November is a great time to visit Disneyland in the early part of the month. The weather’s good and crowds are average. The Friday after Veteran’s Day is the start of the Christmas season. We prefer waiting until Christmas launches to go because we love the joyful Christmas Disney experience.
Disneyland Cast Members decorate the Parks overnight each day staring in early November. There are more decorations daily until they are finished in mid-November. We’ve been there just before Christmas starts and it’s a quiet time. They don’t have entertainment and festivities, so you get a glimpse of Christmas coming but not the full experience.
So we say go in November but wait for Christmas to launch.
An unofficial event that runs in November is the Dapper Day event. There is an expo at the Disneyland Hotel on Sunday, November 16th. You’ll see visitors dressed in classic, fine attire inspired by vintage fashion from the 1920s to the 1960s. It doesn’t have much of an impact on crowds in our experience.
Christmas in the Parks
The entire resort is decked out with holiday decorations including massive Xmas trees, lights, beautiful decor, and music. The holidays permeate the Parks with fun holiday foods and merchandise. It’s Christmas everywhere you look. There are many special activities for the holidays:
- Meet Santa in the Parks and Disney Hotels
- Special ride overlays – the best ones being the Nightmare Before Christmas in the Haunted Mansion Holiday overlay and Small World with thousands of Christmas lights
- Festive Food Marketplace Food booths in California Adventure Park delivers some more varied cultural festive food options
- Christmas Fantasy Parade at Disneyland Park
- Believe in Holiday Magic Fireworks at Disneyland Park
- World of Color – Season of Light holiday show at California Adventure Park
- Classic Disney Characters in their holiday outfits
- Other holiday entertainment
We never miss the holidays at Disneyland. We think Disneyland brings happiness and joy all year long, but it’s especially happy during the holidays.
Disneyland 70th Anniversary Celebration
Disneyland celebrates it’s 70th anniversary this year. The official anniversary date is on July 17th, but they will celebrate from May 16th through Summer of 2026.
There are 2 primary offerings for the 70th anniversary. The Parade may not run starting on November 15th because there is a Christmas Parade.
- Paint the Night Parade – this is a huge fan-favorite that hasn’t run since 2018. It’s a brilliant nighttime electrical parade with over a million LED lights. It’s visually stunning with lots of fan-favorite Characters. This is a must-see Parade. It may not run once Christmas starts on November 15th because there is a Christmas Parade. We won’t know about this until we get closer.
- New Animatronic figure of Walt Disney – this is scheduled to launch on July 17th. It should draw very large crowds. It’s in the Disneyland Story theater which had Presenting Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. Now there will be a new show with Walt Disney.
Weather in November
Weather can be surprisingly warm in the beginning of the month. It gets colder by the end of the month. Average temperature highs/lows are 76°/53°. Average days with rain is 1 day which means there is almost no rain in November. Overall, a good month for expected weather.
Crowds in November
Expect average crowds early in the month and then higher crowds on Veteran’s Day weekend. Crowds go back to average until the week of Thanksgiving. You’d think early November would be less crowded than in mid-November when Christmas launches, but it hasn’t been.
The best crowd calendar available is at Thrilldata.com because they collect the most data on wait times and that’s where we get our information.
All Magic Key Annual Passholders can attend most of the week during Thanksgiving depending on their Key level. The week of Thanksgiving is very crowded but not so bad that we’d skip it.
If you go on busy school break days, you can manage crowds:
- Buy Lightening Lanes
- Become Lightening Lane experts because crowds eat up the availability early
- Sequence rides like a Pro
- Arrive 1 hour before Parks open
- Make dining reservations 60 days in advance
- Take afternoon breaks when Parks are jam packed
Summary
November is a great time to visit Disneyland if you’re excited about the holiday cheer. Check the calendar . In 2025 Christmas starts at Disneyland on November 14th. We love it and this is usually our longest trip length. There is so much to see and do during the Christmas holidays at Disneyland.
Early November offers average crowds and mostly good weather is expected. You may experience some of the Christmas decorations as the Cast Members begin decorating the Parks.
Thanks for reading this and please check out our full website for lots more content. We at the Bippity Club wish you the very best and hope you enjoy an awesome Disneyland trip!
