September 2022 Disneyland Crowd Calendar
Our guide to September 2022 at Disneyland offers a free crowd calendar, when to visit, weather to avoid, new attraction openings & closures, plus Halloween & fall events. We also cover info & tips for what’s happening in Disney California Adventure, Disneyland, and beyond.
Good news! There are a lot of lightly crowded days this month. With schools back in session throughout the country and tourist season over, there’s a low-crowd window between Labor Day and the start of Halloween Time at Disneyland. Historically, late August through mid-September has the lowest crowd levels of the year at Disneyland.
This is flat-out one of the best times of the year to visit Disneyland Resort, and Southern California, in general. Along with our crowd predictions for Disneyland and Disney California Adventure, in this post we’ll offer other thoughts on what to expect during this month at Disneyland Resort…
September Weather at Disneyland
Let’s start with a look at weather. September is a turning point for Southern California, although we probably shouldn’t overemphasis that. Abnormal weather aside, it’s pretty much pleasant year-round in Anaheim. For September, you can expect humidity to remain low even as high temperatures break 80º most of the month. Expect lows of around 65º early in the month, dropping to around 60º by the end of September.
As you can see by the, various graphs on this page, September in Anaheim is fairly comfortable. Humidity and precipitation is low, the hours per day that are “comfortable” is high, and other variables are favorable. Not really all that different from most of the year. This is why people pay the “Sunshine Tax” to live in California. With lows in the 60s in the evening, we recommend packing a light sweater or a long sleeve shirt. Most people overlook this, assuming California equals sunshine and palm trees, but the nights can get chilly.
Next, let’s take a look at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure crowds during the month of September…
September 2022 Disneyland Crowd Calendar
We’ll preface this section by referring you to all of the caveats in our main 2022 Disneyland Crowd Calendars: Best Times to Visit & When to Avoid. That goes into extensive detail about why Disneyland crowd calendars are currently unreliable, which is why there’s no color-coded calendar or numerical scores for each day of the month here.
In a nutshell, this is due to two things. First, the post-reopening roller coaster as Americans oscillate between travel trepidations and pent-up demand. Second, and more notably, the Magic Key program, which is Disneyland’s replacement for Annual Passes. Magic Keys already have dramatically changed the crowd dynamic at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure during that time. Thus far, it has made weekends significantly busier, driven largely by pent-up demand among Disneyland diehards who have been waiting for the return of APs.
It’s unclear how this will continue to play out. Pent-up demand among locals could fizzle out, but that could be offset by more people purchasing Magic Keys. If you’re planning a last minute visit, consult Disneyland’s Magic Key Access Calendar. This shows blockout dates and reservation availability all in one handy location. Similarly, there’s the Disneyland Theme Park Reservation Calendar for single and multiple-day tickets.
With that said, here are the best and worst times to visit Disneyland in September 2022…
Aside from the long weekend around Labor Day, which is the start of Halloween Time at Disneyland, September 2022 should not be too bad. It’ll still have some spikes in crowds, particularly Friday night (the worst evening of the week to visit) and Saturdays and Sundays.
Most people aren’t ready for Halloween season in early September, which is why crowds tend to be lower earlier in the month rather than later. Nevertheless, the entirety of September 2022 is a pretty good time to visit Disneyland, all things considered. (And so long as you avoid weekends.)
For the most part, Mondays through Thursdays should be quite light. Typically, the best two days of the week will be Mondays and Wednesdays. This is because Oogie Boogie Bash – A Disney Halloween Party is held other nights, including Tuesdays and Thursdays. This induces demand and causes a slight spike during both daytime and evening hours.
Still, no weekday during September is a bad time to visit–Mondays and Wednesdays are just the best of the best.
By contrast, Saturdays and Sundays will be bad. This is when locals are off work and newly-minted Magic Key passholders are most likely to visit. If we had to assign numerical scores, average weekdays would be around 3/10 in September, whereas weekends would be 8/10. We’ve visited several times on weekdays and weekends in September 2022, and the contrast is quite pronounced.
As a result of a drop off in tourist attendance, dynamic ticket prices are at “value” or “regular” prices for most of September. Likewise, Annual Passholder blockouts are minimal after the Disneyland Half Marathon weekend. Even these factors are not enough to cause a precipitous spike in attendance.
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. Barring an aggressive (and unprecedented for this time of year) ticket promotion or the unveiling of some special, big draw, attendance in September will be fairly light.
In addition to fall being Disneyland’s off-season, it’s also very much Southern California’s off-season. This will be reflected in hotel prices. If you’re checking in after Labor Day, you can expect some of the lowest hotel rates of the year. At some hotels, you can reasonably expect prices that are about half of what they would be during peak season (or even during the Disneyland Half Marathon).
The downside of this is shorter operating hours during the weekdays in September. Outside of weekends, you can expect regular closings of 10 p.m. or earlier. While the earlier closing time might be a bummer, you will easily encounter 2 hours less in terms of lines during the course of the day.
As of right now, there are no special offers for Disneyland Resort on-site hotels for September. Don’t be surprised if something is released in late July or August, though. It’ll probably be meager–in the 15% to 20% range, but something is better than nothing if staying on-site is a must.
Keep in mind that “low crowds” for 2022 are still nothing compared to what “low crowds” were at Disneyland even a few years ago (it’s all relative!), so we recommend an efficient itinerary for touring Disneyland and Disney California Adventure. Failing that, arriving at rope drop is an excellent strategy this time of year. With few tourists in town, you can get more done the first 2 hours the parks are open than the last 4 hours they are open.
Overall, there’s a reason September ranks highly on our Best and Worst Months to Visit Disneyland. To be perfectly honest, it could be #1 if not for our bias towards Christmas, and preference for November’s weather. Weekday visits are a pure joy during September, and the parks are a veritable ghost town on many of these days. Halloween Time causes a spike, and Mickey’s Halloween Party throws a monkey wrench into things, but not to nearly the same degree as October, when everyone starts actually caring about Halloween. If you can’t get bring yourself to get excited about Halloween in early September, get excited by the crowds that will come with experiencing the season early.
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 September, what did you think of the experience? Did you find the crowd levels to be manageable? What about the weather? What about crowds during Halloween Time at Disneyland? Are you participating in the Disneyland Half Marathon? If you’ve visited in September, do you have any tips to add? Share any questions, tips, or additional thoughts you have in the comments!
Thanks for the D23 info Tom. My wife is a university professor with the Fall term beginning September 15, so that is a hard stop for our vacation planning. Looking at either 9/3 – 9/9 (includes Labor Day) or 9/7 – 9/13 (includes D23). So you can see my challenge. Hotels are cheaper for the Labor Day period, but I’m thinking crowds would be lower even with D23 Expo. Your prediction of crowds spiking after the EXPO events end for the day makes perfect sense to me.
Thank you for all your help Tom. I find your thoughtful analysis of all things Disney so helpful and interesting to read. Plus this blog literally saved my first ever WDW vacation last month. One word – MOLESKIN!
We finally decided on 8/28 – 9/3 for our trip. Thanks for your help with all things Disney!
Tom I’m planning a trip to Disneyland this year and wonder what effect do think the D23 Expo 2022 in Anaheim this year will have on crowds? People come early or stay late? Do many people go to these things?
Of course as you point out, if it is sold out regardless there would be no effect.
Thanks for all your help!
In the past, the D23 Expo has had minimal impact during the day, but spiked crowds at night.
I’ll update this once we get closer as it’s so hard to say what reservation availability/inventory will be like that far out.
First of y’all your blog was my Bible for our trip. I’m so very grateful for all your great content–it was so very helpful. From choosing the time we visited to selecting our offsite hotel to planning our itinerary and picking where to eat. We even used your non-Disney blog for briefly visiting Laguna Beach during our Southern California stay. Thank you so much! I just wanted to say that crowd levels at Disneyland and DCA the past 2 days were far higher than I expected. We went on Monday and Tuesday 9/27 and 28 thinking weekdays in September would be light crowds and that wasn’t at all the case. It was very busy and very crowded. But the weather was amazing and the magic was still there!
I’m trying to decide between the first and second week in September. We will visit Tuesday Wednesday Thursday. Most important to me are lower crowds. I see Disneyland is having Halloween time start a week earlier this year so the second week in September will already be Halloween time but the first week is also Labor Day week. Which week do you think will have lighter crowds? Thank you.
Hello! Question…we went to Disneyland at the end of September 2016 and it was 105+ degrees every day we were there… We are from the Pacific NW and did NOT expect it to be that hot at the end of September. Is that extremely abnormal? We want to visit during off-peak September but to be honest, we are quite nervous to catch that heat again! Trying to choose between chancing the extreme heat in September or higher crowds in October. Thanks!
It is often one of, if not the, hottest times here. Months of AUG-OCT fluctuate wildly, causing even us local to the area to be leery of putting too much planning/expense into a “Fall” trip. This is due to Santana (commonly called Santa Ana) winds that bring hot air from the dessert east and dry up your skin faster than an oven. Even though the crowds have gone, the hours are quite often shortened, so there is little night-time to cool off and enjoy. Good luck!
We also went about 3rd week in september a few years back and it was the same for temperature. So hot we had to escape to the hotel and the pool!
We are planning a trip to Disneyland Sept 5-10 and I was wondering if Halloween decorations will already be up. I actually don’t want to have any up. I would like my daughters first trip to be just plain Disney.
My family and I just returned from our trip sept.17-19 the 17th was pretty crowded and it Didn’t help that Disney closed at 9:00 pm and CA closed at 8:00 pm and opened at 10:00 am at both parks I don’t know if that had to do with them controlling the crowds perhaps those days due to it being the first official week of Halloween time at the park, Carsland having a haul-O-ween makeover is great and guardians monsters after dark is awesome.the next 2 days were not to busy as Lot more manageable except for hunted mansion it’s a mad house HIGHLY recconemed fast pass for that ride. Hope this helps
Thanks for the update. Starting with mid-September, the parks have been FAR busier than we anticipated. The new Haul-O-Ween stuff is really drawing in crowds. It’s making me dread October, which is going to be insane.
I just got back from Labor Day weekend at the parks and if that is considered huge crowds it is totally manageable. However I suspect many people decided morn to go because of the heat wave! Still had an amazing time! Going back on the 23rd so I’m excited to see how moderate it is with the start of halloween time.
This is so helpful!
Thank you!
Hi! I called to make reservations at the Blue Bayou for Fantasmic dinning and learned that it is only shown on the weekends…We arrive on a Sunday and secured the second show but now wonder if the Fireworks are only shown on the weekends because if this is so …we will miss them. Can you answer this question for me? Thank you~Tammy
We will be going in October and watching fantasmic on the weekend as well.. it’s true, the “Remember…Dreams Come True” fireworks will also only be shown on weekend nights. During the nights of Halloween parties, there will be special themed fireworks, but only guests with tickets to the event will be able to enjoy from inside the park.
Hi Tom, So do the newly released Halloween time and Mickey’s Halloween Party dates bring any updates or changes to this crowd calendar? Or are we still looking at “green light” for the majority of midweek days? We booked our trip for the week of Sept 18. That wedneday will be the first Halloween Party. Wondering if that will bring a spike of crowds.
I’ll update this within the next couple of days. I’ll also release the October calendar at the same time.
Thanks as always for the great info! Looking forward to seeing the October calendar. We’re WDW regulars & planning our first trip to DL in late September or October. The Halloween party is a must!
When will the 2017 fall hotel discounts and any additional meal plans plans if any come out?
For Disneyland? There are no meal plans.
There’s also a decent chance there won’t be fall hotel discounts. If there are, they likely won’t be released until August.
Late August and September hotel discounts started today for Disney Visa Rewards card holders, which means the discounts should go public in about a week. The cheapest dates I found were $325/night at the DLH and $353/night at Grand California. I booked the DLH for the first week in September at the $325 rate. Willing to miss the Halloween decor so we can catch the tail end of the summer of heroes (despite the lackluster reviews) as my kids are really into Marvel. Plus I’m hoping the crowds will be lighter. The past two years we have gone the week of the first Halloween party (mid to late September) and all of DLR has been super crowded!