2024 Best & Worst Months to Visit Disney World
Choosing when to visit Walt Disney World in 2024 can be difficult, balancing crowd calendars, seasonal events, park hours, weather, and more. This guide does exactly that to rank the best & worst months, plus some of our favorite weeks.
If you’ve yet to narrow down when you want to visit to a specific month or season, our Walt Disney World Crowd Calendars will help you choose dates based on attendance and average wait times, but that’s it. Accordingly, we recommend many readers consult this resource for the “broad strokes” on when to visit Walt Disney World. Here we’ve re-ranked the best and worst months for 2024 based on a variety of mostly qualitative and some quantitative factors.
This considers a variety of variables in conjunction with our evolving expectations about Walt Disney World’s attendance for 2024. To that end, we regularly share big updates, discounts that are released by Walt Disney World, crowd levels change, etc., we send out email notifications. To receive these, subscribe to our free email newsletter. This will give you a good idea of what things are like ‘on the ground’ at Walt Disney World, as well as what to expect in the future.
Unfortunately, Walt Disney World crowd levels can vary, and can not be forecast with 100% accuracy. As such, you should choose when to visit based on other comfort and enjoyment factors in addition to Walt Disney World crowd projections. It’s more pragmatic to choose when you’ll visit based on a mix of attendance levels plus weather, seasonal entertainment, and special events!
As such, these rankings eschew the typical Walt Disney World crowd calendar in favor of a more holistic approach that takes into account more than just crowds when choosing when to visit Walt Disney World.
Low crowds during a time when temperatures are sweltering, humidity is off the charts and there are no special events should not trump moderate crowds during a temperate time of year with a special event. Few people evaluate their vacation’s success by some statistical ‘fun quotient’, so why not do likewise when planning, and perform a qualitative analysis when choosing travel dates?
To cut to the chase, the point of this post is to rank every month of the year for visiting Walt Disney World in light of all variables that (we feel) are important with adjustments made for the ongoing reopening of the parks & resorts, operations scaling back up, capacity increasing, and entertainment returning.
Even months with significant and obvious downsides might have tremendous upside. Take August, for example, which ranks #8. That’s obviously not great, but summer vacation demand usually fizzles out after the first week, making the two-thirds of the month much better than the first half. Even then, it’s hard to rank August higher due to the weather, and since September is such a superior alternative.
There are similar stories throughout the list. November and December have become busier, but these are such qualititatively pleasant and fun months that we’re hard pressed to rank them poorly even given the higher crowds. You’ll have to decide for yourself how you weigh those countervailing factors–we’re just giving you some insight into our thinking and methodology.
Anyway, here is our personal assessment of the best and worst months to visit Walt Disney World. We’d recommend reading the description of each month carefully to make an informed decision about which time frames are best and worst for you…
12. July 2024 – This month ranks dead last due to uncertainty and upside, or lack thereof. Last July was the busiest month of the year at Walt Disney World as the parks got hit by an onslaught of pent-up demand. That’s not normal–in recent years, summer had ceased to be peak season at Walt Disney World.
However, Americans made up for lost time during summer vacation in the last two years, and Florida was one of the top destinations. Last July wasn’t quite as busy, but that could be attributed to inflation and rising gas prices, etc. Obviously, a lot could change between now and July, but we’re expecting above-average crowds.
The big reason behind the low ranking is that July is not a good month to visit Florida because of heat and humidity. The near-certainty of poor weather plus the uncertainty of heavy crowds puts July in last place. With that said, once you plan for the realities of a summer trip, remember: “even a rainy, potentially crowded day at Walt Disney World is better than a perfect day at home.” Don’t get too down on trip–it’ll still be a great time so long as you go in with good strategy and realistic expectations.
10. June 2024 – In a typical year, June starts out slow and gets progressively worse as more schools get out and families begin taking their summer vacations. Crowds start in above-average territory and are high by the end of the month. The last few summers have been a bit atypical, but we’d expect that trend to return for June 2024.
Another normal downside to June is the weather. Obviously, it’s a hot month, and the average monthly rainfall in June at Walt Disney World is over 8+ inches, and the probability of rain on any given day is above 50%. The upside to June is that it’s typically the less busy of the summer months, with most summer vacations happening in July or early August.
10. March 2024 – Early March is one of our “sleeper picks” for low crowds–and will be once again come March 2024 with Mardi Gras moving forward to February. Consequently, there should be a brief respite before spring break, but not long enough for March as a whole to rank too highly.
Spring break is the major downside to the second half of March, as is Easter occurring at the end of the month (March 31, 2024). In particular, avoid Orange County’s spring break as that’ll be the worst week-plus of the entire season, since that local school district has the most outsized impact on crowds.
On the plus side, weather is typically temperate by March, as evidenced by the start of Epcot’s International Flower & Garden Festival at the beginning of the month. Regardless of the year, we are fans of March dates as a great time for cool weather, moderate crowds, and Epcot coming into bloom.
9. April 2024 – James Franco could make a sequel to Spring Breakers set at Walt Disney World, and it would make the events of the original film seem perfectly tame. Okay, maybe not, but that doesn’t change the fact that Spring Break at Walt Disney World is a time to be avoided if you can.
Given that Easter will be in April every year until 2024, it’s a month that we recommend avoiding if you don’t like long lines. The entire month will be above average, but the weeks abutting Easter will be DEFCON 1. You’d better have some fast fingers (and a fast internet connection!) when trying to book a Lightning Lane for Slinky Dog Dash!
Starting on Tax Day Eve, April should improve considerably. Whether crowds drop by enough to move it higher on this list is debatable–but the point is that the last week and a half of April is much better. If that were its own month, it’d rank on the top half of this list.
8. August 2024 – Feel like Mission: Space is insufficient at simulating a visit to outer space? Then you’ll love August in Walt Disney World, when every day feels like a veritable trip to Venus or Mercury! August sees the mercury rising in Central Florida, and that hot, humid, and rainy weather alone makes August among the worst months to visit.
August is qualitatively the worst month to visit Walt Disney World. Quantitatively, it’s harder to say. August marks the end of “Peak Season” ticket prices, meaning people who postponed their visits to save money will start heading to the parks. Annual Passholder blockouts lift in August, causing a slight spike in locals, but it’s usually not bad.
The big thing is that summer vacation demand starts to burn out by the second week of August as families prepare to head back to school schedules. This results in an overall drop-off in attendance and there’s typically a large lull in crowds from mid-August through the end of September. August is a tale of two months–still slightly busy as vacation season winds down to start, but significantly better during the second half. Overall, it’s one of the lowest crowd months of the entire year. It’s the weather that drags it down considerably.
7. October 2024 – For the last several years, October had been dropping. Thanks to a variety of holidays, school breaks, conventions, and other events, October had become one of the busiest months of the year at Walt Disney World in terms of average wait times before that. Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party also throws a monkey wrench into Magic Kingdom attendance (but the upside is that it makes heavy crowds easier to predict and outsmart!).
Our expectation is that October 2024 marks a return to normal, as was more or less the case this year. That means some spikes around Columbus Day for fall break, with conventions and youth events also resulting in larger crowds. Other than that, the month is only slightly above average–albeit much worse than September.
Nevertheless, October remains attractive for its seasonal events at Epcot and Magic Kingdom and improving weather. We can’t recommend this month from the perspective of crowds alone, but it’s not a bad subjective choice when Halloween, Food & Wine, and more are added to the equation.
6. February 2024 – For the last few years, February has seen high crowds at Walt Disney World–to the point that we no longer call them “atypically” high crowds. That was once again true last year, with Mardi Gras and Presidents’ Day coinciding to make the second half of the month incredibly busy. Several days were so bad that Genie+ sold out.
It’s not likely to be much different next year. Mardi Gras moves earlier in the month, meaning two busy weeks instead of one insanely busy weeks. We expect this month to be slightly worse than January 2024 on that basis. However, if you can avoid the dates around holidays, February is still a decent time to visit.
If you’re already looking forward to February 2024, the first and last weeks of the month are definitely the ones to choose. Those should see lower crowds, pleasant weather, along with two different EPCOT festivals.
5. January 2024 – This is the “holiday hangover” at Walt Disney World. It’s sort of like Walt Disney World ate too many Christmas cookies and is too lazy to get off the couch and take down the decorations, with this mentality continuing long after the tree is dead to the point where its wife is embarrassed when it finally throws out the tree. (Not that I know from experience or anything.) On the plus side, January offers mild weather and the Epcot Festival of the Arts is fantastic.
When it comes to crowds, expect January 2024 to be a repeat of this year and the year before that. Which is to say, that January is a “Tale of Two Seasons.” This year, the month as a whole ended up being 7/10 on the crowd calendar, but that doesn’t even begin to tell the whole story. The first 7 days of the month were on par with the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Crowd levels were 10/10 every day during that stretch…and would’ve been even higher than that if the scale went higher. Attendance spiked again over the MLK Day holiday weekend, too.
However, most of the rest of January was much less busy, with lots of 2/10 and 3/10 days. If you can go after Orange County’s winter break and the Walt Disney World Marathon, January 2024 should be a great time to visit. Basically, aim for the second week or thereafter, and skip the mid-month MLK Day holiday weekend. Outside of those red flag dates, January 2024 should see fairly low crowds, pleasant weather, and EPCOT Festival of the Arts fun.
4. December 2024 – If Disney Vacation Club is the “Best Kept Secret,” the beginning of December being the best time to visit is “Disney’s Second Best Kept Secret.” Unfortunately, there’s just a pinch of sarcasm here. It’s as if the both ‘secrets’ were entrusted to the cast of Encanto, and they wrote a whole song about how they don’t talk about December crowds.
Suffice to say, the secret has gotten out about December. That coupled with Disney’s more strategic use of blockout dates and dynamic ticket pricing has shifted attendance somewhat. Crowds are still not as bad as other peak seasons, but it’s no longer the ghost town that it once was. We still view the first two weeks of the month as desirable times to visit, even despite being about as “secret” as the In-N-Out Secret Menu.
Pleasant weather plus Christmas decorations & entertainment are the big highlights here. It also helps that Pop Warner has moved to Universal, so that won’t contribute to crowds. If you can’t do mid-November, we think early to mid-December is still well worth it from a subjective perspective. And in fact, it might be worth it from an objective perspective, too. Last year, crowds didn’t get truly bad until December 19. Almost every day before that had a crowd level of 5/10 or lower. After that…well…like Bruno, we don’t talk about the chaotic crowds of Christmas and New Year’s Eve!
3. September 2024 – Every single month that was once the off-season has seen soaring crowds at Walt Disney World in recent years, with one exception: September. Nothing has moved the needle on fall off-season crowds–not the opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, not the anticipated pre-50th Anniversary lull, and not perpetual picks by crowd calendars that September would be the slowest month of the year.
When judged solely on the basis of crowds, September is always the best month of the year. Aside from Labor Day weekend, September is relatively slow, especially earlier in the month. While Walt Disney World has been able to manipulate crowd levels in other off-season months, that has not happened with September. After Labor Day, the entire month is off-season, with the lowest crowd levels of the year.
September remains resilient and “crowd-proof” because most people simply cannot visit during the month due to school going back into session, or don’t want to do so because of the weather. On that basis, September had been our #1 month of the year at Walt Disney World for ages.
But these are qualitative rankings, and I just can’t give September the nod anymore. Not after last year. Even with seasonal events and low crowds–the likelihood of brutal weather is just too much. Heat and humidity make being outdoors unpleasant during September, and it’s a high point in the storm season. (We highly recommend reading Is It Still Worth Visiting During the Fall Off-Season at Walt Disney World? before booking August or September.)
Despite that, it might be worth bearing with the weather to take advantage of those low crowds. That’s doubly true when you consider the fact that prices are cheaper in September and events are held at EPCOT (Food & Wine Festival) and Magic Kingdom (Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party.) Even in the current era of unpredictable crowds, September 2024 should be relatively reliable.
2. May 2024 – The entirety of May 2024 will fall before summer tourist season and our expectation is that–after several months of consistently high crowds for one reason or another–May will be another return to normal as the calm between Spring Break and Summer 2024.
That’s doubly true with nothing opening during the month of May 2024, or being new. Last year, TRON Lightcycle Run debuted in the prior month. The year before that, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind opened at the end of May, and had previews prior to then. There’s almost no chance that Tiana’s Bayou Adventure will be done by May 2024, and no one cares about CommuniCore Hall. There’s nothing else (major) that could debut during the month.
That’s huge from the perspective of crowds, and means the entirety of May 2024 should be slower. Even with the Memorial Day holiday weekend factored into the mix, crowds are typically below average in May. Most schools aren’t out of session this early, and there’s a lag between when kids get out of school and families take their big summer trips, anyway.
The main downside to May is that heat and humidity can really start intensifying in May, but still not as bad as the summer months that follow. However, May is the first month of the year during which it’s not uncommon to see the temperatures broach 90-degrees and the humidity reach high levels.
1. November 2024 – Save for Thanksgiving and Veterans Day weeks, neither of which are as bad as the Christmas and New Year’s holiday weeks in terms of crowds, November is similar to December. Early and mid-November are usually good times to visit Walt Disney World, and the week after Thanksgiving is exceptional.
The upside to November are that the weather is generally more temperate. The downside is that not all Christmas entertainment starts until after Thanksgiving (specifically at Epcot), and some resort hotel decorations are not up during the first half of the month. If that is make or break for you, visit in the last week of November 2024 (which technically also includes a couple days of December).
With the first half of December seeing lower crowds in the last couple of years, the gap between the two months is closing, but November 2024 should still retain its #1 ranking as an overall superior pick. Again, so long as you about the aforementioned holiday weeks. Only the week of Thanksgiving is truly bad in November, whereas only the first two weeks or so of December 2024 are truly good.
The culmination of all of this? That our favorite week to visit Walt Disney World is the Sunday after Thanksgiving through the first Saturday of December. That means arriving on December 1, 2024. (You might actually consider arriving Saturday to make your first park day Sunday–last year that day was dead.)
That’s the sweet spot for the best prospects of good weather, moderate crowds, and experiencing all of the Christmas festivities. For the last couple of years, that week has seen truly low crowd levels–not just moderate. We wouldn’t be surprised if the numbers rebound a little and crowds are in the 4/10 range. If lower crowds are of paramount importance, you can also target mid-November after Veterans Day–just go before the week of Thanksgiving. That week should be slightly less crowded and offer most Christmas entertainment, outside of Epcot.
Beyond this recommendation for our favorite week of the year, we’d refer you to our 10 Best & Worst Weeks to Visit Walt Disney World in 2024 and 2025. Those lists were actually inspired by this, and offering a range of recommendations beyond just the months here. That contains recommendations of dates to visit (and avoid!) in virtually every single month of 2024 and 2025. It should be helpful for picking dates, regardless of whether you have maximum flexibility or are locked into weeks when school is out of session.
Ultimately, that’s a rundown of the good & bad of crowds at Walt Disney World. As you might’ve gathered by reading the entries, the various months don’t really demarcate attendance levels. To the contrary, it’s really more about school breaks and holidays, and the stretches before and after those.
Consequently, mid-January to mid-February is more of a distinct window than either January or February, late April has more in common with May than with early April, mid-August is more like September than early August, and the last few months of the year are all about holiday breaks (or the lack thereof).
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
Do you agree or disagree with our 2024 Walt Disney World month by month rankings? Are there any months you think are better or worse than we have them ranked? Any specific ideal weeks that you’d recommend people visit Walt Disney World? Any questions? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
We’re going August 29th through September 4th this year, What are your thoughts on this timeframe and what we should do/be aware of.
Hi! Just came across this site and loving all the practical advice thank you!
Hope to be visiting WDW this year, can you recommend an ideal ‘3 week block’ to make our trip please? I seem to only be able to find single week ideal times in terms of crowds, weather etc. Is it even possible to select a ‘best’ 3 week time slot to visit?? Travelling with 2 adults & 2 Children (age 8 & 6).
Absolutely great article and my definite go-to Disney planning blog for our first trip next year!! My major dilemma is booking a date, we’re going for two weeks in November – should go the first two weeks or second and third week still avoiding Thanksgiving? Sounds like we’ll hit a busy event either way!! Thanks!!
I think the Spring Break part is a little weird. Do some schools do spring break around Easter? Most places I have lived in the Midwest ALWAYS does spring break the 2nd or 3rd week in March.
CT schools have always scheduled Spring break around Easter, usually the week before or the week after.
We have planned a trip starting the day after Christmas 2020 through New Year’s eve. We will be in the parks starting December 27- December 30. After reading this blog I am somewhat scared of these dates but they were the only time all of the family could be off together. Is it really going to be as bad as it seems?
Those dates will be some of the most crowded of the entire year. If you arrive prior to rope drop, maximize fast passes, plan sit down for peak times, and leave any expectation of getting on a ride in less than an hour, it’s a great time.
Just be prepared for the worse crowds ever. We were there and on New Year’s Eve the magic kingdom filled to capacity by 3pm – texts were being sent out to let guests know. Then at midnight the lines to get to the parking lots, shuttles, busses, monorail were horrid- fights were breaking out – I mean full on men punching – so we waited until almost 2 am when the park was empty and with that being said were told the monorail
Stopped running at 1:30 am!!! It was awful. Be prepared for insane crowds. We have teens thank goodness but if you have young kiddos we advise against.
Whatever you do SKIP Christmas and New Year- we were there to ring in 2020 and can’t get over how horrible the crowds were, especially if traveling with young ones.
For 2020, Would you recommend second week in March or last week in April in terms of crowds? Traveling with 4 and 2 year old.
Uk school holidays mean choosing between April 4- 17th or late July/August – I am trying to weigh up between extreme weather or high crowds – at the moment preference is April – is this the better month all things considered
I would suggest April. The weather is more bearable & less risk of being stuck in an airport due to weather delays.
Hi
We were planning a trip to WDW 2/1 through 2/10. However, there seems to be no availability at the resorts. Is there something going on that week? We even checked at some of the hotels off property and are seeing the same thing in regards to availability.
Thanks!
We’ve been booked for similar dates for almost a year. I’ve heard resorts have been filled up since early Fall. I think Disney’s just busier and busier.
There is national Cheerleading convention that week. You will be seeing lots of middle school and high school cheerleaders all over the parks. That’s why everything is booked.
We are planning to go at a similar time and have heard about the cheerleading events. Do they dramatically impact the crowds at the parks?
I have heard they do impact the experience at Value Disney resorts but we weren’t planning to stay there, so for us it really whether they make the parks significantly busier / longer waits.
Any thoughts would be very welcome!
Great article! We are tied to school schedules so for 2020 debating between Thanksgiving week 11/21-11/26 or Christmas week 12/18-12/23. Which week would be lower crowds or are they about the same? I’ll take any pointers/advice:)
Arriving before Thanksgiving, Nov 21-26 is the obvious choice between your 2 options. Almost everybody would agree with that, including Tom 😀
Going by historic numbers, you should see at least 30% less crowds than Dec. MK will be celebrating the holidays already, as will HS & AK. Epcot will not be hosting Festival of the Holidays yet, but Food & Wine Festival will still be running.
Mon & Tues will be the lowest crowds during your trip, utilize them wisely.
Thank you Heather! I checked wait times on the app a few of the days before Christmas last week and the times weren’t that bad. 7D, Space Mountain & Slinky were all 30-40 min. Those were better waits than our previous non-holiday trips so I thought hmm maybe that week wouldn’t be so bad. But as of now I’m leaning towards Thanksgiving because I think it’ll be less stressful versus heading back right into Christmas family gathering chaos.
I had a trip booked November 29th for 7 nights! I didn’t want to travel the weekend after Thanksgiving so I changed it to december 12th for 7 nights. I’m also hoping for free dining! Fingers crossed I made the right decision!
We are at WDW 2/16/20~2/24/20. This is the absolute longest we have ever been at Disney. I had no clue that the parks were extra busy that week and am now super anxious. Can you please give me an idea of what that looks like? Long wait lines? Shoulder to shoulder? I want to prepare myself and my family best that I can. Feeling bummed because my son has anxiety issues in very large crowds and I’m worried he won’t be able to handle it. 🙁
I personally love the end of August. I don’t go this time frame every year but will in 2020 as we want to do M&M runaway railway, but not when it first opens. The heat is manageable if you tour early, take a mid day break and come back in the evenings. Schedule meal breaks in AC and see the AC shows. It depressed me to go to Florida to wear coats and gloves which is what we were doing this November plus we all caught bad colds while we were there.
We have gone several times over spring break and this past year seemed less busy than normal in terms of wait times and overall feel. This may not be accurate in terms of math, but subjectively our group thought it felt different.
We were there the last week of September, 2018 (checked out of AKL on 10/1) and crowds were ATROCIOUS the entire week. Except for a rope drop at DHS and late-night Extra Magic Hours at MK it was mostly miserable. I think there’s some October creep that last week.
We are a family of 4 from Australia our 1st ever visit to WDW.. we arrive 26th April – 3rd May 2020.. from what I have seen this should miss spring break and potentially be moderate to lower crowds… any feedback with regards to our dates?
From a Very excited but overwhelmed first time family
We went the first week of May a couple of years ago and it was the best trip to WDW we have had yet. The weather was perfect and the crowds were low.
Hope it’s the same for you! We stayed at the Yacht club so were able to avoid taking the buses for Epcot and Hollywood Studios.
Would it be better to go Christmas week in 2020 or try to push off until 1st. full week of January 2021? We are trying to plan vacay around college break time for grandson. I’ve never been to Disney World over any holiday so I’m not sure what to expect in terms of crowds.
Nancy,
If you want to see the Christmas decorations, then Christmas week would be better. If you want smaller crowds, the 1st full week of January would be best. Christmas week through the week of New Year are very crowded.
Ive booked this year the week before Thanksgiving. From your post looks pretty good. My question is does Disney usually put out free dining or room discounts for that week before Thanksgiving?
NANCY WE LEFT ON DECEMBER 26 AND RETURNED ON 01/07/19 IT WAS AMAZING. RINGING IN THE NEW YEAR WITH DISNEY IS THE WAY TO GO BY FAR.
When is Jersey Week 2020? I thought it was the first week of November, but you reccomend the first week of November so I wanted to double check. With Veteran’s Day 2020 being in the middle of the week do you expect crowds to be as high as usual that day?
We are arriving on the 9th of November leaving the 14th. And are hoping for the best. Jersey days off are 11/5-6
We are arriving the 8th and leaving the 14th
Yay, I chose kinda well 🙂 We’ll be there the first week of February.
I was considering a November visit in 2020, and saw your recommendations, but I also saw that they are doing the Wine & Dine run the first weekend of November, and with Veteran’s Day 11/11, I’m guessing we are best to arrive the weekend after Veteran’s Day & leave before the weekend before Thanksgiving?
That’s an ideal time. We spent two weeks there this November. We arrived on Veteran’s Day weekend, stayed out of the parks on Saturdays and Veteran’s Day and it was wonderful!
That’s great to hear, thank you for the feedback!
We are at WDW right now and it is so PACKED that we can’t even walk down the street or stop and look at anything without getting trampled. We left MK early today because it’s too frustrating to be there. We got Fast Pass+ for the Jungle Cruise and it was still a 50 min wait, the line was into the street! We came in early December to avoid just this. I think our Disney days are def over. It is a complete waste of money when you can’t even enjoy the park without getting run over by a scooter. We knew it would be busy because it’s Disney but this is absolutely ridiculous.