Disneyland in California was closed from March 12, 2020, until April 30, 2021.
Corinne Reichert/CNET
After finally reopen to everyone on June 15, more than a year after shutting down due to the rapid spread of COVID-19 across the United States, Disneyland has brought back its nightly fireworks show starting on the Fourth of July.
For the first time in its 65-year history, the iconic California theme park initially shut down for a month on March 12, 2020 — and remained closed until April 30, 2021, when Disneyland and California Adventure reopened for California residents only. Here’s everything you need to know about the reopening, how to get a theme park reservation and ticket, the launch of Avengers Campus and when annual passes might be making a comeback.
Fireworks are back at Disneyland
Disneyland is celebrating the Fourth of July by bringing back its fireworks show, called Mickey’s Mix Magic. The new 10-minute show will combine fireworks with projections, lights, music and lasers across Main Street USA, the Rivers of America and It’s A Small World.
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No word yet on when the nighttime World of Color show will be back at California Adventure.
Disneyland and California Adventure are open for everyone
Disney’s two California theme parks reopened to California residents April 30, and opened to all out-of-state and out-of-country visitors on June 15. Here’s what to know right now:
Read more: Disneyland’s future expansion plans
Avengers Campus is now open
California Adventure’s latest area Avengers Campus opened June 4.
Disney
Disneyland’s new Marvel Cinematic Universe-themed Avengers Campus area finally opened on June 4. Avengers Campus, located in California Adventure, includes the Guardians of the Galaxy ride opened in 2017, as well as the new ride WEB slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure.
The Ant-Man themed Pym Test Kitchen features a $100 sandwich for six to eight people, enlarged soda cans and a “Glowing Pym Particle Capsule” to light up your beverage. There’s also two new food carts: Shawarma Palace and Terran Treats.
Meet and greets with Marvel superheroes will take place throughout Avengers Campus, including a decked-out Dr Strange area and an acrobatic Spider-Man animatronic that will soar and flip between the buildings above. For merch, the WEB Suppliers store will sell customizable Spider-Bots, Spider-Man light goggles, backpacks and more.
How to get a Disneyland ticket, and how much they cost
Sales resumed April 15 for Disneyland tickets in May and June, and tickets for July, August, September and October are now on sale. As for pricing, Disneyland has a tiered ticketing system for all one-day tickets:
- Tier 1, one park/park hopper: $104/$159
- Tier 2, one park/park hopper: $114/$169
- Tier 3, one park/park hopper: $124/$179
- Tier 4, one park/park hopper: $139/$194
- Tier 5, one park/park hopper: $154/$209
You can check the date availability for each tier online. There’s no tiered system for multi-day tickets.
How to get a Disneyland reservation
Once you’ve secured a ticket, you’ll need a reservation for the days you plan to go. The online reservation system launched April 12 and is now live to everyone who holds a ticket.
How to get a theme park reservation:
- Log into your Disney Parks app to link up tickets from your family or friends so you’re all in one group.
- Access the reservation system online — but only once you have a valid ticket.
- Select the day and theme park you want to visit.
- If you intend to hop between both parks, you can choose which park to start your day at — you’ll then be able to visit the other park starting at 1 p.m. that day.
- Review and confirm.
Disneyland annual passes will be back soon
Ken Potrock, Disneyland president, recently said on the D23 podcast that annual passes would be returning by the end of 2021.
Potrock said Disneyland sunsetted annual passes due to capacity constraints and to “reimagine an annual pass program that wasn’t just built on the last couple of decades, but was built on how our guests and our fans wanted to use the parks going forward.”
“We’re working on that right now and we’ll clearly be launching something before the end of the year,” Potrock said. “It’s going to be an exciting new program that I think people and our biggest fans — and quite honestly our most loyal fans — I think are going to be very responsive to.”
Disneyland cancelled the passholder program on Jan. 14, at the time saying it was “developing new membership offerings” for when it reopened. Those who held an annual pass as of March 14, 2020, are now called “Legacy Passholders” and will continue getting discounts for now when shopping or dining at Downtown Disney.
Downtown Disney is open
The Downtown Disney shopping and dining area reopened 10 months ago on July 9, in line with California’s restaurant and retail guidelines. (Between December 2020 and January 2021, Orange County was subject to strict stay-at-home orders due to ICU capacity falling below 15%, with Downtown Disney forced to close until Jan. 25.)
Currently, all dining and shopping locations in Downtown Disney are open, apart from locations in the Disneyland Hotel, Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel and Spa and Disney’s Paradise Pier Hotel. The Grand Californian reopened April 29 and Paradise Pier opened June 15, but the Disneyland Hotel remains closed until July 2. No ticket is needed to shop and dine in Downtown Disney.
Disneyland Resort also became a coronavirus vaccine site in early 2021 as the Toy Story parking lot began serving as Orange County’s first vaccine super site on Jan. 14.
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