We never wait and buy our tickets at the gate as Ella suggested. If you have time to order tickets prior to your arrival (not sure, but I think it's 3 days or more), do it! You'll save up to $40/person compared to the gate price on a 5 day hopper adult pass.
I've always been under the assumption that you can apply the cost of any ticket you've bought, at the gate or online, towards an annual pass, if you upgrade to the annual pass prior to your hopper pass expiration date.
You can purchase your tickets NOW for any 2006 ticket. Unfortunately, you'll miss the great "Everyone plays for kid price" promotion going on until April 27th. (that's a savings of $70.00/person on a 5 day hopper) if you're not arriving until after May 6.
The best ticket prices out there that we have found are on the Disneyland.com site. They beat our AAA and our local
Disney store prices for the 2006 spring break.
We use the will call service because it saves us shipping costs. The money we save on shipping, we put in our park spending envelope. Plus, we never sit and worry about our tickets being lost, stolen, or misplaced in the mail or delivery service. Instead, our tickets are safely waiting for us at booth #4 when we arrive. And, our tickets are just one less thing we have to pack.
And, if for some unfortunate reason, you are unable to go to Disneyland on your planned days, they will hold the tickets there for you for 30 days, then ship them to you with the shipping cost added to your credit card.
Just remember, there are 3 things you will need to claim your tickets at the will call window:
1. your ID
2. the ACTUAL credit card you charged the tickets on
3. the confirmation number printed from the Disneyland.com site
Have a great time.