A new offer starting January 8, 2024, lets children ages 3 to 9 visit Disneyland or Disney California Adventure for as low as $50 per day.
Children can save on a post-holiday visit to Disneyland. Photo by Adrienne Vincent-Phoenix.
The Kids’ Special Offer Ticket goes on sale starting October 24, and is valid for visits between January 8 and March 10, 2024. You can purchase 1-, 2- or 3-day park tickets, and add on optional park hopping and Disney Genie+ ugrades. In comparison, the current price for 1-day, 1-park child ticket can range from $98 for a “Tier 0,” to $169 for “Tier 6.” Disney hasn't released full pricing details for this offer yet, but we'll update this information here as soon they're available.
The offer, announced just this morning, is a much shorter duration than the usual winter discount for Southern California discounts, which usually runs into May. However, the dates will definitely cover the popular Lunar New Year celebration, and may just include the first weekend of the Food and Wine Festival.
Read the fine print carefully, because you need to make a theme park reservation to use this ticket, and Disney is only setting aside a limited number of reservations for this ticket type each day, and states, “reservation availability for Kids’ Special Offer Ticket 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.”
Visitors will be able to experience the popular Lunar New Year festival with this discounted offer. Photo by Adrienne Vincent-Phoenix.
To make reservations easier to plan, Disney will extend its booking window later this month so that you can book theme park reservations up to 180 days in advance instead of the current 120 day window. This will let you make all of the reservations for this special offer as soon as you purchase your tickets, and also see which days are “Tier 0” days, where adult tickets are only $104.
In addition to requiring a theme park reservation, this ticket also has a “fuse”—which means multi-day tickets expire 13 days after the first day of use (or on March 10, 2024, whichever comes first). You won't need to use all two or three days consecutively, but you will need to make sure to use them all before they expire. From past experience, it will be difficult to get reservations the last week of this offer unless you plan well in advance.
We're hoping that the Wondrous Journeys fireworks show returns after the holidays. Photo by Adrienne Vincent-Phoenix.
Disney's announcement comes as part of a longer Disney Parks Blog article detailing ways to save on Disneyland Resort visits, and it's really clear the company is addressing a widely held perception that the parks are just too expensive for families to visit. Official tips include staying at offsite hotels “that may work better with your budget,” avoiding parking fees by taking public transportation to the parks, and even reminders to pack your own water and snacks.
As far as souvenirs, Disney reminds you that digital downloads of Disney PhotoPass attraction photos are free.
If you have already booked your winter 2024 vacation package, call your travel agent to see how you can apply this new discount to your vacation.
If you haven't yet booked your travel, we always recommend you contact MousePlanet's travel partner Get Away Today and let them find the best deal for you. Visit Get Away Today or call 1-855-GET-AWAY, and be sure to mention you saw them on MousePlanet.
Disney has not yet announced dates for the 2024 Food and Wine Festival, but it's possible this offer will cover the opening weekend. Photo by Adrienne Vincent-Phoenix.
