It’s a small world after all, Kerri, and I’m so glad you found your way back to
planDisney! It’s wonderful to see you here again with another great question!
It’s never too soon to start planning your next adventure at the
Disneyland Resort, so let’s get started. It sounds like you’re thinking about purchasing a Magic Key Pass (the new name for Annual Passports) if and when they become available again for purchase. Currently, Magic Key Passes are only available for renewal for current Magic Key holders. We don’t know if or when they will become available again for new purchase, unfortunately. I recommend keeping an eye on the
Disney Parks Blog, and on
@disneylandmagickey on Instagram to be the first to hEAR any breaking news about Magic Key sales, Kerri!
To help answer the rest of your question, with a Magic Key, you are able to book another park reservation as soon as you’ve scanned your Key upon entering the turnstiles at either Disneyland Park or Disneyland California Adventure Park. So, if your Key allows four reservations at a time, for example, and you need to secure a fifth day for your vacation, you’d be able to try for the fifth day as soon as you scanned into the theme parks on your first day. However, park reservation availability can be difficult to get sometimes when you’re within a few days of your chosen date. But it’s certainly not impossible. Even if it isn’t immediately available, I recommend continuing to check for availability every few hours, since reservation availability is updated often as Guests change their plans. If you don’t have luck in the days leading up to the chosen date, your best bet is to wait until about 9:00 PM or 10:00 PM the evening before, since Magic Key holders must cancel their reservation before midnight in order to avoid a “no-show” on their Magic Key account. So, I’ve had luck securing last-minute reservations this way.
I don’t believe that priority is given to a 5-day
theme park ticket versus a Magic Key necessarily, though they each pull from different park reservation calendars. So, reservation availability for a regular theme park ticket will likely be different than availability for a Magic Key holder.
I hope this information helps, Kerri! Please stop by with any additional questions… we’re all EARs!
Happy planning,
Kristin