast passes from Disneyland open to close!

They do offer lightening lane single pass now too, which essentially means you just pay for ONE ride to skip the long line and get on the ride faster. The price of these single ride passes varies depending on time of day, size of crowd in the park, and popularity of the ride.

Something to be aware of before purchasing Lightening Lane Single Pass or Multi Pass

Disney’s top two most popular rides right now (Radiator Springs Racers and Rise of the Resistance) are “a la carte” Lightning Lane rides.

That means that even if you purchase Lightening Lane Single or Multi Pass, you have to purchase the Lightning Lane passes for those rides separately. They’re pretty pricey (on average around $20 but can be $25 per person for ONE ride), but if those rides are important to you, it might be worth it to spend the money on just one major ride instead of a whole Lightening Lane Multi Pass purchase. Just make sure you get your Lightning Lane pass RIGHT when they open, before they sell out!

For example: Rise of the Resistance is probably the most popular ride right now, and without the Lightning Lane pass the wait was about two and a half hours the WHOLE day. In the past, they’ve sold out of Lightening Lane passes for Rise before we got there at 10 a.m.

All in all- it’s just super important to plan ahead on what’s most important to you during your trip so you can make the best financial decision for your family.

And remember, you can purchase Lightening Lane Single or Multi Pass just for one day, for your whole trip, or not at all. And Disney Genie is totally free and still super super helpful!

When does Disneyland decorate for holidays?

It’s such a fun time to explore the theme park because it’s filled with monsters, pumpkin-perfect, and muertos-merry elements that all add to the eerie cheer during the spookiest time of the year. You can expect to see the Halloween decorations to go up around August 23rd!

It’s seriously my second favorite time of year to go to Disneyland. Pumpkin spice churros anyone?!

But my FAVORITE time of year to go to Disneyland is …Christmas!!! We’ve seen the return of It’s a Small World Holiday, Haunted Mansion Holiday, Santa’s Holiday Visit, Believe…In Holiday Magic Fireworks, Christmas in Cars Land, A Christmas Fantasy Parade, and more. The holidays are such a magical time of the year to visit Disneyland – a time you’ll never forget for sure!

Does Disneyland have mobile ordering?

There’s so much yummy food to enjoy within the Disney Parks! Something that has made ordering food super easy and convenient is the mobile ordering feature found on the Disneyland mobile app! It’s contactless, and allows you to plan ahead and enjoy food and drinks from select dining options throughout your Disney day.

A super helpful tip I learned – I was going nuts over why I couldn’t make dinner reservations ANYWHERE. And it’s because right now a lot of the restaurants aren’t taking ahead of time dinner reservations, you just have to join the walk-up list.

So as soon as you arrive to the Park, maybe a few hours before you plan to eat lunch or dinner, I highly recommend looking at the restaurants you’re interested in eating at and joining those walk-up lists in advance because they’re typically longer.

Another thing to be aware of is in order to join restaurants’ walk-up lists, it will require you to be in close proximity to that specific restaurant. So in your itinerary, plan to hang around that area and visit attractions in that general region.

How to get a reservation at Blue Bayou (or any other hard-to-get-into Disneyland restaurant)

We scored very last minute reservations recently to Blue Bayou, the restaurant that sits inside Pirates of the Caribbean ride. It’s pretty magical to eat there and some of my most favorite food at Disneyland, and the closest you’ll come to eating at Club 33, without actually eating at Club 33. It’s also one of the most coveted reservations and they go super fast when the reservation windows open 60 days in advance of any given date.

PRO TIP: all of the sit-down restaurants at Disneyland require a credit card to book, and you have to cancel 24 hours in advance to avoid a $10 per person no-show fee. Because of this, you’ll see a TON of random reservations opening up for the next day any given day. So if I can’t score the reservation I really want, I usually wait till the day before our Disneyland day, and that day before, I spend a little time refreshing like crazy to see if someone will dump the reservation that I’m hoping to get! I’ve seen great stuff open up last second, like lunch at Lamplight Lounge or dinner at Blue Bayou. Just make sure if you’re hoping to get a lunchtime reservation, you start searching and refreshing more than 24 hours before. So if you’re hoping for an 11 a.m. Wednesday lunch reservation, start looking Tuesday morning between like 9-10:30 a.m. and you’ll probably see something good pop up!

Another very important tip: don’t search by one of the meal times (breakfast, lunch, or dinner), search by the hour instead. And just keep jumping around the different times till you see something you want pop up. And if you see something good, JUMP on it! It will likely disappear super quickly!

Are Disneyland annual passes back?

YES!!!! They’ve been renamed something new: Magic Key Holder passes. They’re currently ONLY available to renew, but hopefully they’ll open back up for sale soon. When they do, you have to get in the virtual queue EARLY in the day and be ready to purchase when your turn comes up. But for now let’s break down the 411 on these passes:

What are the levels of a Magic Key Holders?

When choosing one of the Magic Key Holder annual passes, it’s really important to look at what is most important and convenient for you and your family. For us, most of our kids are in school and we don’t want to take them out of school often to go to Disneyland, so in the past we’ve purchased passes that would allow us to go on Saturdays and weekends. But when our kids were younger and not in school, we’d do the SoCal passes because we didn’t mind going during the week and it wasn’t a big deal that we couldn’t go on the weekends.

Another amazing perk with each Magic Key Holder pass, there are special discounts you can receive when purchasing merchandise, lightening lane passes, and food! As the pass gets more expensive, the higher the discounts are that you can receive on items purchased within the Park.

For example, the Believe Key gets you 50% off parking, but the Inspire Key (the highest pass) includes free parking. There are so many awesome perks with each pass – below is a list of all the levels of Magic Key Holders, the prices, and what each level includes.

IMAGINE KEY

This Key is exclusively available to SoCal residents. So anyone who lives in Northern California or anywhere outside of California can’t purchase it.

• Price: $599/year- available for renewal only
• Includes:
  • Reservation-based park admission select days of the year
  • Up to two park reservation holds at a time
  • up to 10% off select merchandise
  • up to 10% off select dining
  • 20% off the purchase of Lightening Lane Single or Multi Pass
  • 25% off standard theme park parking at the Toy Story Parking Area, excluding blockout dates
    

ENCHANT KEY

• Price: $974/year- available for renewal only
• Includes:
  • Reservation-based park admission select days of the year
  • Up to four park reservation holds at a time
  • up to 10% off select merchandise
  • up to 10% off select dining
  • 20% off the purchase of Lightening Lane Single or Multi Pass
  • 25% off standard theme park parking at the Toy Story Parking Area, excluding blockout dates
    

BELIEVE KEY

• Price: $1,349/year- available for renewal only
• Includes:
  • Reservation-based park admission most days of the year
  • Up to six park reservation holds at a time
  • up to 10% off select merchandise
  • up to 10% off select dining
  • 20% off the purchase of Disney Genie+
  • 50% off standard theme park parking (excluding blockout dates, at the Mickey & Friends Parking Structure, Pixar Pals Parking Structure and Toy Story Parking Area)
    

INSPIRE KEY

• Price: $1,749/year- available for renewal only
• Includes:
  • Reservation-based park admission every day of the year
  • Only 14 blocked out days
  • Up to six park reservation holds at a time
  • up to 20% off select merchandise
  • up to 15% off select dining
  • Unlimited Disney PhotoPass digital photo downloads
  • 20% off the purchase of Lightening Lane Single and Multi Pass
  • Parking included

Is Disney still doing Rope Drop?

The Disneyland “open” tradition is still in fact happening. I’m so happy they’re still doing their rope drop!

To do it the right way, you’ll want to show up at the Park’s gate about 45 minutes before the Disneyland open time. So if the Park opens at 8 in the morning, you’ll want to be at the gate at 7:15. Which means you need to be rolling into the parking structure 30 minutes before that (I know – so early, but SO WORTH IT!). So look at your GPS and figure out how much time you need to arrive to the Mickey & Friends parking structure by 6:45 a.m. It will take you 30ish minutes to park, go through security, and walk all the way to the gate. If you’re staying on property, plan to head down from the room about 10-15 minutes before, so right around 7.

Starting at 7:30 they’ll begin a countdown from ten. If you’re in the within the first ten people of that line, they’ll scan your ticket so that right when the countdown is over, they let you in.

After that first group of ten, they start scanning the rest of everyone else’s tickets and you can walk all the way up to where the second rope is, pretty near Radiator Springs. When 8:00 hits, you’re already scanned and IN the park right when Disneyland is open with a major head start so that you can hop on the rides before all the lines form!

Arriving in time for Disneyland’s Rope Drop allows you to hop on a bunch of rides before any major wait times – I highly suggest starting off your day early in the morning before Disneyland is open so you can take advantage of this!!

By 10 AM, crowds start rolling in and it gets a lot more crowded. So if you want to do Toy Story Mania, Radiator Springs Racers, or Guardians of the Galaxy without a Lightning Lane pass, those are the rides that you’d definitely want to prioritize in the morning, right when Disneyland is open.

Pick the ride that you want to ride the VERY most and just walk straight there as soon as the rope drops and walk right onto that ride, and then go straight to the next ride you care about in that Park!

Early Entry is back!

Early Entry is back at Disneyland and California Adventure! This means that guests staying at one of the Disneyland hotels can get into the park 30 minutes before before the rest of the public. This allows you to get onto your favorite rides without having to wait in the long lines!

Tips About Riding Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance

Rise of the Resistance is THE BEST ride I’ve ever been on. Period. We’ve been on on it several times at Disney World and Disneyland and each time, my mind is blown!!!

It’s not easy to get on this ride and only a limited amount of people make it on. They’re not doing a virtual queue for this ride anymore. So like I mentioned earlier, if you really want to go on Rise of the Resistance, you’ll either need to a) show up at rope drop and go STRAIGHT to Rise of the Resistance, or buy a lightening lane pass specifically for Rise of the Resistance (this is a-la-carte and not included in genie+ passes!), or worst case scenario, wait a couple hours in line if you get to the park after rope drop and don’t want to buy the lightening lane pass.

This ride really is exceptional and the best ride at Disneyland now, in my opinion. So yes, you really do want to go!

How does Disneyland’s reservation system work?

If you’re planning to make a trip to one of Disney’s parks, you have to make a reservation ahead of time for either Disneyland or California Adventure. Even if you have a Parkhopper, you have to be in the first park you choose until 1 PM, and then you can head over to the other park.

With all of Disneyland’s new system, it requires you to plan a lot more in advance. We bought our Magic Key Holder passes on a Friday thinking it’d be so fun to go the next day on Saturday, but unfortunately all the reservations were filled for Saturday already. But if you’re looking to go during a weekday, which are a bit less busy, you can make same-day reservations most of the time! I’m guessing it will be that way if it’s not a high-season time.

Depending on the level of Magic Key Holder you are, you’re allowed a certain limit of reservations you can make at one time. So, the higher level Key Holder you are, the more reservations you can make at once.

Holiday times get taken up really fast! That’s why you want to make reservations in advance as much as possible. Also why it’s so important to be aware of when certain holidays are happening at the Parks, because as pass holders those windows are important to know how to plan strategically and reserve days when it’s not a blackout day for your specific pass.

Note: the higher the pass, the fewer blackout days. But you still have to make a reservation each time you want to go.

Is Disneyland worth it?

For us, Disneyland is 100% worth the money and all that comes with it. It’s something that we absolutely love as a family and we really value. We’ve created really great memories there and our kids are in heaven every single time we go. We drink the Kool-Aid – we just feel like it’s MAGICAL. It’s a wonderful, wholesome place to spend time as a family. Make sure to take advantage of this deal to save big if you are wanting to take a trip to the happiest place on earth!

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