For two years in a row, the Summer Olympics will be held in a city that houses a Disney park.
It’s true! This year, they’re being held in Paris where you can visit Disneyland Paris, and in 2028 they’re slated to be held in Los Angeles, California, where just a short drive away you can visit the park where it all started — Disneyland! So do the Olympics have any effect on the Disney parks? As it turns out, the answer is a resounding YES. Here’s what you need to prepare to see in Disneyland in 2028 during the Olympics season.
MAJOR Crowds
This may seem like it’s a given, but we need you to pause for a moment and REALLY think about the level of crowds this mean. We don’t just mean an influx in wait times and traffic around the park — we mean that this could look like SOLD OUT days in the parks.
And the Olympics aren’t just a few days — they usually last for around 2 WEEKS, and these crowds could last even earlier and later than the event as people travel in for the event. Even though Disney parks don’t use Park Passes anymore for date-based tickets (which are most tickets), the parks can still sell out!
Yes, this means that Disneyland and Disney California Adventure could be sold out or very CLOSE to sold out for multiple weeks. So if you’re planning to go during this time…maybe don’t, if you can help it.
L.A. Traffic is Already Bad — It’ll Get MUCH Worse
If you’ve ever driven through Los Angeles, you know how bad that traffic can get. Yeah, imagine that, probably times about 5.
Again, this may be a given, but if you’re traveling in to visit Disneyland by car OR plane, you may not think it’ll impact you, but it 1000% WILL. You’ll have to take a car from the airport to get to the park and will hit all that traffic, and if you’re driving or renting a car anyway, same situation.
There’s no way to solve this other than choosing to not travel to Disneyland during this time OR just making sure you plan WAY ahead and prepare that it could take you an extra hour or so to get to your destination. This is ESPECIALLY important when you’re planning to go BACK to the airport to make your flight home!
A No Fly Zone
And here’s where things get really interesting if you’re flying — the day the Olympics begins this year (July 26th, 2024), Paris is instituting a no fly zone over 28,922 square miles of Paris (that’s almost the size of Belgium) according to The Independent.
This is due to security and safety concerns — no planes will be allowed to fly over this area for the afternoon and evening of July 26th, which means that already, nearly 100 flights have had to be canceled. This same thing could happen in Los Angeles for the opening ceremony of the 2028 Olympics, currently scheduled for July 18th, 2028.
This means that even if you’re flying into the area for something that has nothing to do with Disney or the Olympics, if you’re flying in on the day of the opening ceremony, your flight could be canceled or rerouted once a no-fly zone is announced. This could really mess up your travel plans, so if you want to make sure this doesn’t happen to you, again, it may not be a good idea to plan a trip late July-early August of 2028!
We’ll be sure to keep you updated on all the latest news we hear about the Olympics and how it’ll impact Disneyland Resort when the time comes, but in the meantime, stay tuned to AllEars for all the latest Disney news!
These are the airports closest to Disneyland and our tips for flying in to them!
What’s your favorite event to watch in the summer Olympics? Tell us in the comments!
It could be great for LA residents that want to go somewhere else for those 2 weeks. In 2000 we visited Disneyland & did a behind the scenes tour. An Australian family were in our group & we chatted. They said that as the Olympics were currently on in Sydney, there were lots of aeroplanes coming in full of people. However, the flights going back were empty so the airlines were reducing the outbound prices, hence they had got a great deal on their flights to LA.
Swimming and woman soccer