Hello there Audrey,
Welcome to planDisney and thank you so much for your question! While I haven't personally visited the Disneyland Resort during Thanksgiving week, I have many friends who have and all have thoroughly enjoyed it. What a special way to spend the holiday!
Currently, to enter one of the parks of the Disneyland Resort, you need both
theme park tickets and
theme park reservations for each day you plan to visit. You can purchase theme park tickets at any time and typically don't expire for quite a while. For example, if you purchased a multi-day ticket today, it wouldn't expire until January 12, 2026.
However, the window to make theme park reservations only goes about 6 months out from the current date - so currently the furthest out you can make a theme park reservation as of the time that I'm answering your question is late July of 2024.
Therefore, for your visit during Thanksgiving week later this year, you can purchase your theme park tickets whenever. If you're purchasing them through the Disneyland Resort website, it will prompt you to make your theme park reservations during the purchase process, but you can change them at any time in the
My Plans hub. This means you could set your reservation date for July for now and then change it to November when those reservations open up around late May.
In terms of the cost of your tickets, it will really depend on your plans. I always strongly recommend visiting the Disneyland Resort for more than one day if your schedule and budget allow - there is just so much to see and do that it's hard to fit it all into one day. Plus, the more days you add to your visit, the less expensive each day becomes through multi-day tickets.
Currently, 1-day tickets follow a
tier-based system (tiers 0-6) with higher tier tickets costing a bit more but with a much wider range of dates that they can be used. If you are planning on purchasing a 1-day ticket, then you'll want to make sure you select the correct tier for the date of your visit. This might be the one scenario where it might be better to wait until the theme park reservations have opened for the day you're planning on visiting to ensure you purchase the correct tier.
If you're planning on visiting for 2 or more days then you can buy your multi-day tickets whenever you're ready and then make your theme park reservations when they become available in a few months.
I hope that's helpful, Audrey! Enjoy your visit to the Happiest Place on Earth later this year.
Have a Magical Day,
Greg