Disneyland Tips: Best & Worst Times To Visit [Day + Month Breakdown]
If you're planning a trip to Disneyland you'll absolutely want to know the best, and worst times of the year to visit.
We've broken down the best and worst days of the week, months and overall times to totally avoid Disneyland in this guide to help you plan your next trip!
Questions We'll Answer About The Best Times To Visit Disneyland:
- What Is The Best Day Of The Week To Visit Disneyland?
- What Is The Worst Day Of The Week To Visit Disneyland?
- What Are The Worst Months To Visit Disneyland?
- What Are The Best Months To Visit Disneyland?
- Days Of The Year You Should Avoid!
What Is The Best Day Of The Week To Visit Disneyland?
Let's start with the best days of the week to visit Disneyland.
You'll typically find Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to be the best days of the week to visit Disneyland.
Disneyland is quite widely known as a "locals park", so you can expect to see bigger crowds on the weekends and in the evenings when residents of Southern California are off of work.
With Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday being early in the week when people tend to be more busier with their jobs, these three days are great for visiting Disneyland.
Thursday will see more moderate crowds, but not to the same extent of Monday, Tuesday and Wednesdays. As it gets later in the week, people are more inclined to visit Disneyland as a break from the week or a way to wind down from their day jobs as the week slows down.
Holidays excluded, you'll likely have the best experience at Disneyland in terms of shortest lines and smallest crowd levels Monday through Wednesday!
If there's one day better than all others it's going to be Tuesdays which in our experience are consistently the slowest day of the week at Disneyland!
What Is The Worst Day Of The Week To Visit Disneyland?
On the contrary, Friday, Saturday and Sunday are going to be the worst days of the week to visit Disneyland.
Saturday takes the crown as the single worst day to visit Disneyland as most Southern California residents flock to the park on the weekends, with Saturday being the most popular day.
Those from out of state or driving in for a quick weekend trip will typically arrive throughout Friday with Saturday being their first full day at the park, only making it even more crowded.
Fridays will typically see moderate crowds until later in the day as when we see a combination of Southern California residents getting off of work to visit the parks, as well as tourists from all over arriving for their vacation.
What Are The Worst Months To Visit Disneyland?
While you might not be able to avoid visiting Disneyland on certain days of the week, you may at least be able to skip some of the worst months of the year to visit the park!
Day of the week is certainly a big factor in determining how busy Disneyland will be, but the actual month you visit may be even more important!
If possible, you'll want to avoid the hot summer months of June, July and August. These are the busiest three months of the year for Disneyland with July being the busiest every single week.
Schools are out across the country for a majority of these three months, so you're going to see consistently high crowd levels with families flocking to Disneyland to take advantage of summer break.
March and April are also going to be quite busy with Spring Break drawing families and tourists to the parks. Early March and late April are going to be much more manageable, but the rest of these two months will typically be quite busy.
Finally, November and December can be quite a rough time to visit Disneyland as well.
Early November and early December are typically great times to visit, but the closer you get to Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Eve the crazier the parks will get.
If you can make it to Disneyland the first two weeks of either November or December, you'll likely only experience moderate crowd levels, but outside of these two weeks it'll be packed!
What Are The Best Months To Visit Disneyland?
Now let's get to the better news - the best months to visit Disneyland!
February, May, September and October are going to be you go-to months for Disneyland.
While February, May and September do have holiday weekends, the rest of the time these months are the slowest at Disneyland. The weather is also very enjoyable throughout these months, though it can get chilly in February even in Southern California!
In the months of February and September, school has just restarted after long breaks, so most families will not be traveling, which really lightens the crowds at Disneyland.
October is generally slow at Disneyland, but because of the popular Halloween event, Oogie Boogie Bash, California Adventure closes as early as 5PM. Because California Adventure closes so early, crowds will flock over to Disneyland to enjoy the evening at the only park open to guests without an Oogie Boogie Bash event ticket.
Mornings and early afternoons during October are great to visit Disneyland, but the evenings may get quite crowded with only one park being open!
May comes right after the Spring Break travel season and just before Summer travel, so most families have either just finished their visit to Disneyland or waiting for Summer break to travel again.
Aside from the some of the lowest crowd levels, the weather is also great in May, making it the best month to visit Disneyland!
January and August are going to see more moderate crowd levels throughout the month.
January will be extremely busy around New Year's day and Martin Luther King weekend, but the rest of the month should be relatively slow.
Schools will be starting up again throughout August, so the beginning of the month will be quite busy, but begin to taper over each week later into the month.
Days Of The Year You Should Avoid!
If you're looking to avoid some of the longest long lines of the year and huge crowds, then you should mark the following days of the year off of your vacation calendar!
- January 1st - 5th: New Years day and the following few days are among the most popular to visit Disneyland!
- July 1st - July 7th: July is crazy at Disneyland throughout the month, but especially bad around Independence Day.
- The week of Thanksgiving: The Thanksgiving holiday week is another incredibly popular time to visit Disneyland and will see huge crowds!
- December 22nd - December 31st: The few days before Christmas and following weeks into January is one of the busiest stretches of the year to visit Disneyland.
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