This is an entry for the term “refurbishment” in our Disneyland 101 Glossary: Disneyland Resort definitions in under 101 words, from Mouse Brief. For more on types of refurbishments at Disneyland Resort and how to approach them in your trip planning, please keep reading after the glossary entry.
At Disneyland Resort, the term “refurbishment” refers to the temporary closure of an attraction or entertainment offering for the purpose of maintenance and enhancements. The refurbishment schedule for Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park is frequently changing, and Disney does not guarantee that particular attractions will be open during your visit. To get an idea for what attractions will be open during your intended dates, visit the “hours and events calendar” on the Disneyland Resort website here and scroll to the bottom of each park’s section. Note that the calendar is regularly only available six weeks into the future.
Thank you for reading this entry in our Disneyland 101 Glossary. For help planning your Disneyland visit, please see our free and complete Step-by-Step Disneyland Prep, and for more details on refurbishments and attractions closures at Disneyland, keep reading.
On Refurbishments and Other Attraction Closures at Disneyland Resort
Disneyland Resort is home to our favorite theme park rides. They are by turns thrilling, emotional and awe-inspiring, and we love that they all tell a story in some way. But, thrills take a lot of engineering, and that requires careful maintenance. And, all those awe-inspiring narrative details need refreshing. Spectacular rides require a lot of work! Effectively, this means every attraction needs to close for scheduled refurbishment on a regular basis and that sometimes rides need to close suddenly for a little unexpected fix.
None of us like to see an attraction we wanted to experience closed during our visit. So how do you plan for something like that? Sometimes you just can’t, but there are a few things you can do to work around these necessary but disappointing circumstances. Let’s look at the nuts and bolts of ride refurbishments and other attraction closures at Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park.
The Disneyland Resort Refurbishment Schedule
We have already established that Disney needs to regularly close Disneyland Resort rides to keep them looking and operating well. Yes, some ride maintenance can happen after guests go home in the evenings. But to keep attractions safe and operating at their best, sometimes more extensive work is needed. Thus, Disneyland builds refurbishment periods into their operating schedule.
Though these refurbishments happen on a regular basis, they are not typically added to the Disneyland schedule far in advance. Unfortunately, this means that you cannot really know what will be closed during your Disneyland visit while you are in the early planning stages. There are some seasonal closures we can help you anticipate (more on that in a bit) but other closures show-up about six weeks out or less. Disney adds ride refurbishments to its calendar here, and that calendar is usually updated about six weeks into the future.
Once you are within six weeks of your intended visit, you can start checking that calendar. To find the ride closures, scroll down to the bottom of the section for each individual park and look for the heading “Closed for Refurbishment.” Click that heading and it should expand to show you what is scheduled for refurbishment on any particular day. You will need to do this separately for each park.
The Refurbishment Schedule Does Change
Even within those six weeks, a refurbishment schedule can change. Just like home renovation projects, the work can unexpectedly take more or less time than planned. Sometimes a ride will quietly re-open ahead of schedule, or sometimes you will be groaning at your computer screen as a ride pops onto the refurbishment schedule. Disney does not guarantee that any particular attraction will be open on any particular day. They put that right in the ticket policy:
Theme parks, hotels, attractions, entertainment, experiences, services, and other offerings may be modified or unavailable, limited in availability or capacity, and are subject to restrictions, and change or cancellation without notice.
Going With the Flow
You can do your best to plan around ride refurbishments at Disneyland Resort, but you just cannot plan for everything. Ultimately, we think the best thing you can do is be prepared to encounter some closures and—as Crush would say—go with the flow.
For us, going with the flow means accepting that some things are going to be closed and we need to focus on the other wonderful parts of our visit. But, sometimes going with the flow means making some slight adjustments to our visit. We have shared elsewhere on this site that we like to build “rest days” into our Disneyland visits. We thinks this has lots of benefits (we talk about that here), and one of them is that we can change which days we are visiting the parks. If our visit lands in the middle of a long ride refurbishment, there is not much we can do. But sometimes, changing our park days by just a day or two means we can catch an attraction before or after it goes down for refurbishment.
Seasonal Ride Closures at Disneyland Resort
We also plan our Disneyland Resort visits anticipating certain seasonal closures. While we may not know the exact dates of ride refurbishments far in advance, we can make some guesses.
First, we know that some attractions get special seasonal enhancements for Halloween Time and (winter) Holiday Time at Disneyland Resort. Disney must build refurbishment time into the schedule in order to install and then remove these seasonal overlays. If you are visiting Disneyland Resort before Halloween Time begins, after Holiday Time ends, or in-between the two, you may run into one of these refurbishments. Here are the attractions that have been subject to this in the past:
Haunted Mansion (and Haunted Mansion Holiday) in New Orleans Square at Disneyland Park
Haunted Mansion gets an annual Nightmare Before Christmas overlay to become “Haunted Mansion Holiday” each year. This overlay, because it combines Halloween and Christmas, lasts through the fall and winter holiday season. It is also a very elaborate overlay, so the ride needs to close while this is happening. That typically takes around ten days, but it could be longer. For example, as I am writing this, the ride is scheduled to be closed from January 12-22, 2026 as it changes out of its holiday form and back into the classic Haunted Mansion.
Dates change from year to year. If you have your heart set on riding Haunted Mansion Holiday, pay attention to when the holiday times are scheduled for the coming year and be aware that Haunted Mansion will be down for some time before and after those dates. Remember, holiday seasons keep getting longer at Disneyland, so Halloween Time is now starting in mid-August and Holiday Time runs through early January.
”it’s a small world” (and “it’s a small world” Holiday”) in Fantasyland at Disneyland Park
”it’s a small world” boasts the other major seasonal ride overlay. It becomes ”it’s a small world” Holiday for the duration of Disneyland’s Holiday Time celebration, which typically runs from mid-November through early January. You can count on the ride being closed for around ten days before and after this time.
For 2026, the closure to remove the holiday decor and return “it’s a small world” to its “original flavor” is scheduled to being on January 26, 2026. So you can see that is staggered after the completion of the Haunted Mansion refurbishment this month. It is also interesting to note that Disneyland typically schedules its refurbishments to being on Mondays and end on Thursdays, this reopening on Fridays. It’s a little thing, but this means a weekend day can have less closures than a weekday.
Redwood Creek Challenge Trail in Grizzly Peak at Disney California Adventure Park
This seasonal closure falls beneath the notice of some folks, but we enjoy the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail in Disney California Adventure Park, and we definitely notice when it is closed. Redwood Creek Challenge Trail is a fantastic area for kids to go for some unstructured playtime and can be a nice place to recharge.
This massive play serves a special purpose during Oogie Boogie Bash, so it gets closed for refurbishment before and after that run of parties. Special infrastructure gets added to support its party function. This effectively means you should expect Redwood Creek Challenge Trail to close in late July to mid August and then again in the first part of November. (Keep in mind that Oogie Boogie Bash is ever-expanding, so of course this is subject to change.)
Fortunately, in-between these closures, the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail is still open and useable to guests. Even on days when there are Oogie Boogie Back parties, we have visited Redwood Creek Challenge Trail and been able to play without being bothered by Halloween additions.
More Seasonal Ride Closures
There are two other attractions in Disney California Adventure Park that get seasonal ride overlays. Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree has both a Halloween and Holiday Time version, and so does Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters. These changes are delightful, but they are not as extensive as the other rides on this list. Accordingly, any seasonal changes to these rides should have minimal impact on your visit.
The other seasonal refurbishments you need to consider are the ones that happen during lower-attendance times at the parks. When expected crowds are the highest, Disney tries to have as many attractions open as possible for those visitors. Once those surges end, the ride refurbishments start. As I write this in early January, I’m seeing plenty of attraction refurbishments on the calendar for the coming winter weeks.
This is the trade-off for visiting Disneyland Resort during less-popular times. If you visit Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park during popular season, you will probably experience less ride closures and more entertainment. If you visit during lower-crowd times, typically when schools are in session, you will probably encounter fewer people but more closures.
Unexpected Ride Closures in the Parks
Occasionally, a ride that is not scheduled for refurbishment will unexpectedly close during regular operating hours. Disney prioritizes safety and cleanliness, and sometimes they need to close an attraction that is otherwise meant to be open. If this does happen during your visit, the upside is that you may get a select experiences pass (aka multiple experience pass or MEP) to use. This is a pretty nice upside and so valuable that we have an extensive article about it here: Guide to Disneyland Select Experiences Pass (Multi Experience Pass). Definitely explore that article if you want to know how to make the best of unexpected ride closures.
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