Disneyland is rarely an affordable place to go to, however sure instances of yr are considerably inexpensive than peak journey dates, which may value nearly double the bottom priced dates. This covers days, weeks & seasons in 2025 and past that’ll have decrease costs and crowds within the California parks. (Up to date December 28, 2024.)
Earlier than we dig into the small print, we should always be aware that that is for the most affordable dates to trip at Disneyland. If you happen to merely need to do a day at Disneyland, that is overkill. Most ‘when to go to for the bottom worth’ assets provide that recommendation, and are actually only a reflection of Disneyland’s single-day ticket pricing. You don’t must learn something for that data–simply seek the advice of the calendar for your self.
As an alternative of dressing that calendar up in paragraph type, we’re going to dig deeper, together with common resort costs, airfare, rental vehicles, and extra. The dates right here account not only for Disneyland ticket costs, but in addition for journey developments to Southern California, Anaheim Conference Middle calendar of occasions, and extra. All of which is downright important for figuring out the most affordable dates for a multi-day journey to Disneyland.
For starters, we need to acknowledge that “least expensive” is a relative time period and never an absolute one. Disneyland is an undeniably costly trip vacation spot. For many individuals, per week at Disneyland can have prices on par with touring to Europe (for those who’re coming from the East Coast) or Asia (if primarily based on the West Coast).
It additionally doesn’t assist that park tickets, on-site resorts, eating places, and extra at Disneyland have all elevated dramatically in worth over the past 5 years. All of these prices are up by about 20% throughout that point, and that doesn’t even take into consideration the shift from free FastPass to the date-based pricing for Lightning Lane Multi-Move.
On a constructive be aware, the speed of will increase has not simply began to sluggish–it has reversed course. Now that “revenge journey” has come to an finish, Disneyland has gotten extra aggressive with resort reductions and particular gives. Likewise, we’ve observed that airfare has been coming down for a lot of dates, and third celebration resorts are additionally beginning to decrease costs after two sturdy years of pent-up demand (and decrease provide, in some instances).
It’s to not the identical diploma as Walt Disney World, however costs for sure dates at Disneyland have successfully decreased! With that stated, this isn’t throughout the board. Lightning Lane Multi-Move is dearer than final yr on common, meals costs have elevated in quite a lot of places, exhausting ticket occasion tickets are trending upward, and extra. If you happen to go for a peak weak at Disneyland with all of the bells and whistles, you’re most likely going to pay extra.
However you’re most likely not studying an article like this for those who’re planning to go all out for a vacation journey to Disneyland with an abundance of add-ons. If you happen to’re a dealhunter–the probably audience of a title like this–you usually tend to have success scoring financial savings on a Disneyland trip in 2025.
Selecting cheaper dates to go to Disneyland will usually additionally enhance your journey and might prevent cash. That’s as a result of the dates with the very best costs are sometimes busiest, and vice-versa. As a normal rule, greater costs don’t deter individuals from visiting or “redistribute” attendance. Crowds are nearly all the time a very good proxy for costs–the decrease the costs, the decrease you possibly can anticipate attendance to be. Double win!
That’s one of many normal “guidelines” in the case of the most affordable instances to go to Disneyland, and there are a couple of extra. One other is that costs go up each single yr. These will increase take many varieties, and are staggered throughout the calendar. Usually, the price of snacks, sodas, and different pre-packaged objects will increase in late January or February and probably once more in October. Tickets and parking comply with a well-known sample; the final a number of years, these have gone up in February.
Trip packages and resort charges for the next yr nearly all the time present greater charges. Different issues, equivalent to souvenirs and common restaurant menu costs go up at random with none actual predictable patterns. Consequently, it’s often inexpensive to go to sooner relatively than later. If you happen to’re debating between two years, there’s a robust probability the earlier one can be cheaper. If you happen to’re ready for costs to drop, historical past just isn’t in your facet.
Nevertheless, there will be exceptions even to that. For instance, for those who ebook your trip early and lock-in pricing on tickets and resorts, it would probably be inexpensive to journey most dates in January or February 2026 versus October via December 2025. That’s as a result of costs often lower within the winter low season as in comparison with the prior vacation season, and there are additionally sometimes higher reductions for the low season.
One wildcard is discounting and the broader economic system. Usually, the chances aren’t in your favor that Disney will drop costs with all else being equal. Nevertheless, the case might be made that, proper now, all else is not equal. After a pair years of “revenge journey” and powerful spending as shoppers made up for misplaced time, we’re beginning to see costs come again to actuality.
We’re already seeing this play out with the 2025 Southern California Resident Disneyland Ticket Deal that runs from January via mid-Could 2025. This low cost is a lot higher than final yr, seeing a really uncommon worth lower. In a standard yr, the superior financial savings would entice locals who haven’t visited shortly or obtained priced out of Annual Passes to make a return.
There’s additionally the recently-announced Disneyland youngsters ticket provide for 2025, which is offered for all households–vacationers and residents of Southern California alike. Kids ages 3-9 can go to a Disneyland Resort theme park for as little as $50 per day between January 7 and March 20, 2025.
If previous precedent is any indication, there can be one other ticket deal, probably for most people, that begins someday in the summertime and runs till late September 2025. Final yr, this was launched round Memorial Day, nevertheless it’s more likely to come later this yr as a result of Disneyland seventieth Anniversary Celebration. If that proves fashionable (and it most likely will), the summer season and early fall ticket deal won’t begin till late June and might be restricted to solely California residents.
On the different finish of the spectrum, one other factor to remember is that the following main worth will increase are more likely to happen in October 2025 (earlier will increase occurred October 9 every of the final two years), so plan accordingly if you wish to “beat” these.
One other fairly necessary normal rule is that Sunday via Thursday nights have the bottom rack charges for resorts, with Mondays via Wednesdays having absolutely the least expensive charges. That is very true on faculty nights; when faculty is out of session, the hole is much less pronounced.
In different phrases, you’ll see this phenomenon much less in the course of the summer season or vacation weeks. Nevertheless, it exists for just about your complete yr, as Disneyland is a well-liked lengthy weekend getaway vacation spot for Californians and others on the West Coast, and even when youngsters are out of faculty, individuals nonetheless work disproportionately on weekdays.
This pricing hole is most pronounced throughout vacation breaks. The explanation for that is fairly merely–summer season trip is an extended break that’s very unfold out, thereby ‘diluting’ the focus of vacationers. Against this, there’s just one week of Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and so on–so these crowds are consolidated right into a tighter timeframe. Extra individuals chasing much less capability equals greater costs. The underside line is that you just nearly will all the time pay much less when faculty is in session than you’ll when it’s on break.
With that in thoughts, the least costly time to go to Disneyland is the winter low season beginning in mid-January and working via February 2025. This mainly encompasses one full month after exceptions, which embrace the very starting of the yr when colleges are nonetheless on Christmas break plus the weeks round MLK Day and Presidents’ Day.
That is primarily an extension of the precept that visiting Disneyland is least expensive when faculty is in session. Not solely did vacation breaks simply finish, nevertheless it’s the low season for tourism to Southern California, a spot recognized for its sunshine…but in addition its chilly climate throughout these months. In consequence, January and February get the one-two punch of low demand from mother and father with young children and {couples} who desire a heat climate escape from winter.
If you happen to seek for the most affordable dates to go to Disneyland, you’ll persistently see this timeframe talked about, as that’s when ticket costs are traditionally the bottom. That suggestion is made nearly solely on that foundation. Nevertheless, there’s extra nuance to it than that, and it is a nice instance of the place tickets as a proxy for total costs fails.
The Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend will happen January 30 to February 2, 2025. That is solely the third runDisney occasion at Disneyland Resort since 2017, so there’s (nonetheless) quite a lot of pent-up demand for it (the races all offered out inside hours). It’s secure to imagine {that a} greater than regular share of individuals ar touring for the 2025 Disneyland Half Marathon.
Upfront of the varied races and occasions, runDisney individuals will begin arriving earlier within the week. These runners will ebook up a excessive share of resorts in Anaheim, inflicting costs to skyrocket on the restricted choices that stay. It is a dynamic that we noticed time and time once more previously round runDisney races at Disneyland Resort–even for occasions that didn’t promote out!
Level being, for those who merely checked out historic knowledge for tickets or airfare developments, you’d most likely conclude that the final week in January/first week in February 2025 can be a good time to go to; cheap and uncrowded. That can nearly assuredly find yourself being very unsuitable.
Albeit to a lesser diploma, the identical dynamic will be noticed each time there’s a significant occasion on the Anaheim Conference Middle, which is the biggest conference area on the West Coast. Accordingly, it’s good to seek the advice of the Anaheim Conference Middle schedule of occasions–particularly throughout low season dates.
The largest occasions which are typically hosted on the Anaheim Conference Middle and have essentially the most noticeable affect on resort costs round Disneyland are BlizzCon, NAMM, Pure Merchandise Expo, Anime Expo, WonderCon, VidCon, and varied cheer & dance championships–simply to call a couple of!
In relation to the affect on all issues Disneyland, the most important conference is, unsurprisingly, the D23 Expo. Fortunately, that doesn’t occur once more till 2026, so there’s no D23 affect in 2025 at Disneyland. Simply one thing to remember for those who’re planning additional into the longer term–the most important affect of D23 is excessive resort charges for those who don’t ebook early.
It ought to go with out saying, however resort charges are more likely to be one of many largest bills of any trip. Proper up there with park tickets. Extra so than park tickets, there will be dramatic fluctuations in nightly charges on the varied resorts in Anaheim–and that’s pushed largely by Anaheim Conference Middle occasions. In line with knowledge from the town, the ACC generates $1.4 billion in financial affect to the local people, thanks largely to an estimated $793 million in tourism occupancy tax income.
For reference, the common day by day resort price in Anaheim for 2022 was $209 (the final yr for which there’s knowledge). That was up significantly as to the yr prior, when the common was $151. No knowledge was launched for 2020 (most likely for apparent causes), however that quantity hit a earlier report of $197 in 2018, and had elevated yearly between the opening of Automobiles Land after which.
With Southern California seeing lagged pent-up demand as in comparison with Florida, I might hazard a guess that nightly charges had been up significantly in 2023 (my guess can be a mean round $225) however down in 2024 (most likely round $209 once more). I’d additional anticipate that quantity to retreat in 2025, following the identical trajectory as Florida. Regardless, previous month-to-month knowledge has revealed wild swings in common costs between low season and peak journey dates.
When there’s not an occasion in Anaheim, there’s a surplus of resort rooms, and costs fall.
Hoteliers round Anaheim have spent the final decade-plus constructing capability, changing outdated mother & pop motels with massive field complexes. Nevertheless, the Anaheim Conference Middle and Disneyland Resort have additionally grown–each in recognition and literal dimension–throughout that very same time.
When a giant occasion is being held on the ACC, there aren’t sufficient resort rooms inside strolling distance, and costs completely skyrocket. We’re speaking $400 per evening for resorts which are usually $150. We now have persistently seen this play out yr after yr for nearly the final decade. This occurs so persistently that it’s not as a lot a prediction as it’s an inevitability. If you happen to don’t imagine us, hedge your bets by reserving one thing that’s refundable to see if costs fall later.
Since we’ve to exclude the week when Los Angeles and Orange County colleges are nonetheless off on their Christmas/New Yr’s breaks and the week of the Disneyland Half Marathon, that eliminates about half of January 2025. With that in thoughts, listed here are winter dates when you possibly can anticipate the bottom costs:
- January 6-10, 2025
- January 13-17, 2025
- January 21-24, 2025
- February 3-7, 2025
- February 10-13, 2025
- March 3-7, 2025
Disneyland tickets and resort costs are dearer on weekends, which is why these are excluded above. Likewise, most Anaheim resorts cost greater charges on Friday and Saturday nights. In an excellent world, you’d arrive on Sunday evening and have your first park day be Monday for the most affordable costs. Nevertheless, doing Disneyland on a Monday isn’t such a sizzling concept from the angle of crowds. Because you’ll probably solely be spending 2-4 days within the parks, visiting later within the week is the optimum, better of each worlds method.
Costs spike for the week of Presidents’ Day/Ski Week, falling once more the following week–however not as little as these early-year low season dates. Following that, the primary week of March 2025 is one other candy spot. Spring Break and Easter additionally convey with them important spikes to each pricing and crowds.
Since Easter falls late in 2025–on April 20– the Spring Break season can be longer than regular. Just about your complete months of March and April (save for the primary and final weeks). Los Angeles and Orange Counties have their Spring Breaks, as do many main faculty districts in Northern California, Utah, Nevada, and different areas of the West Coast, they usually’re all unfold out all through March and April (once more, minus the start and finish).
Quick-forward previous Easter, and that week (after the vacation) via the week earlier than Memorial Day as soon as once more see decrease costs. That is technically thought of “common” season, nevertheless it’s on par with some dates in mid-February and is the most affordable costs you’re more likely to discover till early August.
A couple of week earlier than colleges return into session, costs lower once more. This happens earlier on the resort facet of the equation than with park tickets, presumably as a result of locals proceed visiting after vacationers cease touring–and solely the latter books resort stays.
Beginning the third Sunday of August, costs return to close their lowest ranges of the yr and keep there till the tip of September (with the notable exception of Labor Day weekend). Crowds could be a totally different story, particularly since Disneyland now begins Halloween in August.
Many of those fall low season dates can have the bottom costs of the yr, proper in keeping with January or February. As a result of worth will increase in the course of the intervening months, varied add-ons will be dearer, although. (This consists of every little thing from parking to meals to souvenirs, amongst different issues.)
Nevertheless, it may also be greater than offset by reductions that are typically provided within the fall offseason. Not solely are off-site resorts at their lowest ranges all through August and September, however Disneyland gives the very best particular gives throughout that time-frame (this yr, resort reductions peaked at 30% off). Generally, you’ll discover the most important financial savings and least expensive charges from mid-August via mid-September. These two months may leapfrog January and February because of this, relying upon what sort of financial savings you possibly can rating.
The beginning of October is like flipping a change at Disneyland. That is evident simply from ticket charts, which go from worth season to peak pricing. Single day tickets enhance by $55, and that finally ends up being the lowest worth of your complete month. Many dates in October are $10 to $20 dearer than even that.
And naturally, this doesn’t simply cease with admission. Resorts are likewise dearer attributable to it being the guts of Halloween plus fall breaks all through California, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington.
Ticket costs are persistently dangerous all through the month, however our expertise has been that Columbus Day weekend is most costly for resorts, together with the 2 weeks after that and the weekend earlier than or of Halloween. When averaged out on a per day foundation, October is the costliest month of your complete yr at Disneyland.
To be very clear, this isn’t to say that November and December are categorically cheaper at Disneyland. On the contrary, visits throughout these months will be as or much more costly than October. The distinction is that the vacation season is a veritable curler coaster relying upon whether or not it’s a vacation week/finish or not. Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Yr’s Eve all see large spikes. If you happen to go to round any of these holidays, you’ll pay greater than the October common.
Nevertheless, there are additionally lulls in each months. The very starting of November earlier than Christmas kicks off has worth season pricing. Identical goes for the Tuesday via Thursday of the week after Veterans Day however previous to Thanksgiving week. Beginning Cyber Monday (after Thanksgiving), costs as soon as once more plummet. Single day tickets on these worth season days in November will be over $50 inexpensive than any random day in October!
The primary two weeks of December are hardly cheap, however they’re much inexpensive than the grand finale of the yr, which is bookended by the weeks of Christmas and New Yr’s Eve. Once more, that is solely partly mirrored in ticket costs–the distinction is way more pronounced in resort charges. That’s very true if you end up reserving late, and room stock in Anaheim is depleted, inflicting rack charges to soar additional.
Finally, that ought to reply some questions on when it’s least expensive to go to Disneyland…and maybe increase a couple of extra. Mainly, the least costly dates on paper as of proper now are mid-January via mid-February and mid-August via September, adopted by late April to late Could, then summer season trip and early November–all minus lengthy vacation weekends and the complete weeks main as much as main holidays.
In opposition to that backdrop and with that bias, if pressured to decide on 2 dates to go to Disneyland within the subsequent two years–for a spread of causes each qualitative and quantitative–I might not decide the winter months. As a lot as I really like low crowds–and January and February are typically nice for that–the climate is a bit too cool for consolation. Until you don’t thoughts layering. Even then, the start of the yr has tons of refurbishments and there’s nothing all that particular taking place (Lunar New Yr is underrated, nevertheless it’s not a vacation spot occasion).
As an alternative, my second alternative can be in mid-September. With the autumn, you do run the chance of unseasonably sizzling climate, nevertheless it’s completely nothing like Florida. More often than not, it’s fairly nice by autumn in Southern California and the crisp coastal air within the evenings is blissful. Not solely that, however Halloween Time at Disneyland is unimaginable, and you’ll put the cash saved on lodging and every little thing else in direction of Oogie Boogie Bash Halloween Social gathering tickets.
My #1 alternative can be mid-November, after Veterans’ Day weekend however earlier than the week main as much as Thanksgiving or one of many first two weeks of December. That is really the candy spot of every little thing–decrease costs, gentle climate, and the very best seasonal celebration of your complete yr. It’ll be barely extra crowded and costly, however that tradeoff is totally value it for Christmas Time at Disneyland!
Planning a Southern California trip? For park admission offers, learn Ideas for Saving Cash on Disneyland Tickets. Study on-site and off-site resorts in our Anaheim Lodge Critiques & Rankings. For the place to eat, try our Disneyland Restaurant Critiques. 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 Seaside, and plenty of different SoCal cities!
YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you consider this take a look at the most affordable instances to go to Disneyland? Assume reductions will proceed to enhance all through 2025 or resort rack charges will come down, placing a reality-check on runaway costs? Any favourite dates for the candy spot of the very best costs/crowds/climate/and so on? Do you agree or disagree with our evaluation? Any questions we will help you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even once you disagree with us–is each attention-grabbing to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas under within the feedback!
