One day Disneyland ticket (online or at gate?)

[ashleydscox]

My husband and I are both off for the entire week of Thanksgiving and just recently moved to California from the east coast so we're heading down to LA from the Bay Area for a little vacation. We weren't planning on hitting Disneyland as we have an official Disneyland/DCA trip planned for my birthday in January but my husband gave in and we're spending one day at Disneyland. Yay, right?

We've never been to Disneyland, only to WDW and those trips have always been planned 9 to 12 months in advance with multi-day park hoppers, blah, blah, blah. I literally don't know how to do a simple Disney trip.

So our ticket options appear to be online and in person at the gate. We're not staying on-site and we haven't planned far enough in advance for tickets to be mailed to us if ordered online, but I've read that you can just print out your tickets yourself at home. Would you not still have to wait in line to exchange the print out for actual park tickets so that they can be used for Fastpasses and whatnot? Is there a benefit to purchasing online if we still have to go through the same line as if we hadn't purchased in advance?

I just want to make sure I'm doing this right and not missing any sort of vital step.

Thanks in advance Disneyland experts!

 

[sonnyjane]

Never really a reason to not buy online. You print at home, take to the turnstile like any other ticket, and they will hand you a smaller ticket to use to get FP's. No need to wait at the ticket booths. Takes seconds. Just get them online!

 

[LizzyS]

If you purchase the tickets online, just print them out at home and take them straight to the turnstile. They will give you the paper ticket right there as you enter the park. I LOVE doing that ahead of time and not spending any time in line at a ticket booth.

 

[ashleydscox]

Never really a reason to not buy online. You print at home, take to the turnstile like any other ticket, and they will hand you a smaller ticket to use to get FP's. No need to wait at the ticket booths. Takes seconds. Just get them online!

Thank you! I was thinking that we would have to go to the ticket booth to get the smaller ticket and then through the turnstile. I'm glad it only takes seconds so we're not holding up the line too much.

Thanks again, that's exactly the info that I was looking for and I couldn't seem to find it anywhere on Disneyland's official site or The Unofficial Guide.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Make sure to take a photo of your tickets and of the barcode on each one. That way, just in case you lose the actual print out, you will still have something to help you get your tickets replaced quickly.

 

[MikkiandtheMouse]

I have done both.
Ticket booth: I do a group trip (15-31 adults) and we went through the ticket booth because it was easier for "crowd control", that way we didn't lose folks who already had tickets and wanted to go inside, scatted around.
Buy online/print at home: This is the best route in my opinion. I arrive to the park, get through security and walk right to the gate. It shaves off time outside of the park and there are no drawback since you still get a paper ticket.

 

[mad hatter fan]

Some other things to consider are what will be down for refurb for your Jan. trip depending on when in Jan your trip is. You may want to be sure to do those on your one day trip. The things I can remember right now are probably World of Color, Peter Pan, and Soarin and Haunted Mansion and/or Small World depending on your dates. Others can chime in on what else is or is suspected to be down then.

 

[jadine06]

I bought tickets online, they sent a confirmation email that would go straight to my phone. No need to print the tickets, they will scan them on your phone at the turnstile

 

[Kristina4109]

DEFINITELY buy them online. There are going to be lines inside of Disneyland, so save yourself the trouble of standing in one before you even enter a park! And have a great time!