December Disneyland Crowd Calendar
Our December Disneyland preview and free crowd calendar offers analysis for choosing the worst & best days to visit. There’s also tips for Christmas at Disney California Adventure and Disneyland, and what you should expect from a winter visit to Southern California.
As with November, December features highs and lows, with some of the absolute worst crowds of the year, along with weekdays earlier in the month that are not nearly as bad. This is a result of mostly-light tourist numbers earlier in the month, coupled with Christmas vacation and school breaks in Los Angeles and Orange Counties (and around the country) later in the month.
Then there’s the the big reason so many people descend upon Disneyland in December: Christmas. It’s the most wonderful time of the year at the Happiest Place on Earth! Truly–not just in the cliched sense. Disneyland Resort is normally a magical place, but during the holiday season, it just oozes magic. For more on what makes this season our favorite time of the year in the parks, read our Ultimate Guide to Christmas at Disneyland. We aren’t the only ones who think this is the most wonderful time of the year at Disneyland, and the crowds bear that out…
Fortunately, this improved a bit last year, and that trend should continue this year. As with this Halloween season, Disneyland Resort has gradually increased the Christmas offerings at Disney California Adventure to better distribute crowds between the two parks.
To accomplish this, Festival of the Holidays and World of Color – Season of Light have been added to the slate of seasonal offerings at DCA. You can read our Guide to Festival of the Holidays at Disney California Adventure for tips on the best way to experience that.
Weather is a bit of a mixed bag. First, it’s Southern California’s rainy season. This is almost meaningless, as average rainfall during the month is only around 2″, but that’s still much more than the norm. The average high in Anaheim during December is around 70º and the average low is around 47º. Personally, we like these cooler daytime temperatures, as this type of weather is perfect for racing around a theme park, especially if you’re carrying a backpack or have kids in tow. However, once the sun goes down, it can be a bit too cold, especially if you stay past 9 p.m. or watch World of Color.
Due to the potential for rain and frigid temperatures in the evening (or even during the day if it gets unseasonably cold), we recommend consulting our What to Pack for Disney in Winter post. Some of that might seem like overkill for Southern California, but it’s better to be over-prepared than under-prepared. Trust me, I’ve made that mistake before.
As for the December Disneyland crowd calendar, we’ll start with some instructions. These are identical to those for our November Disneyland Crowd Calendar (and every month before that), so if you’ve already read that, skip down to the calendar itself and the notes below…
Crowd Calendar “Instructions” – This is a simple Disneyland crowd calendar with a “stop light” system. Our methodology is based upon historic wait time data, anecdotal observations, special events, Los Angeles and Orange County school schedules (plus holiday breaks in California, Utah, and Nevada), dynamic ticket prices, and more. Expect Disney California Adventure crowds to almost always track Disneyland crowds–with a few exceptions–albeit with a proportionately lower number of guests.
We do not recommend using this as a proxy for crowds at other Los Angeles-area theme parks, like Universal Studios Hollywood, Knott’s Berry Farm, or Six Flags Magic Mountain. Disneyland Resort crowds are unique; they are artificially manipulated by Disney and also impacted by extraneous variables that do not impact the aforementioned theme parks to nearly the same degree.
First up, a huge caveat. It is becoming increasingly difficult to predict Disneyland crowds. This has been the case for the last year-plus, which is why we opted for the three tiers in the first place, rather than a 1-10 scale. This issue is even more pronounced for December and the months thereafter.
While we are still fairly confident in our analysis of crowd trends, it is worth noting that we’ve erred on the side of under-predicting crowd levels. Stated differently, we think the green days here will be the less busy days and the red days will be the most busy, but don’t be surprised if some of our yellow days are more like “orange” days, and our green days are more like…whatever color you get by mixing green and yellow.
It seems like the “new normal” for Disneyland’s holiday seasons (effectively, early September through early January) is skewing towards being more crowded. If you’re a tourist visiting and want to avoid crowds, the best bet is going to be getting as much done Monday through Thursday before 5 p.m., and Friday before noon. (Even the many red Fridays on this calendar should be fairly light in the mornings.)
Expect evenings to be busier as many local Annual Passholders will visit Disneyland and Disney California Adventure after work to get their Christmas fix, and for the holiday season entertainment. Quite often, you’ll find that yellow days are green in the morning and red in the evening.
hese daily crowd trends go out the window beginning the weekend before Christmas, and continuing through the end of the year. At this time, Disneyland and DCA will see far fewer Annual Passholders (most will be blocked out) and far more tourists. Generally speaking, tourists are much more likely to show up at the parks earlier in the day, meaning the parks will be crowded all day long.
During the height of Christmas season, we recommend Park Hopper tickets. Tourists with these should strongly consider mornings at Disneyland before Park Hopping to DCA. Locals from Los Angeles and Orange County who arrive after work tend to make Disneyland more crowded in the evenings.
For most of the month, 1-day tickets have Peak Season pricing. There are 8 days with Regular pricing, and 0 with Value Season pricing. From a crowd perspective, this is good news, as these price points discourage spontaneous visits by locals.
Read our Tips for Saving Money on Disneyland Tickets post for multi-day ticket recommendations to avoid having to deal with seasonal pricing. On the plus side, there are some multi-day ticket discounts currently available for all guests.
There is no hard ticket party like Mickey’s Halloween Party during the Christmas season, which does make crowds more predictable, and decreases the likelihood of attendance surges. One thing that does cause attendance surges is rain.
If there is rain in the forecast, we highly recommend visiting Disneyland on that day. Locals tend to avoid rainy days at Disneyland and DCA, making the parks considerably less busy than normal. This leads to a surge in attendance the day following the rain (avoid those days, or visit DCA the day after a rainy day). This might sound a bit odd or extreme, but (Southern) Californians are not used to rain, and tend to stay inside when it’s raining. We are not even kidding or exaggerating.
Early December is Southern California’s off-season in terms of tourism. Even though Disneyland and Disney California Adventure can be busy in early December, it’s primarily with Californians. As such, off-season occupancy rates will be reflected in hotel prices the first couple weeks of December. With almost zero transition, the week before Christmas through New Year’s is peak season, with exorbitant rates reflecting that.
You can find deals on off-site hotels, the first couple of weeks, but don’t expect the same for closer to the holidays. We rank our favorite (and least favorite) hotels in the area in our Disneyland Area Hotel Rankings & Reviews post. Check out discounted hotel + ticket vacation packages on Get Away Today to save money on off-site hotels.
Overall, December tends to be busier, colder, and wetter than November, which is why it falls a bit on our Best and Worst Months to Visit Disneyland. With that said, it’s still a wonderful month to visit. Even if you’re traveling during a time with yellow or red crowds, there are ways to beat the hordes of other tourists–namely by rope dropping the parks, having an efficient itinerary, and efficiently using FastPass (or better yet, MaxPass when it’s really busy–it’s worth the money). Beyond that, Disneyland Resort’s Christmas season is incredible, with holiday entertainment that makes the hassle of any crowds worthwhile.
If you’re preparing for a Disneyland trip, check out our other planning posts, including how to save money on Disneyland tickets, our Disney packing tips, tips for booking a hotel (off-site or on-site), where to dine, and a number of other things, check out our comprehensive Disneyland Vacation Planning Guide!
YOUR THOUGHTS
If you’ve visited Disneyland during December, what did you think of the experience? Have you braved the crowds during Christmas or New Year’s weeks? Did the holiday entertainment make the insane crowds ‘worth it’ for you? What are your thoughts on Holiday Time at Disneyland? If you’ve visited Southern California in December, do you have any tips to add? Share any questions, tips, or additional thoughts you have in the comments!
Thinking of surprising my kids and drive down after we open presents Christmas day-the 28th. Everything I have read say its the most busiest. What are you thoughts??
Planning to take the kids the day after Christmas for the week. I’ve followed this blog for World advice (you single handedly convinced me Victoria and Alberts was worth it; it was)
I’ve been to Land once last October. It seemed more packed than world on a random week, yet easier to navigate. A lot of people are tellingus to avo8d Disney and do universal instead. The kids really really want to see Nightmare before Christmas haunted mansion. Plus nola to LA is a cheap flight. Thanks for the info.
Your site is very helpful. We are planning on going right after New Year’s. Our school is still off. Which day would be less busy? I am taking my 92 year old dad who hasn’t been in decades. I want him to see the holiday decorations.
Does anyone know why the park hours are shorted the week of Dec 18th at Disneyland? Park is open until midnight every day in December, but closes at 9pm in the week leading up to Christmas. Do you think these hours could be extended?
I was wondering the same thing…the first two weeks of December DL is open til midnight then the traditionally busier week before Christmas it closes at 9pm when all the schools are out for winter break….that doesn’t make sense…do they ever change the hours?
Hey Tom! I love your site, thank you. We plan to be there the first week of January…how are the crowds. I see mid January is a great time to come, but I am anticipate mass crowds first week. Am I correct?
That really remains to be seen–particularly with regard to the SoCal resident ticket deal. We’ll be posting a January preview within the next couple of weeks, but the short version is “we don’t know yet.”
We are hoping to visit Disneyland with our young children in Late January early February and were wondering what the best dates are in 2018. Our son is on the spectrum and we would like to have a favorable experience so the less crowded the better. Any suggestions?
Love your website Tom, thank you for all your help! We’ll be staying at the California Grand Hotel next week right before Thanksgiving. In past years, we used the California Grand Hotel’s entrance to California Adventureland, and the line was always very long. Do you think it’s quicker to use California Adventureland’s main entrance even if staying at the Grand Hotel, especially during this busy season?
Thank you for anybody’s thoughts!
Sara
Chartreuse
You know, my initial reaction to people saying Cali gets cold at night, is that they are nuts because 47 degrees doesn’t seem that cold (I lived in Idaho for 10 years where the winter temps sometimes sank to -20.) However, we went to Disneyland last May, and I, being a know-it-all, didn’t think I’d need a jacket at night. Yeah… I was wronger than wrong. I could not believe how cold it was. I don’t know if it’s something funky with the coast or what, but I was dying. In any case: At least pack a jacket because somehow the cold in Cali feels colder than normal.
I think maybe it’s the cool wind, or perhaps that your body becomes acclimated to the sunshine and warm weather during the day, so it’s more jarring when it gets cold at night. Or maybe both?
We’re the same way though–originally from the Midwest, and we get cold at Disneyland during November and December.
There are several reasons it “feels” colder than the actual temperature my friends. The air is damper in the winter months which is not what we’re used to here, the disparity between daytime and night time can be a 40 degree swing in just a few hours, both Disney and DCA have many “corridors” that direct the chilly winds right at you (this is most noteworthy in the path from Big Thunder to Fantasyland, by the smoking area and lastly, the many man-made bodies of water that the winds are peeling off moisture into the winds.
This is our favorite time of year at DLR!! And, given the changes in pricing, it has become harder to know the crowd calendar. But, I think you both have the right ideas about this time of year with regard to crowds, how to plan accordingly, and the disbursement of crowds between the parks. We start with Fantasyland, move into Tomorrowland, then jump over to NOS and CC before heading over to DCA. Back to Disneyland for nighttime magic… MAXpass will be our friend this season – thanks for the reminder! Merry Christmas and happiest holidays, Sarah & Tom!
Especially during the busier days, it’s definitely a good time of year to purchase MaxPass. It’s our favorite time, too–enjoy your visit and happy holidays!