Disney Parks Tickets Tips & Tricks

Wonder where to buy Disney park tickets to save money? Best deals? Time-saving add-ons? We answer these questions, share new discounts, and cover tips for Walt Disney World, Disneyland, plus Paris, Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong park tickets in this post, along with links to helpful resources, coupon codes, and money-saving info. (Last updated January 9, 2019.)

Tickets are often one of–if not the–most expensive aspects of any Disney vacation, so knowing you’ve purchased the right tickets for your needs and that you’ve done everything you can to save money is crucial. As ticket prices increase regularly, now more than ever it’s important to find the best, most accurate, and legitimate information about saving money on Disney tickets.

When it comes to Walt Disney World and Disneyland tickets, the regular price increases should be stressed. The last price increase occurred on January 6, 2019 at Disneyland, and last October for Walt Disney World. Another increase is expected in February 2019 for Walt Disney World, so we recommend purchasing tickets now if you’re traveling at some point in 2019. Buying now locks in the current pricing, and this is true even if you use the tickets after the increase. On top of that, we cover other ways to score legitimate discounts on Disney Parks tickets…

We cannot stress the “legitimate” part of the above enough. Since literally the opening day of Disneyland when thousands of people overcrowded the park with counterfeit tickets, there have been problems with fake and unauthorized tickets in 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, Disney won’t honor the tickets nor will they have any sympathy for your mistake.

This is why we cannot stress this enough: 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. You will never find legitimate, half-price tickets. 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, ParkSavers currently has select tickets with up to $62 off. This will save you a lot of money over buying park tickets directly from Disney. Readers of this blog can save an extra $2 per ticket at ParkSavers with discount code DISNEYTOURISTBLOG at check-out.

In addition to saving you the most money, you can order tickets for use now through December 31, 2019, and you will receive confirmation codes via email for My Disney Experience (so you can make FastPass+ selections). 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

LAST CHANCE DEAL ALERT: Disneyland just increased its ticket prices in what we’ve dubbed the “Star Wars Surge,” but through January 15, 2019, you can buy tickets from Get Away Today at the old prices–no matter when you’re visiting in 2019!

Those traveling in the pre-Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge off-season window can save even more. For tickets between now and May 23, 2019 visit dates, you can save up to $111 per ticket! This deal can also be stacked with hotel bundles to save even more. (And you’re also locking in ticket prices now before the inevitable February 2019 price increase.)

While the price increase for Star Wars land stinks, the upside is huge deals between now and then. This is probably the best non-resident discount I’ve ever seen on Disneyland tickets, which suggests to me that Disneyland is projecting a slow start to the year as people wait for Star Wars land to open. Personally, we’d recommend going before then, as crowds and pricing are both going to be insane once Galaxy’s Edge debuts.

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Disneyland tickets are a bit more straight-forward, since there aren’t water parks or other entertainment options at Disneyland Resort that can be added onto tickets. 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 $1-4 per ticket. 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.

The best deals for buying Disneyland tickets safely and securely via Get Away Today, which is an authorized sellers of Disneyland tickets with the best prices and customer service that we’ve found. If you already know how many days worth of tickets you need and are looking for the best price, that’s all you need to know.

No matter where you purchase your tickets, you can add-on the new MaxPass digital FastPass service. As we share in our Disneyland FastPass & MaxPass Tips post, this can be a time-saving purchase, especially during more crowded days. While we don’t like paying for FastPass in principle, this can enable you to do 3-4 additional headliner attractions per day.

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 range in price from €139 to €399, with 150 days of access on the low end up to 365 days of access on the Infinity.

Annual Passes are also great for discounts on food, merchandise, hotels, and more, and these discounts can lower the break even point. For my last 5 day trip to Disneyland Paris, it was worth getting the Annual Pass despite not spending 6 days in the parks (blockout dates precluded me from doing the lower tiers) due to the discounts…and the vague hope that I’d be back to France within the year. 😉

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 (which are significantly more expensive than Annual Passes for the US Disney Parks) 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!). If you’re visiting during a busy time or on a weekend, 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.

In terms of park hopping, save for special tickets available to Disney hotel guests (that we do not recommend purchasing), it’s not an add-on option. If you buy a ticket of 2 days or less, you cannot park hop. If you buy over 2 days, you automatically get hopping on days 3 and 4. We’ve found this to be ideal, as you don’t need to park hop before then. We really only hop on our last day, typically.

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!

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!