2021 Disney Parks Tickets Tips & Tricks
Our 2021-2022 ticket buying guide covers how to save money on Walt Disney World, Disneyland, and other theme parks. This covers info & tips on the best deals, time-saving add-ons, and more for Florida, California, Paris, Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong–every park in the world! (Updated February 23, 2021.)
The first thing you need to know is that Disney quietly raised ticket prices for next year in mid-February 2021 with the release of 2022 Walt Disney World Vacation Packages. This impacts a variety of park ticket durations, with 1-day off-season ticket prices not increasing at all and some multi-day prices jumping by $25 or more. With the date-based system, it’s easier to obfuscate the increases, but average prices are up for next year by a few dollars per day.
The good news here is that 2021 ticket prices have not increased for Walt Disney World. At least, not yet. It’s possible Walt Disney World won’t increase prices this year given the cutbacks during the reopening, but we wouldn’t bank on it. To the contrary, we’d recommend buying now from Get Away Today, our recommended third party ticket seller, to save up to $78 per ticket! In this post, we cover other ways to score legitimate discounts on Disney Parks tickets…
We cannot stress the “legitimate” part of the above enough. There’s a plague of fake and unauthorized tickets being sold for the parks. Roadside stands, eBay, Craigslist, shady websites, etc–there are many Disney ticket scams to which budget-conscious guests fall prey. Worse yet, if you innocently purchase invalid tickets from a scam, you’re going to pay twice, because Disney isn’t going to accept the fake tickets.
Suffice to say, if a ticket deal seems too good to be true, it probably is. While it is possible to save money on Disney tickets, most savings are of around $5 to $50 per ticket, with the biggest savings being on multi-day tickets for 5 days or more. (Sometimes, 10-day tickets are discounted by $75 or more.) However, you will never find legitimate, half-price tickets.
Tickets are often one of–if not the–most expensive aspects of any Disney vacation, so we understand the desire to save as much money as possible. However, you have to be smart about it. Spending money on a shady but “great deal” that turns out to be a scam will cost you more in the long run. Our Disney ticket tips & tricks cover only the best, legitimate ways to save money on Disney tickets, and authorized sellers from which to buy those tickets.
Let’s start with Walt Disney World tickets…
Walt Disney World
Walt Disney World has myriad ticket choices that enable you to buy exactly what you need and nothing more or less. It’s a complicated, date-based system that can be difficult for a first-time Walt Disney World guest. Disney representatives often only make matters worse, as they upsell or subtly “encourage” guests into buying the more expensive tickets.
To underscore just how much you can save by knowing which type of tickets to buy and from which authorized discount ticket brokers to buy them, Get Away Today currently has select multi-day Walt Disney World park tickets discounted by $79 off! This will save you a lot of money over buying park tickets directly from Disney.
We mentioned the price increase for 2022 above, and how one hasn’t yet occurred for this year. Setting aside last year as an anomaly, ticket price increases normally occur twice per year at Walt Disney World. It’s possible we’ll see one in Spring 2021, but if not, right before the start of Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary on October 1, 2021 is almost a sure thing.
You can order tickets for use now through December 31, 2021, and you will receive confirmation codes via email for My Disney Experience. In our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post, we discuss which add-ons you should and should not get, how many days you might want tickets, and also compare prices among the four reputable Orlando discount ticket brokers.
Simply knowing about the different options so you don’t purchase unnecessary add-ons and buying from the discount sellers with the best price on particular tickets can save you a lot of money, and significantly cut down on the cost of your park tickets. It’s pretty easy to do, especially since many guests (especially those families with small children) don’t truly need Park Hopper or other add-ons.
Disneyland
Disneyland ticket sales are temporarily suspended. As you’re likely aware, Disneyland and Disney California Adventure are both closed, and have been since last March. They’re likely to reopen by Summer 2021 with capacity limits and reservations required. Prior to that, ticket sales will resume–check back for more details later.
We cover the likely timeframe for the return of the theme parks in When Will Disneyland Reopen? Additionally, Disney announced it was cancelling all Annual Passes and ending the AP program.
When sales resume, Disneyland Resort park tickets will be more straight-forward. Since there aren’t water parks and only two parks–Disney California Adventure and Disneyland–it’s a pretty simple process. Here, it’s basically a question of whether or not to get the Park Hopper option, and how many days to stay in the first place.
AAA, Safeway, Costco, and a handful of other SoCal retailers have small discounts of a couple dollars per ticket in store from time to time, but those savings are usually smaller. Additionally, there is a Southern California resident special on tickets that typically runs every mid-January through mid-May. If you’re not a local (with ID to prove it), your best option is purchasing online via authorized discounted sellers.
If you need more assistance with determining how many days to buy tickets, if you should get the Park Hopper option, and whether an Annual Pass might actually make sense, check out our Tips for Saving Money on Disneyland Tickets post.
Disneyland Paris
Both Disneyland Paris and Hong Kong Disneyland are unique in that if you plan to spend as few as 3 days in either, you might be better off just buying an Annual Pass. Disneyland Paris just released a new range of Annual Passes last year, with the new tiers being the Discovery, Magic Flex, Magic Plus, and Infinity Annual Passes. These APs vary in price considerably based upon blockout dates, discounts, and other perks that each tier offers.
As far as regular park tickets go, Disneyland Paris has adopted surge pricing, meaning that single day ticket prices vary based upon anticipated attendance. This makes things a bit more complex, since there are three tiers of normal single day tickets now: Mini, Magic, and Super Magic.
Note that only the single day tickets are subject to the tiered pricing. If you purchase a multi-day ticket, the tiers are irrelevant. However, even if you are going for multiple days, you should look at the tiered pricing calendar, as 2 Mini tickets (if you’re going during a slow season) is actually a cheaper option than one 2-day ticket. Zut alores, très compliqué!
For multi-day tickets, there are also some money-saving options available, particularly for Europeans. Americans might have a more difficult time scoring deals, but we cover all the ways to save in our Disneyland Paris Park Ticket Tips & Info post.
Tokyo Disney Resort
Your options are pretty limited when it comes to tickets for Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea, but the good news is that park tickets there are significantly cheaper than for the US Disney Parks. The Japanese parks most definitely are locals’ parks, so the pricing strategy there is to charge a premium for Annual Passes and less for one to four day tickets.
Not only are the single and multi-day ticket prices lower, but for Americans, the dollar-to-yen exchange rate is excellent right now, making park tickets for us a relative steal. Of course, you still have to pay for airfare to get there in the first place. Read our Money-Saving Tips for Tokyo Disneyland Park Tickets post for our full recommendations on buying the best tickets–and at the best prices–for Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea!
To save money, we recommend purchasing tickets in advance from Klook. Disney Tourist Blog readers can take $5 off their first booking on Klook by entering our exclusive discount code KLKDTB at checkout. (Note: during the limited capacity reopening of Tokyo Disneyland, these are temporarily unavailable. Check back in late 2021 or 2022 as we anticipate them returning then. If you’re somehow visiting before then, you’ll have to buy tickets directly from Tokyo Disney Resort.)
Hong Kong Disneyland
Hong Kong Disneyland has by far the easiest ticket system. There are 1-day and 2-day park tickets (no Park Hopper since there’s only one park), and three tiers of Annual Passes: Silver (valid for 250 days per year), Gold (valid for 340 days per year), and Platinum (valid for 365 days per year). Each of these passes also offers discounts on food, merchandise, and hotels. The break even point on the Silver is 3 days, with the other passes having varying break even points of ~6-10 days based upon whether you’d buy 1 or 2 day tickets.
About the only way to save on single day Hong Kong Disneyland tickets of which I’m aware is to buy from Klook, which will save you about $8 per ticket, and will allow you to instantly print your ticket. As with the Tokyo tickets, you can take $5 off their first booking on Klook by entering our exclusive discount code KLKDTB at checkout. You can also use the coupon to purchase a discounted meal voucher for Hong Kong Disneyland.
Shanghai Disneyland
The good news is that park tickets for Shanghai Disneyland are inexpensive as compared to the US parks, especially during their low seasons (they also have surge pricing); the bad news is that prices have already increased and upcharges have been introduced since Shanghai Disneyland opened two years ago.
Fortunately, there are now discounted 1-2 day tickets available via Klook. Depending upon the ticket season, you’re looking at a savings of around $5-10 per ticket (or more if you use our KLKDTB coupon). Not huge savings, but considering that tickets are in the $65-75 range, that’s not bad–and it all adds up.
Regardless of how you purchase your Shanghai Disneyland park tickets, we recommend getting digital tickets. Once you have them, take a screenshot of the ticket (for safety in case the internet is down) as well. Make sure to bring your passport in case the Cast Member requests to check your ID (you should always have your passport on your person when traveling internationally).
Shanghai Disneyland also offers “Disney Premier Access” which is a paid, digital FastPass service for its most popular attractions. If you only have 1-day in Shanghai Disneyland and don’t arrive at rope drop, this can be a good, time-saving purchase. If you do rope drop, stay late, or have multiple days in the park, we view this as unnecessary.
Planning a visit to one of the Disney theme parks? Check out our Disney Parks Trip Planning Guides for everything you need to start planning a trip to Walt Disney World, Disneyland Resort, Disneyland Paris, Tokyo Disney Resort, Hong Kong Disneyland, and Aulani in Hawaii.
Your Thoughts
As for tickets, what are your preferred type of tickets to get? Do you purchase optional add-ons, like Park Hopper or MaxPass? Do you have an Annual Pass? Any tips or tricks of your own to add? Any questions? Hearing feedback about your experiences is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Random question from a Disney newbie (don’t judge!) I booked a trip for my son and I to Disney World in a few weeks. His dad asked to join; however, we cannot get any additional reservations for Magic Kingdom or Hollywood Studios since they are booked. Do additional tickets ever become available…if so, is there a waiting list or do you just continue to check availability on the site? Thanks in advance for your help!
More park reservations are often released, you just have to be diligent in continuing to check back. Good luck!
Disneyland
Maybe I’m doing something wrong, but I have compared ticket prices of Get Away Today vs. Disneyworld.disney.go prices and the Disney prices are always about $20 cheaper. I must be missing something.
Use Undercover Tourist. I just used them for 5-day passed and saved about $200 for 5 tickets compared to “gate tickets”
They’ve raised the price of Platinum APs too.
We struggled to justify renewing our passes, given everything that’s going on, but went ahead with it, only to be met with a higher price. Not only that, but they only credited us $507 of our unused 10 day park hopper tickets, instead of the $670+ they would have been at the gate. The amount of regret is huge.
Hi Tom! Thank you for all the great information and updates. My family and I bit the bullet and booked/planned a WDW trip for this summer. I noticed that you used to mention Undercover Tourist a lot more in your blog for discounted tickets but are recommending Get Away Today now. I needed to purchase a 5 day park-hopper ticket for our upcoming trip. Comparing Get Away Today vs Undercover Tourist for the same dates and type of ticket, GAT listed the ticket at $591 vs $567.79 at Undercover Tourist. A $23 difference for me but closer to $100 difference for a family of 4!
Readers, remember to shop around. It could save you quite a bit of money!
What happens if you buy park tickets and then cannot use them for the dates you’ve purchased them for? Does it make a difference if you buy through Disney vs. an authorized reseller?
I’m a local and I’d love to see Annual passes return for in person purchases for Floridan’s first.. any idea as to when these will return; Just give us your best guess..
I’m planing a trip in late April and plan on staying at the campsites at FW. I priced out Disney’s package deal (with 8 day standard tickets) and compared that price to FW campsite only and buying 8 day standard park tickets from “Get Away Today.” The latter was only $35 cheaper even though Get Away Today advertised $175 savings in park tickets?? Are the park tickets cheaper when you bundle them with your stay?
Tom, like many others I would love to hear your opinion on WDW annual passes. I was hoping to get one before next winter but I’m unsure if they’ll be back in time. Any guesses as to when they’ll be back?
Ugh!!! Don’t we all??? So frustrated about this as a local. I think they should at least bring them back for Florida first.
Susan, I agree. I’m not a local but I support that idea.
Good Morning,
Thank You for your blogs, always look forward to all the great information you give. Having a compromised immune system how safe are the resorts? I always felt Disney does a great job and am hoping they are stepping it up even though they are always clean? Planning on this August for a visit how do you think it will be?KA
I also have a compromised immune system. I spent 9 days at Walt Disney World the week before Christmas. I was really hesitant about going; however, as soon as I arrived at Pop Century, then headed to Epcot, I knew I had made the right decision. The safety protocols they are implementing made me feel extremely safe. People are wearing masks appropriately, using hand-sanitizer before and after rides and physical-distancing; if someone forgets, they are given a gentle reminder by a cast member. I felt safer at Disney than anywhere, except my own home, since the start of the pandemic. I am looking forward to another visit before the end of the year.
Tom –
Would love to read an article on what may happen with Annual Passes. We let ours lapse this month as we are out of state guests who weren’t anticipating a trip any time before July 2021 and any savings in the renewal price was eaten up by the tickets sitting idle.
That being said we’re not interested in buying traditional day by day tickets and likely won’t return until Annual Passes are offered for purchase again. On this passes we would visit 4-5 times a year staying a week or so each visit and spending $3,500-$4,000 each trip. I assume they were making money off of us?
Anyway, would love to hear your thoughts.
I would love to know as well. We let our pass laps as well and the discounts on Resorts was always a huge incentive . I did call Disney they said they have no word on when and if the Annual pass holder tickets will be available;( Ka
Tom I see that park hopper is a ticket option in January 2021 . Can you find out and let us know if this true or an error on the ticket site. Thanks. I love your site. I have been to Disney world for 30 years and I have learned how much I have missed seeing over alll that time by reading your posts. The info you provide is so useful and helpful.
Park hopper tickets have been available since last month.
I’m planing a trip in late April and plan on staying at the campsites at FW. I priced out Disney’s package deal (with 8 day standard tickets) and compared that price to FW campsite only and buying 8 day standard park tickets from “Get Away Today.” The latter was only $35 cheaper even though Get Away Today advertised $175 savings in park tickets?? Are the park tickets cheaper when you bundle them with your stay?
Recently I was researching tickets for a FL resident friend of mine so we can have a “girls trip” to WDW and ran across the following :
“Florida Resident Ticket in 2021
1, 3 or 4-day ticket
Save up to 40% on 3- and 4-day tickets (compared to the price of a non-Florida resident 3- and 4-day ticket).
Visit 1 theme park per day.
Can add the Park Hopper option, Water Park and Sports option or Park Hopper Plus option.”
My eye caught the words “Can add the Park Hopper option”…. and later research implies Park Hopper may be available on March 6, 2021. Do you know anything about this?
I know it is not financially sound but is it possible to make a reservation using our multi day ticket for one park in the morning and buy a second single one day ticket for a different park for the afternoon/evening.
Please add me to your email list