2026 Disneyland vacation packages just dropped, which means it’s time to plan our next trip to The Happiest Place on Earth. With new vacation packages come new details, and we have a lot to share.
Sleeping Beauty Castle
If you’re planning on staying at a Disneyland Resort hotel, make sure you read below to check out all the information you need to know for upcoming trips.
Starting January 5th, 2026, there will be no more early morning entries. Currently, guests staying at Disneyland Resort hotels could enter the parks 30 minutes early, so they could snag some extra park time before it was open to the public. This benefit is now going away.
Disneyland Hotel
Instead, guests will receive one Lightning Lane per person, per stay. This Lightning Lane will be part of Lightning Lane Multi Pass and can help you skip the line at most rides, excluding Radiator Springs Racers and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance.
Lightning Lane entrance at Disneyland’s Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway
The Lightning Lane will be available with a valid park admission and reservation, and Disney Vacation Club reservations qualify, but Good Neighbor Hotel bookings do not.
This change lets you skip a line in the parks without having to wake up early. Score! The biggest change is that Early Entry was available every day, switching back and forth between the two parks, while you will only receive one Lightning Lane for your entire stay.
Space Mountain Lightning Lane
The Pixar Place Hotel also has an additional entrance into Disney California Adventure, but this entrance will not be available starting January 5th, 2026, as they work on new construction and projects coming to the park.
Pixar Place Hotel
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Here at Disney Food Blog, we’re bringing you all the details you need to know for your next Disney trip, so make sure you keep following for more!
5 DISNEYLAND PLANNING TRADITIONS CANCELED FOR 2026
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What do you think about these new changes? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.
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Well this is a big bummer.
This is so disappointing! We chose the Grand Californian Hotel for our February 2026 trip for the early entry perk. I cannot believe that people don’t utilize it. Every time we have gone, there are masses of people waiting to get in to the park. And to give ONE LL pass for your ENTIRE STAY seems like a pittance to being able to ride 1-3 rides in that half hour window. I would think one LL per day of your stay would be the minimum compensation for taking away this beloved perk. Why stay at a Disneyland resort hotel now?
Unlike at WDW, there is literally no reason to stay at a DLR hotel now. Don’t get me wrong, we never do anyway because we can’t afford it. Instead, we stay right across Harbor Blvd. at hotels that are not only mush less expensive but also closer. However, taking away the last remaining perk of staying on-property makes no sense. No idea what the true rationale is for this. One benefit for us? No rope drop competition from early entry guests. Should we take that as a win? IDK…
Yikes. We are not a rope drop group, but that’s doesn’t mean that we don’t appreciate the help that rope drop provides for managing the crowds and lines throughout the rest of the day. This sounds like a terrible trade off. This news inspired me to research DL park package delivery to your hotel, which had returned to DL but not WDW post-pandemic, because that’s what I thought the article might be about. I am very sad to learn the news that park purchase delivery disappeared from DL again last year! It was the biggest hope that we had for it returning to WDW. I’m really surprised that Disney has kept up the pattern of making such guest-disappointing decisions and changes when most discretionary businesses are finding their business down. The only thing that I can think is that this decision must save them a lot of money on personnel and ride operation costs. But it’s still a strange and sad move, and one LL per trip is a stranger and sadder replacement. Maybe they’re hoping to drive up visits during the rest of 2024, while people can still enjoy early entry? But most people can’t (or won’t) plan a Disney trip only 2-3 months out (or less).
Sad news. My hubby and were planning a stay at the Grand Californian, early entry to the park was the main reason. Not anymore. We were willing the pay the $800 a night price to get into the park early, but now there is no reason to stay there. Seems like the company is ruining all the magic.