Disney has announced that the Disneyland Resort’s Theme Parks and limited Hotels will reopen. No mention of Military Discounts.
Updated: 4 April 2021
Updated: 26 March 2021
UPDATE: Disneyland is scheduled to re-open to out of state guests on 15 June 2021.
Will there be a Disney Armed Forces Salute?
Theme Parks
After being closed for more than one year, Disneyland park and Disney California Adventure park are planning to reopen with limited capacity on 30 April 2021.
Disneyland will be instituting several measures to control attendance.
- A Theme Park Reservation System, just like Walt Disney World’s, will be put in place
- Only California Residents will be admitted
Expect the same strict social distancing measures that we’ve seen at WDW, including Character Cavalcades and Pop Ups, and no regularly scheduled parades or nighttime spectaculars which both draw crowds.
The highly popular FastPass and MaxPass services have been suspended.
Update 4 April: Disneyland has posted the following regarding contact tracing, household limits, and California residency.
Per the state guidelines, the name and contact information of each person who purchases a ticket to the parks should be collected for contact tracing purposes. This information must be provided by the ticket purchaser, who will serve as the main contact on behalf of his/her entire party. In addition, at the time a guest purchases park tickets and makes a park reservation, the purchasing guest must confirm that the guest’s party size will not contain more than 3 households and that the guest, and all members of the guest’s party, are California residents, since the guidelines limit theme park attendance to in-state visitors only.
Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa
Hotels
Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa will reopen its regular guest rooms on 29 April 2021 and then Disney Vacation Club Villas at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa will reopen 2 May.
Disney’s Paradise Pier Hotel and the Disneyland Hotel will reopen at a later date.
Downtown Disney
Downtown Disney has been open for a while now.
Disneyland Armed Forces Salute
There has been no news as to the fate of the Disney Armed Forces Salute at the Disneyland Resort yet!
MDT doesn’t expect a Salute type offer at Disneyland until they either begin allowing those who do not live in California to enter or even when attendance limits are lifted.
In June of 2020 Disneyland announced on their website that they had extended the expiration on Disney Armed Forces Salute Tickets to 16 December 2021.
See: disneyland.disney.go.com/travel-information/ and click on Tickets then look for Military Salute.
MDT expects that Disneyland will belatedly think of the military community after reopening to the entire country, similar to their delayed policy changes for Walt Disney World.
More as We Hear It
We’ll update as things progress, but we have little interest in visiting California and would not be able to enter the parks anyway.
You can see how all the same measures have been instituted at Walt Disney World in our trip reports:
- Our Return to Walt Disney World (Aug/Sep 2020)
- Our Second Trip Back to Walt Disney World (Nov 2020)
- Our Third Trip Back to Walt Disney World (Jan 2021)
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This MDT Post By: Steve Bell Steve is the Military Disney Tips Founder. He is a retired U.S. Military Member who's been touring the Disney Parks since 1971! He has been writing about Disney for the US Military Community here for 18 years. Steve's mission is to help military families with their Disney vacations in every way possible. See Steve and His Family's Content |
Planning a Disney Trip? Want to get the best military discounts that are available? Feeling a little confused? See Our Great Disney Discount and Planning Info:
- Back to Basics Posts - A great place to start, offering basic topics!
- Disney Veteran & Military Discount Eligibility Guide
- The Military Family’s Walt Disney World Comprehensive Vacation Planning and Preparation GuideÂ
- Military Disney Tips Disney Packing ChecklistÂ
- Disney Military Tickets – Your Start-to-Finish Guide
- Resorts/Hotel Overview Page
- Dining Overview Page
- Transportation Overview Page
- Shades of Green, WDW’s Military-Only Resort
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We are stationed in California and bought Armed Forces Salute tickets for DisneyLand in February 2020. We have not used any days. Do you think the admission of California residents will include us? (We do not have California drivers licenses.)
Hi Katie,
In June of 2020 Disneyland announced on their website that they had extended the expiration on Disney Armed Forces Salute Tickets to 16 December 2021.
See: disneyland.disney.go.com/travel-information/ and click on Tickets then look for Military Salute.
From what Disneyland shared on the travel agent side it seems the CA only rule has to do with California’s travel restrictions?
I’d bring a copy of your mortgage or lease, utility bill, or something else official addressed to you in CA to document CA residence
Just got off the phone with Disney land. No we cannot enter the park unless we have a CA ID.
Thanks for the intel Elizabeth