Disney has shared new details about how the free Lightning Lane perk will work for on-site guests staying in the Hotels of Disneyland Resort, along with a full list of attractions that are eligible for line-skipping. This covers everything you need to know, along with our commentary about the changes.
As basic background, Disney announced a flurry of cutbacks and additions (but mostly cutbacks) when releasing 2026 Disneyland Resort vacation packages. The first of these was the permanent closure of the Pixar Pier Hotel private entrance into Disney California Adventure in early 2026. All on-site guests will be able to access DCA through the Grand Californian Hotel entrance.
The other big cutback Disneyland announced was the end of Early Entry at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure will be open early. Currently, on-site guests have a 30 minute head-start allowing them the opportunity to knock out pretty much all of Fantasyland, or a couple of attractions in Tomorrowland or DCA. Early Entry is ending entirely as of January 5, 2026. These are big blows, especially for fans of Pixar Pier Hotel who like to focus on Fantasyland.
As an indirect replacement for Early Entry, all guests staying at one of the Hotels of Disneyland Resort will receive one complimentary anytime access entry for a Lightning Lane attraction of their choice starting January 5, 2026. Here’s a rundown of eligible attractions:
Disneyland Attractions
- Autopia
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
- Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters
- Haunted Mansion
- Indiana Jones Adventure
- “it’s a small world”
- Matterhorn Bobsleds
- Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway
- Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run
- Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin
- Space Mountain
- Star Tours – The Adventures Continue
- Tiana’s Bayou Adventure
Disney California Adventure Attractions
- Goofy’s Sky School
- Grizzly River Run
- Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT!
- Incredicoaster
- The Little Mermaid ~ Ariel’s Undersea Adventure
- Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue!
- Soarin’ Around the World
- Toy Story Midway Mania!
- WEB SLINGERS: A Spider-Man Adventure
Note that on-site guests receive one entry to one eligible Lightning Lane Multi Pass attraction at either park—redeemable at any available time on one day of your hotel stay.
In other words, you only get one (1) Lightning Lane at (1) park, regardless of how long you’re staying–doesn’t matter if it’s a single night or two weeks.
The Lightning Lane entry benefit will be available to eligible guests of the Hotels of Disneyland Resort upon check-in, or shortly after 7:00 AM on your day of arrival if you complete Online Check-In service prior to your day of arrival.
That if is the operative word, as it’s our understanding that this perk will not be available until you’ve checked in, either online or in-person; that it’ll only work if linked to your account and for as many people as are listed on your resort reservation.
Link hotel reservations to your MyDisney account in the Disneyland app to view the benefit. To redeem, show the in-app Lightning Lane barcode at the eligible attraction of your choosing. Eligible attractions are subject to availability and restrictions.
The Lightning Lane Multi-Pass ride access will be available to each guest on the reservation with valid park admission and a park reservation. Disney Vacation Club members qualify, regardless of whether using points or staying on cash rates. Guests at Good Neighbor Hotels do not qualify.
Early Entry vs. Free Lightning Lane
In our view, it’s unfortunate that Disneyland didn’t find a way to make Early Entry work. That was a great guest perk for morning people–and there’s something to be said for an exclusive on-site perk. There’s nothing special or unique about a single Lightning Lane. To the contrary, “free” Lightning Lanes (plural) used to be a thing for everyone–it was called FastPass.
Whether this new Lightning Lane perk is better or worse than Early Entry is going to come down to the guest. We would hazard a guess that this is a downgrade for the overwhelming majority of on-site guests. But if you prefer to sleep in, this could be superior.
For us, this is far worse in Fantasyland at Disneyland, where we could literally do a half-dozen rides with next-to-no wait. That was our favorite Early Entry anywhere, and we always made a point of getting Megatron out of bed and out the door for it. Total gamechanger.
It’s a bit of a closer call at Disney California Adventure, where Early Entry has never been as advantageous. At the same time, we’d always accomplish at least one headliner during Early Entry, and there’s also something to be said for that special time of the morning while the park is waking up. I’ve enjoyed simply walking through Grizzly Peak while it’s peaceful and serene.
My biggest disappointment is that this is once per stay as opposed to once per day. This incentivizes single night stays, and it’s pretty easy to create artificial 1-night stays in order to qualify for this perk on a daily basis. I would imagine there’s a sharp spike in this, as Disneyland guests tend to be savvy. Honestly, that’s what we’ll be doing and will recommend to others–and Disneyland has no one to blame but itself for being so cheap.
The thing is, even assuming a single night stay (or series of them) as opposed to a multi-night stay, this free Lightning Lane is still worse than Early Entry. As far as perks go, it offers only illusory value. If you were going to buy Lightning Lane Multi-Pass before, you still should.
At least on a positive note, this gives us an incentive to not stay on-site in the first place. Now that is where the true money-savings lies. So thanks for that, Disneyland!
Worsened On-Site Value at Disneyland
To that last point, there’s the threshold question of whether you should stay on-site at Disneyland at all? The answer for most people is going to be “no” on the basis of costs and off-site alternatives. That was even before all of these 2026 changes.
These changes are a net-negative for most guests, especially those staying at Pixar Place Hotel. Losing Early Entry in Fantasyland, where rides don’t have Lightning Lanes in the first place, is really frustrating. That had tremendous value for us, and not just of the monetary variety.
We made great family memories running the table on Fantasyland dark rides. I couldn’t wait until Megatron hit the ‘sweet spot’ for this and we could really enjoy it. We’re going to be denied that and will do fewer on-site stays as a result. (Despite living locally, we actually do stay on-site several times per year. That number will almost assuredly decrease in 2026.)
Making the replacement one free floating FastPass per stay as opposed to per stay borders between frustrating and insulting. Planners will work to get full value out of this, but even so, that’s only a few dollars per stay.
I’d hazard a guess that most people willing to do the split stay legwork are also disproportionately likely to purchase Lightning Lane Multi-Pass in the first place. So there’s even less value for them. And there’s no value at all from a “magical memories” perspective. It’s just another ordinary ole Lightning Lane redemption.
This is all a bold move on Disney’s part, especially at a time when they’ve started to offer more discounts for on-site stays, which would seemingly suggest that occupancy numbers are down. This will only worsen that. They’re presumably aware of this and are fine with taking that hit, suggesting the reduced operational costs of that cut 30 minutes will offset the lower occupancy.
Unlike Walt Disney World, there are very few on-site perks at Disneyland. Going forward, the biggest selling point is being part of the Disney “bubble,” to the extent that one exists in California.
Even though PPH is losing its private entrance into DCA, there’s still the GCH one, which is huge. Disneyland Hotel can also use those with a bit of backtracking, which is nice. All three hotels also connect to Downtown Disney. You mostly won’t have to walk the streets of Anaheim if you’re staying at any of these hotels.
Nevertheless, we recommend checking our our Guide to Off-Site vs. On-Site Disneyland Hotels: Where to Stay, which was recently updated (about a week too early, as it turns out). That is a comprehensive list of the pros & cons of both options from an objective perspective. It also offers a rundown of where you can score the biggest savings off-site.
Planning a Southern California vacation? For park admission deals, read Tips for Saving Money on Disneyland Tickets. Learn about on-site and off-site hotels in our Anaheim Hotel Reviews & Rankings. For where to eat, check out our Disneyland Restaurant Reviews. For unique ideas of things that’ll improve your trip, check out What to Pack for Disney. For comprehensive advice, consult our Disneyland Vacation Planning Guide. Finally, for guides beyond Disney, check out our Southern California Itineraries for day trips to Los Angeles, Laguna Beach, and tons of other places!
YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of Disneyland ending Early Entry and replacing it with a free floating FastPass? Does this make you more or less likely to stay on-site? Do you agree or disagree with our assessments here? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
