Hi Rose!
Welcome to planDisney! We're so glad that you found us hEAR. Thank you so much for asking this Disneyland Resort Theme Park Admission Ticket question!
This is a great question, and I love that you're planning so far ahead! If you plan on purchasing
Theme Park Admission Tickets by themselves, then yes, they would need to be purchased in full before you make your
Park Pass Reservations. You can buy your tickets through the Disneyland.com website, a blogger, a travel agent, a membership you might have like Costco or AAA, or even an organization you belong to. All of these would require either a full cash or credit card charge payment to receive your tickets.
If, however, you bundle your tickets with a hotel stay as a
Disneyland Resort Hotel Package or
Disneyland Good Neighbor Package, then you would just need to put down a $200 deposit at the time of the booking and then you'd be able to book your
Park Pass Reservations either upon check out or as soon as your dates fall within the 120-day booking window, whichever happens first. The remaining amount of the hotel + ticket package would then be due 30 days before your check-in date; in your case, Rose, you won't get that much time to delay a payment, but this plan is
kind of a way to make your reservations now and pay later. Vacation Packages are also neat in that they're refundable, including the tickets. If you need to cancel between now and 30-days before check-in you'll get 100% of what you paid back. If you need to cancel between 30 days before check-in up until 5 days before then you'd only forfeit the deposit and have the rest of the amount paid returned to you.
Pro Tip: If you decide to purchase tickets and stay in a hotel without a package, you'll want to make your purchase soon as
Day Ticket Park Pass Reservations fill up fast. However, guests who stay at a
Disneyland Resort Hotels have access to a special pool of reservations that stick around a lot longer.
I hope that this helped to clEAR your question up, Rose! Thank you again for stopping by planDisney! Be sure to check out our
official planDisney Instagram account where we're sharing all kinds of tips and tricks! And if you have any more Disneyland Resort Vacation Planning Questions, We're All Ears!
~Kristen N.