Disneyland is ready to return to being the merriest place on earth this coming holiday season. Both Disneyland park and Disney California Adventure will officially celebrate the holidays from Nov. 12 through Jan. 9 [1], which stretches over three additional nights from previous seasons and feels long overdue for those who missed out on the festivities this past year due to the park's closure.
The merry-making is sure to be bigger than ever, so keep reading to see all that Disneyland will have to offer this holiday season.
Disneyland's Holiday Festivities 2021
- The 60-Foot-Tall Christmas Tree: guests will be greeted by this magnificent display – decorated with nearly 1,800 ornaments, on Main Street, U.S.A.
- Sleeping Beauty's Winter Castle: each evening, guests can enjoy an enchanted wintertime spectacle as the castle sparkles with light and music fills the air.
- "A Christmas Fantasy" Parade: several times a day, guests will get to watch the parade and see beloved Disney characters and princesses throughout the park dressed in their seasonal finest.
- "Believe in Holiday Magic" Fireworks: guests will witness a magical "snowfall" along with colourful projections on Main Street and on the faced of "It's a Small World." The finale includes favourite Disney characters dressed in their pajamas on the balcony of the Disneyland Railroad Train Station in Town Square.
California Adventure's Holiday Festivities 2021
- Disney Festival of Holidays: guests get to discover a diverse season of celebrations, including Christmas, Diwali, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Three Kings Day in the form of live entertainment, themed merchandise, and eight food marketplaces helmed by a team of Disney chefs who draw inspiration from their own unique backgrounds to create festive culinary experiences.
- Disney ¡Viva Navidad!: guests can enjoy a street party featuring Mexican folklórico dancers and Mariachis, Brazilian samba dancers and percussionists, giant mojiganga puppets and Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse in their fiesta best.
- The Debut of Mirabel: later in the season, guests can meet the newly-featured Mirabel, the main character from the upcoming film, Encanto.
- Cars Land at Christmastime: The four-wheeled residents of Radiator Springs will be pulling out all the stops with holiday decorations, including a snow-covered billboard at the main entrance, a hubcap-studded tree, and a little magic that transforms two popular attractions into Luigi's Joy to the Whirl and Mater's Jingle Jamboree.
- Holiday Toy Drummers: Mickey Mouse and pals will dance along to the magical rhythms of these drummers several times a day.
- Santa Claus: no holiday season would be complete without a visit with Kris Kringle himself, so guests can visit him in his rustic home at the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail.
Disneyland reopened to guests on April 30 [4], with new capacity restrictions and guidelines in place to ensure the health and safety of staff and park goers amid the ongoing pandemic. If you're planning to purchase park tickets [5] for the upcoming holiday season (or in general), check out Disneyland's site for more information on its current policies [6].
