It’s usually the worst week of the entire year at Walt Disney World or Disneyland, but we strongly believe doing New Year’s Eve in the parks belongs on every diehard fan’s bucket list. It’s a special and unique experience, and if you’re a regular you can beat the crowds and also “survive” without doing every single ride.
We loved our first New Year’s Eve at Walt Disney World back in 2011 so much that we’ve done it several times since. Nothing has quite topped that first time when we stayed in a Bay Lake Tower Grand Villa and the parks had ridiculously long hours, but some have come close.
That fantastic evening led us to return for NYE a few times in the following ~5 years, and we’ve now spent New Year’s Eve at Walt Disney World or Disneyland every year since 2018, minus one rain-out in 2022. We do things a bit differently now that we have a toddler, but we’ll be ringing in 2026 from the parks once again. It’s a family tradition at this point, and we wouldn’t miss it!
Our absolute favorite park for New Year’s Eve is EPCOT. We’ve covered this at length in that post, so we won’t belabor the point. Suffice to say, EPCOT is something special for NYE. We likewise love Magic Kingdom on New Year’s Eve Eve, and the one-two punch of those two Walt Disney World parks on December 30th and 31st is unrivaled. If you want the perfect Disney NYE bucket list, it’s that–without a doubt.
For lower crowds, the sleeper picks at Walt Disney World are Hollywood Studios and (especially) Animal Kingdom. The former can be busy earlier in the day (and is a nightmare starting the Monday before NYE), but it usually hollows out long before midnight. Then there’s Animal Kingdom, which does nothing for New Year’s Eve, so it’s unsurprisingly uncrowded throughout the day (consequently, it’s also worse earlier in the week).
Then there’s Disneyland Resort. The dynamic in the California parks is different now that all Magic Key Passholders are blocked out for the lead-up to Christmas through early January. The crowds aren’t nearly as high as they used to be–but the prices certainly are!
Frankly, costs–and not crowds–are really the biggest impediment to visiting the parks for New Year’s Eve. Park Hopper tickets to Disneyland, which is what we’d recommend in a perfect world for December 31st, cost $314 per person! That’s not a typo, nor is it the only cost you’ll incur.
That’s a pretty big barrier to entry, especially when the 2026 Disneyland 3-Day Park Hopper Ticket Deal is only $68 per day, or $204 total! That’s valid starting one day after NYE–from January 1, 2026 through May 21, 2026. That’s 3 days for $100 less than the price of one. Tough to justify NYE tickets as a local, from that perspective!
Setting costs aside (a big thing to just set aside, admittedly), here’s why we absolutely love doing New Year’s Eve at Disneyland, and our recommended low-key approach to beating the crowds…
We’ve spent the last couple of New Year’s Eves at Disneyland, and will be doing so again to ring in 2026. (The rain won’t stop us this time!) Our experience is that the parks are much less crowded than they used to be before Magic Keys were unblocked, and even the 8/10 and above crowds haven’t necessarily felt that way.
Even though we live locally, our approach in previous years has been to get a hotel. One reason is because our grandmas warned us never to drive after midnight on New Year’s Eve, because that’s when the “lunatics, maniacs, and drunkards are out.” (Paraphrasing, but only a little.)
Another reason for doing a hotel stay is to extend the day. It’s difficult to arrive early for rope drop and stay out late. Having a hotel also opens the door for a midday break, which is helpful for avoiding the worst of the crowds, resting and recharging. And now that we have a toddler, it’s also just nice to push the stroller back at the end of the night without waking and disrupting her sleep (an impossible task when driving home).
We favor starting the morning at Disneyland. This isn’t really stop-the-presses information, as we almost always recommend rope dropping Disneyland when park hopping. There’s something to be said for running the table on Fantasyland and then bouncing to other areas of the park, easily accomplishing a dozen different attractions–even on a busy day–in the first couple of hours.
Disney California Adventure is more headliner-heavy, and we favor the higher ride count over racing to Radiator Springs Racers or Avengers Campus. Thanks to the short duration of the Fantasyland rides plus their proximity to one another, that’s so much easier than trying the same approach at DCA.
The reason to start at Disneyland on New Year’s Eve, specifically, is because the crowd is typically later arriving. This is in part because of the long day ahead, but perhaps more significantly, due to alcohol being more readily available in DCA. As a result, there’s a dynamic where guests start at DCA and stay there until mid-afternoon, before slowly drifting to Disneyland.
We typically bounce back and forth a bit more than the average guests, starting at Disneyland and then heading to DCA for lunch. This is also about par for the course with a normal day.
One new twist we’ve noticed in the last couple of years is that the DCA Festival of the Holidays booths are downright dead on New Year’s Eve. We inevitably have extra credits leftover from the Sip & Savor Passes, so we’re usually doing lunch and dinner at these booths.
Here are some photos of what we ate last New Year’s Eve:
Menus are largely the same for this year’s DCA Festival of the Holidays and our tastes haven’t changed much in the last 365 days, so I anticipate more of the same. The Mickey Mouse Macaron seems like an appropriate last meal for bidding adieu to 2025.
I’ve been surprised at just how slow these booths are on NYE (but apparently not surprised enough to take photos of the lack of lines). Last year, we never encountered a “line” of more than one person in front of us, and at every single booth we visited, there was a noticeable Cast Member to guest ratio imbalance. The only exception was the booze-centric booths.
On the one hand, blocking out all Annual Passholders changes the dynamic at DCA. On the other hand, I would’ve thought overpriced snacks would perform better with free-spending tourists visiting on the most expensive day of the year. Perhaps families prioritize must-visit restaurants?
After eating and knocking out a few low-stakes toddler favorites at DCA, we head back over to Disneyland for the afternoon and early evening. Both parks can be equally crowded at this point, especially as drinkers target DCA before bouncing to Disneyland and settling in for the evening.
Disneyland has the family-friendly options with Minnie & Mickey dancing on stage in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle. That’s awesome to see (if you can squeeze into the area in front of the stage), as are the parties in front of “it’s a small world” and the Rivers of America. Each have their own, great energy.
We like catching the dance parties at Disneyland right as they’re getting started, which is usually 7 pm. We start out at Sleeping Beauty Castle, arriving before that one begins as it’s far and away the busiest. After quickly selfies and seeing the characters, we make the rounds to the other ones–and then it’s off to DCA to get settled in ourselves.
We almost always gravitate back towards DCA. Most guests do the opposite.
It’s fun to watch this play out in realtime, leaving Disneyland and seeing long lines at the turnstiles; meanwhile, there’s next to no one entering DCA. The crowd flow is almost entirely towards Disneyland.
The reason for this is fairly obvious–it hosts the Fantasy in the Sky fireworks and watching fireworks over Sleeping Beauty Castle is the iconic way to ring in the New Year. Tourists don’t travel thousands of miles to New York City to ring in the New Year at the American Museum of Natural History, as cool as that is. They’re there for the Times Square Ball Drop. Similar story with World of Color at DCA versus fireworks over the castle at Disneyland.
It’s unique and special to ring in the New Year with Fantasy in the Sky over Sleeping Beauty Castle. I don’t want to poo-poo that. We’ve done it before, and it’s fun. Not fun enough that I’d stake out a spot hours in advance, but still fun!
With that said, fireworks at Disneyland are nothing like fireworks at Walt Disney World. Being surrounded by homes, businesses, etc., in population-dense Southern California, there’s only so much Disney can do. If you want real NYE fireworks over a big castle, you do Walt Disney World. Disneyland is not the place for pyro lovers.
New Year’s Eve at Disneyland is all about the atmosphere, and both parks have that in spades.
Honestly, we prefer the dance parties at DCA to those at Disneyland. At least, when it comes to actual dancing.
As noted above, the dance party in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle offers a cool backdrop, but it’s so packed with people that there’s very little dancing happening–and it’s often difficult to get in or out. Rivers of America is fun, and it’s always gorgeous over by “it’s a small world.”
There are more dance parties at DCA, and people are actually dancing. And it’s not just drunk adults. Guests of all ages are having a great time under the neon lights of Cars Land, in front of Paradise Bay and on Buena Vista Street, and even in the Disney Jr. Dance Party building.
Every time we popped in there last year, Pitbull was playing. It was probably a weird coincidence, but it happened like 3 times. (Fittingly, Pluto was out for two of the Pitbull songs.) Although it’s objectively the weakest of the bunch, our daughter loves the Disney Jr. Dance Party. Maybe because it has the best characters, or perhaps we have a Pitbull fan in the making?!
Beyond this, the other big reason to do Disney California Adventure is that the crowds start hollowing out as many guests head towards Disneyland. Wait times drop, there’s more breathing room on walkways, and the park is downright pleasant–on what should be among the busiest days of the year.
It’s this weird dynamic where the dance parties are busy and so are some of the headliner rides, but everything in between isn’t. It’s honestly perfect. You want the dance parties to be packed with people to some degree, otherwise they feel sad. At the same time, having blissfully uncrowded walkways is a welcome reprieve. Especially after a busy day, or if you’re a tourist, a busy week.
The first time we did New Year’s Eve at Disneyland Resort over a decade ago, it was actually with Cast Member friends who had comp tickets–but the catch was that they were only valid at DCA. So we spent the entire evening there, and it was eerily uncrowded by the end of the night. I vividly remember walking from Soarin’ to the Little Mermaid via Grizzly Peak and not seeing any other guests. It almost did feel like a National Park!
Then there are the nighttime spectaculars. As noted above, Disneyland presents the Fantasy in the Sky fireworks, featuring a countdown to New Year’s at both 9 pm and midnight. Because there are two performance times, you could actually do both Fantasy in the Sky and World of Color if you so desired. It’s pretty easy. If you go that route, start at Disneyland and then head to DCA.
We favor World of Color: Countdown over Fantasy in the Sky. It’s less iconic than fireworks over the castle, sure, but it is distinctly Disney. There’s also the fact that you can see Disneyland’s fireworks from DCA, but you cannot see World of Color: Countdown from Disneyland. This gives you the opportunity to enjoy both main pieces of New Year’s Eve entertainment if you’re in DCA at midnight.
Finally, don’t leave immediately after the fireworks. Start 2026 (or whatever year you visit) out right by hitting headliner attractions. Disneyland is open until 2 a.m. on December 31, 2025 and Disney California Adventure is open until 1 a.m.
In our experience, you can get a lot done in those last 1-2 hours. We’ve managed to do Radiator Springs Racers, Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission Breakout, Matterhorn, Space Mountain, Indiana Jones Adventure, etc., all with very short waits at the end of the night. My personal favorite is Radiator Springs Racers on repeat. No better way to start the new year out on the right tire.
Now that we have a toddler, we aren’t taking advantage of these 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. closings ourselves, but can only assume this advice still applies based on the exodus we’ve found ourselves part of the last couple of years. (In other words, families like us leaving are precisely the reason why waits are short!)
Avoiding this exodus is yet another reason why you should just stick around and do rides. Seriously, the waits are considerably shorter than during the middle of the day. It feels almost like a cheat code on one of the busiest days of the year.
Ultimately, we hope this helps illustrate why we love New Year’s Eve at Disneyland so much. Or Disney in general, for that matter. While the specifics differ, most of what we’ve written here applies equally to Magic Kingdom and EPCOT vs. Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and it’s possible to beat the crowds at all three.
The only difference there is that I cannot imagine pulling myself away from EPCOT. That park’s “Cheers to the New Year: A Sparkling Celebration” show is my favorite fireworks–not just at EPCOT or for New Year’s Eve. Anywhere, ever. EPCOT’s New Year’s Eve fireworks spoiling us are probably a big reason why we’re underwhelmed by Fantasy in the Sky at Disneyland.
The overall experience, though, is something special whether you spend the evening at DCA, Disneyland, or bouncing between the two parks. Here’s hoping you have a chance to experience it someday! In the meantime, may the New Year bring peace, purpose, prosperity and positivity to you and your families!
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
Have you done New Year’s Eve at Disneyland or Disney California Adventure? What’s your optimal approach to bouncing between Disneyland and DCA? Or do you just stick to one park for the day? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment of New Year’s Eve at Disneyland? Any questions? Hearing feedback about your experiences is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts or questions below in the comments!
