Disneyland Early Entry Change to Lightning Lane Details for 2026

A major change is soon going into effect for guests staying at the three on-property Disneyland Resort Hotels. Starting next month, they will retire Early Entry to the theme parks and replace it with a new Lightning Lane perk. This change comes alongside the closure of one of the private theme park entrances for hotel guests.

We now have additional details about when hotel guests will be able to book this Lightning Lane perk during their stay. Keep reading for all of the details! At Mickey Visit, we report on all of the latest Disney news, including 3 Disneyland ride closure end dates added to the calendar, and more Disneyland water bottle filling stations and drinking fountains coming.

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Booking Window Revealed for Disneyland Hotel Guests

Disneyland previously announced that it will be ending the Early Entry perk, which gives guests of the three Disneyland Resort Hotels 30-minute early access to select attractions, dining, and shopping locations at a designated theme park each day of their visit. This perk will still be available to guests during stays prior to January 5, 2026.

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Starting January 5, 2026, Early Entry will no longer be offered for guests staying at the Disneyland Resort Hotels. Instead, hotel guests can take advantage of one Lightning Lane entry to one Lightning Lane Multi Pass attraction during their Resort stay. This perk will be offered once during their stay.

Disneyland Hotel entrance Sorcerer Mickey hat

We now have more details on the booking window for Disneyland Resort hotel guests. This Lightning Lane perk will become available to guests of the Disneyland Resort Hotels upon check-in, or shortly after 7:00 AM on your day of arrival, if you complete the Online Check-In service before your day of arrival.

The list of attractions that you can use this Lightning Lane perk for is the same as all regular Lightning Lane Multi Pass attractions. You can see the list below. Note that included in this list is Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue!, which will no longer be included once the attraction permanently closes next month.

Disneyland Park 

  • 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

  • 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

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Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: Breakout!

As we mentioned in our original announcement of this change, we’re curious to see how this goes. We were surprised to see that the perk only includes one Lightning Lane entry, as opposed to maybe the 2-3 we may have expected, but there are a few reasons why they may be limiting this.

The biggest reason is they don’t want this to detract from their Lightning Lane Multi Pass and premium Lightning Lane Premier Pass sales, and they may be testing the waters to see if demand remains high for the on-property hotels without the cost of operating the theme parks half an hour early.

It will be interesting to see if Disneyland keeps this perk the way it is or adjusts it at all after its launch.

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About Emily Midgley

As Editorial & Partnerships Operations Manager, Emily covers breaking news, updates planning tips based on her frequent Disneyland trips, and assists in coordinating social media content. She also helps develop resources for the site including the extremely popular crowd calendars and historical data studies. Studies she has led have been featured by the Wall Street Journal, CNN, Fox Business, Forbes, Fortune, OC Register, KTLA, and more.

Emily has been going to Disneyland since she was small and visits the parks regularly as a SoCal resident, including during all of the special events throughout the year. She is a huge Star Wars fan, and her favorite ride at Disneyland is Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission: Breakout!

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