It's been more than a month since Disneyland reopened and in this short time, already the park protocols have changed so much. And more changes are a-coming with the Avengers Campus opening this Friday, June 4, followed by the lifting of many Covid-19 restrictions on June 15 including temperature screenings.
Yup, preparing for a trip to a theme park this summer is just as much of a roller coaster ride as the ones you'll be riding when you get there.
In the spirit of keeping it simple, here are 6 things you need to know about visiting Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure.
1. Buy a Ticket AND Book a Reservation. While capacity requirements will be lifted on June 15, Disney isn't exactly jumping at the chance to let everyone in at anytime. So the ticket + reservation system they implemented at reopening will remain in place for a little while longer. The good news is buying a ticket and then booking your reservation has been simplified so you can do it all at once. More good news? Availability at the parks is wide open through September. The bad news is that it may mean the parks will get crowded again.
2. Park Hopper Tickets are Different Now. Since Disney isn't keen yet to have people running back from park to park willy nilly, a park hopper ticket means that you will start the day in one park, and then at 1pm can go over to the next park. But you cannot go before then. There's no official word on when this procedure will change or be dropped, however, in looking at the availability for July, the calendar is showing both parks being open that day.
3. Join the Virtual Queue for the Rise of Resistance: If you're heading to Galaxy's Edge (aka Star Wars Land), you'll want to join the virtual queue for the Rise of the Resistance rides, one of the coolest rides at the park. However, these are really really hard to get and fill up pretty quickly. Theme park expert Brooke McDonald breaks down the process here. Essentially, if you have a park ticket where you start at Disneyland, then you can join the virtual queue from your Disneyland mobile app starting at 7am. If you start at Disney's California Adventure, you can book your virtual queue starting at noon. Good luck!
4. Ditto for the Newest Ride—Web Slingers. Web Slingers is the new super-cool ride at the Avengers Campus in DCA. It's also one of the first rides to ONLY use the virtual queue, meaning you cannot just walk up and wait in line. So you'll have to join this ride at either 7am or noon, depending on which park you start in.
5. There's No FastPass. For Real. This will probably have to change once capacity restrictions are dropped, otherwise ride times are going to be insanely long. But it's safe to say that if you're going to the parks in June, FastPass will not be up and running. Luckily, because of lower attendance capacity the wait times have been bearable.
6. Be Prepared to Walk. More than Before. The biggest reason for this is that the beloved trams that cart people from the parking structures to the gates are not operating. So you have to walk about 10-15 minutes. You can now rent a stroller and wheelchair or scooter from the security/screening area at the parking structures. But after that, you're on foot.
BONUS TIP: Download the Disneyland App. This isn't just because you need it to get into the virtual queues for the rides mentioned above. It's pretty much how you can maximize every part of your park experience, particularly mobile ordering which is offered at nearly every restaurant/cart/cafe. Just be sure to bring a back-up battery pack.
I wrote a more in-depth Disneyland Reopening report too. Feel free to send in with your own reopening experiences and tips!
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