July 2026 Disneyland Crowd Calendar

This free Disneyland and Disney California Adventure crowd calendar for July 2026 covers attendance and wait times predictions, plus info about special events, pricing, weather, and more. Basically, we’ll cover what to expect if you’re visiting Disneyland during the heart of summer season.

For starters, there’s the weather. If you’re used to visiting Walt Disney World, you’re in for a treat, because California does not have “sweat-through-your-shirt” humidity. While July is the hottest month of the year in Los Angeles with average high temperatures above 80 degrees every single day of the month, it’s typically still comfortable.

Average lows and highs range from the mid-60s to low 80s. As demonstrated by the “comfortable” band on this page for July in Anaheim, California, the weather is in “muggy” territory less than 9% of the time during the entire month of July. For the most part, you’re looking at days that are a bit on the hot side, followed by cool evenings. Even during the summer, it might make sense to pack a light sweat or at least a long sleeve shirt for evenings at Disneyland.

Next, let’s take a look at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure during the month of July 2026…

What’s New at Disneyland in July 2026

In terms of seasonal events, there’s obviously Independence Day at the beginning of the month. “Disney’s Celebrate America! — A Fourth of July Concert in the Sky” is the special Independence Day weekend fireworks show, shown on July 3-5, 2026.

Note that this is expanding beyond Independence Day as part of “Disney Celebrates America” in honor of the United States 250th anniversary, or US Semicentennial. This special event kicks off on Veterans Day 2025 and continues through the July 4, 2026 weekend.

The celebration will culminate on the Independence Day 2026 weekend with a 24-hour, multi-platform broadcast, “Disney Celebrates America,” highlighting America’s 250th anniversary events nationwide across Disney’s linear networks and streaming platforms, ending with a special evening fireworks broadcast from Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort.

We don’t know what else Disney has planned for the Fourth of July festivities, but since it’s a 24-hour livestream, we’re guessing that Disneyland will do even more than normal.

Usually, there are a variety of processionals and musical acts from members of the U.S. armed services who come up from San Diego, and elsewhere in California. We would expect Disneyland to ramp that up even further for America250!

This fireworks spectacular gets guests in the star-spangled spirit with brilliant fireworks in the night sky to the sounds of patriotic songs. Check out our Tips for Photographing Fireworks post to take your great photos of this show! There is also a special patriotic Flag Retreat ceremony on July 4.

Over at Disney California Adventure, a special patriotic pre-show runs before both World of Color showings on July 4 only. Because of this, we typically recommend doing the Independence Day fireworks at Disneyland on July 3, and visiting Disney California Adventure on July 4. This is also the best approach in terms of crowds.

In terms of July attraction closures, we have what’s possibly a partial list on the Disneyland Refurbishment Calendar. Usually, Disneyland announces refurbishments a couple of months in advance, so that’s not the final list for July 2026 quite yet.

Unfortunately, there won’t be any brand-new rides opening in July 2026. See What’s New & Next at Disneyland in 2026 & Beyond, which covers the 5-year plan for the parks. Suffice to say, it’s backloaded.

The good news is that DCA should be debuting a reimagined ride or overlay as part of Disney Celebrates America. To mark the occasion, Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort will celebrate coast-to-coast, anchored by the Summer 2026 opening of Soarin’ Across America at Disney California Adventure.

Soarin’ Across America will take guests on a breathtaking journey, highlighting some of the country’s natural beauty and iconic cityscapes. Disney has not yet announced when Soarin’ Across America will debut, but our expectation is late June or early July 2026. It’s unlikely to debut prior to Memorial Day.

Barring any surprises, there won’t be anything else opening in July 2026. The next new major attractions won’t be until Avengers Infinity Defense and Stark Flight Lab open in Avengers Campus. That’ll probably be 2027. It’s possible there will be a regular ride before then or maybe a new stage show, but we wouldn’t count on anything next summer.

The good news is that the Disneyland 70th Anniversary Celebration will return for Summer 2026. The major pieces of entertainment during this 18-month event are World of Color: Happiness, Paint the Night Parade, Wondrous Journeys Fireworks, and Better Together: A Pixar Pals Celebration! (Better Together may not run in Summer 2026.)

Head over to our Guide to the Disneyland 70th Anniversary Celebration to read even more detail about what’s happening during this celebration. Just keep in mind that the 70th will be winding down by Summer 2026, and it’s entirely possible that some of the offerings are retired or fizzle out before July.

It’s entirely possible that Disney Celebrates America is the big emphasis in Summer 2026, and the 70th just unceremoniously concludes with no official announcement or acknowledgement. That happened with Disney100 a couple years ago, which just quietly ended.

July 2026 Disneyland Crowd Calendar

Unfortunately, Disneyland crowd calendars for specific dates are no longer highly reliable due to changes in attendance trends, Magic Key passes, and other factors. Months in advance, it’s difficult to say a particular day will have low, moderate, or heavy crowds—which is why we’ve eliminated our color-coded Disneyland crowd calendars.

As such, our crowd calendar exists of some best & worst date ranges that should be used as an approximation for patterns—not something you rely heavily upon when booking a trip to Disneyland. While other sites offer numerical crowd calendars for specific dates months (or a year!) in advance, we’d be weary of putting too much weight on those. There are simply too many inconsistent variables for Disneyland crowd calendars to be reliable so far in advance.

With that said, our methodology is based upon historic wait time information, anecdotal observations, special events, school schedules, dynamic ticket prices, Magic Key blockout dates, and more. Second, expect Disney California Adventure crowds to almost always track Disneyland crowds—with a few exceptions—albeit with a proportionately lower number of guests.

With that said, July 2026 will be very similar to last summer.

Accordingly, the entire month of July should have moderate crowds, essentially hitting the 4/10 to 6/10 range most dates. Between local school breaks and summer travel driven largely by tourists, there should not be a significant day of week difference.

In looking at historical data from last year, July had an interesting twist in that each week of the month was progressively busier than the last. The first week–the one including Independence Day–was the slowest of the summer, with 4/10 crowd levels. Following that, the next week had 5/10 crowd levels and then 6/10. The final week of July was the busiest of the entire summer, with 8/10 crowds.

In fact, the dates around Independence Day (July 2-7, 2026) make our list of the 10 Best and 10 Worst Weeks to Do Disneyland in 2026, on the best side! That catches a lot of people by surprise, and those dates could be slightly busier in 2026 due to Disney Celebrates America, but we’re not anticipating them to be bad. This is the only week between mid-May and mid-August that we highly recommend.

For those who are skeptical, the wait times data strongly supports this recommendation. In each of the last 3 years, Independence Day has gotten progressively slower at Disneyland. We spent the long weekend in the parks this year, and it was downright blissful. The best stretch of low crowds we’ve experienced at Disneyland (not due to weather) since at least early last September or November.

That’s right, the Fourth of July is one of the best weeks to visit, not one of the worst. Due to aggressive Annual Pass blockouts, higher travel costs, higher-tier single-day tickets, and erroneous assumptions about crowds, this week has been the slowest of summer for the last 3 consecutive years. (This year, the average wait time that week was 22 minutes, which was a 1/10 crowd level.)

Note that the week immediately before this makes the ‘worst’ list, so if you arrive earlier, you’re likely to experience elevated wait times. But once the calendar rolls over to July, crowds should drop sharply.

Beyond that, choosing the right day of the week matters a lot. During recent summers, the general trend has been slower weekends and busier weekdays. The biggest gap between any two consecutive days of the week was Sunday (by far the slowest day of the week) and Monday (by far the busiest).

If you simply visit Sunday and avoid Monday, you’re going to be way ahead of the curve. For further insight that’s regularly-updated, see Best & Worst Days of the Week to Do Disneyland to choose the best individual days within any week.

As suggested above, there are three big things that impact July crowds at Disneyland. The first is summer blockouts for Magic Key Passholders, or the lack thereof. The top tier has no blockouts whatsoever in July 2026, and the next tier is blocked out July 4, 2026.

The two lowest tiers of Magic Key are blocked out the entirety of July 2026. These blockouts–especially over Independence Day when ticket prices are also elevated–are precisely why that same week was slower last year. Expect a repeat of that unless Disneyland offers an aggressive ticket deal that does not exclude July 4, 2026.

Typically, the influx of vacationers more or less offsets the locals who are blocked out. It used to be the case that summer crowds peaked around Independence Day, with each week before then getting progressively busier and then each week after being progressively less busy. That hasn’t been true for a couple years–the pattern is changing.

What we’ve seen more recently, and expect again in Summer 2026, is a ‘twin peaks’ dynamic. The end of June bleeding into July sees a slight spike (the month gets progressively busier, just like it used to), then Independence Day offers a ‘reset’ on crowds, and then each week gets progressively busier until the last week of July. This has been the trend at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World.

We suspect that people now avoid traveling over Independence Day due to higher costs, and instead target the end of June. Following that, there’s progressive increase as more and more families try to travel before school starts. That last week of July spike represents “last hurrah” vacations that people rush to squeeze in before getting ready for the school year.

Accordingly, we’d highly recommend avoiding June 22-29, 2026 and July 20-27, 2026. For that matter, we’d also avoid July 13-17, 2026. Your best bets will be earlier in the month.

Aside from Independence Day, there really is not much in the way of special events during July at Disneyland Resort. On the plus side, Grad Nites at Disney California Adventure conclude in mid-June, so those will not impact July 2026 visits to Disneyland Resort. Aside from Independence Day, there’s not much in the way of special entertainment during July at Disneyland or Disney California Adventure.

Special offers for Disneyland Resort are becoming increasingly common during the summer months for both hotels and park admission. In the past three years, Disney has dropped ticket deals in the summer, and we’d expect those to return unless the Disneyland 70th Anniversary is incredibly popular. (Last year, the deal was available to the general public–before that, it was for Californians.)

As with our crowd calendar above, single day tickets for the entire month of July are at Peak Season prices. This remains the case for the entirety of summer–until early September. 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.

In light of all the above, you’ll want a solid itinerary for touring the parks. Visiting during a more touristy season means that guests are more likely to arrive early in the day, and prioritize attractions. By contrast, locals tend to spend more time hanging out, and focus on attractions to a lesser degree. This means higher wait times.

Ultimately, July 2026 ranks poorly on our Best and Worst Months to Visit Disneyland due to summer vacation crowds, hotter weather, and little in the way of worthwhile seasonal offerings. On top of that, other downsides include higher hotel prices and spikes in out-of-town tourists, which means heavier rope drop crowds. However, if you can pick the pockets of lower crowds–especially around Independence Day–you can come out ahead. Good luck!

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 tons of other places!

YOUR THOUGHTS

If you’ve visited Disneyland during the month of July, what did you think of the experience? Did you find the crowd levels to be manageable? What about the weather? Do you feel you paid a fair price for your hotel? Are you visiting this July? If you’ve visited in July, do you have any tips to add? Share any questions, tips, or additional thoughts you have in the comments!