Disney has announced a deep discount on kids’ tickets at Disneyland and California Adventure–with prices as low as $50 per child per day with the purchase of special tickets. This covers valid dates, details, how much money you’ll save, impacts on crowds, and our advice about taking advantage of this discount.
This deal at Disneyland Resort is available for a limited time in Winter and Spring 2025, with visit dates from January 7 through March 20, 2025—subject to theme park reservation availability. These tickets will be available for purchase starting October 22, 2024.
The kids’ ticket deal at Disneyland will offer a variety of options and flexibility–you’ll be able to choose from 1-Day, 2-Day or 3-Day Disneyland tickets, with options available to upgrade to Park Hopper tickets as well as to add on Lightning Lane Multi Pass. While you can buy directly from Disneyland, this deal will also be available via Get Away Today with even greater savings.
As noted above, Disneyland just announced this deal and it’s not going live until October 22, 2024. Accordingly, all we have so far is a teaser with limited info. Fortunately, this exact same discount was offered this year for almost exactly the same travel dates. Given that and how many of Disney’s ticket deals repeat with almost identical terms and conditions each year, there’s a decent amount we can surmise.
This is a shockingly good deal, amounting to a discount of around $150 to $200 on multi-day tickets (depending upon duration and the extras you purchase, or don’t). To the best of my recollection, it’s the best pricing on tickets in several years. Of course, it only applies to children’s tickets and is for a three-month stretch, but still. It’s an exceptional deal if it works for your family.
We’d also add that this date range ranks highly on our Cheapest Times to Do Disneyland, which also accounts for hotels and more. So you could do an inexpensive (by Disneyland standards) trip during this promo period in 2025!
If you’re wondering about terms and conditions, here they are from the Kids’ Special Ticket Offer from this year (adjusted for 2025 dates):
- Children ages 3-9 can visit Disneyland or Disney California Adventure for $50 per day with 2-Day and 3-Day tickets.
- Upgrade to Park Hoppers to experience both parks in the same day for $65 more per 2-Day ticket or $70 per 3-Day ticket.
- Lightning Lane Multi-Pass service may be added for $30 per day
- Tickets are valid for use beginning January 7, 2025 and expire 13 days after the first day of use OR on March 20, 2025, whichever occurs first.
- Tickets are nonrefundable, may not be sold or transferred for commercial use and excludes activities and events that are separately priced.
- Offer may not be combined with other ticket discounts or promotions.
More details about park reservation availability for the Kids’ Special Ticket Offer:
- Theme park reservations for Kids’ Special Ticket Offer holders are limited in number and subject to the availability of park reservations allocated to this offer only.
- Reservation availability for Kids’ Special Ticket Offer 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 Kids’ Special Ticket Offers are fully reserved.
- Kids’ Special Ticket Offers holders are not entitled to any reservations Disney makes available to others.
Here are answers to questions you might have about the 2025 Kids’ Special Ticket Offer at Disneyland…
Will ticket prices be cheaper during Black Friday or Cyber Monday sales?
Probably not for kids.
Get Away Today always has a Black Friday sale, but it’s difficult to imagine those savings surpassing what’s being offered here for kids. On a positive note, this 2025 Kids’ Special Ticket Offer will still be available to purchase around Thanksgiving, so you could wait and see. The only downside there is park reservation availability, but that was not an issue with this year’s version of the deal–at least, not that far in advance.
With regular adult tickets and park reservations, it’s a different story. Prices on those will almost certainly go up next week, so those tickets are likely cheapest right now. The current pre-increase prices will probably be better than Black Friday sales. The good news is that there’s usually a window between when the price increase is announced and when authorized sellers, like Get Away Today, run out of their old ticket inventory. During that time, they’ll usually indicate whether the pre-increase price or Black Friday sales will be superior.
Accordingly, if you already know your travel dates, you could always purchase now via the 2025 Kids’ Special Ticket Offer, make park reservations for your children, and wait for yourself until Black Friday or Cyber Monday.
How bad will crowds be during this deal?
It depends.
If you go during the first half of the deal, crowds shouldn’t be too bad. This year, weekly levels were not as low as during past winters, but those days are likely gone, regardless. There were a few weeks that did have 2/10 to 3/10 crowd levels, which is about as good as it gets this time of year.
On the other hand, the tail end of the deal was really busy. The stretch starting with President’s Day and Ski Week had 8/10 and 7/10 crowd levels, and the final week of the promotion had a 9/10 crowd level and is the #3 worst week of the year (for now). It would not have been that busy but for the deal–it was a matter of guests who purchased the ticket deal rushing to use remaining dates before they expired.
Anecdotally, we saw a noticeable increase in strollers and families around the parks during the final few weeks of the promotion. The extent to which there’s a repeat of this in 2025 really depends upon another factor: what’s offered for adults?
Will there be adult ticket deals during this same date range?
Definitely yes, it’s more a question of whether they’ll be exclusively for Californians or available to the general public.
For the last few years, the cadence of California resident ticket deals has been SoCal savings for early January through early June travel dates. Here’s what was offered this year:
2024 SoCal Resident Winter & Spring Ticket Deal Prices:
- 3-Day, 1-Park Per Day Ticket for admission Monday through Thursday only – $225
- 3-Day, 1-Park Per Day Ticket for admission any day – $275
This ticket deal has been offered every year for the last decade-plus, and there’s no reason to believe it’ll materially differ in 2025. At least, in terms of the date range. However, pent-up demand has now been fully exhausted and Disneyland took the unprecedented step of expanding the Californian ticket deal that’s offered annually in the summer to the general public.
Personally, I think it’s unlikely that Disney will go from a SoCal ticket deal to a general public offer. The intermediate step, and one that makes more sense, is expanding from Southern Californians to all Californians. But you never know. It all depends upon how much of a slowdown they’re anticipating in 2025, how much of an impact this kids’ ticket deal is expected to make, and whether there are any other levers they can pull.
What about hotel discounts?
Yes.
Disneyland also announced that guests will be able save up to 25% on select stays of four nights or longer weekdays or weekends at any of the three on-site hotels, subject to availability. For shorter stays, you can save up to 20% on standard and premium rooms at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, Disneyland Hotel and The Villas at Disneyland Hotel, and up to 10% on guest rooms at Pixar Place Hotel, Sunday through Thursday nights, based upon space availability.
In all likelihood, there will be Magic Key Annual Passholder and Disney Visa cardholder deals offering superior savings in addition to the above general public deal. That’s usually how hotel deals at Disneyland work, especially for this timeframe. The really notable aspects of this are the ‘stay longer & save more’ angle, and that Pixar Place Hotel is discounted for the first time ever.
Hotel discounts will also be released on October 22, 2024, for stays January 7 through March 20, 2025.
Is there anything else that could increase crowds in early 2025?
Yes, several things.
The first is the new Tiana’s Bayou Adventure attraction that opens this November. Between Magic Key blockouts, the possibility of problems and a virtual queue, as well as colder weather, some locals might opt to wait until early next year to experience it. (Then again, not like the first few months are any warmer.)
Haunted Mansion will also return for the first time in around 18 months, and that’ll drive local attendance. That’ll be doubly true if there are any surprise scene changes. The new carriage house gift shop thing will also be popular with locals, but it’s not going to move the needle a ton.
The biggest wildcard is entertainment. When it comes to that, the possibility of the Disneyland 70th Anniversary Celebration starting early, a la Disney100 in late January of last year, looms large. Personally, I would bet against this–I think the 70th will start in May. But what I would not bet against is a limited engagement of Wondrous Journeys or another fan-favorite fireworks show during the winter months or other entertainment that won’t be part of the 70th celebration. That would be a good ‘compromise approach’ of drawing locals before the festivities get underway.
Is it worth buying the Lightning Lane Multi-Pass ticket add-on?
Maybe.
It comes down to how long you’re visiting and how important rides are to your visit. The shorter the trip, the more likely we are to recommend the Lightning Lane Multi-Pass (LLMP) add-on. If you’re doing a longer trip and you don’t care as much about repeating rides, we’re less inclined to recommend it. Given that these are 3 day tickets or less, we’re inclined to recommend the LLMP add-on.
Lightning Lane Multi-Pass works incredibly well at Disneyland Resort, which is both an argument for and against buying it length of stay. Most days, you will be able to secure Lightning Lane selections for most popular attractions, saving several hours as compared to waiting in the standby lines. The last time we tested LLMP at Disneyland and DCA, we were easily able to make ride reservations for over one-dozen attractions, saving roughly over 6 hours in line.
This is not an uncommon outcome or the result of superior skills on our part. Lightning Lane Multi-Pass is really easy to use at Disneyland Resort, and gives you a huge advantage. Accordingly, it offers great value and strategic advantage. Conversely, LLMP makes it easy to have 1-2 days when you “go hard” on rides, followed by more relaxed days where line-skipping is not necessary.
Moreover, you can still accomplish a lot without LLMP and with savvy strategy, such as using our Disney Theme Park Touring Plans & Itineraries or Early Entry at Disneyland. Lightning Lane Multi-Pass enables you to ride many more attractions and get a lot more bang for your buck without much other strategy or a stringent plan-of-attack.
If you want to do the most attractions possible, we recommend using a variety of strategies to experience headliners via the Lightning Lanes and standby lines when wait times are lower. We also cover everything you need to know in our Guide to Lightning Lanes at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure.
What about the Park Hopper option?
If your budget allows, Park Hopper tickets are worth the added cost. The reason for this is simple: Disneyland and Disney California Adventure are literally less than a football field apart. It’s easy to jump from one to the other, and we do on every single visit.
This allows you to hit Radiator Springs Racers first thing every morning of our trip, and then either continue the day at Disney California Adventure, or head over to Disneyland. It also enables you to use Lightning Lane Multi-Pass at both parks in a single day, instead of just at one.
If you do continue the day at Disney California Adventure, having the hopper allows you to go to Disneyland late at night for the fireworks, or to head over to Disneyland to end the day, because it’s usually open later. You can also bounce back and forth between the parks, making for more efficient touring without wasting time given the proximity of the parks to one another.
With that said, if you have small children who won’t stay up late or aren’t concerned about having the most efficient day possible, purchasing Park Hoppers is probably a waste of your money. There’s no one size fits all answer. We love the Park Hopper option and can’t imagine not doing both parks in the same day, but others might take a more laid back approach. Each park has more than enough to fill an entire day, so you definitely don’t “need” to buy the add-on. If saving the most money is priority #1, don’t get any of the add-ons.
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
Are you taking advantage of the 2025 Kids’ Special Ticket Offer at Disneyland? Thoughts on buying the Park Hopper or Lightning Lane Multi-Pass add-ons at Disneyland Resort? Will you still be visiting the parks this year, or are you priced out? 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!
