There’s a four month stretch encompassing Halloween, Christmas, and Lunar New Year that we love at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure. These are our three favorite holidays, but they can be very busy. We aren’t the only ones who love these times of year, and the parks can be packed with tourists and locals on peak dates. Fortunately, there’s one window of opportunity that we’ve found has become consistently uncrowded.
Let’s start with the basics. Within the aforementioned 4-month stretch–from October through January–far and away our favorite time to do Disneyland is Christmas. There’s something special about the holiday season, and we make a point to visit as many times as we can during November and December. (See our Guide to Christmas at Disneyland for everything we love about this time of year.)
The downside of the Christmas season is that it’s already shorter than Halloween by nearly a full month, and it has more peak season dates that are bad times to visit. We’re actually a bit annoyed that Holiday Time is starting a week later this year, because that eliminated one of our other favorite times. (We’ll still be there then, so here’s hoping for soft openings!) Once you eliminate the high crowd weeks around Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Eve, you’re left with only a couple of potential options.
Thankfully, we’ve found one of the best windows to visit Disneyland, and it’s still somewhat of a secret. This timeframe might actually come as less of a surprise to Walt Disney World fans, as it being a great time to visit has been one of the worst-kept secrets there for ages.
In fact, long-time readers of the blog might know that our #1 favorite week of the year at Walt Disney World is the one after Thanksgiving. We’ve recommended it countless times over the last decade-plus, and it’s been our go-to for ages. Back when we lived in the Midwest, our annual WDW Christmas trip usually started the Sunday after the holiday.
Now that we’re Disneyland locals again, we visit on a weekly basis and have “accidentally” discovered that the same is true at Disneyland. Well, kind of. Unlike at Walt Disney World, this great time to visit is not anchored to the backside of Thanksgiving. Although that isn’t a bad time to visit, either.
Statistically speaking, crowds do drop after Thanksgiving at Disneyland. This typically starts to some degree on that Saturday, with a sharper drop on Sunday and the following week. You can expect crowd levels to fall from 8/10 to 10/10 levels the week of Thanksgiving to 2/10 to 5/10 levels that next week.
However, this is not necessarily the best week to visit during the holiday season (and by extension, the entire year). Our favorite week usually occurs one week later, and will start instead on Sunday, December 8, 2024. Emphasis on “not necessarily” and “usually” because we’re basing this on past precedent and wait times data from the past few years.
Thanksgiving is occurring later than normal this year, so it’s possible that our favorite dates in December 2024 won’t be quite as desirable due to that. (Just want to be up front about that asterisk–we still expect the pattern to hold true, but the shifting of Thanksgiving does introduce an element of uncertainty.)
Let’s discuss why this is our favorite week to do Disneyland…
Candlelight Processional – This might seem like an odd starting place, but this being a great time to visit flows from Candlelight Processional, which is totally different from the version at EPCOT. We absolutely love it on both coasts, but it’s unequivocally better at Disneyland. Regardless, we’re not mentioning Candlelight Processional for the caliber of the experience, pageantry, etc. (For more about the experience, see our Guide to Candlelight Processional at Disneyland.)
Candlelight is also fundamentally different at Disneyland. Unlike at EPCOT where it’s an offering for regular guests and a means of increasing attendance and selling dining packages, it’s none of those things at Disneyland. Almost the opposite, in fact. Candlelight Processional is not intended for the regular guests at Disneyland.
It isn’t designed to draw crowds, and Disneyland actively tries to reduce them by not publicizing anything about Candlelight Processional whatsoever. If you Google “Candlelight Processional,” you will almost exclusively see results for Walt Disney World. Even adding “Disneyland” to the query mostly brings back Walt Disney World pages. There isn’t anything about Candlelight Processional on the official Disneyland website at all.
Point being, Disneyland doesn’t want regular guests to know about Candlelight Processional since it’s not for them–it’s for VIPs and Club 33 members. This is also because Candlelight Processional is held at the front of the park, right at the Main Street USA Train Station.
This means that Town Square is incredibly congested from mid-afternoon on, and basically becomes a restless mob by the time Candlelight Processional rolls around, packed into the public areas like sardines. Even though Disneyland doesn’t publicize it, locals know about Candlelight, and show up anyway, often standing in the same spot for hours. All of this exacerbates the congestion at the front of the park.
Because of all this, conventional wisdom had been to avoid Disneyland during Candlelight Processional weekend. Speaking from experience, this was good advice for at least a decade through 2019. We had done Disneyland on this weekend, and it was a madhouse. And not just at the front of the park.
However, as with so many things, the closure and post-reopening policies changed things. In the last few years, we’ve noticed that Disneyland is not nearly as busy during Candlelight Processional. The front of the park is still a madhouse, sure, but once you get passed Main Street, it’s not nearly as bad. In fact, we’ve been surprised by just how low wait times have been throughout the park.
There are two reasons for this. The first reason is guest demographics. This isn’t a popular time for tourists, so it’s mostly locals who are disproportionately doing things other than attractions. They’re there to camp out for Candlelight (outside the viewing area), enjoy the spirit of the season, and so forth. They add to congestion, but not wait times for rides.
That alone doesn’t explain it, though, as it’s always been the case that this weekend is busier with locals than with tourists. The biggest difference is almost assuredly park reservations. Disneyland now has granular control over attendance, with the ability to limit the reservation pool for regular ticket holders and, much more importantly, Magic Key Annual Passholders. This allows Disneyland to effectively block out APs by dramatically reducing reservation availability. This capacity cap is something that did not meaningfully exist in 2019 or earlier.
Of course, this is always subject to change and Disneyland could choose to open the floodgates on Magic Key park reservations for December 7-8, 2024. In so doing, this would go from a great weekend to an awful one–as was the case in the past. But we highly doubt that will happen, because Disneyland has no incentive to do so. Reservations are already gone for Sunday, and every tier of AP except the top one is already blocked out on Saturday. All signs are currently pointing to recent history repeating itself and this being a good weekend to visit from the perspective of wait times. Just stay off of Main Street in the afternoon, as it’ll almost certainly be packed!
Thankfully, the low crowds shouldn’t end once Monday, December 9, 2024 rolls around…
Crowds & Wait Times – As measured by average wait times, December 3-7 was one of the slowest stretches of last year (the equivalent dates to what we’re recommending once adjusted for the timing of Thanksgiving). Daily crowd levels were 1/10 or 2/10. If you expand that to include the prior Friday and Saturday (December 1-2), crowds were still below average, but not quite as favorable.
Crowds did spike on the following Friday, and that Saturday saw 8/10 crowd levels. The week after that was moderately crowded, but still below average. Almost every date from the Saturday after Thanksgiving until mid-December was moderately crowded or below. (December 9 is the biggest outlier–I can’t explain why it spiked to 8/10 crowds.)
When it comes to Disneyland crowds, one adage rings true: history doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes. In this context, this means that general trends and patterns play out from annually, but the specifics usually differ. This is due in large part, once again, to park reservations. Organic demand from tourists is low during these weeks, but not among locals. All it would take is Disneyland looking at last year’s numbers and opting to ‘open the valve’ on Magic Key AP reservations. With that move alone, last year’s 2/10 crowd levels become 5/10 or higher. That’s literally all it takes.
Since locals are the primary drivers of December attendance outside of holiday weeks, other variables that impact their desire to visit are at play. If it rains or is unseasonably cold, it’s game over–Californians won’t visit the parks. They will, however, disproportionately do so in the days that follow. Point being, crowd trends at Disneyland are more fickle than at Walt Disney World. Tourist trends are predictable, but that’s only half (or so) of the equation.
Our expectation is actually slightly higher crowd levels for the second week of December 2024, and about the same numbers for the week immediately after Thanksgiving. The basis for this is, quite simply, that 1/10 and 2/10 crowd levels are very low–and it’s difficult to repeat numbers that good. On the other hand, wait times have been trending downward year-over-year as pent-up demand exhausts itself. So who knows.
Frankly, we’re happy whenever crowd levels are 5/10 or below in November and December. The qualitative upsides more than make up for even average crowd levels, and moderate crowds are still low by holiday time standards. If you think the first or second weeks of December 2024 are busy, go back between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. You’ll be disabused of that notion real fast, and will be begging for a return of those first half of December crowds. It’s all relative.
Speaking of it all being relative, it’s also worth a reminder that late November through mid-December is busier now than it was a decade ago. But that’s true of almost all dates of the year. Disneyland annual attendance has increased by several millions of people, and park expansion has not kept pace. So crowds are worse, across the board, than they were in 2014! But unless you have a time machine, that doesn’t do you any good.
Crowds and Candlelight Processional are the two biggest reasons to visit Disneyland during this week. Here’s what else we love about this timeframe during the holiday season at Disneyland, and why you should visit during one of these weeks if you’re already planning a 2024 or 2025 vacation during Christmas-time…
“Complete” Christmas – Unlike Walt Disney World, the holiday season isn’t really phased at Disneyland. It’s possible you might see fewer decorations in the hotels if you visit in mid-November, but all of the entertainment, attraction overlays, etc., will be in full swing right from the outset.
Accordingly, this comes down to the festive atmosphere outside Disneyland. If you want to experience Christmas in Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Hollywood, you have to visit after Thanksgiving. Same goes for other Southern California theme parks and tourist attractions.
Most of our favorite spots throughout Orange County don’t get decked out until the very end of November or December. We love the Beach Cities this time of year, and as always, our favorites are Dana Point and Laguna Beach. (The former actually does start its holiday lights display in mid-November, so that’s not the best example.)
Lower Prices & Better Deals – With lower occupancy than the peak weeks of the holiday season, it should come as no surprise that there are better deals to be had between the peak weeks of the holidays rather than during them. There are currently great discounts at the Hotels of Disneyland Resort on Sunday through Thursday nights from now through December 19, 2024.
Not only that, but the resort rack rates and other prices are lower to begin with than during Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year’s weeks. If you look at the Cheapest Times to Go to Disneyland, you’ll see that these two weeks are the best of the holiday season. Still not as low as the true off-season, but pretty close!
It’s also easier to book discounted off-site hotels via Get Away Today to save money for early to mid-December than around holiday weeks. What we’re seeing right now is much better availability and significantly lower prices for these first half of December dates. Win-win!
Weather – We love the weather in Southern California at Christmas. Disneyland almost always beats Walt Disney World in this regard, but it’s especially true throughout the holiday season. It’s not really that the first half of December is better than later in the month or November, all dates are (more or less) equally good.
Rather, it’s that November and December are better than the two months before them (too hot) or the two months after (too cold). With that said, this time of year isn’t for everyone. It does get cold in California, especially in the evenings. To each their own, but I will take having to wear a coat over sweating through my shirt any day of the week. You can always add layers, but there are only so many you can subtract before security says, “sir, you can’t take off your shirt here.” (Buzzkills.)
While it’s not always perfect, we’ve found that 90% of the time, the weather in early to mid-December is our sweet spot. As much as I love late August and September for low crowds, I’ll happily deal with slightly elevated attendance for significantly better weather. It’s an easy trade off for us.
The only asterisk here is that this is California’s rainy season. But that doesn’t really mean the same thing in Anaheim as it does Orlando–there’s an 11-14% chance of rain on average during these dates, for a grand total of 1.8 inches of rain over the course of the entire month. That’s basically a really rainy day or two in Florida. And the upside at Disneyland is that a rainy day clears out the park, which does not happen at Walt Disney World.
Ultimately, it should be easy to see why December 8-12, 2024 is the best window of the entire year to visit Disneyland. If your schedule isn’t that flexible, pretty much any date starting the Sunday after Thanksgiving (December 1) through December 15, 2024 should be good. Any later than that and you’re visiting during a mixture of tourist times and when locals scramble to get in their last visits of the year before heavy-handed blockouts take effect. That introduces too many wildcards for confident recommendations about when crowds will be favorable.
If you’re currently planning a trip, our recommendation would be to make December 8, 2024 your first day in the parks and December 12, 2024 your last day. We usually recommend avoiding Mondays, but there’s no wait times data from the past 3 years to suggest that day of the week is busy during this timeframe. (I’d still probably err on the side of caution and do a non-parks day if I had flexibility–you probably aren’t doing 5 days in the parks.)
That’ll almost certainly be the sweet spot for the best of crowds, wait times, weather, seasonal spirit, and so forth. With that said, if we had to choose a next-best set of dates from a qualitative perspective, it’d be difficult to decide between December 1-6, 2024 and November 17-22, 2024. Regardless, potential travel dates to consider for your future trips to Disneyland!
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 many other SoCal cities!
YOUR THOUGHTS
If you’ve done Disneyland post-Thanksgiving, what was your experience? Have you visited during Candlelight Processional weekend in any of the last 3 years? If so, have you noticed a similar dynamic of heavy congestion on Main Street but lower wait times throughout the park? If you’ve visited this same week in prior years, how do you think this year compares? Thoughts about anything else covered here? If you’re a frequent visitor during this timeframe, what’s your take on crowds, wait times, seasonal spirit, weather, etc? Agree or disagree with our assessment of these two weeks as the best time during the holiday season? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
