Shortly after sharing our listing of the Greatest & Worst Weeks to Go to Walt Disney World in 2025 & 2026, I began engaged on the identical factor for Disneyland and Disney California Journey. Not since the latest replace–because it was first printed. That was roughly 18 months in the past and I’m nonetheless not even near completed.
It’s a useful resource we actually like and, to be trustworthy, suppose is healthier than typical crowd calendars. It’s the kind of factor we share with household and mates after they ask questions on selecting dates. We’ve been attempting to do extra like that, corresponding to our listing of the Greatest 24 Eating places at Disneyland. I’ve additionally been toying with one for accommodations in Anaheim that simply shares the place we keep most frequently for enjoyable now that we’ve got a child. However I digress.
The explanation such a listing of the Greatest & Worst Weeks to Go to Disneyland in 2025 & 2026 has not but come to fruition is as a result of California crowds haven’t but “settled down” to the identical extent as Florida patterns. Effectively, they did briefly this yr. To not pre-closure norms, however shut sufficient that I used to be comfy with qualitative week suggestions, and was on observe to lastly publish the listing final week. However now, it’s again to the drafting board…
For those who’ve already learn the newest replace to our 2025 Disneyland Crowd Calendar, you already know the place that is going. In case not, Disneyland crowds are in all probability going to turn out to be unpredictable over the course of the following 18 months, to the purpose that we’d warning towards over-reliance on any crowd calendars, ours included.
The aim of this publish is to stroll you thru my fascinated with how Disneyland crowds might play out in 2025, discussing the distinctive circumstances for this yr, and attempting to attract some semblance of conclusions. Honest warning: this can be a thinking-out-loud train, providing my perception and rationales, however not definitive conclusions. With that, let’s dig into the components.
First, the 2025 Southern California Resident Disneyland Ticket Deal is a lot higher than final yr, seeing a really uncommon value lower–and an enormous one. In a traditional yr, the superior financial savings would entice locals who haven’t visited shortly or received priced out of Annual Passes to make a return.
On prime of that, there’s additionally the recently-announced Disneyland children ticket supply for 2025, which is obtainable for all households–vacationers and residents of Southern California alike. This affords children admission for $50 per day between January 7 and March 20, 2025.
These offers would usually be a robust sign for larger crowds. The identical children ticket deal was supplied final yr, and it was tremendously well-liked. The stretch beginning with President’s Day and Ski Week had 8/10 and seven/10 crowd ranges, and the ultimate week of the promotion had a 9/10 crowd stage and is the #3 worst week of the yr (for now). Anecdotally, we noticed a noticeable improve in strollers and households across the parks in the course of the ultimate few weeks of the promotion.
Second, there’s the Disneyland seventieth Anniversary Celebration, which runs Could 16, 2025 by way of Summer time 2026. Right here’s a rundown of what’s debuting or returning in 2025 for this 18-month occasion:
- World of Colour: Happiness
- Paint the Night time Parade
- Wondrous Journeys Fireworks
- Higher Collectively: A Pixar Friends Celebration!
Head over to our Information to the Disneyland seventieth Anniversary Celebration to learn much more element about what’s to return for the big celebration. We’ve full particulars about all of that, plus the brand new Walt Disney – A Magical Life stage present that’ll debut for Summer time 2025, and extra!
Disneyland’s seventieth Anniversary additionally ought to be a robust sign for considerably larger crowds beginning that date. In a traditional yr, vacationers and locals who go to occasionally would postpone their park days till the celebration began.
Nonetheless, these two “robust indicators” of upper crowds are in direct battle with each other. Need to guess when the SoCal resident deal ends? Could 15, 2025. Actually the day earlier than the seventieth kicks off. It’s a very savvy transfer by Disneyland, however one which wrecks crowd calendars.
So on the one hand, there’s an aggressive ticket deal to start out the yr that would induce visits. Then again, there’s a purpose why this deal is way more aggressive than regular. Disneyland followers and even informal Southern California guests (and definitely out-of-state vacationers) may need to delay visits till Could 16, 2025 and later, even when it’s costlier to take action.
The underside line is that there are countervailing components, they usually’re two big ones that might usually have outsized impacts and be bullish indicators for bigger crowds. It’s potential that’s true this yr, too, and that the ticket offers draw discount hunters and the Disneyland seventieth Anniversary attracts a separate viewers of Annual Passholders (who already paid for his or her admission) together with celebration fanatics.
Frankly, that is what I’d usually predict–that Disneyland would merely see heavier crowds because it attracts from two distinct swimming pools of friends. In 2025, I’m much less inclined to consider that would be the case. That might require a year-over-year improve in attendance, and that’s a daring wager as pent-up demand has burning out.
When fascinated with the vary of outcomes, I’m reminded of early 2015, which not-so-coincidentally was a decade in the past. Within the lead-up to Disneyland’s sixtieth Anniversary, the corporate principally threw the towel in on the primary a number of months of the yr.
Sleeping Magnificence Citadel was behind scrims for a lot of the winter and the moat was drained. As Disney did infrastructure work to organize for the brand new Disneyland Endlessly fireworks, the park introduced the a lot shorter and old fashioned “Fantasy within the Sky” fireworks.
There have been simply a half-dozen “necessary” points of interest in every park that have been down, from the traditional winter closures of water rides to uninstalling seasonal overlays to doing different plussing at Fantasyland darkish rides, as that was one of many advertising factors of the Diamond Celebration.
There have been additionally a bunch of placemaking tasks, together with the conversion of Condor Flats to Grizzly Peak Airfield (closing off a big part of the entrance of DCA). If I recall appropriately, there have been no nighttime spectaculars (except for “Fantasy within the Sky”) introduced in both park.
What I do keep in mind have been the complaints on social media. Individuals would publish photographs of the scrims or listing of ‘briefly unavailable’ points of interest posted exterior ticket cubicles, and bemoan the truth that Disney was charging full value for admission. Virtually all of whom have been locals with Annual Passes, however they nonetheless had some extent.
What I additionally keep in mind is how wonderful this was. The parks have been completely lifeless. Not simply mild crowds, however lifeless lifeless, with attendance extra just like the post-reopening interval at Walt Disney World in 2020, lengthy earlier than “revenge journey” was a factor.
We have been newly-minted Disneyland locals, and we took full benefit of being inside driving distance of Disney for the primary time. We additionally didn’t actually care about rides being down or development partitions. We wished the locals’ expertise of hanging round, and we certain received it. Our #1 attraction throughout that interval was the “Working of the Goats” and we in all probability spent extra time sitting round Rancho del Zocalo and Flo’s V8 Cafe than we did driving something.
To not get too far off-topic, nevertheless it was only a completely different period. We attended one thing referred to as “Wednesdays with Walt” each week, and received to partake in free AP events celebrating Indiana Jones Journey, Dixieland at Disneyland, Disney Parks Blogs Meetups, and extra. Consider this stuff just like the Disneyland After Darkish events now, besides free and higher.
There’s the temptation to foretell that the lead-up to Disneyland’s seventieth Anniversary can be akin to the lead-up to Disneyland’s sixtieth Anniversary. The circumstances usually are not fairly the identical, however they’re comparable.
Nonetheless, it is a very completely different period. The explanation I went on that tangent above is to underscore simply how a lot has modified with Disneyland. These occasions that have been free then would value $150 at present. Go forward and search for Annual Move costs–or don’t, until you need to be depressed. Ditto SoCal ticket offers. FastPass was free. There was no Galaxy’s Edge, and the goats have been operating freely.
Clearly, Disneyland is and at all times has been a enterprise. But when there’s one distinction between then and now, it’s that the revenue motive is now entrance and heart, the primary and arguably solely precedence. Every thing has been optimized to squeeze friends for as a lot cash is feasible.
One other means this period is completely different is that we’re more and more see friends be extra attentive to pricing and planning their visits round reductions or dates when tickets are cheaper. This didn’t exist within the lead-up to the sixtieth Anniversary. Fairly actually, as Disneyland didn’t introduce seasonal (worth, common, peak) ticket pricing till the next yr.
Extra to the purpose, we haven’t actually seen date-based ticket pricing (now with much more tiers) having a big redistributive impact on crowds at Disneyland till the final couple of years. That’s in all probability as a result of the fee distinction is not pretty insignificant–the vary is presently $104 to $206. That’s proper, the costliest day is sort of double the price of the most cost effective!
Throughout these final two years or so, the influence of inexpensive dates on crowd ranges has been way more pronounced. Whether or not that be by way of precise ticket reductions, dates with tiers at cheaper costs, and even decrease tiers of Annual Passes being unblocked.
We’ve actually observed that this yr, particularly because the begin of Halloween season. Within the ultimate 5 months of the yr, the perfect predictor of year-over-year crowd ranges has been costs. For instance, it had been the case that October was extremely busy regardless of larger costs over the course of the final a number of years.
With Halloween beginning in August for the primary time ever this yr, we noticed demand pulled ahead to dates with cheaper costs and ticket offers. October nonetheless had loads of reasonable to excessive crowd dates, to make certain, however parts of August and September have been comparatively busier, exceeding expectations.
To make certain, peak season dates round Thanksgiving, Christmas, New 12 months’s Eve, Ski Week, and Easter are nonetheless each busy and costly. There’s a lot demand for these temporary college breaks that even sky excessive costs isn’t sufficient to dissuade sufficient folks from visiting. These are the exception, reasonably than the rule, although.
These tendencies are actually extra concerning the comparatively random days which can be considerably kind of costly than adjoining dates. There are days in early November, for instance, which have worth season costs proper earlier than days with peak season costs. This could quantity to an in a single day swing of $65 per ticket! And this isn’t simply occurring round vacation vs. non-holiday weeks.
It’s an analogous story with late October, when even random weekdays are among the many costliest dates to do Disneyland. November arrives, and costs plummet. That in all probability explains why October 27-31 was amongst one of many least crowded stretches of this complete yr at Disneyland, with 1/10 crowd ranges day by day. Friends with flexibility waited a number of days for November 1 to roll round, which introduced with it considerably cheaper tickets…and heavier crowds.
Cobbling all of those classes collectively as greatest as potential, listed below are some issues I’d anticipate to see of 2025 Disneyland crowds…
First, winter can be busier than Disneyland followers anticipate. That is low-hanging fruit, admittedly, as a result of there’s nonetheless this ingrained perception that winter is the ‘sleepy season’ at Disneyland. It’s a time when refurbishments are carried out. Climate will get chilly and wet, inflicting vacationers to not make journeys to Southern California and locals to remain residence. There simply isn’t a lot occurring at Disneyland. Crowds ought to be decrease.
That’s the notion, at the very least. A few of that’s actually true, however the half about it being a gradual and sleepy low season time at Disneyland is antiquated. It’s additionally Lunar New 12 months, Disneyland Half Marathon, a number of winter breaks, when Magic Key APs are unblocked after a number of weeks away, and the season of reductions. Winter hasn’t been low season for a number of years, which is a development that ought to proceed in January by way of March 2025.
These months are additionally when there are overlapping ticket reductions (see above) for each most of the people and Southern California residents. That’ll deliver a number of deal-hunters to the park, simply because it did final yr.
After that comes Spring Break. That is a type of peak season home windows that’s proof against overarching tendencies. It’ll in all probability be much less busy than 2024, nevertheless it doesn’t actually matter. Most friends who go to throughout weeks that Orange County, Los Angeles County, and different West Coast college districts are on break will understand crowds as being pretty heavy. The higher query is what occurs after Spring Break.
Right here’s the place issues get fascinating, and my intestine says it’s when Disneyland begins seeing a noticeable pullback in year-over-year crowd ranges. My pondering right here is that the fee delicate friends usually tend to go to earlier within the ticket promotion durations, and the nearer the Disneyland seventieth Anniversary Celebration will get, the extra probably individuals are to postpone visits till that begins.
The seventieth will nonetheless be months away initially of the yr, and fewer front-of-mind for guests. (There may even be dueling offers and decrease base costs for different journey parts past tickets, making January by way of March extra engaging for value-seeking vacationers.)
As soon as the seventieth attracts nearer, it’ll enter the equation for friends, extra of whom can be prepared to attend and pay extra for a greater expertise. This isn’t to say all friends or perhaps a majority will do that–only a bigger quantity than originally of the yr, and sufficient to maneuver the needle on crowd dynamics.
Not solely that, however many budget-conscious locals and longtime followers can be prepared to wager (in all probability appropriately!) that there can be one other ticket deal in the course of the summer season. So why reap the benefits of the winter and spring deal when there’s a bunch of nice leisure and one other particular supply proper across the nook?
My expectation is that this may create a unusual dynamic the place crowds drop precipitously following Easter. I might additionally anticipate decrease crowds in March earlier than Easter, since Spring Break season is later this yr, and never all of these weeks from mid-March by way of late April can be really busy. Weekly crowd ranges will probably be up and down earlier than Easter, relying upon what number of main West Coast districts are on break.
Crowds will fall off a cliff round April 21, 2025 and keep low till at the very least the top of the month. Perhaps even for the primary full week of Could 2025. After that, there would be the regular final hurrah as SoCal ticket holders scramble to “use it or lose it” earlier than remaining unused dates on the discounted tickets expire. That final week of the deal can be busy (regardless that it’s throughout shoulder season and earlier than the seventieth begins), which is one other protected prediction as a result of it at all times occurs.
The beginning of the Disneyland seventieth Anniversary Celebration is the place issues get tough.
My guess is that first two weeks received’t mirror larger crowd ranges, that are based mostly totally on attraction wait occasions. That’s as a result of a disproportionate variety of friends can be Annual Passholders and different locals who’re there primarily for brand spanking new leisure, meals & drinks and merchandise–not rides. There can be an enormous disconnect between attendance or “seems like” crowds and wait occasions.
After that, I’d anticipate summer season to warmth up step by step, with the majority of the vacationer crowds to reach beginning in mid-June and persevering with till late July. One development during the last couple of years has been for summer season crowds to be backloaded, with there normally being a rush earlier than faculties return into session. That is at the very least partially pushed by offers, which regularly aren’t introduced till summer season begins (or is underway), resulting in a lag earlier than vacationers can journey to reap the benefits of them. Regardless, a repeat of that is in all probability a protected wager.
In the end, my expectation is that Summer time 2025 sees larger year-over-year attendance and wait occasions. I’d additional forecast that the majority dates earlier than which can be down year-over-year, together with Winter 2025 however particularly March by way of mid-Could 2025. Although there’s an rising variety of Disneyland friends who’re cost-sensitive, the celebration and leisure can be considered as sufficient of a value-add to win out over decrease costs.
All of those are my greatest bets as to what’ll occur in 2025 with Disneyland attendance, wait occasions, congestion, and so forth. It ought to be confused, as might be apparent from the foregoing, that these are guesses I’m making based mostly on a wide range of current (Fall 2024) and not-so-recent tendencies (Disneyland’s sixtieth Anniversary). All of this may very well be fully and completely fallacious, therefore the caveat originally that we’d warning towards over-reliance in crowd calendars.
Planning a Southern California trip? For park admission offers, learn Suggestions for Saving Cash on Disneyland Tickets. Find out about on-site and off-site accommodations in our Anaheim Resort Critiques & Rankings. For the place to eat, take a look at our Disneyland Restaurant Critiques. For distinctive concepts of issues that’ll enhance your journey, take a look at What to Pack for Disney. For complete recommendation, seek the advice of our Disneyland Trip Planning Information. Lastly, for guides past Disney, take a look at our Southern California Itineraries for day journeys to Los Angeles, Laguna Seashore, and tons of different locations!
Your Ideas
Do you’ve gotten any predictions for 2025 Disneyland crowds? Count on year-over-year will increase or decreases? Assume reductions or the seventieth Anniversary could have the larger influence on attendance? Do you agree or disagree with our recommendation about Disneyland crowd calendars, California climate, particular occasions, college schedules, or the rest right here? Any questions we may help you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even once you disagree with us–is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!
