rewrite this title Disneyland 2025: Top Disney events, festivals – NerdWallet

Disneyland Resort will be celebrating its 70th anniversary in 2025, hosting a multi-month celebration that includes limited-time entertainment, including an all-new nighttime spectacular, “World of Color Happiness!” held at Disney California Adventure. There will also be specialty food and beverages, collectible merchandise and new outfits for the meet-and-greet characters. The festivities kick off on May 16, 2025.

But that’s not the only big celebration happening. Here are some other highlights coming to Disneyland in 2025, sorted by date:

Then there are some other expansion projects with dates that aren’t firm. Much of that is concentrated at Downtown Disney, the outdoor shopping district neighboring the theme parks that doesn’t require a ticket to enter. For example, The Disney Wonderful World of Sweets shop and Parkside Market dining hall are scheduled to open sometime in early 2025.

The top Disneyland events in 2025

Here are some key upcoming Disneyland events in 2025, sorted by date:

As it’s done in years past, Disney California Adventure Park will host Lunar New Year celebrations. You’ll find Asian-inspired food and beverages for sale, as well as a procession (basically a mini-parade) with a “Mulan” theme.

Disneyland After Dark is part of the theme park’s lineup of separately ticketed, themed evening events. The first in the series for 2025 is called Sweethearts’ Nite. In addition to giving attendees access to the rides with wait times that are typically shorter than usual wait times, the after-hours parties also include one-of-a-kind festivities that you’ll only experience at the party.

Sweethearts’ Nite features unique projections on the castle and other focal points, a ball where you can dance alongside Disney prince and princesses, and a royal cavalcade, which is essentially a parade.

Over at Disneyland’s Fantasyland Theatre, two gospel concerts feature performances by popular musicians and local choirs.

This annual event puts the spotlight on food with cooking demonstrations and pop-up food stalls that serve small bites. These tend to be a bit more creative and tasty than your standard theme park meal.

The next Disneyland After Dark event — this one themed to Star Wars — runs on a smattering of dates in April and May. It’s set to overlap with the aforementioned Season of the Force. Consider it a version of the daytime festival, but on Star Wars steroids.

Expect tons of Star Wars merchandise and food, plus unique entertainment such as a lightsaber instructional and the Fans of the Force Costume Cavalcade.

Disneyland After Dark: Pride Nite debuted for the first time in 2023. After a successful second run in 2024, it’s coming back in 2025.

The separately ticketed, themed evening event will run during two nights of Pride month. In addition to giving attendees access to the rides with wait times that are typically shorter than usual wait times, the after-hours parties also include one-of-a-kind festivities that you’ll only experience at the party.

Halloween Time is a massive event for the Disneyland resort, as almost every corner gets decked out in autumn decor. That includes a charming pumpkin festival on Disneyland’s Main Street, U.S.A. Some attractions get Halloween-themed overlays, too. Most notably, the Haunted Mansion temporarily becomes Haunted Mansion Holiday, themed to “Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas.”

Disneyland also offers an after-hours, separately ticketed evening Halloween party called Oogie Boogie Bash. Held at Disney California Adventure Park, it’ll run on select nights in fall 2025 and offers trick-or-treating around the park.

Running concurrently with the Halloween festivities is a celebration of Día de los Muertos. The festival recognizes Day of the Dead, which is a holiday to remember loved ones that have died. At Disneyland, there will be decorations in and round El Zócalo Park.

Over at Disney California Adventure Park, the festivities lean on the film “Coco.” That includes storytelling and singing based on the film, plus meet-and-greets with the film’s main character, Miguel.

Not long after Halloween ends, the winter holidays at Disney begins. Details for 2025 are limited, but for Disneyland Christmas 2024, the winter holiday festivities included a lights display on It’s a Small World and Sleeping Beauty’s Winter Castle.

Seasonal entertainment includes “A Christmas Fantasy Parade,” “Believe … In Holiday Magic” fireworks, and a water fountain and light show called “World of Color – Season of Light.”

Disney also uses the holidays to lean into limited-time food offerings, including Mickey-shaped gingerbread. You can buy churros in a variety of seasonal flavors, including gingerbread churros, chestnut churros, chocolate sugar churros with peppermint dipping sauce, mint chip churros and sugar plum churros with marshmallow dipping sauce.

Why getting the entire Disneyland 2025 calendar upfront is such a big deal

Knowing Disneyland’s 2025 calendar makes it easier to plan and pay for your next Disneyland vacation. You’ll have time to look for deals on airfare and lodging or snag tickets for popular events before they sell out.

According to flight alerts website Going, the best airfare deals are usually found one to three months in advance for domestic flights and two to eight months in advance for international tickets. By knowing what events are happening throughout the year, Disneyland fans now have more time to subscribe to flight alerts so they can take advantage of deals within those critical booking windows.

The increased notice might also give travelers who tightly budget more time to save for a vacation — and perhaps even to apply for a travel credit card. For people who time credit card applications around vacations to take advantage of increased spending rewards or introductory offers, the previous announcement window may have been insufficient time to maximize credit card rewards.

Having a calendar for all of 2025 should make it easier to plan (and budget for) a Disneyland vacation.

Other ways to save on a Disneyland vacation

Disney is running a few ticket discount promotions, including: