These are the best times to visit Disneyland in 2024

Disneyland may be the Happiest Place on Earth, but it can be even happier if you know the sweet spots in sunny California’s calendar. The ideal times to visit are when the crowds are manageable, the weather cooperates and the resort has even more magical offerings.

Related: Everything you need to know about visiting Disneyland

As someone who visits Disneyland in Anaheim with my family multiple times a year, I’ve learned the best days and seasons to visit the theme parks. In my travels, I’ve discovered how to avoid stressful crowds and manage costs. For your best time at Disneyland, here are some suggestions to help you plan your next vacation.

Best time of year for weather at Disneyland

If you aren’t from Southern California, you might think the weather is perfect year-round. Although Disneyland has many more ideal weather days than Walt Disney World in Orlando, the weather doesn’t always cooperate in Anaheim.

Summers in Anaheim can be hot and sometimes even humid. Unpleasantly warm weather usually continues well into the early fall. In fact, August and September are the months when I’ve found myself most often caught by a brutal heatwave. May, June, July and October can have some extremely warm days as well.

Contrary to the lyrics in the well-known song, it does occasionally rain in Southern California — rain is most likely in January and February. That shouldn’t keep you from visiting, though. Locals with annual passes (called Magic Keys at Disneyland) often stay away when it rains. On rainy days, crowds can be incredibly light, and there are plenty of rides and shows at Disneyland to experience inside.

Best time to visit Disneyland for special events

Disneyland does seasonal and special events as well as any destination can, so many visitors plan vacations around holidays, festivals or grand openings. Here’s what happens in every season.

Summer events

There are no recurring annual summer events at Disneyland, but visitors can usually count on a special theme, anniversary celebration or a grand opening of an attraction or land most years.

This summer, Disneyland will celebrate Pixar Fest in both parks from April 26 to Aug. 4. The event is expected to offer a new parade, a returning nighttime spectacular, a new food festival and quite a few new characters from more recent Pixar movies.

Nothing has been officially announced for summer 2025, but the resort will celebrate its 70th anniversary July 17, 2025. Disneyland will certainly hold several special events around that milestone, as it always does in anniversary years.

Fall events

Fall is all about Halloween Time at the Disneyland Resort. The not-so-spooky decorations and autumn offerings don’t start quite as early as they do at Walt Disney World, but they will debut earlier than ever in 2024 with a late August launch date.

Disneyland cast members completely transform both parks in the fall season, so it’s no surprise that this is a favorite time of year for many Disneyland fans to visit. Guests can experience ride overlays like Haunted Mansion Holiday and Guardians of the Galaxy — Monsters After Dark, meet costumed characters and Disney villains, or experience Dia de los Muertos.

On certain nights in September and October, Disneyland also hosts a special hard-ticketed Halloween party event in the Disney California Adventure area called Oogie Boogie Bash. The event is incredibly popular and always sells out almost as soon as tickets go on sale.

Winter events

The holidays at the Disneyland Resort are another popular time to visit. Main Street, U.S.A. gets a giant tree, and Sleeping Beauty Castle features snowcapped turrets and lights. The decorations begin to go up the day after Halloween as soon as the pumpkins are put away. Disneyland doesn’t unveil the full portfolio of holiday decor until around Veterans Day, and the holiday season extends through early January.

After the new year (usually in late January and early February), Disneyland also has a Lunar New Year festival. The event has grown substantially in the last few years, but it isn’t yet on the radar of many visitors. Disney California Adventure is home to the celebrations, which feature festive food marketplaces with dishes from all over Asia, as well as parades and music.

Spring events

Spring is when the annual Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival takes place. Disneyland sets up about a dozen booths featuring California-inspired cuisine that is not offered at any other time of year. The dates fluctuate, but the event usually starts in early March and runs through late April, covering most school spring break dates.

Related: The best credit cards for your Disney vacation

Best time to visit Disneyland for low crowds

If the last few years have taught us anything about Disneyland crowds, it is that they are rarely low anymore. Disneyland is extraordinarily popular with both tourists and locals alike, and it’s increasingly rare to find times when other guests stay away.

That said, looking at a crowd calendar (like the ones offered by Touring Plans) can help. Also, take a peek at Disneyland’s Magic Key blockout calendars. Locals make up a huge portion of the crowds at Disneyland. The dates when many of the cheaper annual passes are blocked out can often offer much more room for out-of-town vacationers to play.

Times of year when crowds are traditionally lower include:

• January and February: Crowds are lowest this time of year (except on the three-day holiday weekends). This is also the time when Disneyland traditionally takes several rides out of service for refurbishment, so you may miss some of your favorites. Park hours are also shorter.
• Early March: Spring break crowds are spread out over multiple weeks at Disneyland in March and April, but if you can come about a week before the critical mass begins, the payoff is usually solid.
• Late April and early May: This time of year between spring break and summer vacation is traditionally slower but can sometimes be skewed by spring ticket deals for locals. This year’s spring ticket deal doesn’t expire until June 2 (later in the season than usual), so that may help keep late April and early May quieter again.
• Mid-August: A lot of California and West Coast schools go back in session in the middle of the month of August, and the parks can empty out for a short while as a result. The last two weeks of August have historically had low crowds, but with Halloween Time starting earlier than usual Aug. 23, expect this low-crowd period to be compressed this year.
• Early and mid-September: After Labor Day weekend, there can be a lull in attendance before the Halloween parties have traditionally started. The dates for Oogie Boogie Bash in 2024, however, have not been announced. If the parties start earlier than in past years, this low-crowd period may disappear.
• Mid-November: After Veterans Day but before Thanksgiving week is another sweet spot in the crowd calendar most years.
• Early December: There’s another lull in crowds after the Thanksgiving travelers go home but before schools start letting kids out for the winter holidays.

Guests can do their best to avoid crowds when picking a date, but it’s also essential to have a good touring plan as a backup if you stumble into a higher-crowd time. See TPG’s guide to skipping lines at Disneyland for suggestions.

Best time to visit Disneyland for lower prices

The cost of a Disneyland vacation can be substantial, so many visitors want to travel when they can get the best deals — crowds and weather notwithstanding.

Affordable airfare

There are year-round deals for flying to Disneyland. According to historical data from Skyscanner, the best months to book cheap flights to Los Angeles include January, February and September.

Related: The best airports for Disneyland

There are half a dozen airports in greater Los Angeles, the largest of which is Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). If you have nonstop service from your home airport into airports other than LAX, the best and easiest airports to use are Orange County’s John Wayne Airport (SNA) and Long Beach Airport (LGB). Both airports have a major Southwest Airlines presence, so sometimes finding a deal to these airports is as easy as watching for Southwest fare sales.

Affordable hotels

Disneyland draws travelers from many western states who fly or drive in for quick weekend visits. For this reason, Disneyland-area hotels are usually more expensive on Friday, Saturday and even Sunday nights. If you can visit midweek, you’ll usually find cheaper hotel prices.

If you are on the hunt for less expensive hotel prices, also take a look at the schedule of major conferences held at the nearby Anaheim Convention Center. Rates soar when a large conference is in town.

According to travel agency Get Away Today, an agency specializing in Disneyland and Southern California travel, the cheapest months for Anaheim hotel prices include the following:

• January (excluding the dates of the National Association of Music Merchants trade show)
• February
• May (excluding Memorial Day weekend)
• August
• November (excluding the week of Thanksgiving)
• December (first half)

Unsurprisingly, these cheaper times roughly track with many of the time periods when Disneyland historically has lower crowds.

Worst times to visit Disneyland

If you aren’t trying to over-optimize your Disneyland vacation, how can you at least avoid the absolute worst times to visit? I’d contend that it’s possible to have fun at Disneyland 365 days a year, but there are some guidelines on how to avoid the priciest or most stressful times.

Unless you have no other choice, I highly recommend avoiding the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day at all costs. Crowd levels can be truly epic, with the parks often reaching capacity on several days during this time. Line-cutting tools like Disney Genie+ passes can often sell out and run out of return times early in the day. Prices for everything from hotels to tickets are at their absolute maximum. Early winter rain storms can derail vacationers this time of year as well.

Other expensive and crowded dates to watch out for include the few days right around Thanksgiving as well as the first day or two of any brand-new park attraction, especially a new ride or land debut.

Bottom line

There’s no bad time to visit Disneyland, but there are certainly times when travelers can minimize the inconveniences and maximize their time and money. Dates when weather, crowds and special events all align can be some of the very best options.

Two of my favorite times to visit are early December and early March; this is when the crowds die down, the weather is great and Disney spins its seasonal magic.

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