These might be the best and worst times to visit Disneyland in 2024

Stressing over when to visit Disneyland in 2024? One woman has created a calendar of what could be the absolute best and worst days to visit the parks this year. The month-by-month calendar created by Jess Vodden on her Disney blog The Rambling Introvert includes historical crowd data, Disneyland events, holidays and more to map out anticipated slow and busy times.

Unsurprisingly, this week is one of the busiest of the year, the last holiday gasp before kids head back to school. But there’s only a short breather before crowds pick back up on the weekend of Jan. 13, which is both a three-day weekend for Martin Luther King Jr. Day and a RunDisney week, a popular half-marathon event that takes place inside the park. As usual, February and early March are forecast to be relatively chill months, but crowds return in late March as school spring breaks begin. (This year, Easter is on March 31.) Keep in mind, however, that Disney uses these slower times to close rides for refurbishment. After this week, the Blue Bayou restaurant, Mark Twain Riverboat, “it’s a small world” and Astro Orbiter will all be closed. Haunted Mansion closes on Jan. 22, with no set reopening date, as an expansion of its grounds takes place.

Vodden’s calendar is anticipating a very, very busy summer: Nearly every day in July is categorized as “completely packed,” with June only a bit better. As kids start to return to school in mid-August, there should be a bit more breathing room — although hot Anaheim days may not make for a super fun time, even with the swarms abating. For our money, early to mid-November is an ideal time to plan a park trip. Holiday decorations will be going up, but the crazy crush of Thanksgiving-to-New Year’s vacationers hasn’t yet kicked in. The weather also tends to be perfectly pleasant during the days, if a bit chilly at night. 

If there’s a single time to avoid in 2024, it may well be Memorial Day weekend. On Friday, May 24, “Fantasmic” is set to return after shutting down when the massive mechanical dragon caught fire during the climatic scene in April. The combination of the return of a beloved new show — with heretofore unknown changes — and the holiday weekend virtually guarantees gridlock along the already tight walkways around New Orleans Square. 

Keep in mind, though, that crowd patterns changed dramatically after the pandemic. The introduction of park reservations and increased blocked-out days for annual passes has meant that weekdays can be surprisingly busy, especially in the evenings after locals get off work. When Disney anticipates particularly high-demand weekends or holiday weekends, it will often block out annual passholders, meaning a random Thursday evening could be busier than a Friday, when passholders are blocked out.

If there’s any sure indicator of crowd levels, it’s the price of Genie+. Disney’s paid skip-the-line service costs $30 per person on Wednesday, plus an extra $26 per guest if you wanted to skip the line at Disneyland’s most popular attraction, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. That’s an additional $224 for a family of four on top of the price of park tickets.