When is the Cheapest Time to Go to Disneyland in 2025?

A trip to Disneyland can be an expensive experience especially if you don't know the tricks to picking the cheapest time to visit Disneyland. It is possible to do Disneyland on a budget especially if you know what the cheapest Disney months are!

There are a few ways to do a cheap Disneyland trip if you plan ahead and focus on Disney budget strategies. Here are the considerations for picking the cheapest time of year to visit Disneyland.

Keep reading for everything you need to know about how to save money at Disneyland!

This article has been checked for accuracy for 2025 and updated with all currently available information.

What is the Cheapest Month to Go to Disneyland in 2025?

When you compare travel discounts and airfare, the cheapest time of the year to go to Disneyland is often in January and February. You can see our Disneyland crowd calendar to help you pick dates with the lowest crowd levels.

zIf you truly want a budget trip, looking to some of the nearby Disney hotels is the best choice. You can read our expansive guide to all the Disneyland hotels in the area to see which we ones we recommend. Even for the local hotels, you will see lower rates towards the beginning of the year before the Spring Break season begins which is why I recommend January and February as your cheapest months to go to Disneyland.

You might be surprised to read that summer is also a cheap time of the year to go to Disneyland with even on-site Disneyland hotel discounts offered June through September. You won't see as cheap of initial hotel rates though in this summer nor with airfare that you do the first two months of the year but this is still a more affordable option than spring break or the holiday season.

The holiday season is a popular time of the year to visit but unfortunately it's not the cheapest time of the year and is often the most expensive. Despite the discounts offered in the holiday season at Disneyland, the increase in airfare this time of year combines with higher hotel rates making it a more expensive choice. The Halloween through Christmas season is going to be a bit higher priced, depending on what date you pick, than other times of the year. If you want to avoid higher priced hotel rates and airfare, then you should avoid a trip to Disneyland October through December along with spring break season in March and April.

Why Tracking Disneyland Hotel Discounts Matters

One of the best strategies for saving money at Disneyland is to pick the right time to go. The cheapest time to visit Disneyland depends largely on the discounts Disney is offering (if you want to stay on-site) and seasonal events. Time of year will impact the cost of your airfare along with your hotel cost. The historical Disneyland discounts can inform what discounts we can expect in 2025.

I like to use the historical Disneyland discount data to help inform what the cheapest time of the year to visit Disneyland is as this data comes right from Disney on what they forecast as their busiest times of the year. You will see the largest discounts during times of the year that Disney expects lower attendance as a way to try and pull guests to the resort. If Disneyland expects lower attendance, this likely will also mean more affordable airfare and generally lower hotel rates at the neighboring hotels as these times of the year often coordinate with less busy travel seasons.

Let's first look at historical Disneyland discounts to see what times of the year hotel sales take place last year. In 2024, these were the yearly discounts offered for guests staying at the on-site hotels:

• January 15th- March 7th
  • This timeline saw discounts of up to 25%
• March 11th- June 6th
  • This timeline saw discounts of up to 20%
• June 10th- September 26th
  • This timeline saw discounts of up to 30%
• October 20 through December 19
  • This timeline saw discounts of up to 25%

Keep in mind that these discounts usually apply to Sunday through Thursday nights and won't be applied to weekend nights. These discounts ranged from 10% to 30% with the higher range of discounts applied to the most costly hotel and premium rooms. Disney Visa Cardholders saved the most with discount offers with guests without additional perks saving an average of 20% for these discounts.

Disneyland has three on-site hotels including the luxurious Grand Californian Hotel & Spa which we cover extensively in our Grand Californian Hotel & Spa review. This hotel will always be the most expensive option surrounding the resort while the Pixar Place Hotel tends to be the most affordable but has been excluded from discounts since its remodel into a Pixar theme from the prior California theme. The mid-range option is the Disneyland Hotel (read our full Disneyland Hotel review!) which is themed directly after the Disneyland Resort and its history plus has a pretty awesome hidden tiki bar.

From this lineup of dates, we can see that the highest discounts ran from mid-January to beginning of March and then picked up again from June through September. Aside from holiday weekends, these would be the cheapest times to visit the resort that also combine with lower crowd levels making it the perfect time to plan a trip.

When are Disneyland Tickets the Cheapest?

Disneyland uses tier-pricing for their 1-day tickets so when demand is higher you will see the 1-day ticket prices go up in price. A 1-day Disneyland ticket will cost more on weekend days and during peak times of the year. In 2024, Disney made some changes in their ticket pricing as a response to guest feedback which will make the lowest price tier of 1-day tickets available more times of the year than before! Disney also occasionally offers Disneyland Southern California Resident discount tickets.

However, most guests are coming for more than one day on their visits which makes buying a multi-day ticket a much better choice. If you purchase tickets from our authorized Disney travel agent, Get Away Today, then you can get discounts on tickets plus the cost is less per day when purchasing a multi-day ticket. Get Away Today exclusively offers Mickey Visit readers lower prices on Disneyland 2-5 day tickets. With these discounts, these are the lowest prices on Disneyland tickets anywhere. This is a great way to make any time you visit Disneyland cheaper. Read all about how to get the best deals in our Disneyland discount tickets guide. 

Most Expensive Time to Go to Disneyland

It is rare that Disneyland will release an on-site hotel discount for the entire month of October since this is now one of the most popular times of the year to visit Disneyland. October has slowly grown into one of the most busiest months at Disneyland due to the increased popularity of the Halloween season and the rise in Fall breaks at K-12 schools. Because of that, Disney is not likely to offer any on-site hotel discounts. You'll notice that the fall discounts last year ended on Sept. 26 and didn't pick back up again until Oct. 20 which gives you an idea of the crowds Disneyland expected.

This pattern is similar for the last few weeks of December which are always excluded from discount savings and will see the highest hotel prices of the year.

Most of the year, aside from these seasonal popularity, offers a variety of Disneyland hotel discounts. But prices will be higher to stay on-site during popular times of the year and despite that discount offered, it might not be as much of a budget opportunity if hotel prices are already at their peak. You will see this similar pattern reflected in the nearby off-site hotels that generally will have higher rates during popular times of the year which is why tracking Disneyland hotel discounts can be helpful to help determine which times of the year are cheapest to go to Disneyland.

You can expect peak hotel prices during the middle of March for Spring Break season, late June through July, October, and Thanksgiving through Christmas. Any holidays during the year will also increase prices even if it's just a one day holiday like President's Day and  this also will impact airfare.

Cheapest Time to Fly to Disneyland

If you aren't picky about airlines, budget airlines offer discounts throughout the year combined with lower prices for slow travel times helping you pick the cheapest time to go to Disneyland. January and February (see the pattern here?) will offer low airfare rates but you can also get similar low prices by just avoiding any travel during a holiday week or Spring Break.

In my experience, I have found Tuesdays and Wednesdays to be the cheapest days of the week to fly to Disneyland. Your airport you pick will also impact your price. Flights into LAX will often be less expensive than the smaller airports like Orange County or Long Beach. This is also a situation where you might want to weigh your time/convenience vs. cost though. I'm always willing to pay a little more to fly into a closer airport and avoid the hustle in Los Angeles. But it's worth your time to compare rates amongst the three since they're all within reasonable driving distance to the Disneyland Resort.

When is Disney Off Season?

Disney usually has seasonal celebrations all year long which keep visitors at the resort pretty consistent making it trickier to pick a cheapest time to go to Disneyland. There is no true “off season” for Disneyland but there are times when it is less crowded in comparison to other times of the year. Less crowds also tends to align with more discounts, lower airfare, and cheaper prices all around.

January and February would be considered Disneyland's off season months with the exception of any three day weekends and holidays during that time frame. There are also some other parts of the year where crowds can be less like the beginning months of May, August, and November. You will see more discounts during these times of the year and lower hotel rates. You can read more about the best days to visit Disneyland to see which dates align with lowest crowd levels.

What is the Cheapest Disneyland Hotel?

If you are looking for the most affordable hotel stay then picking a local Anaheim hotel will be the best bet. There are some great options to pick from but the most budget conscious option year after year remains the Clarion Hotel. Read our full review of multiple stays at the Clarion Hotel.  The Clarion hotel is a budget hotel with no frills but it still offers a restaurant, pool, and clean hotel rooms.

Another newer and popular budget option is the Cambria Hotel & Suites which offers a huge variety of amenities including a swimming pool with waterslides, a basketball court, mini golf, and brand new hotel rooms. Plus free breakfast! We stayed here recently and found it a great choice for families. Read my full review of the Cambria Hotel & Suites to see why this can be a great choice for Disneyland.

These are just two options out of so many for picking the cheapest time to go to Disneyland. One of the best ways to do Disneyland on a budget is to pick a local area hotel and avoid staying on-site. You can read all about these local neighborhood hotels in our Disneyland hotel guide.

Overall, you can see there a few things to keep in mind when picking the cheapest time to go to Disneyland. I always recommend doing your research on the time of year you pick so you can be aware of any potential three day weekends, holidays, or refurbishments that might impact your stay.

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