Disneyland has unexpectedly shortened its hours today on one of the busiest days of the year. If you look at our Disneyland crowd calendar, we predict this day as MASSIVE crowds, so the shortened hours are a surprise.
Keep reading for all the details on this unexpected closure and why the weather might reduce the crowds in a big way this year. At Mickey Visit, we report on all the most recent Disney news, like expansion updates at Disneyland and ride closures impacted by the new Pandora land.
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Disneyland Closing Early Due to Weather
The weather in Anaheim is looking frightful today with flood watches and heavy rain expected, especially during the evening hours. Rain in Southern California isn’t too uncommon during the winter, but it’s bad timing to see such heavy rains on one of the busiest days of the year.
Disneyland will close at 11 PM tonight instead of 12 AM, with Disney California Adventure closing at 9 PM instead of 10 PM due to the heavy rain. According to the entertainment schedule, the holiday favorite A Christmas Fantasy parade has also been cancelled today. It is listed on the calendar for tomorrow, on Christmas Day, showing at 3 PM and 5:15 PM.
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The rain might actually be a blessing for those who are visiting the parks during these typical high crowd level days. The rain may reduce crowds, and if you show up prepared, you can get a lot done. Locals especially will stay away during rainy days, although many local passholders are blocked out today, so this might not create too much of an impact.
Rain at Disneyland often also results in outdoor rides closing due to the weather, so this is also something to be aware of. We already know the A Christmas Fantasy parade has been cancelled today, and it’s likely some outdoor attractions will close as well. While this is disappointing, this is a good time to take advantage of indoor attractions, especially holiday-themed overlays like it’s a small world Holiday and Haunted Mansion Holiday. You can read our favorite comfort foods to enjoy in the rain at Disneyland here if you are spending the holiday in the parks today.
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I think the compression due to many outdoor rides being closed on rainy days, plus certain rides being much less popular on those days, balances (or even outweighs) those few people that don’t come to the park because of it. In our experience over many years of wet Disney days, rain doesn’t really shorten lines, but it would be interesting to see the actual data on that. As noted in the article, it probably depends somewhat on whether local passholders can use their passes on a specific day. Non-locals are pretty much stuck in our fixed vacation schedule with minimal wiggle room to just skip a day entirely.