Disneyland is already making plans for the 2026 Christmas holiday season

The calendar may still say December 2025, but Disneyland is already making plans for the Christmas 2026 season with a familiar holiday lineup of parades, fireworks and live music with some new food options and character costumes.

The 2026-27 winter holiday season will return to Disneyland and Disney California Adventure from Nov. 18, 2026 through early January 2027.

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It’s never too early to start planning for next Christmas — especially since the winter holiday season has become one of the busiest times of the year at the Disney parks.

Of course, you’ve still got a little time left to enjoy this year’s winter holiday season, which runs through Jan. 7.

So far, Disneyland has confirmed that holiday decor, live entertainment and seasonal foods will return to both parks in winter 2026 along with the Disney Festival of Holidays at Disney California Adventure.

Disney chefs always cook up a new menu lineup for DCA’s annual Festival of the Holidays food festival.

While details remain scarce at the moment, Disneyland tends to lather, rinse and repeat when it comes to the holidays.

Here’s what you can expect if the 2026-27 holiday season is anything like the 2025-26 season.

The entertainment lineup has been fairly locked in for the past few decades at Disneyland with A Christmas Fantasy parade and the “Believe in Holiday Magic” fireworks show returning every holiday season.

DCA has freshened up the holidays a bit more in recent years with the Viva Navidad Street Party, “Mirabel’s Gifts of the Season” featuring Encanto characters and “A Musical Christmas” starring Coco characters.

Haunted Mansion and It’s a Small World in Disneyland and Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree and Luigi’s Rollickin Roadsters in DCA will almost certainly return again in holiday overlay mode.

In recent years, Disneyland’s Fantasyland Theatre has hosted craft-making, sing-alongs and photo opportunities with characters in seasonal costumes.

Downtown Disney usually has live music and nightly “snoap” snowfall on the stage next to the Parkside Market.

Santa Claus is a pretty busy guy — making stops at Disneyland’s Fantasyland Theatre, DCA’s Redwood Creek Challenge Trail, Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel, Pixar Place Hotel and Disneyland Hotel.

One of the few things that consistently change each holiday season are the costumes worn by Mickey, Minnie and their pals during character dining experiences at the Storytellers Cafe in Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel.

Disneyland has not yet announced an end date for the 2026-27 winter holiday season.

Over the past decade, Disneyland has ended the holiday season somewhere between Jan. 6 and Jan. 9 depending on how the dates fall on the calendar.

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Disneyland typically ends the holiday season on the first Sunday in January, unless that date falls between Jan. 1-5.

Based on recent history, expect Disneyland’s 2026-27 winter holiday season to end on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2027.