Disneyland, Universal and other California theme parks can reopen April 1

[TikiTikiFan]

But they’re not all in the park at the same time.

One of our friends was a Disneyland fireman for awhile (mostly worked Fantasmic!), and he says it was “about” 60,000/30,000 when he was there. I think he stopped in 2018? So pre-SW:GE and some other changes... but not that far off. He also talks about how what’s open changes capacity, so I’d imagine some of the show venues alone are going to make a dent in it (there’s stuff like the Hyperion, the Disney Jr show, even Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln... that will add up).

It will be very interesting to see what they come up with in terms of tickets - you don’t want 20,000 people all showing up for rope drop, so I imagine there is likely to be a timed element involved? I’m so curious to see how this is all managed.

I'm curious how rope drop will be managed too! WDW has the ability to control parking lot access and park transportation to keep crowds from building up at the gates. DL won't have it quite as easy. Im sure they'll do the same thing by just letting people in early as lines build though.

 

[montreid]

Just throwing some info out there: Shanghai Disneyland sold season and 1/2 year passes before offering annual passes, it's possible that Disneyland in California may choose to do the same.
4. Guaranteed entry to Galaxy's Edge was a benefit to hotel guests being offered when the land first opened.

+1.
Disney can/should easily do 50% of tickets for their own hotels and carve out guaranteed entry to eligible guests (ie CA residency at the gate verified with valid ticket).

1-3 month passes would sound about right for transition period with 2-3 reservations allowable at any period a la flex passes.

 

[GeneralTso]

It's going to be a very fluid, ever-changing cluster as this rolls out.
Disney is NOT GOOD at new things. It happens and it's not completely thought out. They inexplicably don't take many things into consideration. Then they pivot and fix problems along the way.

I'm thrilled they are reopening. It's about time. CA residents only? OK, but that will change too.
They're trying and it'll be a bit painful but we'll get there. We've been patient, we need to continue.

 

[nutshell]

Here’s my conundrum. I’m a California resident. I have three day park hoppers. I think they were supposed to expire in January but they’re still showing up in the app. Will I be able to use these or will I have to buy whatever special ticket DLR comes up with at reopening? If the latter, what do I do with my park hoppers?

 

[brightlined]

Here’s my conundrum. I’m a California resident. I have three day park hoppers. I think they were supposed to expire in January but they’re still showing up in the app. Will I be able to use these or will I have to buy whatever special ticket DLR comes up with at reopening? If the latter, what do I do with my park hoppers?

We don't know yet.

My guess is that they'll delay the expiration date on those for the length of time that the park isn't officially (and completely) open. Meaning: if they do decide to do a DL special event rather than officially open the park (or just given the limits of the restrictions, which affect out-of-state ticket holders), they'll delay the expiration that much further.

 

[nutshell]

We don't know yet.

My guess is that they'll delay the expiration date on those for the length of time that the park isn't officially (and completely) open. Meaning: if they do decide to do a DL special event rather than officially open the park (or just given the limits of the restrictions, which affect out-of-state ticket holders), they'll delay the expiration that much further.

Exactly. Which means if I want to go when they open I am stuck with paying the reopening tickets while already having park hoppers in my pocket. Oh well.

 

[brightlined]

Exactly. Which means if I want to go when they open I am stuck with paying the reopening tickets while already having park hoppers in my pocket. Oh well.

Keep in mind - until both parks are fully open, your park-hoppers are a lot more valuable than the special event tickets. It'd be kinda silly to burn those for less than what you paid for them.

This page says that existing park tickets have been extended until December 16th.
https://disneyland.disney.go.com/travel-information/

 

[DLgal]

Here’s my conundrum. I’m a California resident. I have three day park hoppers. I think they were supposed to expire in January but they’re still showing up in the app. Will I be able to use these or will I have to buy whatever special ticket DLR comes up with at reopening? If the latter, what do I do with my park hoppers?

Likely they will use the same reservation system that WDW is using. That system requires you to have a park ticket linked in the app. This one will likely be the same. Since you already have a ticket linked, you should be able to make park reservations when that goes live.

There is no reason to think they will do a special "ticketed event" type thing once they commit to reopening. They will simply start selling tickets online and you will have to have a linked ticket in order to make a park reservation. I do NOT think they will sell date specific tickets. Too much hassle, considering people need flexibility in these days where at any time, you might become sick or need to quarantine.

 

[ddwlms]

I have a thought, that's not going to make people happy, but hear me out. If Disney can only open at 15%, and based on the response to ToD, I feel like they could sell tickets at some ridiculously inflated rate (say $200, maybe $300, 1 park 1 day) and still sell out.

This way, Disney could actually, maybe, turn a profit.

Just curious, what would you be willing to pay?

 

[DLgal]

I have a thought, that's not going to make people happy, but hear me out. If Disney can only open at 15%, and based on the response to ToD, I feel like they could sell tickets at some ridiculously inflated rate (say $200, maybe $300, 1 park 1 day) and still sell out.

This way, Disney could actually, maybe, turn a profit.

Just curious, what would you be willing to pay?

We are likely not going until they release their new annual membership passes for sale. I won't pay an inflated day ticket price just to be able to say "first" on social media.

We do what works for our budget, and we are willing to pay $$$$$ for an annual pass, but won't buy separate day tickets. We will just keep waiting until we can get an annual pass again if they don't sell them immediately.

While they did "sell out" the TOD event, we have NO idea how many daily tickets they sold, so was don't really know how much demand there is for overinflated park tickets. Plus, people justified these tickets because they included parking and a gift card, offsetting some of the upfront cost. Surely day tickets won't be priced the same way.

 

[brightlined]

Likely they will use the same reservation system that WDW is using. That system requires you to have a park ticket linked in the app. This one will likely be the same. Since you already have a ticket linked, you should be able to make park reservations when that goes live.

There is no reason to think they will do a special "ticketed event" type thing once they commit to reopening. They will simply start selling tickets online and you will have to have a linked ticket in order to make a park reservation. I do NOT think they will sell date specific tickets. Too much hassle, considering people need flexibility in these days where at any time, you might become sick or need to quarantine.

What you're suggesting would be borderline chaos when they open ticketing.

Most people don't have tickets right now. They'll have to buy generic admission, then book a reservation for a park. That's smashing the system twice - once to buy the ticket, and again to book the reservation. (The system isn't currently set up to do both simultaneously, except as a specific-day ticket like ToD.) If people end up being able to buy a ticket but can't get a reservation for a day they can go (or at all) - it'd be nuts.

This is different from WDW. WDW only briefly paused selling admission, so they didn't get bombed like DL is going to be.

I agree that they'll go back to regular tickets once the parks are open. But that means fully open - some time after Taste of Disney when DCA is fully accessible.

The other caveat: the in-state residency restriction. The easiest way for them to manage that is to sell a California-resident-only ticket for the park(s) during the days that access is limited. (Especially during ToD.) The current system checks for residency prior to purchasing (ie, local-level APs). If they don't do that, they'll have to check residency at the gates. (Unless Disney thinks they can get away with looking the other way.)

I can't say for sure that they'll do specific-day tickets - but with the heavy restrictions on access during this time frame, it would make an astronomical amount of sense to sell a restricted ticket in advance so that they know who's coming when and to simply the purchasing process. (Especially if they decide to keep the ticketing booths closed, knowing that tickets will likely sell out before anyone gets there.)

The bonus for Disney selling a new ticket - it's all new money. Taking an old ticket that's still valid until December would just diminish their immediate income.

I could be entirely wrong. But I think trying to do it the old way while things are this restricted would just end up being a complete and unnecessary mess.

 

[DLgal]

What you're suggesting would be borderline chaos when they open ticketing.

Most people don't have tickets right now. They'll have to buy generic admission, then book a reservation for a park. That's smashing the system twice - once to buy the ticket, and again to book the reservation. (The system isn't currently set up to do both simultaneously, except as a specific-day ticket like ToD.) If people end up being able to buy a ticket but can't get a reservation for a day they can go (or at all) - it'd be nuts.

This is different from WDW. WDW only briefly paused selling admission, so they didn't get bombed like DL is going to be.

I agree that they'll go back to regular tickets once the parks are open. But that means fully open - some time after Taste of Disney when DCA is fully accessible.

The other caveat: the in-state residency restriction. The easiest way for them to manage that is to sell a California-resident-only ticket for the park(s) during the days that access is limited. (Especially during ToD.) The current system checks for residency prior to purchasing (ie, local-level APs). If they don't do that, they'll have to check residency at the gates. (Unless Disney thinks they can get away with looking the other way.)

I can't say for sure that they'll do specific-day tickets - but with the heavy restrictions on access during this time frame, it would make an astronomical amount of sense to sell a restricted ticket in advance so that they know who's coming when and to simply the purchasing process. (Especially if they decide to keep the ticketing booths closed, knowing that tickets will likely sell out before anyone gets there.)

The bonus for Disney selling a new ticket - it's all new money. Taking an old ticket that's still valid until December would just diminish their immediate income.

I could be entirely wrong. But I think trying to do it the old way while things are this restricted would just end up being a complete and unnecessary mess.

You are overthinking it, I think.

The CA resident requirement has practically a zero percent chance of sticking, so I won't even address that.

They already have the Disneyland app set up to make reservations (Flex pass holders used to have to do this all the time.) There was nothing chaotic about it. The infrastructure is already in place. They just have to extend it so that ALL valid media types need to go through that process, not just Flex passes. It's a simple programming change to the software that I'm sure they have already addressed.

 

[WonkaKid]

I have a thought, that's not going to make people happy, but hear me out. If Disney can only open at 15%, and based on the response to ToD, I feel like they could sell tickets at some ridiculously inflated rate (say $200, maybe $300, 1 park 1 day) and still sell out.

That might be worth it if all of the attractions were open. But with only outside attractions - about 20% of what’s available - I certainly wouldn’t be willing to pay an inflated price. That is, I wouldn’t pay two or three times the usual admission for 20% of the experience.

 

[brightlined]

They already have the Disneyland app set up to make reservations (Flex pass holders used to have to do this all the time.) There was nothing chaotic about it. The infrastructure is already in place. They just have to extend it so that ALL valid media types need to go through that process, not just Flex passes. It's a simple programming change to the software that I'm sure they have already addressed.

As I think we've all seen thus far, there are no simple programming changes in the Disney universe.

(I think, eventually, it'll be a variation of the WDW system rather than a Flex system upgrade. The Flex system wasn't chaotic because it wasn't that heavily used.)

But I think you're underselling the potential complications of doing what you're describing. Doesn't mean they won't, but treating the 15% capacity weeks as something else simplifies the process. They can limit what tickets people can buy and use, and not have to deal with the headaches, for example, of refunding people's parkhopper tickets when parkhopping isn't available. (That's what WDW did).

I would bet the money in my wallet that it'll be something similar to the Touch of Disney checkout system initially - at least for the first few weeks. Pick your reservation day(s), pick your ticket, one-step checkout. That way, people will know what they're getting for their money, and there won't be the risk of people spending money for tickets they can't use in the near future. If the only available ticket is some form of CA-resident ticket, they've basically sewn it all up.

And I wouldn't look past the CA resident restrictions. The battles with the state thus far have been intense. The only way they skate past it is if they negotiate it away or if the state indicates they won't enforce it. Disney has to at least pretend to take it seriously.

 

[gelatoni fan]

While they did "sell out" the TOD event, we have NO idea how many daily tickets they sold, so was don't really know how much demand there is for overinflated park tickets. Plus, people justified these tickets because they included parking and a gift card, offsetting some of the upfront cost. Surely day tickets won't be priced the same way.

That might be worth it if all of the attractions were open. But with only outside attractions - about 20% of what’s available - I certainly wouldn’t be willing to pay an inflated price. That is, I wouldn’t pay two or three times the usual admission for 20% of the experience.

There is a type of park goer who with FOMO and wants to see all the exclusive things, no matter how mundane. The experience doesn't have to be better; it just has to be new or exclusive for a limited time. Seeing social distancing measures like plexiglass installed in between rows on rides can be enough to justify going to the park for some people because this will only exist for a limited time.

A Touch of Disney includes food and character interactions that normally do not exist. So the target market is people who are willing to pay for hard ticket events to experience things in the park other than the standard attractions, not the typical annual passholder who wants to go on their favorite rides on a regular basis.

The first week and weekends will sell out even if it were ridiculously expensive. But if nothing substantial changes, the price will not be sustainable.

 

[JoshF]

I'm just happy that this signals a light at the end of the tunnel in terms of CA theme park closures. My son spent age 5 through 6 without a park experience and I'm looking forward to more normalcy.

 

[jodybird511]

Likely they will use the same reservation system that WDW is using. That system requires you to have a park ticket linked in the app. This one will likely be the same. Since you already have a ticket linked, you should be able to make park reservations when that goes live.

There is no reason to think they will do a special "ticketed event" type thing once they commit to reopening. They will simply start selling tickets online and you will have to have a linked ticket in order to make a park reservation. I do NOT think they will sell date specific tickets. Too much hassle, considering people need flexibility in these days where at any time, you might become sick or need to quarantine.

I agree. They have already tested and tweaked this system at WDW--they know it works now. Why reinvent the wheel? Also, I think there are actually probably quite a lot of ppl out there with tickets. If you think about how far in advance ppl plan Disney trips, there were likely ppl who had tickets for dates well into 2021 (it's not unusual for people to plan a year in advance) who are sitting on unused tickets, and many of those are unexpired. The old ticket prices went out in Feb 2020, so anyone who bought after that still has "live" tickets. I bought ours in late Feb of last year and they are good through Jan 2022. I have a feeling Disney will start with using a system they have already tried and then modify as needed once everything hits the fan. That system also allowed for various passholder, on property, and day ticket subgroups, which DLR would also need (well, not the passholder).

 

[Lumpy1106]

Here’s my conundrum. I’m a California resident. I have three day park hoppers. I think they were supposed to expire in January but they’re still showing up in the app. Will I be able to use these or will I have to buy whatever special ticket DLR comes up with at reopening? If the latter, what do I do with my park hoppers?

What they did @ WDW is they gave you the value (what you paid) for the tickets and you could use that towards whatever tickets are available. We had 4 park plus waterpark tickets that we got a great deal on. The waterparks were not open so we wanted 5 day tickets. It ended up costing us about $80 per person more. Yes, we could have gone just 4 days and used the tickets we had, but no, I don't think they would have compensated us for the waterpark add-on if we had chosen to do that (we didn't ask to be honest).

 

[kikismom]

I don't really know which thread to ask this in so I'll start here. When WDW opened ticked sales was it open to all right away? All types of passholders I mean, not FL residents. People staying on property, AP's, etc. I know DL will be different with CA residents only. We have a trip booked for October and I'm feeling less like it's going to happen now that it's residents only only because I have to buy 9 tickets at once and try to get 5 days of reservations in a row to make our dates work. I'm a bit worried about this and am thinking about asking our group to change their travel dates. That would require time share and airline ticket changes though so such a hassle. I am super happy for employees and CA residents to have some good news but I so hope it being limited doesn't have a negative effect on out of state visitors plans.

Edited to add some clarification.

 

[brightlined]

I don't really know which thread to ask this in so I'll start here. When WDW opened ticked sales was it open to all right away? All types of passholders I mean, not FL residents. People staying on property, AP's, etc. I know DL will be different with CA residents only. We have a trip booked for October and I'm feeling less like it's going to happen now that it's residents only only because I have to buy 9 tickets at once and try to get 5 days of reservations in a row to make our dates work. I'm a bit worried about this and am thinking about asking our group to change their travel dates. That would require time share and airline ticket changes though so such a hassle. I am super happy for employees and CA residents to have some good news but I so hope it being limited doesn't have a negative effect on out of state visitors plans.

Edited to add some clarification.

They accepted everyone, but access was limited by the park reservation system. They split the reservations into three pods - on-site resort guests, APs, and tickets - which could each fill up on their own. So, for example, you could have an AP and not get in if the AP allotment was booked, but someone could theoretically buy a ticket and get in. (The resorts opened slowly - basically one at a time - so the resort allotment adjusted to fit the number of guests.)

I wouldn't stress too hard about it just yet, unless you just wanted to delay it for peace of mind. Everything could be significantly different between now and October. The park reservation system will probably still be around, but the details of how it'll work are still unclear. I think it's likely that the CA-resident restrictions will be gone by summer (assuming there's not a fourth wave), and hopefully the capacity limits will be more relaxed by then. We'll definitely have a better picture once the parks fully reopen - hopefully, there will be a clearer picture by May or June.