8 Disneyland Closures & Changes During Period Between Holidays Added to Calendar

The Halloween celebration at Disneyland is already flying by, and in less than a couple of months, the Christmas festivities will kick off at the resort. Looking ahead, there is a brief transitional time between these two celebrations when certain operations and offerings are impacted. This period takes place from November 1-November 13 before the holiday celebration officially begins. We keep you up to date on holiday ride closures and closure extensions.

We will take you through 8 changes, closures, and other impacts to consider if you are planning a visit during this time period. At Mickey Visit we track the latest Disneyland news. Keep reading for everything you need to know!

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Disneyland Begins Switching Out the Decor Overnight

A common question that we see is how Disneyland will be decorated in this transitional period between the Halloween and Christmas celebrations. After the park closes on the last day of the Halloween celebration on October 31, they immediately start taking those decorations down. In the past, we've seen Christmas decorations, like snow on the castle, go up before the end of the Halloween celebration at the resort.

In this transitional period, you'll start to see Christmas decorations go up, usually starting with wreaths and garlands on Main Street and decor on Sleeping Beauty's Winter Castle. The rest of the park is decorated in stages, with everything complete by the kickoff of the Christmas celebration. In this period between November 1 and November 13, you can expect some Christmas decor to be up, and potentially some holiday merch to drop in stores. However, the actual Disneyland Christmas offerings, like the special Christmas foods, ride overlays (other than Haunted Mansion Holiday), etc., will not be available until the official kickoff of the celebration on November 14. There is a chance that Disneyland may preview select entertainment like the holiday parade and fireworks a day or so early, but this is never guaranteed.

“it's a small world” Will Be Temporarily Closed

During the transitional period between Halloween and Christmas, “it's a small world” will temporarily close to install the holiday overlay. The overlay is one of the cutest parts of the Christmas celebration, featuring festive decor throughout each scene, holiday tunes mixed in with the classic song of the ride, and thousands of stunning lights on the facade.

The “it's a small world” closure will start on October 30, 2025, and the ride will reopen with the start of the Christmas celebration on November 14. The ride recently welcomed some new additions, including the addition of Coco characters and a new final verse added for the park's anniversary.

You can keep up to date on all closures in our Disneyland ride refurbishments guide, which we frequently update.

Paint the Night Will Temporarily Pause

Starting during this transitional period, a few days before the kickoff of the holidays, Paint the Night will be temporarily pausing performances to make way for seasonal entertainment. This pause will start on November 10, and the parade will resume next year. This means that the last day to see Paint the Night this year is November 9.

Paint the Night is pausing to make way for A Christmas Fantasy parade, which will run for the duration of the holiday celebration at Disneyland. We do not yet know when Paint the Night will be returning. As we mentioned in our original announcement of the parade's end date, we anticipate it may return in early February or sooner. After that point, we expect the parade to be offered through the end of the Disneyland 70th anniversary celebration, which will run through the summer of 2026.

Themed Character Dining Changes

During the transitional period between the seasonal celebrations, a few of the character dining meals will go back to normal before their holiday themes. This is something to keep in mind if you were planning on enjoying seasonal character dining during your trip.

From November 1 through November 16, the regular brunch and dinner buffet will be offered at Goofy's Kitchen. At Storytellers Cafe, the Halloween dinner will end after October 31, and the regular Donald's Tales of Adventure Dinner Buffet will be offered from November 1 through November 16, 2025.

One seasonal character dining experience will continue through this transitional period. Mickey’s Autumn Adventures Breakfast and Brunch will be offered through November 16, before the Christmas-themed experiences start on November 17. We now have the pricing and booking details for the two holiday character dining experiences at Storytellers Cafe and the holidays at Goofy's Kitchen, as well as Breakfast With Santa in Downtown Disney.

Redwood Creek Challenge Trail Temporarily Closed

Redwood Creek Challenge Trail at Disney California Adventure will temporarily close after the Halloween celebration and Oogie Boogie Bash parties conclude to remove the Villains Grove overlay. It will close starting November 1, and no reopening date has been posted yet.

We know that it will definitely be open by the kickoff of the Christmas celebration, as confirmed on the “Redwood Creek Challenge Trail Welcomes Santa” page of the Disneyland website. During the holidays, in addition to the Santa meet-and-greet hosted here, Redwood Creek Challenge Trail will also have seasonal games and outdoor activities. You can pick up an activity map when you enter and look for Santa's presents along the trail to solve a secret puzzle.

Wondrous Journeys Temporarily Returning

Between the Halloween and holiday celebrations, the Wondrous Journeys show will temporarily return starting November 1. It will show with fireworks on weekends from Friday to Sunday and projections during the weekdays. The “Believe…In Holiday Magic” fireworks are scheduled to return at the start of the Christmas celebration on November 14.

We anticipate Wondrous Journeys will return pretty quickly after the end of the holiday celebration in 2026. This year, Mickey's Mix Magic started running right after the end of the Christmas celebration. We anticipate that after it returns, Wondrous Journeys should run without interruption through the remainder of the 70th anniversary celebration into summer 2026.

Some Seasonal Foods Will Be Available Past Halloween

Some of the seasonal Disneyland Halloween foods will be available only until the end of the celebration on October 31, but a good number of these will still be offered during the transitional period between Halloween and Christmas through November 13, including some of our favorite Disneyland Halloween foods we tried this year, like the new Fresh-baked Pumpkin Cookies at Harbour Galley and Celestial Chocolate Churro at Terran Treats.

Some items will be offered even longer throughout the duration of the holiday celebration through January 7, 2026. You can see all of the Halloween foods and how long they'll be offered in our Disneyland 2025 Halloween foods guide, which contains a free printable PDF of all foods and where to find them.

Disneyland Switches to Shorter Hours of Operation

Lastly, Disneyland will switch to shorter hours of operation during this transitional period. The parks will have shorter hours as of November 3, with Disneyland Park closing at 10 PM and Disney California Adventure closing at 9 PM. In our Mickey Visit Disneyland crowd calendar, we anticipate that the first half of November will be pretty quiet apart from a rush during Veterans Day weekend.

We expect, based on past precedent, that the parks will shift back to longer hours (Disneyland Park open until 12 AM and Disney California Adventure open until 10 PM) after the Christmas celebration kicks off.

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