Disney is offering a new ticket deal for discount admission to Disneyland and California Adventure in Summer 2024, but unlike the excellent 3-Day Disneyland Ticket Deal for the general public, this one is only available to locals. Here are dates & details about the deal, plus our commentary.
According to Disneyland, this ticket deal is available exclusively to Anaheim residents as a “thank you for being great neighbors!” Enjoy a special discounted offer just for Anaheim residents—visit a theme park for $69 per day with the purchase of a special 1-day, 1-park ticket.
Disney indicates that it appreciates and celebrates Anaheim residents on its 69th Anniversary: “You’ve been part of our history… here’s to the future! Make it your happiest time ever by visiting Disneyland Park or Disney California Adventure Park. Enjoy the excitement of Halloween Time and Plaza de la Familia, both kicking off August 23 this year—plus ride favorite attractions, watch dazzling nighttime spectaculars and more.”
Get tickets now to take advantage of this special limited-time offer. Then, visit on any one day from August 5 through September 26, 2024. Park reservations are required and subject to availability. Park Hopper Ticket upgrade and Disney Genie+ service (soon to be Lightning Lane Multi Pass) can be added for additional fees at the time of ticket purchase.
Before buying your tickets, be sure reservations are available for the dates you want to visit. Check for available dates on the park reservation calendar. Park reservation availability can change until the park reservation selection is finalized. Here are other important details about the deal:
- Offer valid only for Anaheim residents within ZIP codes 92801 through 92809, 92812, 92814 through 92817, 92825, 92850 and 92899; proof of eligible residency, including valid government-issued photo ID, is required for purchase and admission.
- Tickets are valid for use beginning August 5, 2024, and expire September 26, 2024.
- Eligible residents may purchase up to 5 tickets per day with a valid ID.
- Tickets are nonrefundable, may not be sold or transferred for commercial use and exclude activities and events that are separately priced.
- Offer may not be combined with other ticket discounts or promotions. Subject to restrictions, change or cancellation without notice. Sales may be paused or terminated at any time.
- To enter a park, both a theme park reservation and a valid ticket for the same park on the same date is required.
- Theme park reservations for the Anaheim Resident Offer ticket holders are limited in number and subject to the availability of park reservations allocated to the Anaheim Resident Ticket Offer as determined by Disney, applicable blockout dates and theme park capacity. Reservation availability for the Anaheim Resident Offer ticket holders is not guaranteed for any date, and reservations may be difficult to get for any particular date, especially as the ticket expiration date approaches. To ensure best availability, make reservations early. On any given date, park reservations may be available for general theme park tickets even though park reservations allocated to the Anaheim Resident Ticket Offer are fully reserved. Anaheim Resident Offer ticket holders are not entitled to any reservations Disney makes available to others.
- Parks, attractions, entertainment, experiences, services and offerings may be modified, limited in availability or unavailable, and are subject to restrictions, change or cancellation without notice. Park admission and offerings are not guaranteed.
If the new $69 Anaheim Resident or 3-Day Disneyland Ticket Offers aren’t for you for whatever reason, see our 2024 Discount Disneyland Ticket Buying Guide for additional recommendations.
In terms of commentary, my first thought is nice. This ticket deal–like the few before it–is obviously another move being made as a response to pent-up demand starting to fizzle out and “revenge travel” among tourists declining. This is Disney pulling a “lever” to entice tourists and locals and avoid a decrease in crowds.
I have a lot of thoughts about crowds at Disneyland based on our recent visits in June and July and wait times data. Beyond our regular visits, we just did a staycation at Disneyland from July 7-9. According to thrill-data.com, the crowd levels on those dates were 1/10, 4/10 and 9/10. Wait times the third day were double those of the first day–and the feels like crowds also reflected that! That third day was also an extreme outlier, the busiest day since Easter week–the second day was more consistent with our experiences this summer.
I probably should do a standalone post on wait times and attendance dynamics at Disneyland right now rather than burying them in a post about an Anaheim resident ticket deal that likely has limited appeal. For now, there are a few questions on my mind. Has Pixar Fest been a flop? Has the return of Fantasmic been a flop? If the answer to either question is yes, does Disneyland actually realize this? Or, are there other excuses being made internally to explain away lighter crowds this summer? Will Disney do more in 2025 to try to lure guests to visit, or are cuts and discounts the full playbook?
Beyond all of that, I think it’s intriguing that there’s now a general public ticket deal for the summer and an even better Anaheim resident ticket deal, but nothing for the general public. As always, this is not a matter of corporate benevolence or Disney trying to cut the consumer a break. They’re offering these discounts out of necessity.
Expanding the now 3-day summer ticket deal from California residents to the general public suggested to me that Disneyland got out over its skis with price increases–that they’ve hit a ceiling on summer prices and needed to pull that back to get people into the park. Rather than decreasing prices, they offer discounts like this.
Note that this (probably) applies specifically to summer prices. Let’s check back in October–the most expensive month of the year on average–and see what attendance looks like. My guess is that there won’t be any issues whatsoever, even without discounts.
Offering an even better deal specifically for Anaheim residents probably isn’t in celebration of Disneyland’s 69th Anniversary or a “thank you” for supporting DisneylandForward. Actually, it might be a little bit of the latter, but more forward-looking in the sense that Disney wants to maintain favorability among residents for the next time they need something approved by the Anaheim City Council. That’s savvy–with memories of 2020 fading, they should be looking to avoid a repeat of the tensions that led to the Eastern Gateway and luxury hotel project cancellations.
More likely, it’s that Disney has data that fewer Anaheim residents are visiting the parks relative to the past and/or surrounding communities. I can’t locate fresh data, but historically, Anaheim has had the lowest household income of any city in Orange County. There’s no reason to believe that’s changed, especially with the city so dependent upon hospitality industries.
If I had to guess, Disneyland’s demographics have shifted and the parks are seeing more visitors from affluent communities in Los Angeles and Orange Counties, and fewer from Anaheim. The reasons for that should be fairly self-evident, as should why this might be concerning for the company. Hence this ticket deal.
Ultimately, it’ll be interesting to see how popular this $69 Anaheim ticket deal ends up being or Disney’s underlying motivations for the special offer. It’ll also be fascinating to see how crowds continue to play out at Disneyland during the home stretch of the Summer 2024 season.
Our expectation is that the parks will see a measurable spike in crowds around September 14, 2024. Not so much because of the Anaheim resident deal, although it will be a contributing factor, but because of the general public deal. Like this, that also expires on September 26, and there will be a rush of people scrambling to use their remaining days before they expire. That always happens, and it’ll likely be even worse this year given the expanded eligibility of the discount and Halloween starting earlier.
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 tons of other places!
Your Thoughts
Will you be taking advantage of the new $69 Anaheim Resident Ticket Deal or the existing 3-Day Disneyland Discount Ticket Offer for Summer 2024? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions? 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!
