Our free Disneyland crowd calendars cover best & worst dates to visit in 2025. This helps you choose when to go and days to avoid for shorter lines & lower wait times at Disney California Adventure and Disneyland. These monthly guides offer info about ride closures & what’s new, events, weather, prices, and more to help you save time…and your sanity! (Updated January 12, 2025.)
These Disneyland and DCA crowd calendars will help you choose when to go to the parks, based on a variety of variables: school schedules, holiday breaks, typical travel times to Southern California, Anaheim Convention Center events, and more. Suffice to say, there are a lot of little (and big) changes that will have an impact on attendance at Disneyland throughout 2025.
Let’s start with the good news, which is that Disneyland crowds normalized and decreased last year. Pent-up demand showed signs of exhaustion, and with that, crowd levels are now down as compared to the same dates last year. There have been a few spikes, but average crowd levels and wait times have decreased year over year. The bad news is that crowds had been really bad for the last two-plus years, meaning that the parks are still busier than historical norms–just not as terrible as the height of “revenge travel.”
Disneyland anticipated this slowdown, especially after Walt Disney World experienced its own exhaustion of pent-up demand last year. Rather than being caught flat-footed, Disneyland has offered ticket deals and a full calendar of events and entertainment aimed at enticing locals and tourists to visit or return to the parks.
Now for the bad news: this attendance normalization is likely to end in 2025. Disneyland crowds are probably going to become unpredictable again, to the point that we’d caution against over-reliance on this or any other crowd calendars. (Especially the automated AI ones that just take historical wait times and spit out future predictions without explanation.)
This is still a developing story, but there are a couple of major and conflicting factors that could have huge impacts on crowds. First, the 2025 Southern California Resident Disneyland Ticket Deal is back and this discount is much better than last year, seeing a very rare price decrease. This would normally be a strong signal for higher crowds.
Second, the Disneyland 70th Anniversary Dates & Details have been announced, with that huge event and a ton of entertainment starting on May 16, 2025. This also should be a strong signal for significantly higher crowds starting that date. However, guess when the first SoCal resident deal ends? May 15, 2025. As you can probably imagine, that puts these first two factors in conflict.
As corollaries to these points, the 2025 Disneyland Refurbishment Calendar is starting to be revealed and there’s likely to be a lot–more than normal–that’s closed in the first two months of the year. We’re also expecting a light entertainment calendar until mid-May 2025. Then there’s the Full 2025 Calendar of Disneyland Events, which doesn’t have much until Disneyland’s 70th Anniversary.
So on the one hand, there’s an aggressive ticket deal to start the year that could induce visits. On the other hand, there’s a reason why this deal is much more aggressive than normal. Disneyland fans and even casual Southern California visitors (and certainly out-of-state tourists) might want to delay visits until May 16, 2025 and later, even if it’s more expensive to do so.
The bottom line is that there are countervailing factors at play here, and they’re two huge ones that would normally have outsized impacts on crowds. There’s no great precedent that we can look to, save for the lead-up to Disneyland’s 60th Anniversary. Those months were slow, but that was a decade ago–an entirely different era.
We have full analysis in What to Expect of Crowds at Disneyland in 2025. Our expectation is that crowd levels are going to be down year-over-year through mid-May, and then up from the start of the Disneyland 70th Anniversary through the end of the year. We explain why there–and also why we have low confidence in that prediction, as there isn’t a whole lot of past precedent.
To be blunt, if I were planning a trip to Disneyland in 2025 for family or first-time friends, I would ignore crowd calendars–including ours–and choose based on when they wanted to visit based on weather, seasonal events, and their schedules. I have low confidence in my own forecasting abilities, and that’s based on tons of on-the-ground experience over the last 15 years. I have zero confidence in that of a computer, which is just taking past data and basing its “predictions” on that. Sorry, just being honest!
It’s also important to note that both Disneyland and Disney California Adventure are still busier now than pre-closure and that’s unlikely to change. Not only that, but in-park congestion can feel even worse than wait times suggest. Part of the reason for this is that Disneyland has reduced entertainment and closed more attractions for refurbishment, meaning that even with the same attendance levels, crowds would be worse.
To that point, one very important thing to keep in mind is that crowd levels are relative. They are based on aggregate posted wait times, as compared to the prior 365 days. This means that the current comparison is very tough, to a time when pent-up demand was off the charts. There have been a lot of 5/10 days in the last year, but they’re as compared to a very busy 2022. That context about what “slowdown” at Disneyland means is important. The parks are not going to be dead or ghost towns, or even on par with Walt Disney World.
Suffice to say, there are unique and evolving variables that influence attendance and crowds at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure. As noted above, we cannot perfectly predict crowds…and no one can. Any other Disneyland crowd calendar that claims clairvoyance is lying. Many of them don’t even try–they’re simply automated calendars based on school schedules and years-old historical data that is not even remotely relevant anymore.
What we can tell you is that we’re real people (that’s us above!) on the ground in Disneyland and Disney California Adventure every single week. As soon as we notice changing trends, we report on them here. So whatever does change with crowds in 2025, we’ll have updated crowd calendars ASAP. To that point, you might want to subscribe to our FREE email newsletter for immediate alerts and other Disney news.
We pair our observations and knowledge of surrounding circumstances with things like Los Angeles and Orange County school schedules, holidays, airport travel stats, Disney’s reservation calendars, and more. With that, we have a better–but still incomplete–understanding of when Disneyland will be more and less crowded.
While we cannot quantify ‘feels like’ crowd levels, our recommendation for those who want to look at the general ‘crowd contours’ or base their decision on “vibes” and other qualitative factors, instead consult our Best & Worst Months to Visit Disneyland. That will help you choose the right time of year to visit–and also contains some specific recommendations. From there, you should still narrow down your travel dates.
DATES TO AVOID DISNEYLAND IN Early 2025
Given that I’ve subjected you to a long and rambling preface–I want to “reward” you with a few quick-hit predictions for the near-term. If you simply want a list of dates in early 2025 that are likely to have the worst crowds, here’s when we’d avoid visiting Disneyland:
- January 17-20, 2025
- January 27-31, 2025
- February 14-24, 2025
The good news is that it’s currently the winter off-season at Disneyland, with crowds dropping pretty much right on schedule as school went back into session following the holiday season. This year’s off-season should last longer than last year, with the only real exceptions being the Disneyland Half Marathon, MLK Weekend, Ski Week, and other seasonal events. If anything, the date ranges above that encompass those events and breaks over-estimate the impact they’ll have on crowds and for how long.
The other thing to take into consideration is the impact of the Southern California wildfires on Disneyland. Following the devastating fires that expanded across areas of Los Angeles and Ventura counties, the forecast is calling for a return of red flag conditions in Southern California. Even if this doesn’t result in more fires (and hopefully it doesn’t!), it’s possible that concerns could depress attendance among locals.
Honestly, this is now part of the calculus for us in visiting. We’re required to plan in advance and make reservations as Magic Key Annual Passholders, but get penalized if we don’t cancel the day beforehand. However, we will be less inclined to visit the parks if there are red flag conditions in our area, because we don’t want to get caught away from home and separated from our pets if there’s an evacuation order in our area. While our thought-process may be somewhat unique, we’ve already talked to several other Californians who have opted against visiting the parks since the fires started and might be reluctant to do so if these conditions persist.
Below are more thorough 2025 Disneyland crowd calendars. All of this will be updated once we have a chance to analyze trends this year (so around February), and then again shortly after the 70th starts. In the meantime, you should take predictions for more distant dates with a grain of salt.
Monthly Crowd Calendars for Disneyland
As we’ve gained experience visiting Disneyland and Disney California Adventure throughout the years as Annual Passholders–and now Magic Keyholders–including weekly visits now as locals, we’ve noticed trends in crowds and analyzed patterns in wait time data.
Disneyland crowd calendars change regularly due to a variety of factors, including marketing, discounts, park hours, new attraction openings, special events, Anaheim Convention Center events, and even weather (good or bad). We strive to keep our Disneyland crowd calendars updated to reflect changes in attendance trends.
Note that Disneyland crowd calendars are most accurate inside 3 months. Beyond that, generalized predictions can be made on the basis of holidays, school breaks, special events, and past precedent. However, Disneyland park hours are only released a few months in advance, park reservation availability is unknown further out, and other variables like promotions, discounts, conventions, etc. all are not (fully) known far in advance.
You can access our Disneyland crowd calendars and monthly guides via the links below, each of which will open in a new browser tab:
Each month is updated with final forecasts approximately 30 to 60 days before the start of that month. Predictions prior to then are less accurate, and don’t include current trends, park reservations, and recent wait time data.
Below is additional advice about avoiding crowds at Disneyland, as well as days to visit and avoid. These general attendance trends for Disneyland can make ‘at a glance’ trip planning and choosing your dates to visit easier…
Attendance Trends for Disneyland
Disneyland attendance and wait times are largely dependent upon tourist vacationing habits (which are largely dependent upon school breaks and California travel trends), park hours (historical data exists for that), Anaheim Convention Center events, Los Angeles & Orange County School District calendars, and a few other variables.
With that said, the biggest factor of all is local visitor habits. Historically, Disneyland and Disney California Adventure crowds are usually worse on weekends. However, even that is not always the case for the reasons discussed above–it wasn’t true for most of last summer, but weekends did get worse over the Halloween and Christmas seasons.
There are definitely other wildcards that make it more difficult for Disneyland crowd calendars to predict attendance or wait times on specific dates with accuracy far in advance. However, the variables above are knowable fairly far in advance, and make forecasting general seasonal trends much easier. As such, that’s what we’re presenting here:
Insanely Crowded
- Winter Break
- Ski Week
- Presidents’ Day weekend
- Orange County Spring Break
- Los Angeles Spring Break
- Easter Week
- Thanksgiving week
- Christmas and New Year’s weeks
Very Crowded
Moderately Crowded
- Early March
- Mid to late May
- Late July through mid-August
- Third week of November
- First week of December
Least Crowded
- January and February, minus holidays or school breaks
- Late April
- Early through mid-May
- Late August through mid-September
- First week of November
School schedules, weather, special events, park hours, and more may all affect when you want to visit Disneyland. Obviously, these variables will also influence crowds.
School Schedules
If school schedules are something around which you must plan, chances are you’re going to go during one of the busier (or at least not one of the least busy) times of the year, as that’s the paramount consideration for many other families planning trips, too. It may seem like a convenient time to visit during one of the ‘holidays’ your kids have off from school, but it’s important to consider whether other schools have these same times off, as well.
Specifically, here are the school districts that have the biggest impact on Disneyland attendance:
- Los Angeles Unified (CA)
- Orange County – All Districts (CA)
- San Diego Unified (CA)
- Clark County (NV)
- Long Beach Unified (CA)
- Riverside Unified (CA)
- San Bernardino City Unified (CA)
- Alpine (UT)
- Fresno Unified (CA)
- Davis (UT)
- Elk Grove (CA)
- San Francisco Unified (CA)
- Phoenix Unified – All Districts (AZ)
- Mesa Unified (AZ)
- Washoe County (NV)
- Granite (UT)
- Tuscon Unified (AZ)
Our crowd calendars take all of these districts into account, as their academic breaks and school schedules can have a significant impact on Disneyland attendance. There’s typically overlap among the top 3 districts in Southern California, which means their breaks are very bad, but confined to a small portion of the overall calendar.
Major districts in Northern California, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona all can have a noticeable impact on crowds, as well. (For example, most districts in Utah share a common fall break, and that long weekend gets really bad.) By contrast, we’ve never observed much of an impact from Oregon, Washington, or any other states. Texas and anything east of it are all pretty much Walt Disney World’s market.
Of the traditional school holidays, summer break is probably the best time to visit, as it is the longest school break so you don’t have the concentration of guests all visiting during the same week of other holidays. Since summer break is largely blocked out to SoCal passholders, you can expect to see more tourists in the parks this time of year.
Most schools have the week before Christmas until the shortly after New Year’s off, making this week-plus an especially busy time. The same is true for President’s Day weekend, Easter week, Memorial Day weekend, the Fourth of July holiday, and Thanksgiving week. Although schools do vary their Spring Break schedules, don’t expect the parks to be any less busy because of somewhat-staggered Spring Breaks. Mid-March through mid-April are busy times at Disneyland.
This isn’t to say you shouldn’t visit during these times, as some people don’t have many other options, but if you do go, at least bring your patience with you, or at least a good plan for touring the parks!
Weather
Unlike Florida, Southern California has a pretty temperate climate. The typical hot seasons are hot, but humidity isn’t nearly as bad as it is in Florida. It can get colder at night, and in the winter months, but the weather isn’t nearly as much of a roller coaster ride like it is in Florida. Blue skies and puffy clouds are more rare in California, but overall the weather is much more favorable for vacationing than it is in Walt Disney World.
Rain isn’t as common in Disneyland as it is in Walt Disney World. It does rain in the fall months at Disneyland, but torrential downpours in SoCal aren’t too common. In fact, if you’re a Southern Californian trying to plan the best time to schedule a 1-day visit to the park, the absolute best time to go is while it’s raining.
The parks generally clear out (there are usually long lines at City Hall of people requesting refunds), and significantly shorter waits are common. So, if you have a poncho or umbrella and want lower than normal crowds, a rainy day is the perfect time to go. (By contrast, the day after it rains will be considerably worse than normal, as locals will postpone their visits.)
Make sure to pack some jeans, sweatshirts, and maybe even coats if traveling during the months of October through March. It won’t necessarily be cold during your trip, but the weather can drop below 50 degrees during these months. Consider your tolerance to cold, and weather you’re willing to purchase countless $70 Mickey Mouse sweatshirts during your trip when, inevitably, members of your family get cold!
Park Hours
Not considering park hours when planning your trip is a huge mistake. Usually less busy days have shorter park hours and busier days have longer park hours. Thus, many feel they can basically get the same amount done in a shorter day during a less busy time of year than they could during peak season. With good plans for touring the parks or strategic use of Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, this isn’t true. By strategizing well, you can accomplish more during a busy day with longer hours than during a shorter day with light crowds.
Also important to note is that on days with longer hours, Disneyland will have more entertainment scheduled. Even during short days and slow times of the year, Fantasmic and World of Color play to packed houses. However, on days that offer multiple showings of these entertainment offerings, the later showings are almost always less crowded. If you want to avoid waiting multiple hours for a good view of Fantasmic, go on a longer day with multiple showings!
Similarly, your sleep habits make a difference here. If you’re a night owl, days with shorter hours may be a bad idea, as by the time you roll out of bed, you may find that you only have a few hours to enjoy the parks. Conversely, if you rise early and generally want to leave the parks by 7 pm or so, the shorter/less busy days are great times for you to visit. Make sure you check Disneyland’s park hours calendar when planning your trip. While this calendar is subject to change, it doesn’t change nearly as much as Walt Disney World’s calendar, which is almost never accurate when first posted.
Special Events
Disneyland doesn’t have nearly as many special events as Walt Disney World, but there are some events worth planning for or around. Basically, these events are the D23 Expo (every other year, towards the end of summer or early fall), Gay Days (fall), HalloweenTime at Disneyland (late summer and fall), CHOC walk (fall), Holidays at Disneyland (fall and winter), and Grad Nites (spring).
On a personal note, our absolute favorite time to visit is during Christmas-time at Disneyland. The parks look gorgeous, there are special attraction-overlays, and lots of seasonal foods available. You can read more about Christmas-time at Disneyland in our in-depth guide.
Refurbishments
During Disneyland’s slower seasons, expect a lot of attractions to be closed for refurbishments and other construction to be occurring. Not only is maintenance and upkeep better at Disneyland than Walt Disney World, but Disneyland also has a few seasonal attraction overlays, which lead to popular attractions like it’s a small world, Haunted Mansion, and Space Mountain being closed for a few weeks each in the fall (and late-winter in the case of it’s a small world and Haunted Mansion).
Traditionally, January and February have been the biggest months for attraction downtime, as those are the low-season for crowds. However, it’s always smart to consult refurbishment calendars to make sure your favorite attractions are operational no matter when you visit. See our 2025 Disneyland Refurbishment Calendar for specific dates that attractions will be closed.
If you must visit Disneyland when it’s busy (as is the case for many with kids in school), it’s important to have a good plan of attack when you visit the parks. Determine which attractions are best and the ones to experience, figure out where you want to eat in advance and dine at hours when the parks are busiest, and most importantly, arrive at the park before it opens and get as much done as you can in the first few hours of operation when lines are much shorter than they will be later in the day.
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
Do you have any favorite times of year to visit Disneyland? Which special events do you think are best? Do you agree or disagree with our advice about Disneyland crowd calendars, California weather, special events, school schedules, or anything else 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!
