Your 2021 Disneyland Guide
Tickets and Reservations
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. 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. 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.
How to purchase a ticket and make a theme park reservation together:
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)!
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.
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.
Park Hours
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
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.
Virtual Queues
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.
Photo Pass
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/Guest Relations
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.
The Disneyland App
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).
Attractions, Closures and Updates
With the reopening continuing along smoothly, many rides and attractions are open and available once again! However, there are still a few that you won’t be able to enjoy as of now:
Matterhorn Bobsleds
CLOSED - opening TBD
Jungle Cruise
CLOSED - opening TBD
Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters
CLOSED - opening June 26, 2021
Redwood Creek Challenge Trail
CLOSED - opening TBD
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.
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.
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.
Character Encounters
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.