Pre-purchasing theme park tickets?

I'm a big WDW fan, but am striking out and going for my first trip to DLR in May. We're staying at Grand Californian. Can anyone tell me if I need to pre-purchase the park hoppers before arrival to avoid standing in line at the ticket booths or can you purchase tickets from Guest Relations at the hotel on arrival like you can at WDW? Thanks a lot.

Every time I have stayed at a Disneyland Resort Hotel they have asked me at check-in if I would like to purchase any tickets at that time, so yes you can avoid ticket booth lines that way. HOWEVER . . . you may get a better deal if you pre purchase them online, depending on what type of ticket package your are interested in.

Thanks, tinkwest. We'll be there 4 days, so probably want the 4 day park-hopper. I'll check it out on-line.

From my limited experience, the lines to buy DL park ticket at the front gate tend to be long, especially compared with the lines I have seen at WDW.

I have not tried buying tickets at a DL resort front desk.

I have purchased DL ticket on the web. After that, I printed out a confirmation with a bar code on it. I then took that form to a regular admission turnstile (not a ticket selling window or guest services window, but the regular turnstile) and handed over the confirmation. The cast member took that form, scanned it, a ticket was printed out for me (on the spot) and given to me to use for the rest of the days on the ticket. That was a good experience for me.

Watch for online deals closer to your trip. Throughout this year they have had deals that were saving around $20 per ticket on 3 and 4 day hoppers. But be sure to read when those tickets must be used. The specials they've been running give an end date. The ticket window will now offer these specials. As a previous poster mentioned that if you buy them online, you take the print-off to the turnstile and they scan it right there and then print you the ticket for the rest of your trip, it's super easy and fast too! But I emphasize, be sure to read the valid dates for the online discount price!!!!!! They usually do them for just a couple of months at a time. So look about a month or so before your trip.

Good tip, eeyorepoohfan. Thanks for the input. :eeyore: :pooh:

Thanks, all.