Greetings, April! Thanks for visiting planDisney. It's a great idea to use Disney Gift Cards to save and budget for theme park tickets. I love that you are planning your 2026 visit early!
First, I recommend registering your gift cards at
DisneyGiftCard.com. This is extremely helpful if your gift cards are ever lost or stolen. You can also consolidate up to six gift cards by transferring funds to a single gift card as long as the balance doesn't exceed $1,000. Remember to keep your physical and digital Disney Gift Cards because they will be required to make purchases.
Since you are in Washington, I imagine you'd want to book your tickets ahead of your travels to Anaheim. I suggest doing this through the
Disneyland website. When purchasing tickets online, you can only use one Disney gift card per transaction. So, step 1 is to consolidate your cards. After that,
sign into your Disney account and follow the prompts to choose your tickets. When you get to the payment page, check the "Use a Disney Gift Card" box and enter the information from the back of the card. And heads up, you can purchase Guest tickets in separate transactions if, for example, the total purchase is greater than $1,000 and you want to use two gift cards.
Once your tickets are purchased and your reservations are made, make sure they show up in the
Disneyland mobile app. I love the app – it makes it easy to scan into the park, use Lightning Lane passes, access photos, check wait times, order food, and more. Here's a bonus tip: you can add a gift card as your payment type when you
place a mobile order! And if you need to adjust your reservation dates, Hakuna Matata, you can do that in the app, too!
If you have leftover funds on your Disney Gift Card after purchasing your tickets, rest assured that you can use it at most retail and dining locations inside the park. During the holidays, I was pixie-dusted with Disney Gift Cards from family members and used them at the shops along
Main Street, U.S.A. to get a new Spirit Jersey for me and plushies for my kids.
April, have you heard about the
Disneyland Resort 70th Celebration? Colorful decorations, collectible merchandise, specialty foods, and new entertainment will come to the Disneyland Resort starting in May of this year. The good news is this celebration will last through summer 2026, meaning you may have a chance to join the fun!
If you have any other questions as you dream of your next visit, please let us know, April. We're happy to help!
Kriss