News Disneyland Resort ends Early Entry benefit starting early January 2026

[CaptinEO]

Asked ChatGPT to think about it with me.

Response:

Disneyland Resort has about 2,400 hotel rooms (Disneyland Hotel, Pixar Place, and Grand Californian combined). Not every room turns over every day — average hotel stays are around 3–4 nights, so maybe 25–35% of rooms check in daily.

• If we take 30% turnover:
  2,400 × 0.3 = 720 rooms checking in per day.
• Average occupancy per room = ~3 people (families, couples).
  720 × 3 = ~2,100 guests checking in per day.

So, if the perk were one full day of Lightning Lane access on check-in day, you’d be adding ~2,000 extra LL users into the system each day.


Now — how disruptive is that?


Genie+ / Lightning Lane capacity is already structured to absorb tens of thousands of purchases daily (on peak days, Disneyland Genie+ sales alone are rumored to top 20,000+). An extra ~2,000 people with guaranteed access is noticeable, but not system-breaking, especially since:

• It’s spread across two parks.
• Not every guest uses LL aggressively (many will still rope drop, rest midday, etc.).
• Many of those hotel guests would have bought Genie+ anyway, meaning Disney isn’t even adding net-new demand, just shifting who pays for it.

We don't necessarily know they are ADDING 2000 Lightning Lane users to the capacity total, it could just be the hotel guests are just now a part of the existing allotment.

 

[Disney Analyst]

We don't necessarily know they are ADDING 2000 Lightning Lane users to the capacity total, it could just be the hotel guests are just now a part of the existing allotment.

Right, I mean I doubt they’d give it away to them and let it affect the capacity they can sell in a day.

I really think it would be a minimal impact if each hotel guest gets it once for a trip.

 

[Disney Irish]

I’m 99% sure that’s the case. I don’t see any work on the bridge or Simba lot happening for a while.

We shall see, but I wouldn't be surprised if we do actually see a push toward that sooner rather than later. Disney seems to really be wanting to move faster on projects of late, so seems within the realm of possibility here too.

 

[mickEblu]

]

We shall see, but I wouldn't be surprised if we do actually see a push toward that sooner rather than later. Disney seems to really be wanting to move faster on projects of late, so seems within the realm of possibility here too.

I guess the one caveat for me would be if they decide to just begin construction on the bridge now since they have that whole area under construction anyway. But I wouldn’t bet on it.

 

[CaptinEO]

Right, I mean I doubt they’d give it away to them and let it affect the capacity they can sell in a day.

I really think it would be a minimal impact if each hotel guest gets it once for a trip.

Does Lightning Lane ever sell out? I'm curious if maybe they dont usually hit capacity with LL so giving away 2000 a day may not effect having "lost sales"

 

[Disney Irish]

]

I guess the one caveat for me would be if they decide to just begin construction on the bridge now since they have that whole area under construction anyway. But I wouldn’t bet on it.

Sure that is possible.

 

[mlayton144]

what's even the point of on property now? On property is still further than hotels across the street and the amenities in the hotel themselves aren't even worth it. I got a DVC booked for DLH in March and I probably will cancel now, completely pointless

It’s a stretch to call those properties across the street “hotels” except for a couple of them , i see this having minimal impact on DLH or GCH or the LL capacity IMO

 

[CoastalElite64]

The motels across from Harbor are not at all comparable and frankly not as safe.
Now the Hilton or Marriott are but those are further away.

 

[Disney Irish]

The motels across from Harbor are not at all comparable and frankly not as safe.
Now the Hilton or Marriott are but those are further away.

What do you mean not as safe? I've stayed at many of them and not once did I feel unsafe.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

The motels across from Harbor are not at all comparable and frankly not as safe.
Now the Hilton or Marriott are but those are further away.

The hotels on Harbor haven't ever felt unsafe to me. I have stayed in them multiple times and often as a solo female traveler.

 

[PiratesMansion]

If you're "not safe" at the hotels on Harbor, that frankly tells me more about you than it does about the hotel. Like, sorry that Anaheim is a real city and not some overly manicured Levittown-esque suburb, I guess? But ultimately that's a you problem.

But back to the topic of the thread, this is dumb. Might actually affect me positively by removing the minimal amount of EE guests already in line for attractions I'm headed to, but removing the literal only perks seems very stupid.

One Lightning Lane per stay is a joke. Somehow when I stayed on property at Shanghai Disneyland, they were able to offer me a FastPass per day without the system destroying itself. No good reason they couldn't do the same here.

Someone ought to remind the people at TDA who insist they really, really do want to be a worldwide theme park destination that this is the exact opposite of what such a place would actually do.

 

[Disney Analyst]

If you're "not safe" at the hotels on Harbor, that frankly tells me more about you than it does about the hotel. Like, sorry that Anaheim is a real city and not some overly manicured Levittown-esque suburb, I guess? But ultimately that's a you problem.

But back to the topic of the thread, this is dumb. Might actually affect me positively by removing the minimal amount of EE guests already in line for attractions I'm headed to, but removing the literal only perks seems very stupid.

One Lightning Lane per stay is a joke. Somehow when I stayed on property at Shanghai Disneyland, they were able to offer me a FastPass per day without the system destroying itself. No good reason they couldn't do the same here.

Someone ought to remind the people at TDA who insist they really, really do want to be a worldwide theme park destination that this is the exact opposite of what such a place would actually do.

We stayed relatively far last time (far being a like... 11 minute walk from hotel to security), and never once felt unsafe or worried. The only issue was the sun beating down upon us when we walked back to our hotel midday for a break.

 

[DLR92]

The motels across from Harbor are not at all comparable and frankly not as safe.
Now the Hilton or Marriott are but those are further away.

I have walked out of Disneyland. Not once have I felt unsafe. I ate subway at peace all alone at the convention center picnic tables. I passed by few homeless people- the ones mentally unwell and the ones that aggressively pan handle. It was generally peaceful even past midnight.
Anaheim isn’t that crime infested some claim to be.

 

[truecoat]

This one time, I stayed at a hotel across the street and when I went back to my room, a homeless looked at me. I almost called the cops.

 

[SSG]

This one time, I stayed at a hotel across the street and when I went back to my room, a homeless looked at me. I almost called the cops.

The homeless guy who looked at me was babbling about cranes and maintenance happening on stage. He really took me out of the immersion.

 

[mickEblu]

Not that Harbor Blvd is Skid Row but I think there is something to be said for staying onsite in that security bubble. Especially for those on vacation.

 

[mickEblu]

I think the reaction would have been more favorable had they made it one LL per day or even better- one single use LL that’s good for RSR or ROTR. Maybe one of those per stay + a multi use LL per day.

 

[MoonRakerSCM]

Was there any operational benefit to early hours for the parks and guest experience? Like, the staff spends an hour (or half) getting into their groove, stocking shelves, working out startup ride bugs etc. that were 'masked' by offering early entry to hotel guests so that by normal opening to the masses the system (meaning park operations en masse) were at full blast for the crowds?

Just wondering if this has other affects to non hotel guests or how the park actually functions in the AM.

 

[Disney Analyst]

Frankly they should be embarrassed.

 

[mickEblu]

Frankly they should be embarrassed.

lol it’s has to be a typo. Maybe they meant one free LL multi pass for their stay? Jk.

They have some balls to drop this news this without some sort of halfway decent trade off. That’s why I was thinking some good news has to be coming soon. But then again the hotel rooms are going to be booked regardless so

Maybe the issue is that they think that the one LL entry for your entire stay is that halfway decent trade off.