All signs point to a busy 2025 for Disney theme park fans. Disneyland Resort released a full-year calendar of seasonal events and new information regarding its highly anticipated 70th Anniversary celebration. This announcement comes on the heels of Walt Disney World‘s new details about the opening timelines for several of its latest offerings in 2025.
One of the first choices families make when planning a Disney vacation is when to take the trip. Travelers often choose the most convenient window that works with everyone’s schedules. Selecting the best week to visit Disney intimidates many, but experts agree the optimal vacation time varies from family to family.
Other considerations include crowds, weather, and vacation budget. Traveling during peak season, for example, aligns easily with school or work breaks but typically means busier parks.
Rather than finding an idyllic needle in a haystack, families must choose the most convenient time and plan accordingly, even if it means dealing with crowds.
Saying Goodbye To Closing Rides? Visit Soon
In 2025, Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort will offer guests new attractions, entertainment, and celebrations. Fan-favorite seasonal events will return as well. With so many changes coming in the pipeline, a 2025 Disney vacation creates a sense of urgency for fans.
The year marks the beginning of several significant expansions on both coasts, creating new lands and rides for future generations to enjoy. Some additions, however, require many long-standing favorites to shutter.
In 2025, Magic Kingdom’s Liberty Square Riverboat and Frontierland’s Rivers of America section will close permanently to make way for a new Cars franchise-themed area. Disney says fans have plenty of time to enjoy the area before its closure, but the earlier travelers get to Disney World, the better their chances of seeing Rivers of America one final time.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom will receive more immediate changes with the phased closure of DinoLand U.S.A. Select rides and dining close in January, with the land’s flagship ride, DINOSAUR, remaining open throughout 2025 before its ultimate closure sometime in 2026. DinoLand’s location will transform into a brand-new land inspired by Central and South America, opening in 2027.
Permanent closures impact the West Coast, too. At Disney California Adventure Park, the classic Red Car Trolley will cease operation on Feb. 8 to make room for an Avengers Campus expansion. Still, a visit in early 2025 might mean guests can catch these attractions one last time.
On the flip side, if experiencing new offerings matters more, families must wait until at least the second half of 2025 to visit. Disneyland Resort, for example, begins its 70th Anniversary celebration May 16. A new show featuring the first-ever Audio-Animatronic figure of Walt Disney opens in Disneyland Park the same day.
Magic Kingdom welcomes its first nighttime parade in years in the summer of 2025, which many travel experts look forward to the most. Theme park journalist Megan duBois shares that the parade, Disney Starlight, excites her more than any other addition coming to Walt Disney World in 2025. “The concept art reminds me of the nighttime parade at Tokyo Disneyland, which is so cute,” says duBois. “And it’s been a while since Magic Kingdom has had a nighttime parade, so I’m really looking forward to some new evening entertainment.”
The new offerings coming to Disney World in 2025 touch all four parks. Two new lounges, inspired by Spaceship Earth and Pirates of the Caribbean, open in 2025 at EPCOT and Magic Kingdom, respectively. A newly redesigned Test Track reopens at EPCOT in late summer. A live-action show starring Disney villains debuts in the summer at Hollywood Studios. And at Animal Kingdom, a brand-new Zootopia show opens in winter 2025 in the theater inside the Tree of Life.
Family Calendar > Crowd Calendar
Experts agree the best time to visit Disney theme parks differs by family and does not neatly fit into one mold. The “optimal” time to take a vacation depends on myriad factors, including school calendars, time off from work, and other prior obligations.
Families sometimes discover their calendar comes into conflict with busy seasons. Sarah Gilliland, founder of On The Road with Sarah and Travel Editor for Wealth of Geeks, encourages them to travel anyway. She states, “If you can only vacation when everyone else can, do not stress about long lines or busy destinations. Instead, focus on what you can do and enjoy that will help your vacation be enjoyable instead of one big headache.”
Spring break and other popular school vacation periods comprise some of Disney’s busiest days of the year, but also come with far more favorable weather conditions. Alex Caspero, freelance travel and food writer at Delish Knowledge, advises, “Don’t let the idea of crowds stop you from visiting. It’s less hot in the spring and fall, which can be nice for families, especially young children who don’t enjoy the heat.”
If dodging crowds trumps all other considerations for when to take a trip, families will find it nearly impossible to choose the best time to visit Disney World or Disneyland. “The theme park landscape has changed dramatically over the last ten years, and so has the way most Americans vacation,” says Gilliland. “No one is concerned about pulling their children out of school for a few days for a family vacation, whether to go to a Disney theme park or not. Gone is the supposed ‘off-season’ at Disney theme parks.”
With that change, Mickey Visit Founder Gavin Doyle works to improve crowd ratings in Mickey Visit’s Disneyland crowd calendar. “Everything changed after the theme park closures in 2020 and as Disney shifted to dynamic pricing and park reservations to spread demand,” says Doyle. “No other crowd calendar has changed their calculations to integrate the new factors that drive crowds the way we have in our Mickey Visit calendar.”
That said, losing the once-reliable off-season frees families from feeling beholden to specific months or weeks on the calendar. Instead, they gain new-found flexibility in choosing a time to visit that works with their schedule. No matter when a family decides to visit Disney in 2025, planning and managing expectations will ensure a successful trip.
