One of 2025’s Best Weeks to Visit Disney World Just Got Even Better!
It’s no secret that our absolute favorite week of the year to visit Walt Disney World is during the holiday season. It’s perfect in every regard, from manageable crowds to reliably comfortable weather to the parks decked out for Christmas. There are many other weeks we like a lot, but there’s another with which we have more of a love-hate relationship. (Updated June 1, 2025.)
Another one of our top 10 weeks of 2025 falls in the early fall. This one also has a lot going for it, which is why we visit frequently during this week. It’s the start of the EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival. The foodie fest has returned to its normal cadence this year, which means kicking off on Thursday, August 28, 2025. Although the opening weekend for any festival is busy, there should be a couple of days around Labor Day that aren’t too bad.
It’s also near the start of Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, but not at the very beginning. This means the lowest prices for event tickets ($129 to $139 this year), usually slightly better weather (although nothing even approaching costume-level comfortable for us), and sometimes parties that aren’t totally sold out (not relevant in the last few years, but it was once…and maybe again?).
Then there are crowd levels. We spend a lot of time covering the late summer and early fall off-season, so I don’t want to belabor the point. You probably already know that crowd levels drop considerably once school goes back in session, and they don’t really recover until fall breaks begin.
Last year, the end of August was the slowest at Walt Disney World since the last week of September 2021. Although the last week of August 2024 was the slowest week in a few years, it wasn’t even all that remarkable. The same week last year was barely busier, with a 25 minute average and 1/10 crowd level versus a 23 minute average and 1/10 crowd level. Two minutes can add up over the course of a day, but both weeks were incredibly slow–again, the two least busy weeks since Fall 2021!
Given the overall trajectory of crowd levels and the last week of August being reliably slow year-in and year-out, this shouldn’t be a huge shock. I’m fairly confident in predicting the last week of August 2025 will also be slow. Whether it’s more or less busy than this year probably depends on the broader economy, Epic Universe, and the Disney Starlight Night Parade.
For those who are wondering, crowd levels don’t really spike for Labor Day, either. This also shouldn’t be the least bit surprising for readers of this blog, as it’s a point that we harp on frequently–Labor Day is the least busy holiday weekend of the entire year, and is less busy than Jersey Week, Ski Week, and other random holidays you might think I’m making up. We explained the ‘why’ of that and offered historical stats back in Labor Day Weekend Isn’t Busy at Disney.
As discussed in our list of the 10 Best and 10 Worst Weeks to Visit Walt Disney World in 2025 & 2026, mid-August to late September is the best stretch of the entire year and if those lists were purely data-driven, over half of the ‘best’ side of the ledger would be weeks in August and September. With only a couple of exceptions, the entire two month stretch sees below average attendance.
All of this should sound great…so what’s the hate part of the love-hate relationship? Weather. Oppressively hot and humid temperatures are the reason that only one week during that timeframe makes the list, and it’s not even the one with the objectively lowest crowds.
Instead, it’s a tad later than we’d like, with the idea of compromising on crowds to improve the odds of better weather. Of course, there are no guarantees–Florida has 42 weeks of summer and it is hurricane season!
The fact is that heat, humidity, and hurricanes are a gamble anytime from early August through late October. Again, we don’t want to belabor the point, so if you’re on the fence about this tradeoff, see Is It Still Worth Visiting During the Early Fall Offseason at Walt Disney World? for a greater discussion of weather vs. crowds.
The good news is that you can still have the upside of Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and the 2025 EPCOT Food & Wine Festival even if you opt to push past the objectively-best weeks of the year in late August and early September for something subjectively superior (possibly!) in mid-to-late September.
However, there are two new reasons to visit then that you’ll miss if you go later during Fall 2025…
The latest development is the intersection of Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and Disney Starlight Night Parade. As compared to last year, the first MNSSHP was “delayed” by one week this year, to August 15, 2025. This was almost certainly done because Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away’s debut was delayed to mid-to-late July 2025.
Basically, Walt Disney World wanted a longer runway between Starlight’s debut and Party Season to have as many weeks as possible with a full slate of performances before Party Season started and threw a monkey wrench into crowds. This happens every year with Happily Ever After on non-party nights from August through December, and we expect it to be much worse with a brand-new night parade.
Everyone wanting to see Starlight–which is many guests–will be consolidated into fewer opportunities per week. This is all doubly true given that MNSSHP has 3 dates per week in August once it gets started, as opposed to the normal 2 (that’s how they “made up” for the later start date).
There’s one exception to this: August 30 to September 6, 2025. There are only two parties during that stretch, as compared to 3 in the weeks before and after, due to no party on that Sunday. This may not seem like much, but it could have a hugely positive impact on Magic Kingdom crowds. Trying to cram 3 days worth of guests into 4 nights is much more difficult than 5 nights absorbing 2 nights’ worth of crowds. Again, Labor Day is not that busy, so the holiday weekend should not offset this.
Finally, Destination D23 is returning to Walt Disney World for the biggest fan event of 2025–now at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort, from August 29 – 31, 2025!
More than doubling in size in 2025, fans can look forward to a weekend filled with exclusive presentations from Walt Disney Archives and the Walt Disney Studios; spectacular entertainment; and peeks into all the worlds of Disney, along with a variety of unique interactive and shopping experiences.
Destination D23 is becoming the D23 Expo: Walt Disney World Edition. Well, except they don’t even call the Anaheim Edition the D23 Expo anymore, but pretty much every fan still does. It’s like Baby Yoda vs. Grogu or Magic Kingdom vs. Magic Kingdom Park. Destination D23 started out as a history-oriented event, but has really gone mainstream, being one of the year’s biggest news-y events for Disney Parks.
There’s no way on earth that the 2025 Destination D23 will have more big news than the last D23 Expo. That just isn’t possible. But we would expect a ton of project updates, new concept art, and mid-tier announcements (new restaurants, ride reimaginings, celebrations, resort expansion–that sort of thing).
The bottom line is that I love Destination D23 and plan on attending again in 2025. I’m really happy that it lines up with (what I assume will be) the start of EPCOT’s Food & Wine Festival and (probably) the second week of MNSSHP. I’ve been to almost all of the Destination D/23s, and have loved just about every panel I’ve attended–some even unexpectedly.
And for those worried that Destination D23 will cause worse crowds, it won’t. The few thousand attendees (at most) are a drop in the bucket, and that’s even if they were visiting the parks. They aren’t. This is a convention, so days are mostly spent at Coronado Springs. Unless you’re staying there or focused on the dorkiest rides at Walt Disney World, you probably won’t even notice there’s a D23 event happening.
Given all of the above, if I were able to visit once school goes back into session–and were willing to do so in light of the weather–I’d probably target August 27 to September 3, 2025 (plus or minus a day or two) for an early fall visit to Walt Disney World. That narrows the dates in our ‘Best & Worst Weeks’ guide a bit, but the original recommendation isn’t suddenly bad–I just prefer fewer MNSSHP, more Starlight, the start of Food & Wine, and Destination D23.
This isn’t really an “if,” as this is exactly what I’ll be doing. The only TBD is the exact dates I’ll be at Walt Disney World and whether I’ll dip into Universal Orlando for a couple days to (hopefully) catch a lull in Epic Universe crowds. But that last part will be more of a gametime decision given the roller coaster crowds that new park is already seeing.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
If you’ve done Walt Disney World in late August or early September, what was your experience? Was it worth hitting the cheaper MNSSHP dates and early-on during EPCOT Food & Wine Festival, or was the weather too hot and humid? If you’ve done Destination D23, would you recommend that event to other WDW diehards? Thoughts about anything else covered here? If you’re a frequent visitor during this timeframe, what’s your take on crowds, wait times, seasonal offerings, weather, etc? Agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Thank you Tom for another informative commentary!
We just returned from a 4 day stay at Caribbean Resort. I’ll preface my remarks by saying we usually opt for Art of Animation/Pop Century. This time we thought let’s take advantage of the great pool & amenities while spending time in 2parks. Positives…fun pool, relatively close to the Skyliner for Epcot & HWS. That was it.
The layout of the resort makes it challenging to get to that great pool & marketplace.
The room was ok be it lacking in space, outdated.
The room accommodated 3 adults & 2 kids. However, the bathroom was 2’by 5’. Tiny.
Breakfast was fine however the outdoor food service was terrible. One of our adults got sick from bad food & it was just downhill from there.
Adding insult to injury, cocktails were mediocre at $20 ea was hard to swallow.
All in all, grass is not necessarily greener on the other side! I will not return to Caribbean Beach.
Pop Century/Art of Animation have everything a family would like/need! Their layout is physically a better plan. Food access is close by & good! And of course the Skyliner is the caveat!
Howdy! Gotta say, there is not a single thing that would bring me back to Disney (or Florida frankly) between May 1 and Sept 30. Absolutely miserable weather heat and humidity wise, not my idea of fun! Been twice in Sept – Labor Day plus 3 days and then in the last week of Sept. Un. Pleasant. And just dodged a land falling hurricane with that second trip. I’d rather be cold than hot any day of the week.
I also don’t get the parade attraction. Parades are just a means of getting on rides with little wait time :). Otherwise, not a fan. To each his own though!
The third and final consideration.
Rain.
You can Google what is the rainiest month of the year at Orlando, FL but I’ve already done that for you.
“The wettest months in the year occur in the summer, with June, July and August all receiving on average around seven inches of rain.”
“August is considered the steamiest month, with an average of 24.6 days of precipitation.”
I guarantee you it will rain in the afternoon.
Unless you are the Wicked Witch of the West there is little to fear from rain. The storms are often not long lasting though there will be days that they will be.
With the use of an umbrella/rain coat you can actually do quite well with rides and restaurants in the Parks.
People will scattter, some heading back to their resorts.
You can use that to your advantage.
The one big problem where it will not help in any way is if it’s at night during MNSSHP.
Yes you paid less in August but if it’s not cancelled you will get less. Less in the way of shows, parades and fireworks. You’ll get extra candy but adults can buy all the candy they want at the supermarket.
In six years we only had this experience once. It wasn’t a rain out but it was raining pretty bad and the party was just starting and we went to the Town Hall customer service with a lot of other people with the same idea and were given a refund in the way of a credit which we could put towards another party date or even MVMCP any year we wanted. We used it the following year.
If you are allergic to rain don’t go but I will tell you one other cautionary tale.
We went last May. After a very hot, extremely humid August trip and an insanely overcrowded Clausetrophobic Christamas week we wanted nice weather and low crowds. Both highlights of May.
My wife could only join me for 4 1/2 days. The first three days it rained something fierce.
I will leave you with this.
Each of those aforementioned trips we still had a good time. Sometimes a great time.
Perfect?
There’s no such thing.
We know that, that’s why we’re together 53 years this August.
That’s why August.
At the risk of repeating myself, we’ve been there the last two weeks of August and sometimes a bit into early Sept for the last six years.
The first four it was hot but we were OK with it. 2023 was sooooooo bad we seriously considered not returning that time of year ever again.
2025 was better but hotter than the first four visits and hot enough to make us ask., “Why did we do this again?”
Folks it’s not just the heat it’s the humidity and most often overlooked THE RELENTLESS SUN!
Yet here we are again poised to return, like goldfish with 8 second memories.
If you don’t like hot DON’T GO!
There are two other aspects to consider but I have to go.
Will finish later.
ok got a few minutes.
HURICANE season.
It’s a real thing.
I forget which year it was that we were there but Walt Disney World actaully did close the Parks and the resorts were under strict restrictions. Fortunately this happenned while we were at Wilderness Lodge. Not too shabby if you have to be holed up.
There was another time when we had to stay put at our resort and that time we were either at AS Movies or Pop Century.
We were never scared and it was a bit of an adventure, as crazy as that may sound, it was fun. Costumed characters showed up and hung out.
I would be telling a different tale if the Hurricane had hit us or lifted the roof off WL.
As stated above if you dislike the heat I would stay away.
I wouldn’t let the threat of Hurricanes keep me away. And I’ll tell you why you shouldn’t.
Disney is ontop of ALL weather situations. If lightening is within 10 miles they close down the pools, water parks and shut down the outdoor rides.
They are extremely cautious and careful.
The suits in the suites may be looking out for the bottom line but rest assured the folks on the ground in Orlando really are concerned about you and your safety.
So happy to hear this as our vacation is booked from August 27th to September 6th. Had to push our original May date back so we are even going to get to swing over to Epic Universe which wasn’t going to be open for our original dates. The only down side is the 9 day php tickets I bought which I will likely not get to use all 9 days…
hi tom! is the week after Thanksgiving still ok to go? I have difficulty with heat (breathing) and have usually gone during this time
I’m hoping to make it! This is also one of my favorite weeks of the year to visit Disney for all the reasons you mentioned – plus our anniversary is September 3rd, so we get an anniversary trip with low crowds and lots of fun events!
I’m really thinking about attending the convention! Is this something we would want to jump on quickly to book those rooms, or do we have time to wait?
You probably have time to book these rooms, or if not, somewhere else (but I’d definitely stay at CSR during D23 for ease).
I would not wait once tickets for the event open. The last D23 Expo sold out fast. This could be different and sell slower since it’s doubling in size, but I wont be taking that risk.
We just got back from a Sat-Sat trip the week before Thanksgiving 2024. Holy Smokes did we luck out!!! Mon-Fri in the parks was seriously below average crowds – I’m talking crowd levels 1-3 across all 4 parks.
I have a feeling we’ll see similar next year because Thanksgiving will be ‘late’ then as well. What’s probably happening in for 2024 and 2025 an extra week has been thrown in to spread Nov visitors out.
Another good tip for the holidays – Jollywood night on Mondays. Go to Hollywood Studios this day if MK doesn’t have MVMCP. Between EP pulling non-hopper deluxe guests away, MK pulling guests for full hours and fireworks, and HS closing 2 hours early… it really is an amazing day to enjoy HS because attendance is lower than you’ll ever see outside a separate paid ticket event (AH/JN).
Thanks for sharing this on the ground report! The week before Thanksgiving is definitely a sweet spot, and you also helped yourself out by choosing the best parks and avoiding the worst (at least with DHS/MK, but those are the two most important). The only tough part with that week is the potential early arrival with pre-Thanksgiving crowds over the weekend, but sounds like that wasn’t an issue for you. Great to hear!
You won’t be disappointed in attending Destination D. I’ve been to several and it is always a fantastic experience. Everyone is so accessible and it’s a true celebration of everything we love about Disney….without the madness that surrounds “what have you done for me lately” announcements at the D23 expo. I HIGHLY encourage folks here to go.
Tom, did you attend the Destination D that had the multi-day scavenger hunt? Might have been the first one, but I can’t remember. That scavenger hunt is by far my most treasured Disney memory.
The one that was themed to Tigger? Well not really themed to, but he was on the badge and it was named after him?
If so, yes! It was a ton of fun, but I also remember it being very hot. I’m not sure what year that was, but it had to have been an early one.
So basically what you’re saying is that if we attend Destination 23 next year we get to hang out with you all weekend and become BFFs? Count me in! But more seriously, it does sound like a great time to experience one of these expos… definitely tempted to check it off the bucket list!
Went the week before Thanksgiving week (16-22) this year and it was *amazing.* Did fast pass at Epcot only because we had my elderly MIL with us who can’t do lines and frozen was a must for us… but everything was always 5-10 minutes. MK fast pass honestly wasn’t even needed for a family of littles! Virtual queue for Tiana and then all the rides for smaller kids were 5-10 all day too. Insanity! Fast pass ultimately was useful for Pooh’s ride and Jingle Cruise. Was able to do most of the park despite it closing early for the party.
I listened to your advice. I went September 3rd-13th this year. The crowds were incredibly low. Hollywood Studios was empty one of the days I was there. But the heat, my god the heat. I have been to WDW in July & August when I was in my 20’s. Now in my 40’s the heat just hits me different. In addition to the heat there was the rain. And not the it rains for 30 minutes in the afternoon every day in Florida rain. Rain for hours and hours. I went specifically for the Halloween party. I had tickets for 2 nights. It rained during both parties. Buckets coming down. Not an enjoyable experience. I am glad I went so I could see what low crowds at WDW meant. It also taught me crowds vs weather, I’ll take crowds every time. That was a surprising revelation.
Yep. It’s hard to understand just how bad the weather is until you experience it.
For whatever it’s worth, I was there during a portion of your dates (first half) and the weather was actually *better* than it was during my visits in June and July! (That really says more about how awful those two months were this year than anything else.)
Funny I just went October 31-November 14 and the crowds were horrible EVERY DAY. I saw lines up to 180 minutes for Slinky Dog! I will take the heath and risk of hurricanes over crowds next time!
Tom likes to build up suspense with his preambles,..
I booked my room at CSR through the event link when the announcement was made. It was, indeed, $200/nt (not including tax) for a preferred room. Never been this time of year because of the heat but I guess I will find out how bad it really is!
Posted by accident? Seems to be talking about September not November…
It’s about the end of August into early September. The intro regarding late November/early December is just to underscore that still being our favorite, and without any real competition.
That’s why this is “one of” the best weeks, instead of the best.