How To Get Disneyland Reservations

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Disneyland is opening. Now what? Will you have to wait in hour long lines trying to get in? How do you make sure you will be able to get in before traveling? How do you get reservations to Disneyland? Let’s dive in and make sure you know how to get yourself reservations to Disneyland.

When Disneyland announced its reopening plans, they let everyone know that they would operate on a reservation system. Immediately, guests of Disneyland were left to wonder if they would be able to secure a reservation.

While Disneyland has not fully revealed how this reservation system will work, we do have some info. I will be continually updating this article, so be sure to keep checking back. In fact, it might be a good idea to bookmark this page.

Disneyland Reservations – What To Know Before Reservations Open

While we don’t know everything about the reservation system, Disneyland has revealed some information, and my Disneyland ticket partners at Get Away Today have confirmed some information for us as well. 

You must have tickets purchased before making a reservation

This seems a bit backwards I know, but here is the deal, Disneyland wants to make sure that guests who have already spent money are able to visit the parks first, so the reservation system will require guests to already have tickets on hand in order to make a reservation. 

Disney paused sales of Disneyland tickets as soon as the announcement was made, so if you do not already have a ticket, you will have to wait to see when ticket sales reopen before making a reservation.

Prediction: I think we will see a price increase when ticket sales resume so be sure to buy now to lock in the price.

What about tickets on layaway through Disney or Get Away Today?

For Disney, I believe Disney will reach out to guests that have put down deposits on their vacations but not paid in full. Please keep an eye out in your emails and also feel free to contact Disney directly.

With Get Away Today, they have been proactively reaching out to guests with tickets on layaway. Unfortunately, in order to get you the ticket numbers (which you will need to make reservations) you must pay off your ticket portion of your layaway plan no later than June 19, 2020 at 5:00 pm MT. 

They are being great about answering questions and helping people out so definitely reach out to them if you have questions about this. They have some flexibility to make changes to tickets during that same time frame (like if you forgot a child is turning 3 and now needs a ticket or forgot to buy for one member of your party).

But I want to leave my ticket on layaway

During a Facebook live, Get Away Today said that you are welcome to leave your tickets on layaway, but you need to be aware that if you do this, and ticket sales do not open back up before your travel dates, they won’t be able to get you the tickets, and therefore, you won’t be able to get reservations.

My take on it – if you plan on going in 2020, I would pay the tickets off so you have them. We don’t know how long the ticket sales would be paused.

In reality, I think we will see ticket sales resume by September, but there is no way to know for sure.

What about Annual Passholders

Annual Passholders will be able to make Disneyland Reservations as well, but Disneyland has also paused all sales and renewals on Disneyland Annual Passes.

My Annual Pass expired during the closure.

If your Disneyland Annual Pass expired during the closure, you will notice it disappeared from the the Disneyland app. Disneyland offered to either refund or extend passes for the time of closure. 

A reader, Debbie, called in to Disneyland and was told that the passes were not showing in the app, but once the plan to reopen is approved, Disney would start working on extending those dates. So hold tight friends, those extensions are coming.

Will I Be Able To Get A Disneyland Reservation? What Happens if I can’t Get the Dates I Want?

This is the million dollar (or at least a few thousand dollar) question. How will you know if you can get the dates you need? What happens if you don’t lock in those dates, and now you have tickets you bought… 

Deep breaths, it will be alright. Disney is trying to take care of everyone.

What we can learn from Walt Disney World’s Reservation System

On Friday June 19, 2020, Walt Disney World released their reservation information. Okay, not all of it but a lot of good information on it.

On-Site Guests

From this we learned that on-site guests will have first dibs. I have often mentioned that I thought Disneyland might give on-site guests high priority to the parks, as they have always done this. But when you compare Walt Disney World to Disneyland remember that 1) Disneyland will only have 2 resort hotels open to start and 2) Disneyland is not opening their hotels until a week after the parks open.

Annual Passholders

At Walt Disney World, Annual Passholders will have a 2 day head start on making reservations. What we did not learn is what restrictions may be placed on Annual Passholders. Could they possibly be limited to the number of days? Maybe. We just don’t know yet.

Multi-day Tickets

The wording in the Walt Disney World release led us to believe they have taken into account multi-day tickets and the need for guests to need to obtain multiple days of reservations within a short time frame. Hopefully this is also taken into account for Disneyland.

Get Away Today has been proactive in taking care of their guests

I am always in close contact with Get Away Today, but have been even more so over the last while, and let me tell you, they have been working hard ever since the closure to make sure their guests would be taken care of when the park reopens. 

They have been letting Disney know the dates their guests plan to travel, keeping guests updated on ticket expiration extensions, and more.

If you have bought your ticket through them, I have no doubt in my mind they will continue to be proactive as they work to make sure their guests know how to make Disneyland Reservations when the time comes.

With that, Get Away Today has done a few things for their guests. They have heard that parkhopping is planned to be available at Disneyland, even during the reservation period. HOORAY! I often talk about if you should buy parkhopper Disneyland tickets or not, and I love parkhopping myself, so I am happy about this one.

I am sure they will continue to work for their guests and get as much information as possible.

Will I Be Able To Get A Reservation? What Happens If I Can’t Get A Reservation?

This is what I think most of us are worried about. Will we be able to get a reservation?

I think anybody who has purchased tickets will most likely be able to get a reservation. I am going out on a limb there, I am sure, but I really do believe that. 

Here is why:

I have been closely studying the booking habits of Disneyland guests. Most Disneyland visitors do not book their vacations until 30-60 days before travel (per my contacts about my customers booking habits via Get Away Today and unofficial polls I have done with my readers/followers). 

Also, unlike Walt Disney World, Disneyland does not require you to book months in advance to obtain your desired dining reservations.

In addition, a lot of the guests for Disneyland are local Annual Passholders. This may be the only hangup for non AP guests, but I am sure Disney has figured out how to get non-locals and local APs both in the parks.

I really believe that Disney will be able to accommodate everyone who has already purchased tickets for their desired dates, or close to it. I am a bit worried about my opening day reservations, but other than that, I think I will be good.

But… If you don’t get your reservations

You will most likely be able to make reservations far enough in advance that you will be able to cancel most travel plans. If you book your hotel via Get Away Today and purchase the Peace of Mind plan, you cancel your hotel up to 5 days before travel and still get a full refund (minus the POM cost) on your booking. Or you can change it for a later date. My plan is to just reschedule for later on if I can’t get my reservation.

Tip: If booking a hotel for 2 or more nights through Get Away Today, use code CRAZYADVENTURE.

And those Disneyland tickets you bought? Well, you can hold on to those for a future vacation. New tickets purchased after the price increase do not expire until December 2021. Disney also extended the spring ticket deals for both kids and SoCal residents to not expire until December 2021 (with some blockout dates). Only those who purchased before the February 2020 price increase will have tickets that expire in 2020.

And even those tickets that have expired will not lose their value. If you end up putting it off until 2021, and your ticket expired Dec 2020, you simply go to a ticket booth on your visit, with those tickets, and pay the difference to upgrade to the current ticket prices.

How To Make Disneyland Reservations

So here is the biggest question of all… how do we make Disneyland Reservations?

And sadly, we just don’t know yet. 

Disneyland will be releasing information about how to make those reservations in the coming weeks and I will update this section as we get that information. 

But in the mean time, here is your check list of what to do to be as ready as possible to make your reservations:

• Payoff any tickets on layaway from Get Away Today by June 19, 2020 at 5 pm Mountain Time (this includes any changes to your tickets). You will need to call in or message them via their Facebook page to take care of this. Their phone number is 855-Get-Away – be sure to tell them you are calling from This Crazy Adventure Called Life as well and that way they will make sure you get any extra discounts available to my readers.
• When you have your e-ticket, save those emails where you know where to get them
• If you booked an onsite hotel through Get Away Today, make sure to save the email with the reservation number
• Make sure you have a Disney account – you can sign up via the Disneyland website or via the app
• If you booked an onsite hotel through Disney, make sure your reservation is linked to that Disney account
• Get familiar with the Disneyland app. This may be where reservations are able to be made so best to know how to use it.
• Follow me on Facebook, and turn on live notifications so that you can get all the breaking news and updates to Disneyland Reservations.

So what do you think? Will you be trying to get reservations to Disneyland when they are available? Or are you going to hold off until ticket sales resume and reservations are hopefully no longer needed?

 

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