Disney Nears Record Number of Lowest Priced $104 Disneyland Ticket Days in 2026!

One of the best deals you can get on park admission isn’t a limited time discount or technically a special offer at all, it’s the lowest base price on 1-day tickets to Disneyland and Disney California Adventure that anyone can access simply by choosing the right days. This shares the full list of those cheapest dates to do DLR, pros & cons, our recommended dates to visit, and pitfalls to avoid.

We recently discussed Disney’s Changes Aimed at Attracting More Middle Class Families, which included a section on the increased number of $104 ticket dates at Disneyland. At the time that was published, we noted that there were 46 of these dates on the fiscal year calendar through the end of this month, versus only 26 days during the same timeframe in the prior year.

We’re back with an update on that, as the ticket calendar for the full year is out and Disneyland has come close to setting a record for the number of these Tier 0 ticket dates. In fact, they might’ve done so; if not, it’s really close to the highest-ever number. There are 56 of these dates for the full calendar year through December 2026, versus only 36 days during the same timeframe last year.

Ironically enough, the only year that comes close (or potentially surpasses) 2026 for the record of $104 ticket dates is 2023, which was part of another PR push. That came shortly after Bob Iger returned as CEO and was “alarmed” by Disneyland price increases; he acted swiftly on concerns that Chapek was “killing the soul” of Disney by announcing guest-friendly changes on both coasts.

That resulted in several Good Changes at Disneyland, one of which was a concerted effort to increase the number of $104 ticket dates. In a January 2023 letter to Cast Members, Josh D’Amaro shared that Disneyland would be “significantly increasing the number of days” that park tickets are $104, with a total of “nearly two months’ worth” of $104 ticket dates.

Unfortunately, I didn’t keep count of how many $104 dates there ended up being in 2023, but two months would be about 60 days and “nearly” that presumably be in the mid to low 50s. So the 2026 total might be higher than that…or it might not. Hence “near” in the title as opposed to something more declarative.

What I can say with certainty is that no year before or since in the post-COVID era has had that many $104 dates. Most years have had fewer than 40 days of the Tier 0 tickets. This is worth underscoring because this is atypical for Disney. Usually, ticket prices at the lower end of the spectrum are squeezed; even if the floor doesn’t increase, the distribution of dates shifts towards the middle or higher end of the spectrum.

We’ve seen this again and again with Walt Disney World admission, as well as hard ticket events like Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, Oogie Boogie Bash, Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, and After Hours. Even if the base price is maintained from year to year, it’s usually the case that there are fewer of the cheapest dates. Not so with Disneyland $104 tickets!

When Disneyland raised prices for 2026 at the start of the fiscal year (last October), not only did the Tier 0 tickets did not go up at all, but Disneyland made a point of emphasizing that there would be 60% more dates in the next 6 months.

This $104 base ticket price has not increased at all since 2018, in part because it’s an important talking point for Disney. When costs of visiting are discussed in the mainstream media and complaints are made about price increases, there’s typically a quote from a Disney spokesperson reiterating that the base price has not gone up in ~8 years.

We’ve seen something similar happen at Walt Disney World, but there it is pretty much only for the sake of marketing. There are very few of the cheapest dates, and they’re largely weekdays at Animal Kingdom during a three week or so stretch of the year when tickets cost $119/day and the weather is miserable. If you want to visit Magic Kingdom on those same dates, the starting price is $139.

I’ve said it before, but it still baffles me that Walt Disney World doesn’t offer $99 tickets to Animal Kingdom during those months. The marketing value alone strikes me as worth it, and that’s doubly true given all of the construction at DAK right now, and the fact that the park is typically only open until 6 pm on those off-season dates (versus 10 pm or 11 pm for Disneyland).

In fact, part of the reason I’m covering this is as an indirect ‘response’ to reader comments on Walt Disney World Raises 2027 Ticket Prices to New Record of $219, With More Increases Likely for Christmas. That post advocated for Walt Disney World to offer more attractive entry level off-season pricing in order to encourage families to visit and maintain a pipeline of lifelong fans.

Our perspective there is not that Walt Disney World should do so as an act of charity, but for the health of the fanbase and Walt Disney World’s long-term business of selling nostalgia. After all, this is more or less the rationale that former Disneyland President (and new Parks Chairman) Thomas Mazloum offered when explaining the decision to us.

If it makes sense at Disneyland, it stands to reason that it makes sense at Walt Disney World. And now, Mazloum has authority over both coasts, so it’ll be interesting to see if expanded entry level pricing is introduced in Florida. But I digress. 

Here’s a full list of the $104 ticket dates at Disneyland in 2026, past, present and future, followed by our commentary…

Here are the past $104 single day ticket dates at Disneyland in 2026:

• January 6-8, 2026
• January 12-15, 2026
• January 20-22, 2026
• January 26-27, 2026
• February 3-5, 2026
• February 10-12, 2026
• February 24-26, 2026
• March 3-5, 2026

Upcoming $104 single day ticket dates at Disneyland in Spring & Summer 2026:

• April 21-23, 2026
• April 28-30, 2026
• May 5-6, 2026
• May 12-13, 2026
• June 1-4, 2026

After no $104 dates in the remainder of June, July or August, they’re back for Halloween 2026: 

• September 8-9, 2026
• September 15-17, 2026
• September 21-24, 2026
• September 29, 2026

After another gap in October (always a busy and expensive month), the final $104 dates of the year are in November 2026: 

• November 2-5, 2026
• November 9-12, 2026

It’s also worth noting that crowds tend to spike on $104 dates that have a period of higher prices prior to them. For example, the first $104 day after school goes back into session is always busy.

I can already tell you that September 8-9, 2026 are going to be busy. Not only does that follow an over 3-month gap in the $104 tickets, but it’s also the heart of Halloween season. Lots of locals will jump at that.

This bears mentioning because it’s counterintuitive. These $104 dates are when they are in the first place because of lower organic demand–school being in session, locals in work, etc. But it’s impossible for Disneyland to perfectly thread the needle, and a statistically significant number of fans target the first $104 dates after a long absence of them. (After that, crowds subside quickly to what you’d expect for the off-season.)

Speaking of those fall dates, I’m honestly surprised by the lack of mid-to-late August dates.

Last year, there were 7 dates in August, all in the last two weeks of the month. And even so, crowds were not bad at all after the first 2 dates (reinforcing the above theory).

I can understand not offering $104 tickets during D23 Expo, but question the lack of them that last week. Unless another aggressive ticket deal is planned, it seems like a missed opportunity to not add 4 days right there and hit the 60 day mark (and reach what’s clearly a record). Now that would be a great marketing talking point!

Another thing to note is that Christmas at Disneyland starts on November 18, 2026. This is potentially worth calling out because it started two weeks earlier not that long ago, and two years ago, those final $104 dates in November would’ve encompassed the holiday season.

Instead, there are no $104 dates during Christmas 2026 at Disneyland. There’s only a single Tier 1 date, and that’s November 18th. Even Tier 2-3 dates are scarce in November and December, which leads me to question (yet again) why the holiday season is getting shorter as opposed to longer, which is exactly what’s happening with Halloween starting earlier and earlier in August. Another topic for another post, but ticket pricing certainly underscores it.

In fact, despite a ton of additional $104 dates in 2026 versus 2025, those are mostly front-loaded to the first half of the year. From August through December, there are actually fewer dates.

On a positive note, many of the dates in the later portion of the year will be among the best to visit.

I’m weary of the late April through mid-May 2026 dates due to the aggressive California resident deal (see below). Although that ended early, a lot of that fuse-less, use-it-or-lose-it ticket was sold and will be redeemed over the next month. The June dates, by contrast, are after it expires.

September is more of a wildcard, especially with the inevitable summer and early fall ticket deal having an unknown expiration at this point. If it ends in August, like last year, the middle 7 of those September dates will be fantastic. Due to the timing of the holiday season and low likelihood of another special offer then, the November dates should be fantastic.

One final word of warning about the $104 tickets, or rather, about not buying the single-day tickets is that two of them are cheaper than purchasing a 2-day ticket. This is true even when buying from discount sellers, like Get Away Today, which usually offers better pricing on multi-day tickets than buying directly from Disneyland.

That’s because there aren’t discounts on 2-day tickets and since Disneyland still does not have date-based pricing for multi-day tickets. The end result is this anomaly where the per day pricing on 2-4 day tickets is actually higher than Tier 0-2 tickets.

Most of the time, this is irrelevant because guests typically won’t have all of their multi-day trip coincide with $104 ticket days. But it happens, and is confusing when it does–leading planners to wonder if they did something “wrong” when comparison shopping. Nope, it’s simply an anomaly, and one I was reminded of recently; our family is coming out to visit, wants to do 2 days, and was shocked that single day tickets are over $100 cheaper!

If you’re looking for cheaper multi-day tickets, there are deals throughout the year.

Disneyland has had some spectacular ticket deals in the last year, many of which are targeted at Californians. Through May 21, 2026, Disneyland is offering the best in-state ticket deal (and not just for SoCal residents) that we’ve seen in at least a decade.

That ticket deal was so good that Disneyland (quietly) ended it early, largely because reservation availability was already becoming scarce. They’ll remedy that by reallocating reservations from full priced single and multi-day tickets, but it’s already going to result in a busy home stretch of that deal. (Crowds have been elevated for most of the year-to-date, with that deal being the primary driver.)

The Kids’ Summer 2026 Ticket Deal is available to the general public, and is better this year than last, now offering same price for Park Hoppers or base tickets. It’s actually a clever move on Disney’s part to give “free” Park Hoppers to kids, since parents will have to pay extra if they want Park Hopping privileges.

This is a really good deal, amounting to a discount of as much as $150 to $369 off multi-day tickets (depending upon duration and the extras you purchase, or don’t). That latter number is not a typo–you can save as much as $369 off a 3-day ticket.

If past precedent is any indication, there will be another ticket dea for the general public that starts sometime around Memorial Day and runs until late September 2026. This will almost certainly be more expensive than the above-referenced resident deal. Last year’s version of this deal is not instructive due to the Disneyland 70th Anniversary, but it was pricier and much less popular as a result.

At the other end of the spectrum, another thing to keep in mind is that the next major price increases are likely to occur in mid-October 2026, so plan accordingly if you want to “beat” those. (They’re unlikely to impact the aforementioned $104 tickets, but there’s no guarantee of that.)

Ultimately, if you only want to spend a single day or two at Disneyland, there’s arguably no better deal than the $104 tickets. Pick dates that are in the off-season but outside other special offers on admission, such as those dates in early June, (possibly) mid-to-late September, or (presumably) mid-November 2026 and you should be golden.

We spill a lot of digital ink about price increases and whether Disney is pricing out middle class families, so it’s also worth spotlighting the flip side of this, when Disney gets it right. In our view, there are few better bangs for buck in entertainment than what you’ll get at Disneyland during these dates (see Are Walt Disney World & Disneyland Good Hourly Values Versus Other Entertainment?) Here’s hoping the new Parks Chair brings this same philosophy to Walt Disney World soon!

Planning a Southern California vacation? For park admission deals, read Tips for Saving Money on Disneyland Tickets. 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

What do you think about these $104 ticket days at Disneyland? Are these a good value for single day tickets, or do you prefer the multi-day deals offered to California residents and (sometimes) the general public? Any favorite dates for the sweet spot of the best prices/crowds/weather/etc? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? 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!