Hi there, Daveian! Happy to see you've made your way to planDisney with your question! We love helping Guests add a little magic to their Disneyland Resort vacations, and it doesn't get much merrier than visiting during the
holiday season! You will love seeing Mickey and Minnie decked in their holiday best (Minnie looks particularly adorable!), scouring the park for some peppermint-flavored treats, and enjoying the merriest sail through
"it's a small world" Holiday!
When it comes to the parks, you are right to be prepared for some holly jolly park hustle as it is a very popular time of year to visit. I like to remind Guests who may be returning for the first time since the reopening that everyone is now required to have both a
theme park ticket and a
theme park reservation to enter the parks each day. If you have a theme park reservation for Christmas Day, you are good to go and won't need to worry about it filling up and becoming unavailable on the day itself. While the ticket and reservation are linked in the sense that you need a ticket to make a reservation, the latter can be changed and rescheduled if anything comes up in your planning and you need to change your travel dates. Reservations are subject to availability and open up for booking 120 days out, which is August 27th for Christmas Day. Since it's sure to be a busy park day, I would earmark your calendar to purchase tickets and make your reservation as soon as they are available. The good news is that when you purchase your tickets through the Disneyland website, you will make your reservation as part of the checkout process!
Since you are buying a two-day ticket, you will also need to make a reservation for that second day when you check-out as well. If you end up needing to make changes to this second day, simply navigate to the "Parks & Tickets" tab along the top navigation bar on the website and select "
Tickets and Reservation Details". On this page, you can take a look at the current
theme park calendar to see which days are still available (be sure to toggle to your ticket type - One Park Per Day or Park Hopper) or select "View My Park Reservations" to make changes. At this time, the only way to change your reservation is to cancel your original reservation and make a new one, so be sure to check the calendar ahead of time to ensure your new date is available. Here, you will scroll to the date you need to change, select "Cancel Reservation", and follow the prompts. Once the cancelation is confirmed, it will bring you back to the start of the process to book a new reservation. With a 2-day ticket, both days must be used within 13 days of first use before it expires, so you do not need to visit on consecutive days. I know this is a lot to take in, Daveian!
Be sure to check the Entertainment Schedule either through the mobile app or grab a copy as you head into the parks to make sure you don't miss any of the holiday magic! A
Christmas Fantasy Parade at Disneyland Park will leave you smiling from EAR to EAR, and the
Disney Festival of the Holidays at Disney California Adventure Park is not to be missed!
Enjoy the holiday magic!
Tara