Hi there, Damian,
Welcome to planDisney. It’s a pleasure to help fellow Guests with planning visits to The Happiest Place on Earth!
Each Guest of the Disneyland Resort theme parks must have both valid theme park admission (a
theme park ticket or a
Magic Key pass) and a theme park reservation. Because the number of park reservations each day is limited, it’s possible to see the reservations run out for one or both parks, especially on popular days. Yes, you may find that other Guests might need to cancel their existing park reservation and thereby open up those reservations for other Guests like you. In that case, if you already have your park ticket or pass, you can then visit "
My Theme Park Reservations" to modify the date and/or starting park of an existing reservation or create a new reservation with your park admission.
If you haven't purchased theme park tickets yet, you may want to consider the park reservation calendars for the different ticket types when deciding which ticket type to purchase. For example, I currently see that park reservations for Disneyland Park have run out on July 4th, 2023 for
California Resident Offer tickets and for
non-promotional one park per day tickets. But the
calendar for non-promotional Park Hopper tickets still shows availability for both parks for that date. You could also visit a main entrance ticket booth or reach out to a Cast Member with the
Tickets phone line to ask about upgrading your existing ticket to a higher level ticket that may still have open park reservations available to it.
Another great option to consider is to book a stay at one of the three
Disneyland Resort Hotels. Besides access to all the extra
perks for on-site hotel Guests, you can also go through the "
My Hotel Reservations" page to book a park reservation from the pool of
theme park reservations exclusively for hotel Guests. My family and I did that so that we could find available park reservations for the very popular
New Year's Eve weekend at the Disneyland Resort.
I hope that helps with your planning, Damian. But even if you end up starting at a park different from your first choice, I hope you enjoy your time at the Disneyland Resort.
Have a magical time!
~Tony