So, is this year’s GayDays in Orlando canceled?
Everything we know so far about this year's "paused" event
Mark
GayDays has been a staple of Orlando‘s LGBTQ+ scene since its formation in 1991, attracting over 180,000 visitors every summer.
In honor of its 35th anniversary, a week-long party was planned for June. There would be park visits, dances, drag performances, a leather competition, and the Miss GayDays Pageant.
That is, until a recent social media post announced it was on “pause.”
Let us break it down for you.
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“After careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to pause the GayDays Orlando event scheduled for June 2026,” an Instagram post shared from their official account on February 8 explained. “Changes to our host hotel agreement, the loss of key sponsorship support, and broader challenges currently impacting LGBTQIA+ events nationwide made it impossible to deliver the experience our community deserves.”
The announcement clarified “this is a pause — not an ending,” and their focus now is “on reimagining the future and returning with a stronger, more sustainable event.”
In the aftermath, several news outlets quickly picked up the post as an official cancelation. However, it appears that gay travelers who had bookmarked the first weekend of June (and Florida residents) shouldn’t give up all hope just yet.
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As Josh Duke, co-owner of Gay Days, revealed in a follow-up statement to Washington Blade, the Orlando event “has not been canceled” and the team is actually “currently finalizing details regarding our plans for 2026.”
Indeed, the organization’s official website currently reports that “no final determination has been made regarding the 2026 event” and “guest, partners, and the community” will be communicated with “immediately” once the “decision is finalized.”
Basically, it seems that a combination of both lost sponsors and political turbulence mean the party can’t go on as originally planned, and there’s still a lot up in the air.
So, should I still go to the parks?
The simple answer is yes.
While GayDays Orlando has grown over the years into a packed week of events and parties on-and-off resort properties, the event has always existed independently from the House of the Mouse.
This means that no matter what kind of footprint GayDays will be able to pull off, the informal tradition of LGBTQ+ guests and allies visiting Disney World in red t-shirts — affectionally referred to as Red Shirt Day — will continue.
Rest assured, Disney gays (and those who’ve see themselves in the near-universal show of queer solidarity) will still be in full force this June 6, 2026.
As one user wrote in response to GayDays’ postponement: “It all started with gays wearing red shirts for community and support. Red Shirt Day will still happen on the first Saturday of June [at the Magic Kingdom.] Wear your shirt and celebrate a pride day with friends and family.”
It’s a sentiment that seemed to resonate with other commenters as well: “This all started as a way to make ourselves more visible. They can never take that away,” another user wrote.
Plus, the spirit is just as strong as ever at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. Sister event Gay Days Anaheim plans to hold both a “mini” Gay Days on February 28, and its annual takeover from September 18-20.
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