Here’s everything you need to know about purchasing Disneyland tickets. How do they work? What can you purchase? Do you need a reservation? Here is a step-by-step guide of all the information you need to know ahead of time when purchasing your tickets. It also includes some FAQs for Disneyland tickets as well. 1. How long are you staying at Disneyland for? When you visit Disneyland Resort you can purchase tickets for durations of 1 day to 5 days. Disneyland refers to these as single-day tickets our multi-day tickets. When purchasing a multi-day ticket, know that the days do not have to be used consecutively. For instance, if you are staying at one of their hotels and want to have a pool or nearby beach day in the middle of your visit, you can do that. The multi-day tickets just have to be used within 13 days from the first day of use. For example, if I knew we were going to Disneyland in February and again in August this year, I couldn’t buy a five day ticket at a cheaper price to use on both of these trips. I would have to buy different tickets for each visit since they are more than 13 days apart. 2. What Disneyland park(s) do you want to visit and when? Once you know how long you are going to stay, then you have the option to decide what parks you are going to visit and on what days. You can decide to visit only Disneyland on certain days, only California Adventure on certain days or both parks every day of your visit. If you want to visit both parks on the same day, you’ll need to purchase a park hopper ticket. Park hopper pricing is a one-time charge. Right now, it’s $65 per ticket to add on park hopping for one day. It’s a flat $60 per ticket to add on park hopping for more than one day of your visit. What that means is that you only pay the $60 once to park hop for however long your visit is - not every single day of your visit. For instance, if you are visiting for 5 days, you don’t pay $60 every day to park hop, you pay $60 once and can park hop for all 5 days as much as you’d like. Even if you are park hopping, you still have to select initially which park you’d like to start your day in every day of your visit. You’ll start in that park and then at 11:00 AM on that day, you can begin using your park hopping benefits. 3. How much are Disneyland tickets? It depends on the time year and day of the week you are visiting. Unfortunately, there’s not a good way to gauge how expensive tickets are going to be on certain dates. You get a price break per day when you commit to a multi-day ticket. Disneyland has recently been running promotions to encourage more visits during off-peak seasons. However, it’s still really hard to determine pricing on certain days vs others unless you are playing around with their ticket calculator. 4. How late is Disneyland open? It’s really important that you check the park schedules for Disneyland and California Adventure before committing to one park or the other on certain days. California Adventure and Disneyland both can close early on certain days due to special events like the Oogie Boogie Bash. If you aren’t doing a park-hopper ticket, you don’t want to be stuck committed to an early closing park when you could have easily swapped the days. 5. What days are you visiting Disneyland? Do I need to make a reservation? When you purchase your Disneyland tickets, you have to designate them to a certain individual. You also have to specify which dates you are going to be visiting. This is referred to as a park reservation. Park reservations started when Disneyland began opening back up in 2020 to help limit crowds. The parks have kept the reservation system to ensure guest traveling from longer distances will indeed be able to visit the park on their trip rather than chance it. You can always modify your Disneyland reservation on their website or on the Disneyland app. Either way, when you purchase the tickets you’ll be prompted to create your own Disneyland account. The reservations will always live under the Disneyland account for ease of modifying and accessing them. They are also confirmed via email and tied to your email address. The tickets are not the same as the reservation although they are basically tied completely together. It’s important that you look to make sure that both Disneyland and California Adventure are not at capacity already the days you are visiting. The reservation ensures that you’ll be able to visit the parks on your specified days and that the parks will not be already at capacity. 6. How far out can you make Disneyland reservations? You can make reservations 120 days in advance and you can modify them if you need to change the dates you are planning to visit. 7. What rides are open at Disneyland? You’ll want to check the Disneyland calendar to review what rides are closed for refurbishment. Remember that rides like the Haunted Mansion close at least two times each year to transition to Halloween and back. Disneyland usually announces larger closures well in advanced before they happen. Even if a ride is not a scheduled closure, that does not mean it won’t necessarily be closed on the date of your visit. Rides often break down for unscheduled reasons. However, most times engineers can get these back on track on the same day. 8. Can I share my Disneyland ticket with someone else? No - you cannot. Disneyland tickets are non-transferable. The park started taking pictures of each ticket holder to verify the correct person is entering the park on the right ticket. You do have to delegate a ticket to each member of your party. Once Disneyland has taken the picture of the ticket holder, you can no longer change ownership of that particular ticket. 9. What’s happening at Disneyland on the day I’m visiting? Again, the calendar for Disneyland is the best place to check for entertainment opportunities. The calendar will have everything from the Dapper Dans to parades to fireworks listed. Usually fireworks on more on the weekends and nighttime projection shows are during the week. Regardless, the calendar will have everything you need to give you an idea of what’s happening on the days you are visiting. 10. What’s the Disney app? Literally everything is tied to the Disney app. Because of this, it’s critical that you have enough phone battery on your visit! There aren’t paper tickets anymore (very rare). Instead, all of the tickets are sent electronically on devices. The entrance gates will scan the barcode for every ticket directly on your phone. You can use tickets via email or via the app. In my opinion, the app is easier to navigate and they are all in one place. Even when sometimes I am confused using the app, all the cast members are very well trained on how to navigate the app and can always easily help me find exactly what I need. Not only can you use the app to carry your tickets, you can also use the app to check entertainment, wait times, and character greetings. This is helpful to give you an idea of how busy the park might be on the day of your visit. It will also give you an idea of other offerings that might be happening that might not be listed on the calendar - mostly character greetings. 11. Does my 2 year old need a ticket? No! Any guest under the age of 3 does not need their own ticket. We have really taken advantage of this - although it is a bummer that the younger kids won’t remember as much about the vacation. Children tickets are for guests aged 3-9. Anyone over 10 has to get a general admission ticket. 12. Can I still get in early to Disneyland? Disneyland used to have magic morning hours and guests could get into the parks early if they were staying for a certain number of days. However, the Resort changed this offering. Instead, now guest have to be staying at one of the designated Disneyland Resort hotels - The Disneyland Hotel, The Grand Californian, or Paradise Pier. Staying at one of these resorts allows guest 30 minute early access to certain sections of the park. Guests will just have to show their hotel reservations at certain rope areas of the park to pass by. The signage and guidance once you are in the park for the morning magic hour is really well laid out and easy to follow! In short, buying Disneyland tickets is an investment and if you’re like me, you want to make sure you are doing everything correctly before hitting that purchase button. They are not returnable, but like I shared earlier, you can modify the reservations if needed. The ticket process has changed a little bit throughout the years, so it’s best to brush up on the topic before purchasing.
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If you've already searched for "Spirit Halloween store near me," or "Spirit Halloween store locator" then you are in good company, because I did too! If your family is like mine, then you might have heard, "But it's only August." Yes, it is only August, but it's really close to the end of August. I also searched for "Open Spirit Halloween stores near me" to narrow down the options even more for those stores that haven't gotten the memo that it's clearly HALLOWEEN time. It seems like stores are setting out holiday merchandise earlier and earlier, right? If you aren't on the early holiday bandwagon, then you might miss out on the exact costume that your child wants. I learned this the hard way on Teddy's first Halloween. We didn't miss out on the costume, but we missed out on the right size of the costume. Consequently poor Teddy was stuffed into a monkey costume too tight to zip up the back. He stayed in it for a few pictures and then promptly wore just a Halloween onesie for the rest of the night. We had a similar last minute inventory problem last year. I decided I was going to be a Dalmatian dog to accompany Teddy's firefighter costume. I couldn't find Dalmatian anything! I ended up having to velcro black felt onto a white t-shirt to make furry spots. This year is going to be different. This year I am going to 100% completely conform to when Spirit Halloween says I should start thinking about Halloween. As those Spirit Halloween stores begin popping up in vacant grocery store strip malls, I am going to know exactly what I'm going to buy. My husband can send me all the Spirit Halloween store memes he can find and it won’t stop me from stepping foot into those stores and exploring what I can find. One word of advice I’ve learned through is that if you purchase something off their website, their return policy is a little dicey. One year, I purchased a blue monster costume for Teddy. He was so adamant that he wanted to be a blue monster. Naturally, I couldn’t find it in the store because most of the inventory had been picked over - and we were still over a month away! (Blue monsters must have been a popular ticket item that year). Anyway, I had to order the blue monster toddler costume from Spirit and their website. First of all, you usually get free shipping with orders over $40. Most of their toddler costumes are conveniently priced below that, so you’ll be splurging for another Halloween item if you’re only needing a toddler costume. Once the blue monster costume came though, Teddy wouldn’t try it on. I’m not sure if he was afraid of it or just was never in the mood (kids, right?), but I held onto the costume in hopes that as Halloween approached, he’d have a change of heart. I didn’t want to know what type of meltdown would greet me if I had decided to get rid of the blue monster costume too quickly. Anyway, we got pretty close to Halloween and Teddy still was having nothing to do with this blue monster costume. My sister-in-law had purchased him a cute little dinosaur costume that he’d wear, so I figured it was time to return the blue furry monster. When I went to return it though, Spirit’s Halloween policy was 30 days from shipping date. Well, this was during a period when there was delay in the mail. The delay ate up about a week and a half of my 30 days. A fickle toddler ate up the rest of the time. Consequently, we were stuck with one furry monster costume for Halloween that year. Resigned to the fact that I had wasted $40+ on this purchase, I threw the blue furry monster costume into the back of Teddy’s closet. When Halloween rolled around and it was time to put on his costume, Teddy’s very first question to me was, “Where’s my monster costume?” I couldn’t believe my eras. The kid who had screamed incoherently any time I showed him the costume was now asking for it - and better yet - asking to wear it! He ended up being the cutest little blue furry monster that year for Halloween. He also ended up doing a wardrobe change and turning into a dinosaur halfway through the night. That was all just fine with me. It meant more cute Halloween pictures for this mom. What’s the moral of that story? One, look at the return policy for Spirit Halloween (or really any store) when buying items for children. The other moral of the story is that children have their own minds. You don’t need me to tell you that. Children can be some of the most stubborn people on the planet and, to me, that is so admirable because they must really know what they want (or don’t want). Some Halloween costumes are trendy because that’s what is popular in the moment and some are just clever and cute and that’s ok. The important thing to remember when picking a Halloween costume is that it’s a fun holiday. It doesn’t matter what your child is dressed up to be, what matters are the memories that you created together building up to Halloween and on Halloween itself. I always say that the build-up to the holidays is so much better than the holiday itself. The holiday goes by SO FAST. Think about Halloween, my kids last trick-or-treating maybe an hour and a half at most. Then it’s completely over. However, the build up to Halloween lasts weeks! I like my kids to help me decorate and, of course, visit the costume store like Spirit Halloween to get ideas of what they might like to be. It doesn’t mean we are going to buy that exact costume, I tell them, it just means we are getting some really great ideas and getting excited for the holiday. I used to never buy costumes. I would always make them or thrift them, but now as a super busy mom, sometimes buying them just is so much easier. Whether you are making them or buying them, we can ALL use the inspiration of some 2023 toddler Halloween costume ideas. Immediately after this, you might just join me in searching for "Spirit Halloween store locator!" (On your WAZE app of course so you can get there the quickest route possible. 1. Bluey and Bingo tODDLER halloween CostumesWe obviously love Bluey in our household. I think the little girl costumes are so cute. I love that they don't have the full character head on their hood and they aren't a full, sweat-inducing furry jumpsuit. Did you know, by the way, that Bluey and Bingo are girl dogs? I had no idea until I googled that question (like apparently most of America.) That being said, neither of my boys would hesitate to dress up as either Bluey or Bingo. Speaking of, do you see the cute matching Bingo shoes they found for the ad? Of course, not included and the costume itself is just under that free shipping deal at $39.99. 2. Ghost Spider Toddler Halloween Costume + Spider Man Toddler Halloween Costume |
3. Wednesday Addams Toddler Costume and Pugsley Addams Toddler Costume
Sorry boys, Mom is obsessed with this cute toddler Wednesday Addams costume at Spirit Halloween. It's such a dichotomy from Wednesday to the current Barbie craze. I haven't decided which side I fall on because I just love them both so much! I totally found Wednesday and had her up here by herself only to find Pugsley too! The boys can get in on the Addams Family resurgence. It's such a fun way to be creepy but cute!
4. The Little Mermaid Toddler Costumes
The Little Mermaid is bound to be a popular costume this year with the new movie. Like usual, I am tickled that there are more than one options to get in on the Little Mermaid craze. We LOVE the Little Mermaid here - especially Ursula. Maybe we can get an Ursula costume soon too?
5. Beetlejuice, beetlejuice, beetlejuice (Toddler Halloween Costumes)
Oh my goodness, these costumes are amazing! With the new Beetlejuice movie coming out, I feel a new Beetlejuice mania coming on. Remember when Beetlejuice used to be a huge staple at Universal Studios? He was EVERYWHERE! There was a Beetlejuice show at the park and cartoon on TV.
This is a continuation post of all things Bluey's birthday!
Invitations
What's a Bluey birthday without invitations? I am basically obsessed with this "new" way of doing invitations. This is definitely a trend I am late hearing about. Canva invitations? Here's the deal...Etsy has all sorts of pre-made themed invitations that you can download. You open them on a free Canva account and can edit the details that pertain to you. The ones I did for Teddy aren't on Etsy anymore, but there are so many to choose from. There are even video ones! This was helpful because I could simply send the invite to friends and family. We could also print out the invitations for his friends at school whose contact info I didn't have yet.
Balloons!
If you've ever made a balloon arch, you know they are some serious work. If you've ever made a balloon arch without a balloon machine, congratulations, you're as crazy as me! I didn't even know they made these balloon machines. I got one on a whim on Amazon Prime Day. Oh my goodness, it is AMAZING! My fingers still hurt from tying balloons, but not as badly as they used to!
Next, you really have to commit to the Bluey color scheme. We bought TWO balloon arch packages - one for the balloon number and one for the arch.
Package 1:
Package 1:
My problem with balloon arches is that they always fall from the ceiling when I try to put them up, so I had this really great idea of how to create a balloon arch backdrop for pictures. I got this clothing rack from Ikea for $9.99 and got some zip ties from Dollar Tree and tied my balloon arch on the clothing rack. It worked perfectly!
I made the mistake of making a large Number 1 for Cal's first birthday. Since then, I've forever doomed myself to making large balloon number props for every birthday party. I find some super "easy" templates on Etsy, get some thick poster board from the Dollar Tree and set to work!
More Decorations
Final Result
It's literally impossible to say "Bluey" without singing the theme song, right?
Teddy wanted a Bluey themed birthday this year. We love Bluey in the Smith household.
I love a good themed birthday and some good decorations. This is post 1 of a series on a Bluey birthday. Unfortunately, there isn't A LOT out there for Bluey birthdays at the stores. There is A LOT of different items on Etsy though which is great!
We did see the Bluey and Bingo cut outs. They are about 2 feet tall and retail for around $40 each. I knew we could make it cheaper and have so much fun doing it. Here's what we did!
WHat you Need:
-Poster board
So we started at Michaels. They sell poster board, but it was about $2 - $2.50 a sheet. We walked right next door to Dollar Tree and bought our poster board for $0.50 each! I am not affiliated with Dollar Tree, but I love a good deal so much that I should be! Also - they do have the thicker poster boards at Dollar Tree, but I would go for your standard project poster-board. If you are going to cut out the characters, the thicker poster boards can get a little wonky.
-A projector
I know, this one is kind of a big deal. We were fortunate enough to have a projector at home to use. They do sell some cheap ones for around $25 at Wal-Mart, so if you're going to use it again, maybe it's not a terrible investment. You need it to project the image on the poster board. I'm not sure how else you might be able to do it without one. Ideas?
-Tape (for holding up poster board)
-Pencils (for tracing)
-Paint (color of bluey characters)
-Computer (for projecting bluey images)
-sharpee (for outlining characters)
What To Do:
1. Assemble your poster board and pencils. Hook up your computer to the projector, so that your projector is shining on a blank wall. Tape the poster board to the wall behind the image you are projecting. I found the webpage blueypedia to have some of the best standard images to project. I went ahead and copied them into a Word Document, so I could save the pictures I used for paint matching later on.
2. Trace the outline of the image with pencil. When you take it down, write the characters name on the back (trust me).
3. Repeat for all characters.
4. Then you are ready to paint! I am torn whether I liked outlining the pencil marks in Sharpee before painting. You definitely have to do it after as well. Teddy helped me with some of the painting and it was kind of nice to have a clear division of Sharpee for his painting skills before he started working.
5. Paint the images to match the pictures you saved in a Word Doc for future reference (right now).
6. Once the paint dries, outline the sections in Sharpee again.
7. Cut around the edges! I liked leaving a little outline border rather than cutting right along the character themself.
2. Trace the outline of the image with pencil. When you take it down, write the characters name on the back (trust me).
3. Repeat for all characters.
4. Then you are ready to paint! I am torn whether I liked outlining the pencil marks in Sharpee before painting. You definitely have to do it after as well. Teddy helped me with some of the painting and it was kind of nice to have a clear division of Sharpee for his painting skills before he started working.
5. Paint the images to match the pictures you saved in a Word Doc for future reference (right now).
6. Once the paint dries, outline the sections in Sharpee again.
7. Cut around the edges! I liked leaving a little outline border rather than cutting right along the character themself.
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