With all of the new things to do at Disney California Adventure, a park hopper ticket may no longer be necessary.
This might seem contradictory at first. If there is more to do, why wouldn’t I want an upgraded ticket? But now that California Adventure has a full day worth of activities, the average visitor doesn’t need to leave the park and visit Disneyland just to have enough fun to fill a day.
During my family’s recent visit, I was surprised to find that we spent a full day at California Adventure and never ran out of things to do. We started the day at Cars Land, worked our way through Condor Flats and Grizzly River Run, and then caught all of the attractions along Paradise Pier. We stopped mid-way for lunch at Carthay Circle, which gave us reserved seating for World of Color.
We took a break to go back to the hotel for lunch. And in the evening, we went through the Hollywood section and saw World of Color. All in all, it was a full day and we wouldn’t have had time for Disneyland even if we wanted to visit the other park.
The Fastpass Factor
Fastpass is one of the best ways to see more of the theme park during your day. But it also has an unintended consequence of locking you into one park. If you have Fastpass tickets with an evening return time, or reserved seats for World of Color, there is little reason for you to switch parks mid-day. And while the cast members are typically lax on Fastpass return times (a ticket can basically be used any time after the return window), having the tickets in hand does impact how you’ll spend the rest of your day.
California Adventure is Still a Single Day Park
Although California Adventure has more to do than ever, it is still a one day park. It can take a few days to see everything at Disneyland, especially if there are a few favorites that you want to revisit. But our family found that we didn’t have a reason to return to California Adventure after spending one full day in the park. We loved Disneyland and wanted to maximize our time seeing the classic rides rather than heading back to California Adventure to see a few favorites.
Visiting More than Three Days? Get a Park Hopper
For visits longer than three days, a Park Hopper ticket is still a good idea. Most people who visit longer than three days will spend time seeing attractions outside of the Disneyland Resort. A park hopper ticket will give you flexibility to see some of your favorite rides in the evening when you get back from touring Southern California. And after three days, you likely will have seen most of the major attractions. You’ll want a park hopper to move between the parks and pick and choose what to see, rather than being locked into spending a full day in either park.
Save Some Money with a 1-Park Ticket
The main reason to consider a single park ticket is the cost savings. A family of four would save $120 by purchasing 1-Park tickets instead of Park Hopper tickets. If you are staying at a Disneyland Resort hotel, you get early entry privileges regardless of your ticket type.
What if I buy a Single Park Ticket but Later Change My Mind?
Something else to consider is that you can always upgrade your tickets, but you can’t downgrade them. If one day you find that you want to visit both parks, just stop by the Guest Relations center and upgrade your tickets. My family found it was better to pay for what we actually needed rather than buy hopper tickets in advance and find we never had time to visit both parks in a single day.
Photo via My Beautiful Mess
