When did Disneyland stop using paper tickets?

On June 20, 1981, Disneyland began offering the choice of a ticket book or an all-inclusive Passport, which offered unlimited use of the park attractions. By June 1982, the ticket books were phased out in favor of the Passport at both Disneyland and Magic Kingdom Park at Walt Disney World.



The transition away from traditional "paper tickets" at Disneyland Resort happened in several stages between 2014 and 2021. For park entry, the classic "cardstock" tickets were largely replaced by digital barcodes and RFID-enabled plastic cards around 2014-2015, coinciding with the broader rollout of the "MagicBand" technology and the Disneyland app. The most significant shift occurred in December 2021, when Disneyland officially retired its "Legacy FastPass" system, which used physical paper tickets printed at kiosks near attractions. This was replaced by the fully digital Disney Genie+ (now Lightning Lane Multi Pass), where all reservations and "return times" are managed via a smartphone. While you can still receive a plastic ticket card at the booth or print a paper confirmation at home, the "day-to-day" paper-based experience of the 1990s and early 2000s is now entirely obsolete, replaced by a mobile-first ecosystem.

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To save time when you arrive at the Disneyland Resort, be sure to purchase your park tickets on disneyland.com or through our Disneyland mobile app. When you purchase tickets on disneyland.com, you can choose to receive either a physical ticket or a Disney eTicket.

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Tickets can be linked to your Disney account if they have been used, as long as they are unexpired and still have valid park admissions left. When you link a partially used ticket, you are asked to match the ticket to the person who previously used it for park admission.

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A: Once your ticket has been linked to your Disney account, and you have matched the ticket to yourself, you can go to the theme park or water park, touch your linked MagicBand+, MagicBand or card to the touch point at the Main Entrance and enjoy your visit.

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While you aren't able to extend the expiration of your ticket, not all is lost. Wholly unused and expired Disneyland tickets can be used towards the purchase of a new theme park ticket.

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If you are using Standard Theme Park Tickets, you do not need a valid government-issued photo ID for admission into the Disneyland Resort parks. However, there are special tickets that DO require a valid government-issued photo ID for admission, such as military tickets.

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Yes, Disneyland takes cash at both of their parks, all merchandise locations, restaurants, festival booths, snack carts, and ticket offices.

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Disneyland Resort theme park tickets are valid until any one of the following takes place: All of the days of the ticket have been used. The ticket expiration date has passed. Find the expiration date in the ticket purchase confirmation email.

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Check for valid and unused tickets in the Disneyland Mobile App: Open up your Disneyland Mobile App and tap the three-bar menu in the bottom right-hand corner. Select Tickets and Passes. Any active and valid tickets will typically be visible here.

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A 1-day base ticket expires on the chosen start date. 2-day tickets expire 4 days after the selected start date. 3-day tickets expire 5 days after the chosen start date. 4-day tickets expire 7 days after the chosen start date.

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Disneyland tickets themselves don't sell out often, but park reservations can fill up, leaving you without access to the park if you haven't planned ahead. The best way to ensure access to Disneyland is to make a reservation when buying your ticket, or as soon as you know when you'd like to visit.

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