Our free Disneyland crowd calendars cowl the very best occasions to go to, and when to keep away from the remainder of this 12 months and in 2023. Increased attendance means longer waits, and it will enable you to save time at Disney California Journey and Disneyland. These month-to-month guides provide data & tips on particular occasions climate, costs, reservations, and extra. (Up to date October 23, 2022.)
We’ll preface this an vital disclaimer: Disneyland crowds have been a veritable curler coaster since reopening, and it doesn’t seem that’s going to alter within the foreseeable future. As of Late 2022, crowds are crushing and pent-up demand is nonetheless sturdy. We’ve visited quite a few occasions in the previous couple of months, and have constantly encountered excessive wait occasions, congestion all through the parks, and lengthy traces–together with Lightning Lane return queues!
It’s not possible to overstate simply how dangerous crowds have been at Disneyland this fall. Whereas not every single day has been equally busy, attendance and wait occasions have been extremely excessive by historic requirements. As in comparison with October 2019–the final “regular” 12 months at Disneyland (and the busiest 12 months ever till 2022)–the common wait time is up by 8 minutes. That will not seem to be a lot, nevertheless it provides up over the course of the day. On prime of that, our subjective evaluation is that congestion is way, far worse than Fall 2019.
It’s possible that crowds and congestion solely worsen for the rest of the 12 months. The busy Christmas season is true across the nook, which was so widespread final 12 months even at top-tier costs that Disneyland ran out of reservations and suspended ticket gross sales. It’s extremely unlikely that November and December 2022 would be the months that crowds lastly decelerate at Disneyland. On the contrary, we’re anticipating these months to attract record-setting crowds.
Wanting ahead to January 2023, the 100 Years of Marvel Celebration kicks off with new nighttime spectaculars and the debut of Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway. It’s going to be busy throughout what’s traditionally a slower season, and that’s even with out new Magic Key gross sales.
Talking of which, new Magic Key gross sales have been paused for months now. Within the case of the best tiers, for nearly a full 12 months. Solely renewals are attainable at this level, and that’s unlikely to alter anytime quickly. (See When Will Magic Key Passes Go Again on Sale at Disneyland? for our predictions there.) When Magic Key gross sales do resume, that’ll as soon as once more trigger crowds to spike.
Presently, there are unknowns and distinctive variables that affect attendance and crowds at Disneyland and Disney California Journey. We’ll be blunt with you–we can not completely predict crowds for 2023 and nobody can. Another Disneyland crowd calendar that claims clairvoyance is mendacity. There are just a few the reason why…
First, the aforementioned Magic Key program, which is its alternative for Annual Passes. Disney continues to tweak reservation availability for Magic Key holders, and each time this occurs, it modifications the gang dynamic at Disneyland and Disney California Journey.
Second, points with staffing. Disneyland continues to have an inadequate variety of Forged Members, regardless of enterprise a hiring blitz and just about nonstop adverts touting what an amazing employer (and company citizen!) Disney is, and urging locals to use for jobs. Consequently, Disneyland tends to allocate extra assets (e.g. Forged Members) to weekends, whereas additionally releasing extra park reservations for these dates.
The top result’s plenty of day-to-day variance primarily based on staffing ranges and park reservation refills. Each of these issues are inconsistent and never simply predictable, and the top end result could be random weekdays which can be or “really feel” busier than their adjoining dates. Likewise, some weekends have felt much less busy because of superior staffing or extra restricted reservations for locals. Whereas weekends (Saturdays, particularly) are typically busier, it’s hit and miss.
Third, reservation availability–or quite, lack thereof–has one other big affect. That is extremely related to Disneyland crowd calendars as a result of if reservations run out, there isn’t a lot variance in crowds in any respect. If every single day is totally booked, they’re normally all equally busy. For the remainder of this 12 months, the largest limiting issue on attendance gained’t be natural demand, however quite, reservation availability.
Throughout peak season dates like Thanksgiving and Christmas, natural demand is likely to be considerably increased than the variety of obtainable reservations. On a random Wednesday in Could 2023, natural demand may solely be 2% above reservations. In a standard 12 months, with out capability capped, the previous peak season dates can be far busier. In a capacity-constrained surroundings, each are equally busy. Bought out is bought out–crowd ranges are the identical for each dates. (In idea–see the above notice about staffing which illustrates why this isn’t all the time true.)
As we stay up for this upcoming winter and spring, there’s one other monkey wrench that might completely upend the 2023 Disneyland crowd calendars. As famous above, Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway opens and the 100 Years of Marvel Celebration kicks off at Disneyland Resort on the finish of January 2023. That celebration brings with it new nighttime spectaculars to every park, plus character costumes, new merchandise, meals & drinks, and the whole lot else locals love.
To us, this appears like a repeat of some winters in the past, when Disneyland had unprecedented–and unpredicted–crowds within the winter and early spring months. Then, Disneyland was slammed with folks the primary two months of the 12 months attributable to a confluence of circumstances: Principal Road Electrical Parade’s return, SoCal resident ticket provide, and aggressive advertising and marketing campaigns in Los Angeles and Orange Counties.
Whereas it’s at present unclear what sort of California resident ticket provide will likely be launched for January by means of Could 2023, it’s nearly sure there will likely be one. (The large query is whether or not weekends will likely be blocked out–in that case, Saturdays might not be as dangerous as they’re proper now.)
It’s additionally unclear to what extent Disneyland will market the 100 Years of Marvel Anniversary Celebration. Our guess is fairly aggressively. On prime of that, the reimagined Mickey’s Toontown will open and the Magic Occurs Parade will return in some unspecified time in the future in Spring 2023. These two issues will draw (but in addition soak up!) crowds.
Lastly, there’s an opportunity this vacation season would be the “final hurrah” for pent-up demand and Disneyland crowds will really lower in 2023. Family financial savings are already down, shopper debt has reached new information, and inflation is stinging extra. There are additionally rising fears that the U.S. economic system is heading for a recession, or no less than a correction or slowdown. On prime of that, Disneyland has considerably elevated costs on park tickets, meals, merchandise, and nearly the whole lot else.
Consequently, it appears more and more possible that Disneyland will expertise its personal slowdown in demand in some unspecified time in the future within the not-too-distant future. Who is aware of if any of that may occur, although. I didn’t suppose “revenge journey” would run this sizzling for this lengthy. It’ll be fascinating to see how all of this really performs out. Our expectation is that journey patterns and shopper habits start to normalize all through 2023, however we don’t have a crystal ball.
Suffice to say, there are plenty of wildcards that make 2023 Disneyland crowd calendars are far much less dependable than in regular years. In our view, it’s downright not possible to forecast the gang ranges on particular dates subsequent 12 months given all the above. What is attainable is providing projections about particular date ranges relative to 1 one other.
For instance, we all know that the final week of March 2023 and the primary week of April 2023 will likely be busier than the weeks instantly earlier than or after them. That’s due to spring breaks for main West Coast faculty districts that happen throughout these time frames. There are plenty of weeks all year long like this that we all know will likely be higher or worse primarily based on numerous externalities. Nevertheless, I couldn’t inform you whether or not March 28, 2023 will likely be busier than April 4, 2023 or what their exact crowd degree will likely be on a scale of 1-10. And nobody can.
With that in thoughts, our advice can be to have a look at the final ‘crowd contours’ for busy and less-busy weeks or months (and even refer as an alternative to our Finest & Worst Months to Go to Disneyland as an alternative of this publish) and never day-by-day crowd predictions.
Accordingly, what we’re going to do right here is provide the instruments to decide on the very best days to go to Disneyland–and the worst days to keep away from. Relatively than making daring and definitive proclamations, we’ll cowl the underlying variables that affect crowds so you’ll be able to assess for your self which dates are prone to be good or dangerous. If that’s extra work than you wish to do, we even have loads of suggestions–with the asterisk that Disneyland crowds are topic to alter!
Now, let’s focus on extra specifics on when to go to California and provide some 2022-2023 Disneyland crowd calendar recommendation. For extra on this, and among the less-intuitive occasions that is likely to be busy, seek the advice of our assets and ideas under…
Crowd Calendars
As we’ve gained expertise visiting Disneyland and Disney California Journey all through the years as Annual Passholders–and now Magic Keyholders–together with a number of journeys per week whereas locals, we’ve seen developments in crowds and analyzed patterns in wait time information.
Disneyland crowd calendars change often attributable to quite a lot of components, together with advertising and marketing, reductions, park hours, new attraction openings, particular occasions, Anaheim Conference Middle occasions, and even climate (good or dangerous). We try to maintain our Disneyland crowd calendars up to date to mirror modifications in attendance developments.
It’s additionally price noting that Disneyland usually doesn’t launch park hours various months upfront, which suggests the reliability of crowd calendars is decrease additional out from any given month. Similar goes for theme park reservations, each for Magic Keyholders and common visitors.
Furthermore, the comparatively new tiered ticket system offers Disneyland a larger capacity to govern crowds by merely rising (or reducing) the costs of tickets on sure dates that will in any other case be extra (or much less) widespread. This causes some folks to go to on inexpensive/much less widespread dates, normalizing crowds to a point. Nonetheless, there nonetheless are higher and worse days/weeks/months to go to Disneyland, all of that are coated in our month-to-month guides.
You may entry our Disneyland crowd calendars and month-to-month guides through the hyperlinks under, every of which can open in a brand new browser tab:
Just a few years in the past, we rolled out crowd calendars for Disneyland that provided a day-by-day take a look at crowds with purple, yellow, and inexperienced dates for heavy, reasonable, and low attendance, respectively. Many readers liked these, they usually actually make it simpler to see when Disneyland crowds will likely be good or dangerous at a look.
Sadly, that kind of crowd calendar is now not correct because of the aforementioned variables. Magic Key bookings alone throw a monkey wrench into that, and make it not possible for static color-coded crowd calendars to be actually dependable within the near-term. (We hope to carry these crowd calendars again later in 2023, however gained’t accomplish that till clear attendance developments have emerged and reservations should not often filling up.)
Whereas we expect it’s nonetheless attainable to determine developments in crowds, particularly relative to different dates, we’re not comfy with the extent of specificity provided by a numerical rating or color-coded stoplight system. That is very true for planners counting on crowd calendars to decide on dates for his or her dream holidays. That is in all probability not what you wish to hear since everybody loves the clear and straightforward reply, however we expect it’s higher to be clear and trustworthy with you.
With that stated, we are able to provide easy-to-access basic attendance developments for Disneyland that may make ‘at a look’ journey planning and selecting your dates to go to simpler…
Basic Attendance Tendencies
Disneyland attendance and wait occasions are largely dependent upon vacationer vacationing habits (that are largely dependent upon faculty breaks and California journey developments), park hours (historic information exists for that), Anaheim Conference Middle occasions, Los Angeles & Orange County College District calendars, and some different variables.
With that stated, the largest issue of all is native customer habits. Disneyland and Disney California Journey crowds are all the time worse on weekends. The one-biggest and most vital piece of recommendation is keep away from weekends if in any respect attainable. When you be taught actually nothing else away from our crowd calendars, have or not it’s that. Go to Los Angeles, museums, seashores, or no matter on weekends–site visitors will likely be higher, however crowds at these spots will even be worse. (Not as dangerous as Disneyland, although!)
There are undoubtedly different wildcards that make it tougher for Disneyland crowd calendars to foretell attendance or wait occasions on particular dates with accuracy far upfront. Nevertheless, the variables above are knowable pretty far upfront, and make forecasting basic seasonal developments a lot simpler. As such, that’s what we’re presenting right here:
Insanely Crowded
- Martin Luther King Day weekend
- Presidents’ Day weekend
- Orange County Spring Break
- Los Angeles Spring Break
- Easter Week
- Mid-March by means of mid-April (Spring Break season)
- Thanksgiving week
- Christmas and New Yr’s weeks
Very Crowded
Reasonably Crowded
- Early March
- Mid to late Could
- Late June by means of mid-August
- Third week of November
Least Crowded
- Most of January and February, besides holidays
- Late April
- Early by means of mid-Could
- Late August by means of mid-September
- First week of November
General, we predict Disneyland “seems like” crowds to be heavier all through the rest of 2022. When you’re planning to go to for Christmas 2023, you must put together for increased crowd ranges. That’ll be very true for weekends, holidays, and college breaks for native districts and close by states.
Talking of which, faculty schedules, climate, particular occasions, park hours, and extra might all have an effect on once you wish to go to Disneyland. Clearly, these variables will even affect crowds.
College Schedules
If faculty schedules are one thing round which you have to plan, likelihood is you’re going to go throughout one of many busier (or no less than not one of many least busy) occasions of the 12 months, as that’s the paramount consideration for a lot of different households planning journeys, too. It might seem to be a handy time to go to throughout one of many ‘holidays’ your youngsters have off from faculty, nevertheless it’s vital to contemplate whether or not different faculties have these similar occasions off, as effectively.
Particularly, listed below are the college districts which have the largest affect on Disneyland attendance:
- Los Angeles Unified (CA)
- Orange County – All Districts (CA)
- San Diego Unified (CA)
- Clark County (NV)
- Lengthy Seashore Unified (CA)
- Riverside Unified (CA)
- San Bernardino Metropolis 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 those districts into consideration, as their educational breaks and college schedules can have a big affect on Disneyland attendance. There’s usually overlap among the many prime 3 districts in Southern California, which suggests their breaks are very dangerous, however confined to a small portion of the general calendar.
Main districts in Northern California, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona all can have a noticeable affect on crowds, as effectively. (For instance, most districts in Utah share a standard fall break, and that lengthy weekend will get actually dangerous.) In contrast, we’ve by no means noticed a lot of an affect from Oregon, Washington, or some other states. Texas and something east of it are all just about Walt Disney World’s market.
Of the standard faculty holidays, summer season break might be the very best time to go to, as it’s the longest faculty break so that you don’t have the focus of visitors all visiting throughout the identical week of different holidays. Since summer season break is basically blocked out to SoCal passholders, you’ll be able to anticipate to see extra vacationers within the parks this time of 12 months.
Most faculties have the week earlier than Christmas till the shortly after New Yr’s off, making this week-plus an particularly busy time. The identical is true for President’s Day weekend, Easter week, Memorial Day weekend, the Fourth of July vacation, and Thanksgiving week. Though faculties do fluctuate their Spring Break schedules, don’t anticipate the parks to be any much less busy due to somewhat-staggered Spring Breaks. March and April are additionally busy occasions at Disneyland.
This isn’t to say you shouldn’t go to throughout these occasions, as some folks don’t have many different choices, however when you do go, no less than carry your persistence with you, or no less than a great plan for touring the parks!
Climate
In contrast to Florida, Southern California has a fairly temperate local weather. The standard sizzling seasons are sizzling, however humidity isn’t practically as dangerous as it’s in Florida. It may get colder at night time, and within the winter months, however the climate isn’t practically as a lot of a curler coaster journey like it’s in Florida. Blue skies and puffy clouds are extra uncommon in California, however total the climate is way more favorable for vacationing than it’s in Walt Disney World.
Rain isn’t as frequent in Disneyland as it’s in Walt Disney World. It does rain within the fall months at Disneyland, however torrential downpours in SoCal aren’t too frequent. In truth, when you’re a Southern Californian making an attempt to plan the very best time to schedule a 1-day go to to the park, the very best time to go is whereas it’s raining.
The parks typically filter (there are normally lengthy traces at Metropolis Corridor of individuals requesting refunds), and considerably shorter waits are frequent. So, when you have a poncho or umbrella and need decrease than regular crowds, a wet day is the proper time to go. (In contrast, the day after it rains will likely be significantly worse than regular, as locals will postpone their visits.)
Be certain to pack some denims, sweatshirts, and possibly even coats if touring through the months of October by means of March. It gained’t essentially be chilly throughout your journey, however the climate can drop under 50 levels throughout these months. Take into account your tolerance to chilly, and climate you’re keen to buy numerous $70 Mickey Mouse sweatshirts throughout your journey when, inevitably, members of your loved ones get chilly!
Park Hours
Not contemplating park hours when planning your journey is a big mistake. Often much less busy days have shorter park hours and busier days have longer park hours. Thus, many really feel they will principally get the identical quantity finished in a shorter day throughout a much less busy time of 12 months than they may throughout peak season. With good plans for touring the parks or strategic use of Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, this isn’t true. By strategizing effectively, you’ll be able to accomplish extra throughout a busy day with longer hours than throughout a shorter day with mild crowds.
Additionally vital to notice is that on days with longer hours, Disneyland may have extra leisure scheduled. Even throughout quick days and gradual occasions of the 12 months, Fantasmic and World of Coloration play to packed homes. Nevertheless, on days that supply a number of showings of those leisure choices, the later showings are nearly all the time much less crowded. If you wish to keep away from ready a number of hours for a great view of Fantasmic, go on an extended day with a number of showings!
Equally, your sleep habits make a distinction right here. When you’re an evening owl, days with shorter hours could also be a foul thought, as by the point you roll off the bed, it’s possible you’ll discover that you just solely have just a few hours to benefit from the parks. Conversely, when you rise early and customarily wish to go away the parks by 7 pm or so, the shorter/much less busy days are nice occasions so that you can go to. Ensure you test Disneyland’s park hours calendar when planning your journey. Whereas this calendar is topic to alter, it doesn’t change practically as a lot as Walt Disney World’s calendar, which is nearly by no means correct when first posted.
Particular Occasions
Disneyland doesn’t have practically as many particular occasions as Walt Disney World, however there are some occasions price planning for or round. Principally, these occasions are the D23 Expo (each different 12 months, in direction of the top of summer season or early fall), Homosexual Days (fall), HalloweenTime at Disneyland (late summer season and fall), CHOC stroll (fall), Holidays at Disneyland (fall and winter), and Grad Nites (spring).
On a private notice, our absolute favourite time to go to is throughout Christmas-time at Disneyland. The parks look beautiful, there are particular attraction-overlays, and plenty of seasonal meals obtainable. You may learn extra about Christmas-time at Disneyland in our in-depth information.
Refurbishments
Throughout Disneyland’s slower seasons, anticipate plenty of points of interest to be closed for refurbishments and different building to be occurring. Not solely is upkeep and maintenance higher at Disneyland than Walt Disney World, however Disneyland additionally has just a few seasonal attraction overlays, which result in widespread points of interest prefer it’s a small world, Haunted Mansion, and Area Mountain being closed for just a few weeks every within the fall (and late-winter within the case of it’s a small world and Haunted Mansion).
Historically, January and February have been the largest months for attraction downtime, as these are the low-season for crowds. Nevertheless, it’s all the time good to seek the advice of refurbishment calendars to ensure your favourite points of interest are operational irrespective of once you go to.
When you should go to Disneyland when it’s busy (as is the case for a lot of with youngsters in class), it’s vital to have a great plan of assault once you go to the parks. Decide which points of interest are finest and those to expertise, work out the place you wish to eat upfront and dine at hours when the parks are busiest, and most significantly, arrive on the park earlier than it opens and get as a lot finished as you’ll be able to within the first few hours of operation when traces are a lot shorter than they are going to be later within the day.
Planning a Southern California trip? For park admission offers, learn Suggestions for Saving Cash on Disneyland Tickets. Study on-site and off-site accommodations in our Anaheim Lodge Evaluations & Rankings. For the place to eat, try our Disneyland Restaurant Evaluations. For distinctive concepts of issues that’ll enhance your journey, try What to Pack for Disney. For complete recommendation, seek the advice of our Disneyland Trip Planning Information. Lastly, for guides past Disney, try our Southern California Itineraries for day journeys to Los Angeles, Laguna Seashore, and tons of different locations!
Your Ideas
Do you have got any favourite occasions of 12 months to go to Disneyland? Which particular occasions do you suppose are finest? Do you agree or disagree with our recommendation about Disneyland crowd calendars, California climate, particular occasions, faculty schedules, or the rest right here? Any questions we might 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 under within the feedback!