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Get Away Today vs. Undercover Tourist- Finding Legit Cheap Disneyland Tickets

Get Away Today and Undercover Tourist are both legit travel companies that sell discounted Disneyland tickets. These two travel companies have worked with Disneyland for a considerable amount of years and are both well-known for vacation planning. They are often ranked against each other when it comes to the best price on discount Disneyland tickets and the services they provide. Here is our full breakdown of Get Away Today vs. Undercover Tourist.

Keep reading for our analysis of these two companies, the services they offer, and whether Get Away Today vs Undercover Tourist offers the best discount Disney tickets. We have booked with both Undercover Tourist and Get Away Today and provide our fair comparison of both below.

What you need to know: When you book your Disneyland tickets with Get Away Today via our private Mickey Visit link , they are less or the same price as Undercover Tourist Disneyland ticket prices and you benefit from the far superior Get Away Today customer service.

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In this planning guide:

Get Away Today vs. Undercover Tourist: Best Customer Service?

Get Away Today has been working with Disneyland since 1990 and are the oldest ticket reseller. This long relationship, not just with Disneyland but the Anaheim area, provides a level of insight into vacation planning in Southern California that many other companies can't beat.

This close relationship with the Anaheim area is demonstrated by Get Away Today employee knowledge of the resort. Each year Get Away Today takes its employees on a trip around the Disneyland Resort area, staying at multiple hotels. This yearly “fam” trip gives everyone working in their call centers a first-hand experience with the theme parks and personal knowledge of the hotels. This close relationship Get Away Today has with its employees enhances its customer service on so many levels. When you call to book a Disneyland vacation, you are talking to experts that frequently visit the area and the Disneyland Resort which is an essential firsthand experience.

Get Away Today is not just an online provider of Disneyland tickets but is a full-service travel agency that is committed to supporting you during your vacation. When you purchase discount tickets from Get Away Today, you will also receive the award-winning customer service from Get Away Today which is dedicated to assisting you through each step of your vacation. The employees at Get Away Today will devote their time to helping guests plan from the first phone call to assisting with potential emergencies when you arrive at your destination.

Undercover Tourist operates more in the genre of an online retailer and has a large call center. The size of this call center isn't necessarily an advantage because the employees answering the phone don't receive the same individual commitment you see over at Get Away Today. You might be talking to someone who has never even been to Disneyland and can only provide you with limited insight into your vacation based on the bullet points on the screen in front of them. They also tend to specialize more in Orlando travel which is another limitation they have when it comes to purchasing discount Disneyland tickets and planning a Southern Californian vacation. Another con against the customer service at Undercover Tourist is that the company was recently acquired by a larger e-commerce player which may lead to even further degradation of service.

I have first-hand experience using both of these companies although my relationship with Get Away Today is much stronger. I have consistently been impressed with how helpful, friendly, and accommodating all the employees are at Get Away Today. I have had many trips where I needed to make adjustments, switch hotels, switch ticket dates- you name it. And the folks at Get Away Today have helped me each time with no complaints when I have used their Peace of Mind plan (details on the ticket insurance plans below). Everyone I work with there is always kind. In this area of Get Away Today vs. Undercover Tourist, Get Away Today wins.

Does Get Away Today or Undercover Tourist Have Better Disneyland Prices?

If you are NOT using our discount Disneyland ticket link which loads exclusively lower prices for our readers, Undercover Tourist's prices for Disneyland tickets may be cheaper than Get Away Today's Disneyland ticket prices by a few dollars.

However, we negotiated a deal with Get Away Today to price beat or match the prices Undercover Tourist offers . These are exclusive to Mickey Visit. This is just another reason why we love working with Get Away Today, we were able to secure the lowest possible rates for Disneyland tickets just for our readers.

So while their prices might be the same, you are getting a far more personal experience booking with Get Away Today with their high-standing customer service.

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Remember: the only way to get these prices for Disneyland tickets is to use our link, without it you will see the higher price of tickets.  Make sure to click through one of our private links for access to the private lower prices.

Booking Discount Disneyland Hotel Packages

Get Away Today's long-standing partnership with the Good Neighbor hotels in Anaheim also allow them to provide the best discounts on hotel rates and perks in the Disneyland area.

Many of the hotels that partner with Get Away Today will offer perks like free breakfast, free nights, free parking, waived resort fees, and more. When you're on the Get Away Today website, look at the hotel description to see what perks are offered as the offerings vary by hotel. They also offer discount night stays at Disney-owned property hotels which can be a great way to save money and be close to the magic. Their rates for the Disneyland on-site hotels are consistently cheaper than what you will see on the Disneyland website and they can also apply any existing Disney promotions to those rates too.

Another perk of Get Away Today's relationship with local Anaheim hotels results in the hotels setting aside their best quality rooms for Get Away Today customers. You will more likely have your room requests honored if you are a Get Away Today customer and may even get an upgraded room at no charge. This has happened to me in the past when we were upgraded to a larger room just because we booked with Get Away Today.

If you plan on booking a full Disneyland ticket and hotel package, using Get Away Today will consistently get you the best prices. I am a budget traveler and I price-match every Disneyland travel package I use. I have never found a deal (AAA members, Costco , etc.) to beat out the prices Get Away Today offers. That is an impressive claim to fame.

In comparison, another mark against Undercover Tourist in this category is they only provide booking for the on-property Disneyland Hotels ( Grand Californian , Disneyland Hotel , Paradise Pier- soon to be Pixar Place ) and do not provide discount rates for any of the Anaheim area hotels. In this scenario, Get Away Today easily wins this comparison.

Get Away Today vs. Undercover Tourist: Longest Disney Partner?

Get Away Today is one of the longest-standing partners of Disneyland and has worked to help guests plan vacations to Disneyland since 1990. They are one of the most well-known companies in the Southern California area and one of the leading providers of Disneyland vacations.

Undercover Tourist has been operating since 2002 and is a reputable company for providing discount theme park vacations. They are a legitimate company with numerous offerings for discount theme park tickets including Disneyland. Undercover Tourist operates more as an online retailer with much less of an emphasis on customer service and support than Get Away Today.

In this category of Get Away Today vs Undercover Tourist, Get Away Today easily wins due to its long-standing history as a company since the 90s and its history with Disneyland.

Who Has the Best Ticket Insurance Options?

Get Away Today offers its own version of travel insurance called the Peace of Mind plan. For a $75 fee, you get the flexibility to make any reservation changes (excluding airfare) up to 72 hours before your check-in date without any penalties. The Peace of Mind Plan will waive any change, reschedule, or cancellation fees. It must be purchased at the time of booking to qualify.

The Peace of Mind Plan can also be added for a ticket-only purchase if you are worried about needing to make any changes to your tickets. This plan is extremely helpful if you are booking far in advance but may not always be necessary if you are certain about your travel dates. However, you can change your ticket dates without having the Peace of Mind plan if you need to change your arrival day. If you need a refund and you didn't add the Peace of Mind Plan, then it's a $50 fee.

Get Away Today also offers a layaway plan. If you want to utilize the layaway plan, you just need to put $175 down on your trip with $99 of that being the nonrefundable layaway fee. Once your vacation is put on layaway, you can make payments of any amount and how often you like until your vacation. As long as your trip is paid in full five days before your departure date, you will be good to go. This makes saving for a Disney vacation much more accessible for families so you have your dates locked in and then you can make payments as you can.

The Get Away Today Layaway Plan is available for all Get Away Today vacations at Disneyland Resort, San Diego, Carlsbad, and Universal Studios Hollywood destinations

Over at Undercover Tourist, they have their own set of policies that apply to their Disneyland tickets. E-Tickets are refundable for 365 days from the date of purchase as long as they haven't been used, expired, modified, or exchanged. For this return policy, only 95% of the items total will be refunded. Undercover Tourist keeps the remaining 5% fee to cover the inconvenience.

They also state that they are unable to make changes to e-tickets. This is probably the biggest downside of Undercover Tourist's policy. As we all know, plans can change and not having the ability to make a change is a big inconvenience. The only option is to refund your tickets and rebook.

My experience with Undercover Tourist was much less impressive when I purchased tickets to Universal Orlando in the past. I needed to modify my dates and it took a long time of sitting on hold (not usually an issue with Get Away Today) before I could get in touch with anyone. I was not able to modify the dates for my ticket or make any changes because of this policy. I tried to reach out to Universal Orlando individually to change my ticket date but Universal was not able to make changes to tickets bought through a reseller, only the reseller has that ability. It was a disappointing experience but more so in the way the customer service handled the situation. It wasn't the most friendly conversation and the only option for me was a refund for only 95% of my ticket cost which I did end up utilizing so I could purchase a ticket for the date we needed to switch to.

You can easily see the difference between the two call centers when posed with a problem like this. The handling of any problems at Undercover Tourist is treated like a corporate playbook while my experiences at Get Away Today have consistently been more personal. While the vacation package protections at Get Away Today come at an additional cost, it has been worth it in my experience to have that flexibility and peace of mind (hence the name of the travel protection!) when planning such a costly trip.

Get Away Today vs. Undercover Tourist: Best Freebies?

Get Away Today offers all their customers that book Disneyland packages up to $300 worth of printable coupons, lanyards, and vacation printables. Once you confirm your booking with Get Away Today, you will receive an email filled with coupons for local Anaheim restaurants in Downtown Disney, near the Disneyland Resort, entertainment venues, and more. One of our favorite coupons has always been the 10% off dinner at Naples in Downtown Disney! There's a huge variety of coupons for restaurants and entertainment in Anaheim, LA, and San Diego.

Once you arrive at the hotel, you just present your Get Away Today voucher (you will receive this in the email after your booking) to receive a complimentary Get Away Today lanyard for every person in your party.

The vacation printables include countdown calendars and activities, packing lists, and other fun ideas to get your family stoked about your upcoming vacation.

Undercover Tourist does not offer any freebies or coupons upon purchasing tickets that we could find. Their website does offer planning resources that tend to be a bit more extensive than Get Away Today but this is also the reason Get Away Today partners with Disney travel planning websites (like Mickey Visit!) to direct their guests to the best Disney vacation planning. You can read our full guide to starting your Disneyland trip planning to see the wide range of topics we cover to prepare guests.

Overall, in our comparison of Get Away Today vs Undercover Tourist- it is pretty easy to see that Get Away Today comes out on top when planning a Disneyland Resort vacation, especially when you add in the additional Mickey Visit ticket discount . They have the best discounts on Disney hotels, longer experience planning in the Anaheim area, and great customer service.

Ready to Plan Your Trip to Disneyland?

Keep reading our blog to keep you updated on everything you need to know to prepare for a Disney Parks vacation! We have a team of writers working hard to keep you updated weekly on events in the parks and tips for navigating the magic. Subscribe to our free deals newsletter to receive helpful planning information, exclusive Disney deals, and access to the lowest-priced Disney tickets anywhere. You can find more information on planning your vacation here:

  • Discount Disneyland Ticket Guide
  • Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge Guide
  • Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway
  • Guide to Parades at Disneyland

Disclosure: We have used all the products recommended on Mickey Visit. We may receive compensation when you click on links to some products featured.

About Lindsay Brookshier

Lindsay is a college English instructor and has years of writing experience through various nonprofits, charities, newspapers, and online magazines. As the content director of Mickey Visit, she oversees article content and leads our fantastic team of writers to meet guest vacation needs. You can still find her writing weekly content to help make your Disney Parks trip fantastic here on Mickey Visit and Disney Dose- you can also view her recently featured posts on Disney Parks travel on Visit Anaheim, Nerd Wallet and SFGate. Lindsay comes from a dedicated Disney family and enjoys taking her son to the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Guide to Discount Disneyland Tickets (2024)

undercover tourist disneyland

This guide to Disneyland & Disney California Adventure tickets explains how to buy discounted park admission, with money-saving tips & recommended sellers of park admission and where not to buy to avoid scams. We cover potential price increases, deals at grocery stores or from AAA, and pros & cons of Park Hoppers. ( Updated December 9, 2023 .)

If all you want to know is the cheapest, best, and safest place to buy Disneyland tickets, our top recommendation is Get Away Today . These Disneyland tickets are delivered via email after buying and can be used right after you receive them. So no delay whatsoever. These are “tier-less tickets,” which means they can be used on any date.

This is one an authorized seller of Disneyland tickets that we recommend due to their exceptional customer service and flexibility, both of which are superior to what Disney offers directly. These low prices coupled with Get Away Today’s “Best Price Guarantee” makes them our recommended ticket seller.

All Disneyland tickets are valid for travel now through December 31, 2025. The additional upside to this if you aren’t traveling soon is that you can lock-in current prices and avoid future price increases that will likely occur in 2024 or beyond. We still recommend buying tickets sooner rather than later to safeguard against the inevitable price increases–see the update on that below.

Speaking of updates, let’s discuss all of the latest Disneyland ticket news, starting with current discounts for 2024 travel dates!

2024 Disneyland Discounts

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Expecting a slowdown next year, Disneyland has started to release discounts for the first half of next year. The first of these is the  2024 Southern California Resident Disneyland Ticket Deal . These tickets are now on sale, and valid for visits starting January 2, 2024 and continuing through June 2, 2024. If you reside in SoCal, this is the best deal of the year–but proof of residency is required.

There’s also the Kids’ Ticket Discount at Disneyland for 2024 , which is restricted by age but not residency. That deal is excellent ( well, if you have kids and eligible travel dates ), offering admission to children ages 3 to 9 for only $50 per day during visit dates from January 8 through March 10, 2024. This is a  shockingly good deal, amounting to a discount of around $150 to $200 on multi-day tickets!

To the best of my recollection, that’s the best pricing on tickets in several years. Of course, it only applies to children’s tickets and is for a three-month stretch, but still. For those wondering, you can pair both of these two discounts together, buying kids’ tickets for $50/day and adults tickets via the SoCal resident discount–assuming members of your party qualify for both.

Suffice to say, this is an exceptional deal on Disneyland tickets if it works for your family. We’d also add that this same stretch of dates in Winter and Spring 2024 ranks highly on our Cheapest Times to Do Disneyland , which also accounts for hotels and more. So you could do an inexpensive (by Disneyland standards) trip during these travel dates!

2024 Potential Price Increases

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Disneyland normally raises ticket prices in February or October–sometimes both. Most recently, ticket prices went up in October 2023. This impacted single-day and multi-day tickets, with regular and Park Hoppers all increasing, as well as Magic Key Annual Passes. On average, prices were up by about 8-9% per ticket, with several multi-day tickets up by 25%.

They actually increased on the exact same date (October 11) as last year. Prior to that, ticket prices had gone up in February for a few consecutive years. If historical precedent is any indication, the odds are high of the next price increase occurring in mid-October 2024.

Another increase in February 2024 is possible, but we’d bet against it. Pent-up demand is fizzling out and Disneyland is experiencing a slowdown as compared to the last two years. They’ve already been releasing more ticket and hotel deals this year than last, and that’s only likely to accelerate next year.

Not only that, but there’s nothing new on the horizon in the first half of 2024. This year, there was the start of Disney100 and the opening of Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway and reimagined Toontown, plus Wondrous Journeys fireworks and World of Color – ONE. Even with all that, Disneyland didn’t raise prices at the beginning of the year. As such, it appears exceedingly unlikely that they’ll do so in February 2024.

Nevertheless, if you know you’re going to go to Disneyland between now and December 31, 2025, we recommend   purchasing your tickets sooner rather than later. There’s really no sense of urgency to do this right now from a price increase perspective–anytime between now and late September 2024 will probably get you the same prices.

Buying now will “future proof” against additional price increases in the next year-plus. Prices have gone up at least once annually every year of the last decade. That was true even for the year-plus when the parks were closed–they managed to sneak in price increases shortly before closing and after reopening. Unless the United States goes into a deep recession in 2024, the likelihood of a price increase in Fall 2024 is very high.

If prices do go up, it’ll likely happen shortly after the start of Halloween season, likely between mid-September and mid-October 2024, which is the start of Disney’s new fiscal year. Halloween and Christmas seasons are the most popular times of year at Disneyland, so raising prices to coincide with those events makes the most sense.

undercover tourist disneyland

Once you purchase tickets, you’ll need to make a theme park reservation. This is a simple and straightforward process, and both parks now typically have excellent availability outside of peak holiday timeframes.

Nevertheless, we always recommend making reservations ASAP, as many dates will book up days or weeks in advance. That’s especially true of Fridays through Sundays, holiday weeks, and any school breaks. If you’re planning to visit for spring break or the weeks around Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year’s Eve (to give just a handful of examples), making reservations at least 3 weeks in advance is the current best practice.

If you need more info and advice to figure out which ticket options are right for you or how many days you should spend in the parks, the rest of this post is for you. We’ve analyzed the different options before buying Disneyland tickets, and thought we’d share some of what we’ve learned beyond that in this post, starting with where to buy–and where NOT to buy–discount Disneyland tickets…

Where to Buy Discount Disneyland Tickets

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As for where to buy, purchasing online in advance is best idea to save the most money. Again, we recommend Get Away Today as a safe (you’ll see why we keep emphasizing this below) option for discounted tickets. These are the same as what you’d purchase directly from Disneyland, with all of the same “features.”

Want to book a hotel in addition to park tickets? That’s perfect, as there are great deals on Disneyland ticket & hotel bundle discounts . In fact, this is where the big savings come into play. We recommend looking for hotels that offer the “4th night free” special. Currently, these are the best discounts you’ll find on a Disneyland Resort or Southern California vacation.

The hotel packages save much more than individual discounts on tickets and hotels, so it’s a great option if you need to book both. Consult our Anaheim Hotel Reviews & Rankings post for our favorite hotels in the area–we’ve stayed in and reviewed ~50 hotels near Disneyland.

undercover tourist disneyland

For buying Disneyland tickets, another great option is Undercover Tourist . If you’re in a pinch or buying in person, Target and Sam’s Club stores can also be decent options. If you’re a REDcard holder, Target stores are a more appealing option, although the prices and availability does vary. Same goes for Sam’s Club, which is obviously membership-only.

Target and Sam’s Club stores are definitely your best in-person options, though. When comparing prices, always be sure to factor fees–some sites don’t show these until the order confirmation page. There is no sales tax charged on theme park tickets in California, so that’s not relevant.

If you’re in Southern California, there are in-person options in addition to Target and Sam’s Club, but the discounts are not as good. These include Disneyland Good Neighbor Hotels in Anaheim, most of which are authorized sellers. Other options are AAA, Safeway, and Costco stores in Southern California. Note that these stores don’t always carry Disneyland tickets, and even when they do, sometimes the discounts are quite minimal.

Where NOT to Buy Disneyland Tickets

undercover tourist disneyland

Now that you now where to buy discount Disneyland tickets, let’s cover where you should not purchase tickets. Do not buy Disneyland tickets on eBay, Craigslist, or roadside stands in and around Anaheim. Ticket “rental” or buying partially used tickets is a scam, and you will be throwing your money away.

The reason these won’t work is because Disneyland now takes your photo at the turnstiles the first time you use a ticket. Each time thereafter that you reenter the park, that photo pops up on the screen, and Cast Members verify your appearance against that photo.

Unless you have a really compelling Face/Off kind of story, you’ll be denied entry. Cast Members will not have any sympathy if you’re caught with “rental” tickets; you will have to purchase new tickets at the gate, at full price. We have heard horror stories about this; it’s not a fun way to start a vacation, and instead of “saving” $40 or so, you’ll be losing hundreds of dollars.

Another place you should not purchase Disneyland tickets is DisneyWorld.com. Remember, this guide is for Disneyland Resort, encompassing Disneyland (park) and Disney California Adventure in Southern California. If you’re visiting Walt Disney World in Florida, check out our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post.

You might laugh, but guests arriving with tickets purchased for the wrong coast is a daily occurrence. While this is a problem with which they can assist you, it’s time-consuming, cumbersome, and embarrassing, so don’t make this mistake.

Next, our thoughts on how many days to do Disneyland, and which type of tickets you should purchase…

How Many Days at Disneyland?

undercover tourist disneyland

We highly recommend spending more than a single day at Disneyland, but then again, we’re hardcore Disney dorks who spend way too much time in the parks. So your mileage may vary if you’re traveling to California and want to spend the majority of your time exploring Los Angeles, San Diego, and the beach cities.

Unfortunately, no authorized ticket sellers offer discounts on 1-day tickets. None. You’re better off purchasing those directly from Disney. There are almost no exceptions to this, so if you see somewhere advertising discounts on 1-day Disneyland tickets, it’s probably not legit. If you really only want to do a single day and you can’t be convinced otherwise, we highly recommend doing the Park Hopper tickets and bouncing between the two parks to see as much as possible.

Those on a tight budget might consider forgoing the Park Hopper option, in which case you should only do Disneyland, rather than Disney California Adventure. Keep in mind that if do that, you won’t be able to visit the awesome Cars Land, Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout, Incredicoaster, and more. Also know that it’s impossible to do everything in one day.

undercover tourist disneyland

At least two days at Disneyland is where discounts start to be offered via authorized sellers. The bad news is that these discounts are still fairly minimal. You’re looking at ~$5 off per ticket at best–but every little bit of savings helps!

As with the 1-day ticket, we recommend purchasing the Park Hopper option. This allows you a day for each park, as well as the ability to bounce back and forth between the two parks during your visit. That offers some strategic advantages, including be able to book Genie+ Lightning Lane reservations in both parks.

If you’re doing 3 days or more, that’s where you’ll start finding the best discounts on Disneyland tickets. The incremental cost of each day beyond 2 is progressively lower, meaning you pay significantly less per day for Disneyland and Disney California Adventure visits that are 4 days long than you do for a single day. This huge cost difference is one of the big reasons we recommend doing a few days at Disneyland if you can. As Disney says, “the longer you play, the less you pay per day.” Cheesy, but accurate.

Cutting to the chase, this is why we recommend the average family spend 3 days at Disneyland Resort . There’s enough to do at the parks to justify a 4 day visit, especially if you go at a normal pace, take a midday break, or do table service meals. Four days is the point when the per day cost drops significantly, and with 4-day tickets, you can also not purchase the Park Hopper option to save even more money.

Of course, not everyone is going to want to spend 4 days at Disneyland. There’s a ton to do in Southern California, so you might be better suited with only 2-3 days and spending time at the beach, in Los Angeles, or other theme parks like Universal Studios Hollywood.

Lightning Lanes or Standby Lines?

undercover tourist disneyland

As discussed above, Disneyland now offers Genie+ and the Lightning Lane line-skipping system, which replaces the formerly free FastPass. We cover everything you need to know in our Guide to Genie+ at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure & Lightning Lane FAQ .

You can either purchase Genie+ each day after entering the parks, or buy it in advance as a length-of-ticket add-on for $25 per day. While the advance purchase add-on price is static, same-day pricing of Genie+ is demand-based. It currently costs $30 on busier days or $25 on less-crowded days.

If you can afford it, we’d recommend most visitors buy Genie+ in advance and for every day of their trip to Disneyland. You will easily be able to secure Lightning Lane selections for most (if not all) popular attractions, saving several hours as compared to waiting in the standby lines. The last time we tested Genie+ at Disneyland and DCA, we were easily able to make ride reservations for 16 attractions, saving roughly over 6 hours in line.

This is not an anomaly or uncommon outcome. Genie+ is really easy to use at Disneyland Resort, and gives you a huge advantage. This is especially true  when paired with Park Hopper tickets, as you can come close to maxing out the Lightning Lanes in both parks in a single day. Since there’s a no re-ride rule with Genie+, this puts Park Hoppers at a distinct advantage with the system.

With that said, Genie+ is not strictly necessary at Disneyland. You can still accomplish a lot without it and with savvy strategy, such as using our Disney Theme Park Touring Plans & Itineraries or Early Entry at Disneyland . Genie+ just enables you to ride many more attractions and get a lot more bang for your buck. In the end, we recommend using a variety of strategies to experience headliners via the Lightning Lanes  and  standby lines when wait times are lower!

Park Hopper vs. One Park Per Day

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We’ve already answered this question for single and 2-day tickets, but we also recommend the Park Hopper option for longer stays if your budget allows. The reason for this is simple: Disneyland and Disney California Adventure are literally less than a football field apart. It’s easy to jump from one to the other, and we do on every single visit.

This allows you to hit Radiator Springs Racers first thing every morning of our trip, and then either continue the day at Disney California Adventure, or head over to Disneyland. As mentioned above, it also enables you to use Genie+ at both parks in a single day, instead of just at one.

If you do continue the day at Disney California Adventure, having the hopper allows you to go to Disneyland late at night for the fireworks, or to head over to Disneyland to end the day, because it’s usually open later. There’s a lot of nighttime entertainment, and it’s tough to see it all in one night.

You can also bounce back and forth between the parks, making for more efficient touring. You don’t waste time commuting between the Disneyland Resort parks like you do at Walt Disney World, so it’s really good from a strategic and ‘most bang for your buck’ perspective.

On the other hand, if you have small children who won’t stay up late or aren’t concerned about having the most efficient day possible, opting for Park Hopper might be a waste of your money. As always, there’s really no one size fits all answer. While we love the Park Hopper option and leverage it to its full advantage, others might take a more laid back approach.

Finally, some other ticket options that might be appealing to some readers, but are more ‘niche’ options…

California Grocery Store Ticket Deals

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If you are reading this at the last-minute while already on vacation in California, and are just looking for quick–but not the best–savings, local grocery stores can be an option. Sometimes Safeway, Vons, Albertsons, Ralphs, and Costco have discounts on tickets. We’ve actually seen some pretty good deals on tickets at our local grocery stores, but they’re sometimes for SoCal residents and other times a bit hit or miss.

As such, we do not recommend going out of your way to find one of these stores, as these tickets aren’t always available. It’s really not worth your limited vacation time for what’s potentially a wild goose chase. (We have never seen discounted Disneyland tickets at Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods, so don’t even bother with those.)

There are also modest savings available at AAA stores, which obviously are not grocery stores, but the AAA discount is the same idea. Note that AAA and Disney ended their partnership, so the savings there are no longer as good. More importantly, they no longer offer free parking, which was a really big deal.

In the past, Costco stores on the West Coast offered a gift card with purchase, but this has not happened for over 5 years. Basically, if you read about an excellent grocery store ticket offer, read the publication date, as all of these discounts have dried up. These grocery store discounts were available at a time when Disneyland’s attendance was much lower and they’re unlikely to return.

Whatever you do, do not just stop at a random roadside store in Anaheim or Los Angeles and buy tickets. Those are most likely scams.

CALIFORNIA RESIDENT DISCOUNTS

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If you live in California and have proof of residence, there are usually discount Disneyland and Disney California Adventure ticket offers twice per year. The first is usually from early January until late May, and this discount is only available to Southern California residents. Of the two offers, this is usually the better deal.

The second is a relatively newer discount, but it’s been available each of the last 3 summer seasons and has been offered to almost all Californians. The months of this have varied, but it’s usually later in summer, through early fall (including the start of Halloween). This deal isn’t as good as the early year SoCal deal, but it’s still better than everything else on this list. If you’re a resident who is eligible for one of these two offers, you should absolutely take advantage.

When available, these deals can be purchased by eligible Californians. Be sure to double-check eligible ZIP codes on that page. Each Guest (age 18+) using a California Resident ticket must show proof of eligible residency for purchase and admission. A valid government-issued photo ID showing an address within a valid ZIP code is required for entry into the park.

Disneyland Magic Key Annual Passes

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Even under the new Magic Key Annual Pass program, it’s still really tough to justify buying a Disneyland Annual Passport for a single trip if you live out of state. This might conflict with other information you’ve heard or read, but that’s probably outdated.

It used to be a great option to purchase an Annual Pass, but in the last 5 years, Disneyland Annual Passes have more than doubled in price. (You read that correctly.) Annual Passes are particularly attractive if you have a flexible schedule and will be in the parks more than two weeks per year.

Conversely, if you live in Northern California, Utah, Nevada, etc. and will visit Disneyland multiple times per year, the Magic Key pass might make a lot of sense. In fact, depending on when you plan to visit, you might be able to get away with the “Enchant” Magic Key, which would move the breakeven point down to only a few separate long weekend trips.

Currently, most Annual Passes are only available for renewal–there are no new sales of all the lower tier passes, only the Inspire Key AP can be purchased, and that’s the highest tier (costing $1,599!). See When Will Magic Key Annual Pass Sales Resume?   for our predictions as to when you can expect to be able to purchase all new APs again in 2024.

Other SoCal Theme Parks

undercover tourist disneyland

If you are wanting to visit other theme parks as part of your Southern California vacation, there are a ton of options. The two we recommend are Knott’s Berry Farm and Universal Studios Hollywood.

Southern California’s big theme park addition for 2023 is Super Nintendo World. Although mischaracterized as a “Mario Theme Park” in some media reports, this is actually a small land in Universal Studios Hollywood. While lacking in size, it packs a powerful punch and we highly recommend doing a day trip to USH to experience this excellent addition.

With that said, it’s imperative that you properly plan and prepare to avoid the ( massive ) crowds. Wait times can get really bad at USH, but the crowds are actually easy to beat with a bit of strategizing. See our 2023 Planning Guide to Universal Studios Hollywood   and our  Strategy Guide for Super Nintendo World   for everything you need to know. (Seriously, the crowds can be worse at USH than at Disneyland, but it’s also easier to “outsmart” them!)

Knott’s is less than 15 minutes away, and Universal Studios Hollywood is about an hour away from Disneyland. There’s also both SeaWorld San Diego and LEGOLAND California, which are both over 2 hours south of Disneyland Resort by car. (All of these times are highly-dependent upon traffic.) If you are thinking about doing any of these other parks, check out Get Away Today’s discounts and ticket bundles .

save-money-disneyland-tickets-tips

Okay, so that’s all a lot to digest. What are the key takeaways for saving money on Disneyland tickets in 2023 through 2025?

  • Always buy your Disneyland tickets in advance, from an authorized third party ticket broker. Get Away Today has the best prices on Disneyland tickets . If you want to do more than just Disneyland, they also sell Universal Studios Hollywood tickets–so you can visit the new Super Nintendo World!
  • If you are doing a vacation that is focused on Disneyland Resort, we recommend doing a 4-day or 5-day ticket for the most value. (Pro tip: break up your visit with a relaxing beach day in the middle.)
  • If you want to a balanced vacation that allows you to do the highlights of Disneyland and Disney California Adventure, but also spend a lot of time in Los Angeles and other parts of Southern California, our recommendation is the 4-Day Park Hopper Ticket to drop the per day cost of visiting Disneyland to under $100.
  • Regardless of when you’re visiting Disneyland, we recommend purchasing your tickets now to lock-in current prices.
  • Currently, tickets are valid for travel through December 31, 2025. You do not need to know your exact travel dates to purchase multi-day tickets!
  • We don’t recommend a 1-day ticket, but if you’re going to buy it, do so directly from Disney–no third parties discount this ticket. You  do  need to make reservations when buying single day tickets, but those can be modified later.
  • Magic Key Passes (AP replacement) might be a great option for Californians and those in nearby states who make a few trips per year. Anyone making one trip or even two shorter ones will not benefit from the Magic Key program.

Planning a Southern California vacation? Learn about on-site and off-site hotels in our Anaheim Hotel Reviews & Rankings . For where to eat, check out our Disneyland Restaurant Reviews . For unique ideas of things that’ll improve your trip, check out What to Pack for Disney . For comprehensive advice, consult our Disneyland Vacation Planning Guide . Finally, for guides  beyond Disney , check out our Southern California Itineraries for day trips to Los Angeles, Laguna Beach, and many other SoCal cities!

Your Thoughts

Where do you typically purchase your Disneyland tickets? Have any questions about Disneyland tickets or places to buy them? Wondering about the latest Disneyland ticket price increase rumors? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!

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Written by Tom Bricker

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Hi Tom, and congrats on Baby Megatron! I’m excited to planning my first DL trip, having gone to WDW several times. Getaway Today seems to have great deals for hotel and ticket packages. Do you know if these deals change often, or are they always the same hotels with 4th night free type deals? Thank you!

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Hi Tom! Hope you and the family are doing well and getting at least a little sleep. Any insight (sorry if I missed this above) on if you anticipate Black Friday/Cyber Monday to be the same deal, better or worse than the current flash deal? Thank you!

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Great photos of fireworks and decorations. Sometimes it is just good for the soul to just look at the pictures.

Would wou consider having one tab on each of your newsletters called ‘A moment of zen ‘?

A happy or aspirational picture(s) segment is maybe what some of us need and would look forward to when we see your newsletter in the inbox.

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That’s a good idea! Gives me an incentive and/or pressure to get some good Christmas photos this year. I’m not sure that’s realistic given the circumstances, but I’ll see what I can do. No guarantees.

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I guess I’m confused. I went to get away today and I’m not sure what I’m looking for. The article states a 3day ticket at kids prices, but I don’t see it on their website. Am I missing a code or something? Also, I have to pick a date for the tickets, if they are valid thru 12/2025, why the date? I’m just confused on how to get the deal.

When looking at ticket prices, do you see the same (or within a dollar) cost for kids and adults? If so, you’re seeing the deal. I’m not sure why it’s not displayed as a standalone sale.

As for why you choose the date, here’s what Get Away Today says about that: “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.”

Dates are only relevant to single-day tickets at Disneyland. It doesn’t matter for the multi-day ones–you can enter completely random dates and it won’t change anything.

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I see the new deals for Christmas.

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The newsletter email indicated an update about early 2023 Black Friday deals, and the link brought me to this not-updated page. Am I missing something? I would love to hear how to stack the offer with the kids’ ticket deal!

Do you not see an update as of November 2, 2023?

If not, it’s possible that it’s an issue on your end, or a problem with our cache. I’ll try to figure out whether the latter is the case.

New day, new page view. I now see the updates! Thanks! Is it too much to hope for a “shoulder season” ticket deal for the period between Easter/Spring Break and Memorial Day?

Sorry about that–it was an issue on my end, and you weren’t the only one who saw the ‘old’ page.

There will definitely be a SoCal ticket deal during shoulder season, but I assume you’re asking about the general public? Short answer is that it’s pretty unlikely, but I wouldn’t rule it out. Here’s a longer answer from an FAQ I did recently:

Is there any chance of a 2-Park Disneyland ‘Magic’ ticket deal for non-residents?

This summer, Walt Disney World released a fairly unprecedented and excellent 4-Day, 4-Park Magic Ticket for $99 per day, which could be purchased by anyone–not just Florida residents. We’ve since had many Disneyland fans ask if something like this is possible with a general public deal for the California parks.

It’s highly unlikely. Disney’s main motivation for that 4-Park Magic Ticket was “forcing” people to visit EPCOT and Animal Kingdom, which had/have far lower demand than Magic Kingdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Even though DCA is less popular than Disneyland, the difference is not nearly as pronounced.

This isn’t to say that a general public ticket deal is impossible for Disneyland. We haven’t seen one any time recently, but Disney will have to pull more “levers” in 2024 to entice people to return post-revenge travel. If there is one, we’d expect it to be far less attractive than that ‘Magic’ ticket, though.

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We have purchased 5 day passes for this Christmas. Christmas Day will be day 4 – can we make park reservations each day as they are released for sale so we do not miss out on Disneyland Christmas Day? Or what is the best way to make reservations for multi-day passes? We are travelling from Australia

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Do you have to have a park hopper to visit the Star Wars area of Disneyland, or can this be accessed through a single park Disneyland pass?

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Galaxies Edge is in the back corner of Disneyland so you only need a ticket for that park for the day to access that area.

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As noted by another commenter below, I just used Get Away Today and while I received an official email receipt immediately it took almost a full day before the actual tickets (and ticket numbers) were emailed to me (nothing was caught in spam). That waiting period was a bit stressful as reservations for some dates (including the day just before my planned DL visit date) were becoming “sold out” during that period. Thankfully I still made it in! But you and GAT shouldn’t be setting expectations for “immediate” delivery.

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we are arriving on the 25th March and looking to go to Disneyland either Sunday 26th or Monday 27th. which would be the least busy day as we are only going for the 1 day. we are guessing the Monday as children will be back at school. we are also planning on getting the Manhasset do we need the Genie+ also? Thanks for your time.

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Have you ever thought to highlight that Ralphs, Food 4 Less, Smart and Final, Frys, Smiths, Raleys, Fred Meyer, etc. offer great promo deals when purchasing Disneylanf tickets powered by ScanIt in store? Target, Ralph’s and Smart and final are offering discounts and promos right now. Let me know and I can direct you to the Smart and Final splash page for $20 off right now.

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I’d like to take advantage of the GAT black Friday deal for Disneyland tickets knowing we won’t go until 2024 (Disneyland trip for graduation coming together in my head) but it’s still making me put in an arrival/start date for my trip).

I’d recommend contacting GAT.

I’m pretty sure start date does not matter when it’s that far out (and is more to make sure there’s sufficient time to deliver tickets on short notice–and prevent their purchase 3+ years in advance), but I’m not entirely certain. Better to be safe than sorry!

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GetAwayToday tickets have not been emailed immediately as written above. Disappointing to read this in your blog, use the referral where you get a cut, and have this be the result.

Did you check your spam or contact them?

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Question….IF/When they do offer Southern California discounts, do SoCal college students qualify, or only those that have established state residency? I have a student at USD that is a HUGE DL fan, but state ID is Massachusetts. Just thinking ahead to potential future offers. Thanks!

There are a bunch of different ways to establish residency, including bills with a mailing residence in California. School ID might even be sufficient, but I’m not 100% positive about that one.

SoCal tickets are on sale now. Also Smart and Final is running a promo for $20 off right now if you buy the tickets in store!

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Hello there, Do you recommend arestravel.com for purchasing disneyland tickets. They seem to have great prices. Please advise.

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arestravel is what I’ve used for over 15 years to buy tickets. I’ve used getaway for hotels and coupled it with tickets twice, and it was a nightmare both times. getaway NEVER highlights ‘resort fees’. Even though NONE of the hotels in socal qualify as resorts, a lot of them charge resort fees WHEN YOU CHECKIN! So you pay up front for everything, then get down there and have them ask you for another $20-30 per day for ‘resort fees’. It’s a total scam. I’ve found a lot of hotels that don’t charge resort fees, but getaway charges more for those hotels than they do on their own websites. For instance, I booked a Disneyland trip for next week back in November and I got the 5-day park hopper tickets from arestravel for $395 each and the hotel for $110 a night ($680 for 5 nights after taxes AND parking fees). getaway wanted $1300 for the same hotel and was charging $440 for the same tickets in that ‘deal’. For that reason, I highly recommend using ares and booking your hotel directly through the website. It takes a little longer, but it will probably save you a lot of money.

@Tom perhaps I missed this in a prior post, but is there a reason that you seem to have migrated away from recommending Undercover Tourist and instead are now recommending Getaway Today? You still mentioned UT in this article but seemed to give preference to GT. Just curious, Thanks.

A combination of guest feedback and our knowledge of the service offered by both. We have received countless positive messages about Get Away Today (especially when it comes to bundled hotel bookings) and the service they offer. In fairness, we have not heard any complaints about Undercover Tourist, but they’re definitely more of a booking engine whereas Get Away Today is a full-service travel agency with customer support.

When prices are equal (as they should be right now), we recommend choosing Get Away Today. If not, buy on the basis of price.

Hope that clears it up! 🙂

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I have used Undercover Tourist and Get Away Today equally in the past. However, Undercover Tourist now has a verification process that causes high anxiety if you’re anxious to get your tickets and make your Disney reservation. I ordered tickets from UT online on a Wednesday, and instead of getting the tickets, I got an email stating they had a new verification process where they need to call me. I talked to customer service on Sunday after not hearing from them. I was told they still needed to call me. I received a call at work on Monday and luckily could answer. Tickets were sent immediately after the call. This was very stressful. Customer Service people are soooo nice! But GAT sends the tickets within a few hours of a online order and there’s no worries.

Absolutely thanks for the clarification.

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Headed to DL May 15-18, family of 3. We decided not to do Genie+ but got hoppers as we have 4 full days. Did we make the right choice or should we consider getting Genie+?

Personally, I think you made the right choice. My family goes every year. We get 5-day park hoppers and will never get single park per day ticket because we have never, ever, ever stayed in only 1 park each day. Never! lol And we’ve never bought Genie passes either. Our kids are still younger, but when they were tiny, we went back to the room midday for a nap before dinner, and then closed out the park (til midnight). We were shocked when this worked the first time, but it became our routine cause it worked everytime. We’re talking 2-5 years old. But getting a 2-3 hour nap was perfect. We’d be back in time for the parade, fireworks, and lots of late nights rides when everyone else was dragging their screaming children out of the park early. Plus if you want to catch nightime shows in both parks, like parade/fireworks in main park and world of color in ca adventure, you can’t do that without park hoppers.

Also, getting 4-day tickets was a great idea. You will be exhausted when the trip is over, but it will totally be worth it! 1, 2 or even 3 days just isn’t enough. It used to be, especially in the ‘off season’ like January, but going mid-May (be prepared for warmer weather and long lines!) you’ll be happy you got 4 days. As for your main question, I feel Genie is a personal choice, but not one for us. My brother in law gets it everytime he goes, and I’ve been with him when he does, and it’s a waste of money the way he does Disneyland. For me and my family, we never get it, but we also go ‘off season’ usually in January (heading there next week!), which with magic keys and local residents isn’t really much of an off season like it used to be 10+ years ago, but still less crowded than summer and spring break. May will be busier, so you might find it worthwhile, but for 3 of you it’ll cost $75 per day. Like the author wrote above though, it’s something you can get piecemeal. I’d say try your first day without it and see how it goes. If you then want to try it, buy it on day 2 and see how that goes and then play it by ear the next 2 days. It’s also worth noting that ‘getting the hang of Disneyland’ might take a full day, so by day 2 or 3 you’ll naturally feel the flow of which lands/park to visit at a particular time to get shorter lines. There’s definitely an ebb and flow to park crowds. Also keep an eye on wait times on the disney app. We’ve found that the disparities between what’s listed on the app and above the rides physical line can cause beneficial chaos if you’re prepared. For instance, many, many times we’ve seen the wait times listed on the physical ride be only 10-15 minutes less than 5 minutes after the app bumps the wait time up to 60-90 minutes. The reason is cause most people see that on the app and leave the line. If you jump in line at the right moment, you save yourselves an extra hour of wait time. You’ll even see the herd return behind you as they realize the line is now ‘short’. It won’t work 100% of the time, but on the bigger, but older rides like space mountain, you’re almost guaranteed to save a lot of time. No one wants to wait 90 minutes for that. Chances are it won’t be the same on Star Wars rides, Cars, or some of the newer stuff. Also, Fantasyland at night is often a ghosttown. Head there post-fireworks and you’ll be able to do all the kids rides multiple times over in a short period of time. At least that’s been our experience (see my note above about parents dragging tired, screaming kids out of the park early, lol).

A really good option is to purchase your Disneyland tickets at the grocery store – Ralph’s, Smart and Final, Raleys, Target, Cardenas, Superior and Super A. The tickets are sold through ScanIt where you find the giftcards. Scan the QR code, select your tickets, enter your email and a barcode is generated. Purchase in store. You get your credit card grocery points this way – I get cash back for grocery!!! Plus at Ralph’s you get FUEL rewards. Disneyland currently is running their $83/day through September. Get in the grocery store! Reservations are open right now!!

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I just used Get Away Today to buy tickets for an upcoming trip and could not be happier. I have always been hesitant to use a ticket discounter, but this worked like a dream. And of course can’t forget the most important thing – saving money on the exact same product I was buying anyway!

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I just compared GAT against UCT and UCT is a better value! Looks like GAT raised their pricing today for some reason!

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Disneyland Ticket Discounts, Deals & Coupons

LAST UPDATE: 3/8/24

1970’s vintage Disneyland ticket book

Disneyland tickets cost more every year, but you can still find Disneyland ticket discounts if you know where to look. MouseSavers.com has covered Disneyland for more than 20 years , and we list every reliable Disneyland ticket discount, coupon or deal available. There are Disneyland ticket discounts anyone can use as well as special discounts for Southern California residents, US military members and others. Read on for more! 

Special note: A theme park reservation is required for the first park you visit. Before buying tickets, check the theme park reservation calendar to make sure you can get into the parks you want to visit, then buy your tickets and link them to your Disney account, then go back to the park reservation calendar to lock in your park reservations. If your plans change, you can change your park reservations later, assuming there’s availability at the park you want to switch to. Park hopping is available from 11:00 am until park closing; read more about how Park Hopper currently works . 

This page is about ticket discounts for the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California.  If that’s not where you’re planning a trip, perhaps you want our page about  discounts on tickets to Walt Disney World in Florida . Or you may want  information and tips for the Disney parks in other countries .

Any prices listed on this page are subject to change at any time.

  • If you are visiting this page for the first time, we highly recommend that you first read our Advice, Tips and Tricks for Disneyland (California) Tickets page , which contains important tips that could save you money and help you avoid scams.
  • For comparison purposes, you may want to check the regular prices of all Disneyland (California) tickets and annual passes .

Sources for Disneyland (California) Ticket Discounts

  • Discount Tickets from Undercover Tourist

One-Day Ticket Discounts

  • Southern California Resident Ticket Discounts

Military & Civil Service Ticket Discounts

Corporate, government & other membership discounts, aaa ticket discounts, disneyland area supermarket ticket discounts.

  • Teacher Ticket Discounts
  • College Student Ticket Discounts

Credit Union Member Ticket Discounts

  • Canadian Resident Ticket Discounts
  • Australia/New Zealand Resident Ticket Discounts

Online Travel Agencies

Discounts on annual passes.

Other Disneyland (California) Ticket Information Pages

  • Regular Ticket Prices
  • Ticket Advice, Tips and Tricks

Disneyland Ticket Discounts From Undercover Tourist

Undercover Tourist, a great ticket vendor we’ve recommended for many years, offers significant discounts on Disneyland tickets and tickets for other California and Florida attractions. We really like Undercover Tourist because they constantly strive to have both the best prices and best customer service in the business. That’s a tall order, but we have years of experience and feedback from our readers that tells us they really deliver!

Also, Undercover Tourist has straight-to-the-gate tickets for Disneyland! No more waiting in line at a ticket booth to get your actual tickets on the first day of your vacation. Now you just print the tickets at home and take them right to the turnstile. The gate attendant will scan your paper tickets and hand you card-size tickets to use for the rest of the trip. It only takes a few seconds and you’re on your way to Space Mountain. You can also put the tickets on your phone and save paper ( works on most iPhone and Android devices ).

You can use Undercover Tourist’s ticket calendar to see if there are theme park reservations available  before you purchase tickets. 

Undercover Tourist Disneyland tickets are refundable! This is a huge benefit — even Disney doesn’t offer refunds on tickets! There is a 5% restocking fee, so most of the time it’s better to change the tickets rather than refund them, but for those cases when you really won’t be able to use the tickets at all, it’s great to know you can get 95% of your ticket cost back. To be eligible for refund, your tickets must be unused and unchanged. Check Undercover Tourist for the full terms and conditions.

  • Get great deals on Disneyland tickets and other attraction tickets from Undercover Tourist!

Exclusive Discounts for MouseSavers Newsletter Subscribers

Undercover Tourist offers its best prices to subscribers to the FREE MouseSavers Newsletter and Hot Deals announcements! By using the exclusive link located in every monthly MouseSavers Newsletter, you always get a special extra discount on every multi-day Disneyland ticket (and most other attraction tickets)! In addition, Undercover Tourist puts a handful of individual tickets on sale every month, and those tickets are offered only to Hot Deals subscribers! (It’s a different set of tickets every month, and can include any combination of Disneyland, Walt Disney World and/or other California or Florida attractions.) The MouseSavers Newsletter and the Hot Deals emails also contain exclusive hotel and other discounts not found anywhere else. Remember, it’s completely FREE.

  • Sign up today for the FREE MouseSavers Newsletter and optional FREE Hot Deals emails!   The main newsletter comes out on the 15th of each month (or the next business day) and the Hot Deals announcement with the special Undercover Tourist sale prices comes out on the final Monday of each month (or the next business day). We do not send out the private links separately from the newsletters, so please plan ahead.

One-day Disneyland tickets and Disney California Adventure tickets are almost never discounted. The exceptions are all for advance purchase only:

  • Disneyland tickets sold through universities (for students )
  • Disneyland tickets for school teachers
  • Disneyland tickets offered to employees by large corporations and government agencies in Southern California
  • Military discounts on tickets through base MWR offices
  • Limited-time offers, when available, from major-brand hotels (require one-night or more hotel stay)

Disneyland Ticket Discounts for Southern California Residents

Most Disneyland ticket discounts for residents are for people living in Southern California zip codes 90000-93599 and Northern Baja California zip codes 21000-22999. Photo ID and proof of residency is required at the time of purchase and may be required at the time of admission as well.

For a limited time , Southern California residents can purchase special 3-day tickets (for ages 3 and up) to visit one park per day (either Disneyland Park or Disney California Adventure) and add Park Hopper and/or Disney Genie+. Tickets are valid January 2 through June 2, 2024 and may be used on three consecutive days or three separate days within that time period.*

  • 3-Day, 1-Park Per Day Disneyland SoCal ticket (age 3+) valid Mondays through Thursdays only for $225
  • 3-Day, 1-Park Per Day Disneyland SoCal ticket (age 3+) valid any day  for $275

You can add Park Hopper for $70 per ticket; you can add Genie+ for $90 per ticket. 

Proof of residency is required. A theme park reservation is required for the first park you visit and is subject to availability. Park hopping is available from 11:00 am until park closing; read more about how Park Hopper currently works .

There are a limited number of theme park reservations available for the Southern California Resident Special Offer Tickets. Park reservations may be available for regular theme park tickets even though park reservations for these special tickets are fully reserved. If you purchase these tickets, we recommended making making your theme park reservations as early as possible. 

*Valid only for Southern California residents within ZIP codes 90000-93599; proof of residency is required for purchase and admission. Tickets expire June 2, 2024. Eligible residents may purchase 5 tickets per person per day with valid ID. Tickets may not be sold or transferred for commercial use. Offer may not be combined with other ticket discounts or promotions. Each day of use constitutes one full day of use. Subject to capacity, restrictions and change without notice.

  • Discounted Southern California Resident Tickets are available through Undercover Tourist , or directly from Disney at the regular price.

Southern California Annual Passport

Southern California residents qualify for a reduced-price Disneyland Annual Pass. See the Disneyland Ticket Prices page for details.

  • Military Salute Tickets
  • Ongoing Military/DoD Ticket Discounts

Military Salute Disneyland Tickets

Military Salute Tickets for Visits 1/2/24 – 12/13/24

Active or retired US military personnel may purchase up to a maximum of six 3-Day Disneyland Park Hopper Tickets or  4-Day Disneyland Park Hopper Tickets , to be used by themselves, family members (including spouse) or friends. Tickets may be used on non-consecutive days. The tickets expire and may not be used after 12/13/24.

Tickets options for this special offer are:

  • 3-day Disneyland Military Park Hopper ticket for $269
  • 3-day Disneyland Military Park Hopper ticket with Disney Genie+ for $359
  • 4-day Disneyland Military Park Hopper ticket for $315
  • 4-day Disneyland Military Park Hopper ticket with Disney Genie+ for $435

Tickets must be purchased by December 10, 2024.

Please note: Valid admission and a theme park reservation is required for the first park you visit. Park hopping is available from 11:00 am until park closing; read more about how Park Hopper currently works . 

How to Get Military Salute Tickets

Tickets for use 1/2/24 – 12/13/24 were announced on and went on sale 11/16/23. 

Military Salute Tickets must be purchased in person, with military ID by the eligible member or their spouse. The tickets can be purchased at participating US military sales outlets (MWR/ITT office) on a military base. 

Rules for Military Salute Tickets

These tickets are for active or retired members of the US military, including the National Guard, Reservists, the US Coast Guard, the US Space Force with a valid military ID card. It also includes the Commissioned Corps of the Public Health Service (PHS) and the Commissioned Corps of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Dept of Defense (CIA, FBI, Secret Service) and Coalition Forces are not included .

The military ID will be checked when the tickets are activated. Once the tickets are activated the group can split up.

More details are available on the 2024 Disneyland’s Military Salute ticket offer page .

Where to Ask Questions About Military Salute Tickets

If you have questions about this promotion, please don’t send them to us. All the information we have is listed above. If you need more info, here are some good resources:

  • Call your local base MWR/ITT directly and ask them.
  • Military Disney Tips has a very long FAQ on these tickets.

Ongoing Military/DoD Disneyland Ticket Discounts

Active duty and retired military, DOD civilian employees and their dependents qualify for Disneyland ticket discounts.

Disney will check ID at the gate. Military personnel may bring in non-military guests with the military discount as long as they accompany the non-military person(s). If military personnel purchase tickets and give them as gifts to non-military users that they will not be accompanying, they risk having the recipient denied entry and the tickets confiscated.

  • Discounted military tickets are available through your local base MWR/ITT office . The prices and the exact tickets that are available will vary from base to base.
  • Civil Service employees of certain branches of government (such as NASA) can purchase discounted tickets at their exchange shops at the same rates as military. Typically the tickets must be ordered and will take a couple of weeks to arrive. While the employee must purchase the tickets, reportedly anyone can use them. Thanks to Melissa for the info.

Employees of large companies, major government agencies, or large membership groups like unions or professional organizations (typically those with 200-plus employees or members) may qualify to purchase discount Disneyland tickets, regardless of whether the company has any direct relationship with Disney. Tickets are offered through private websites operated by various ticket suppliers that service large organizations. A password is required to access those sites. Check with your company or organization’s benefits department to find out whether your company participates and how to get the password.

If you work for a company that is a major corporate sponsor at Disneyland (i.e. the company’s logo is on a major attraction), or has a significant business relationship with Disney, you might qualify for significant discounts on tickets. Check with your Human Resources department for additional info.

Additionally, employees of companies that have a business relationship with Disney sometimes qualify for deep ticket discounts. Reportedly employees of Chase (which offers Disney Visa cards ), Kellogg’s (which does a lot of cross-promotions with Disney) and ADT (installs alarms for Disney) get ticket discounts, for instance. Check with your Human Resources department for additional info.

Some of these membership discounts can be significant, but others are no better (or even worse) than Disneyland ticket discounts available to the general public, so be sure to compare the final price (with any service fees and/or shipping) to the price from Undercover Tourist .

The American Automobile Association is subdivided into regions, with each region having a different independent affiliated club. Each regional club offers different attraction tickets. Some offer discount Disneyland tickets; some don’t. Some don’t have discounts, but offer a free bonus of some kind with the order, and if that bonus has value to you, that can be worth considering. Usually you’ll find that clubs on the West coast and driving distance from Disneyland are the most likely to offer discount Disneyland tickets. For the very latest information, you should always call your local club or check their web site to see what they offer. Obviously, you will need to be a member of AAA to get these discounts, but in many cases, a club in one region will allow members in other regions to take advantage of their discounts. It never hurts to ask!

  • Automobile Club of Southern California offices sells advance purchase multi-day discount Disneyland tickets.  Members of other AAA clubs can use this discount, but you must purchase your Disneyland tickets in person at an Auto Club branch. If you will have a car while in Anaheim, the closest AAA office is at 420 N Euclid Street, about 4 miles from Disneyland. Phone number is (714) 774-2392 . Thanks to pho lishus and Dan L for info.
  • Some Central and Northern California AAA offices and neighboring states’ AAA offices (i.e. Arizona and Oregon) sell advance purchase multi-day Disneyland tickets (usually only Park Hoppers). They may or may not be discounted. Be sure to call your local AAA office in advance to check prices and make sure they have the Disneyland tickets you want in stock. Sometimes they allow members of other clubs to buy tickets, but usually in person, not online. Sometimes a free parking pass is included with the purchase of multi-day tickets.
  • Last we checked, the Washington State AAA offices offer Disneyland tickets at regular price, but include a free parking pass with every multi-day Disneyland ticket. For some situations this might be a better deal than getting a discount on the tickets. But price it out both ways to be sure.

Some supermarkets such as Safeway, Albertson’s and Ralph’s (primarily in California and neighboring states) may carry promotional advance purchase discount Disneyland tickets. These are typically just the Southern California resident tickets offered at the same price you’d pay at the Disneyland ticket booths, but sometimes you can either get a little extra discount, or you can use their club card to get some kind of bonus, like a discount on gas or a future grocery discount. You may need to show an ID with a Southern California zip code in order to purchase the tickets.

Disneyland Ticket Discounts for Teachers

If you are a teacher in the US or Canada, be sure to check with your teachers’ union for possible discount Disneyland tickets. These discounts can come and go as Disney evaluates their various corporate and affinity discounts. Just because they had one last year doesn’t mean it’ll still be there this year (and vice-versa).

Some of these teacher union discounts can be significant, but others are no better (or even worse) than Disneyland ticket discounts available to the general public, so be sure to compare the final price (with any service fees and/or shipping) to the price from Undercover Tourist .

  • Members of the California Teachers Association sometimes qualify for great Disneyland ticket discounts. To check on what’s available right now, either visit the benefits website or call TSA/First Financial Credit Union at (800) 537-8491 . Thanks to Diane E for info.
  • MouseSavers.com reader Barbara W reports, “First Financial Credit Union may extend this discount to members of other Teachers Associations through their toll-free phone line. (The rep I spoke to had no problem with my parents’ membership in a Canadian association.) Disneyland tickets must be shipped to a residential address in the US only.” Another reader reports that they would not allow a teacher from outside California to order. So “your mileage may vary.”
  • MouseSavers.com reader Heather O reports, “the PSEA (Pennsylvania State Education Association) also offers significant Disneyland ticket discounts…. I found that I could save $25-30 on most multi-day tickets!”

Disneyland Ticket Discounts for College Students

Many universities in Southern California offer Disneyland tickets and Disney California Adventure tickets at a small discount for their students. If you are a college student, check with your Student Union. You’ll typically only save around $1 on 1-day Disneyland tickets and $6 on 2-day tickets, but this is one of the very few ways to get a deal on 1-day tickets.

Some California credit unions may offer discount Disneyland tickets to their members. These deals are getting fewer and further between as Disney has been slowly reducing the number of deals it offers to corporate and group clients. Still, if you belong to a credit union in California, be sure to inquire about this.

Disneyland Tickets Discounts for Canadian Residents

  • Select Disneyland tickets are sold at Flight Centre locations in Canada, in Canadian dollars. Frequently you’ll find lower prices here than direct from Disney.
  • Select Disneyland tickets are sold at some CAA offices. (We strongly recommend calling ahead to find out whether the location near you is offering tickets.) The price of Disneyland tickets purchased in Canada is adjusted periodically to conform to the current exchange rate, so at times it may be possible to time a purchase to benefit from a sudden change in the exchange rate . (Tickets purchased in Canada may be intended only for Canadians and there is a slight chance you might be asked for ID, so US citizens who live near the border should keep this in mind.)
  • Readers report that Canadians can redeem Air Miles for select Disneyland tickets. See the Air Miles site for details. Thanks to Dawn N for info.

Australia/New Zealand Resident Disneyland Ticket Discounts

Australian and New Zealand residents can purchase a special Disneyland ticket that is not sold at the parks: a 10-Day Disney Vacation Pass, which is basically a 10-Day Disneyland Park Hopper ticket, including one Magic Morning admission. Typically this ticket sells for only a few dollars more than a 5-day Park Hopper, making it a great deal for longer trips. This ticket is only sold in Australia and New Zealand, through travel agents including  Flight Centre and Air New Zealand Holidays . Not all agents list the Disneyland tickets on their web site; you may need to call to get prices and buy the tickets. The price of Disneyland tickets purchased in Australia and New Zealand is adjusted periodically to conform to the current exchange rate.  Thanks to Paula S for info.

Most of the time, the big Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) like Expedia , Travelocity ,  Orbitz , Priceline , etc. sell Disneyland tickets at full price. Every once in a while, one of them will offer a special deal on one or two Disneyland tickets as a come-on, to get people to come to their site and hopefully book other things. The Disneyland tickets available on sale can change from day to day (or hour to hour), but it can be worth checking these sites to see if they have a deal on the specific ticket you want. Read our caveats below before purchasing. If you’re only going to save a few dollars, we think you’re better off with Undercover Tourist . If the OTA is offering some kind of super-deep loss-leader Disneyland ticket deal that’s going to save you a bunch, and you are comfortable with the various issues we mention, you may want to take that deal.

Important notes for buying tickets from OTAs:

  • Read the terms and conditions carefully . We’ve seen things like a disclaimer saying they don’t guarantee that your tickets will be valid and will let you into the park (!!!).
  • Make sure you compare the final price , with any tax, fees or shipping, to other sources like Undercover Tourist . A deal that looks great at first glance may not be once miscellaneous fees get tacked on.
  • Check and recheck your information before hitting the purchase button, especially your email address. They will email you the e-tickets and if you make a mistake with your email address it won’t go to the right place. That’s not the end of the world; you can call them and they can find your order by name and resend it, but OTAs have notoriously bad customer service .
  • Do not take the add-ons or upsells offered , especially any kind of “buyer protection” insurance. If they offer you a special limited time deal on something else like a rental car or hotel, be skeptical, and research carefully whether it’s a good deal. The main reason the OTAs offer these kinds of special discount Disneyland tickets is in the hope that they can also sell you something with a better profit margin, so chances are good that any other thing they offer you will be full price (or sometimes even above full price!).
  • Stick to the big agencies you’ve heard of , that advertise widely and have a decent reputation. If you hear about a great deal from a company you’ve never heard of, we advise staying away . There are lots of scammers and fly-by-night sellers offering Disneyland tickets out there and it’s hard to tell the real vendors from the scammers. Even a vendor that’s not a scammer may not have a reliable supply of tickets because they’re not an authorized dealer and don’t have an actual contract with Disney. They’re buying tickets under the table from another travel seller, and if their supply dries up unexpectedly while your order is being processed it might be a serious hassle. We have seen this exact situation more than once , and the people who got left holding the bag were not happy .

Disneyland’s annual passes are called “Magic Key Passes,” and they work very much like the previous “Annual Passports.” The primary difference is that guests need to get a reservation for each day they want to visit. Read more about this system in our Disneyland Ticket Tips & Tricks page .

It can be more cost-effective to buy a Disneyland Magic Key Pass than regular tickets if you will be in the parks for multiple visits in one year (or one visit of more than 5 days). Be sure to include an Magic Key Pass in your calculations when deciding on the best tickets to buy, and be sure to check the blackout dates to make sure you don’t buy a more expensive pass than you need (and, of course, that you buy a pass that will cover the dates you want to go).

Even if you’re only visiting once, for 5 days or less, it might be worthwhile to buy ONE Magic Key Pass for someone in the party. That’s because in addition to the admission, any Magic Key Pass comes with many Disneyland Resort restaurant and shopping discounts and discounts at the Disneyland resort hotels . The Dream Key has higher discounts (20% on merchandise and 15% on food, versus 10% for both with the other passes), as well as FREE parking, but you’ll need to buy a lot of stuff and/or park many times to justify the extra expense. Just have the Passholder use the discounts (and parking privileges if any) for everyone’s benefit. (Most restaurant discounts are good for the entire party — a few have limits.)

Southern California Residents are eligible to buy the very cheapest pass — the Imagine Key Pass. This pass is a bargain at $499, but it does have the most blackout days – for the most part it’s a Monday-Thursday off-season pass. It does have discounts on merchandise and food, just like the more expensive passes. To be considered a “Southern California” resident, you need to live in a zip code between 90000-93599. See the Disneyland Ticket Prices page for details.

Occasionally, Disneyland Annual Passholders can purchase discounted park tickets for friends and family. When this happens, we list any offers below.

How to Buy a Disneyland Annual Pass

You can buy your pass in person at any Disneyland ticket booth . If you have never had a Magic Key or Annual Passport before, you’ll have to get a photo taken by a PhotoPass photographer, which will be associated with the pass.

You can also buy a Disneyland Magic Key Pass from Disney in advance online or by phone at (714) 781-INFO (4636) . If you buy in advance, you will receive a code that you can scan into the Disneyland app on your phone. The start date of your pass will be the first day you enter a park (or the first day you use the FREE or discounted parking, if your pass includes either of those features). On your first trip, you’ll be advised to go get your photo taken, and if you don’t get a photo taken, they’ll eventually refuse to let you use your pass until you get it done. 

In the past, many supermarkets in Southern California would sell “gift card” style vouchers for Disneyland Annual Passports at full price . We think it’s likely that will continue, but it doesn’t save you any money, and it’s not really any more convenient than buying the pass online. Either way, you’ll need to get the pass linked to your Disneyland account, and then use the Disneyland app to actually show your pass to enter the park and get discounts.

If you live in California (not just Southern California, anywhere in California), you can put a down payment on a Magic Key pass and pay the rest in monthly installments . There’s no extra charge, so it’s basically an interest-free loan from Disney. You need to give Disney a credit card that will be charged every month automatically. You need to make sure you keep a valid credit card on your account for the whole year (you can swap cards or update expiration dates in your Disneyland account online). If any monthly payment doesn’t go through, your Magic Key will be immediately deactivated until you make the missed payment.

Disney really wants you to use your phone to store and show your annual pass. If you don’t have a smartphone that can use the Disneyland app, or just prefer to have a physical card, you can get one for $20 at a ticket booth or guest services location.

Generally we don’t see much point in buying an annual pass in advance , except if you know the prices are about to go up and you want to lock in the current price. If you buy a Magic Key, you can hold off on activating it for a year. If you go a whole year without activating your Magic Key pass, it will expire and at that point will only be good to trade it toward a new Magic Key pass. Note that you will need to remember that you have an expired, unused pass registered to your account, and specifically ask a cast member to apply it towards a new pass purchase; it will not show up in your Disneyland account.

You can renew a Magic Key up to 30 days prior to its expiration date. When you renew, you can change to any higher or lower-tier pass that you qualify for. Unlike at Walt Disney World, there is no “grace period” after the expiration date to renew. If you forget to renew on time and go past the expiration date, you can no longer renew your annual pass, and will need to buy a new one . And if new passes are not being sold, you will need to wait until new passes go on sale, if they ever do.

Obviously if there’s no renewal discount, there’s usually no real point to renewing ; just let the old one expire and buy a new one when you are ready to go back to the parks (if new ones are available – see below). If Disney does bring back the renewal discount, make sure to consider your future plans carefully before renewing. If the renewal discount is, say, 10%, there’s no real savings to renewal unless you plan to visit the parks within the next 10% of a year (37 days). With a 20% discount, it’s not worth renewing unless you plan to be back within 20% of a year (73 days), and so forth. If your plans for your next visit are further out than that, just let your current pass expire and buy a new one when you come back.

If Disney is allowing renewals but not new purchases, which it has done occasionally, then that’s a different issue – if you don’t renew a pass you lose it and can’t get another until new pass sales open again.

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