2026 Disneyland Vacation Packages (Free Lightning Lane Perk and Early Entry Ending)

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As of Wednesday, August 20, 2026 Disneyland Resort vacation package dates are available for booking. This includes all three on-site resort hotels and select good neighbor hotels (not all of them accept bookings that far out).

Vacation packages are valid for travel between January 1 and December 31, 2026 and dates cannot be booked more than 499 days in advance. They can made online (easiest way), by phone, or through reputable Disney-certified agencies, such as Get Away Today.

That’s the good news. The bad news? Well, there are a couple notable tidbits of concern. There have been reductions in perks, one of which is quite major and could significantly impact your park visit. What is it? Let’s get into it!

Pixar Place Hotel Private Park Access Closing

First, let’s discuss the lesser of the evils. The private entrance into DCA that’s been exclusive to guests of Pixar Place Hotel (PPH) in recent years is, once again, “permanently closing”. I use parentheses as this entrance has closed several times since its inception.

It’ll close in early 2026 to accommodate construction on the Coco expansion inside Disney California Adventure park. To compensate, guests of PPH will be able to utilize the Grand Californian Hotel’s private entrance, which is somewhat of a diluted substitution.

I say that because in order to get there, you’ll first need to bob and weave your way through the maze that is the GCH lobby, which can be pure chaos in the morning. After using the private entrance, you’ll enter DCA in the beautiful, often peaceful Grizzly Peak area of the park.

Disney closing this private entrance shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone, as this isn’t the first time this has happened and recently, its hours and availability have been drastically reduced as guests are often diverted to the GCH entrance anyway.

It was discontinued once before in the early 2000s, not too long after DCA opened, for essentially the same reason - low guest flow-through. Disney needs to staff this entrance and more staff equates to more money. Put simply, the demand didn’t justify the expense.

It was brought back again when bookings at the formerly named (and loathed) Paradise Pier Hotel slumped and guests lost other perks. During the conversion to its Pixar re-skin, the hotel was a literal construction zone and this entrance was revived as a selling point to entice guests to book.

Now that the conversion is fully complete and PPH is now the most in-demand of the three resort hotels, there’s no longer a need to entice bookings with it. The hotel’s theme, refreshed dining options, and upgraded pool deck are now the hooks.

This is certainly a big loss for PPH guests but who knows, its possible, though unlikely, that Disney could be enticed to reopen it in the future (provided the Coco expansion doesn’t make that impossible).

Disneyland Resort Early Entry Ending in 2026

Since 2022, one of the perks on-site hotel guests enjoyed was Early Entry, which granted those guests access to select attractions in either Disneyland park or Disney California Adventure on alternating days, 30-minutes prior to official park opening.

Now, as of January 5, 2026, that perk will be no more as Disney is officially sunsetting it. Note that guests with booking dates up to January 5 will still enjoy Early Entry, though Disney could end it earlier than stated.

Early Entry has been a popular perk since its inception, though it’s often a mixed-bag in terms of how beneficial it is to guests. You could usually run the gamut on attractions in Fantasyland, as those are closely clumped together and are a few minutes each…max.

Tomorrowland could be sketchy, especially whenever Space Mountain would experience the dreaded delayed opening. That slight delay alone would often take up the bulk of your 30-minute head start, causing you to start mixing in with rope droppers in a blink of an eye.

DCA was usually a stressful experience, as the available attractions are more spread out. It wasn’t unheard of to Early Entry DCA and get close to nothing done, especially considering Disneyland’s insistence of maintaining their dark ages-era security checkpoint procedure.

The given reasons include staffing issues and lack of demand, making it difficult to justify the expense. Staffing issues I could buy, as just about every company is experiencing that on some level. Lack of demand? Not sure I’m buying that one.

Much like many others, I was very much in the it’s-better-than-nothing pool when Early Entry was announced. I always hoped for the eventual return of Magic Mornings, which was the pre-covid era (and superior) version of the program.

Magic Mornings leveled the playing field by giving everyone (regardless of hotel) with a 3-day or more park ticket one-time access to either park one hour prior to official park opening. It was the ultimate rope drop and made knocking out several attractions a breeze.

Another potential solution could’ve been to extend an offer to the high-end Good Neighbor hotels to pay a fee to offer their guests access to Early Entry. If lack of demand truly was the problem, this could’ve resolved it and put cash in their pockets, but I digress.

By all accounts, this seemingly boils down to Disney no longer wanting to do it (in the interim, at least). Now that Anaheim officials have approved Disney’s DisneylandForward re-zoning plans, I’d bet the farm of another resort hotel or two sprouting up.

If and when that happens, and Disney has increased their hotel room capacity, they’ll likely re-visit this idea and once again offer it (or something similar). It’s a big loss to on-site guests, who pay exorbitant nightly rates for what amounts to fairly standard rooms once you strip away the theming elements.

Early Entry helped to ease the pain of those nightly rates a bit. For some, it may have even made them justifiable. As of January 2026, though, there will really be no advantage to staying in an on-site hotel, aside from remaining in the “Disney bubble”, that is. Or is there….?

Free Lightning Lane for On-Site Guests

Lastly, another change taking place in 2026 is a complimentary Lightning Lane redemption for on-site guests. This entitlement will be good for any Lightning Lane Multi-Pass attraction in either park and does not include Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance or Radiator Springs Racers.

This is not to be confused with receiving the LLMP service for free. Rather, this is a one-time redemption and by “one-time”, I don’t mean one per attraction or one per day of your ticket. It’s literally ONE entitlement, per person with valid admission and reservation, for a single attraction during your entire stay.

Disney Vacation Club members also qualify, regardless if they’re using points or cash. Much like with the aforementioned Early Entry program, though, guests of Good Neighbor hotels will not qualify for this perk.

Whether or not this is a proper replacement for Early Entry is a matter of perspective. As discussed above, if you did Early Entry in Fantasyland, you could knock out several attractions in that 30-minute span, though none of them are featured Lightning Lane attractions.

Early Entry success at DCA was far from a sure thing, so the argument could be made that having guaranteed, complimentary access to an LLMP attraction is a positive. Though I would argue including Radiator Springs Racers, the park’s most popular attraction, would get it further along.

The biggest downside to this is the single redemption per stay, rather than receiving one per day. This decision screams “Bob Chapek” to me, as it comes across as cheap on Disney’s end. An uptick in one-night stays is likely on the horizon, a loophole Disney fans will undoubtedly expose in order to receive this perk on a daily basis.

In terms of what kind of effect this will have on queue wait times for off-site guests, I wouldn’t be too concerned about it. Disney’s total room count is a drop in the bucket compared to Good Neighbor hotels, so the effect will be rather insignificant.

The biggest effect I see as a result of these changes will be the reduced value of on-site hotels. Sure, you’ll always that core group of die-hards who badly wish to remain in that coveted Disney bubble and view off-site stays as sacrilege.

For many, though, Disney-owned hotels (specifically at Disneyland) are a no-go, mostly due to cost and a diverse assortment of more affordable options that are just as close or in some cases, closer, to the parks than two of the three Disney hotels.

The removal of Early Entry and offer of a (rather insulting) single Lightning Lane redemption, will likely be perceived as a downgrade to most visitors and will make Disney’s hotels even less appealing to those who have hard time justifying the high nightly rates.

Hopefully Disney will realize this and sweeten the pot. Not that I think they’ll reverse course on cancelling Early Entry, but at least increase the offer of a complimentary Lightning Lane to one per day, rather than stay.

Additionally, they should include Rise of the Resistance and Radiator Springs Racers. For many, those are the two top-tier attractions. The potential of having daily access to them without having to use stand-by queues would likely be seen as a value perk to many.

If you’re considering staying at a Good Neighbor hotel, I suggest reading my reviews on Hotel Indigo Anaheim and Four Points by Sheraton. Both offer good amenities and are within walking distance of the park.