Disney World’s Colossal Crowds Are Heating Up Again for Holidays.

November and December 2025 are going to be busy months at Walt Disney World. Long weekends and full week breaks cause crowd levels to spike, catching guests by surprise. Expect dates with high wait times in Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios–the worst in 6 months! This post covers what to expect, while also offering a look back at October crowds.

To quickly recap the last few months, it was a quiet summer at Walt Disney World and the off-season was so slow that September was the least busy month since 2021. There were spikes to above-average territory (largely driven by the end of Florida resident ticket deals), and EPCOT was surprisingly busy, but otherwise, Walt Disney World enjoyed an extended slow stretch for almost the last 6 months.

That ended around Columbus Day. Fall break is one of the busiest times of the year at Walt Disney World, and essentially the kick-off of the popular 3 month stretch culminating in Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Federal holidays and school recesses cause crowd levels to spike, which catches many visitors by surprise. As discussed below, that happened again this year with a stretch of the worst crowds at Walt Disney World since Easter!

Before we get going, the usual caveat on crowds: what’s covered in these reports is wait times data that’s pulled from My Disney Experience and compiled into graphs. It’s valuable for tracking and comparing wait times across days, weeks, months, and years. A lot can be gleaned from posted wait times, but they’re not always conclusive of in-park congestion or crowds.

Posted wait times are almost always inflated, some lines don’t post wait times, they don’t account for Lightning Lane changes, EPCOT festivals, and can’t tell us anything about congestion for fireworks, parades, etc. Nevertheless, wait times are the only objective measure of Walt Disney World crowds. On-the-ground observations can be useful, but they have shortcomings.

With that background out of the way, let’s take a look at crowd levels for the last month. As always, all graphs and wait time stats are courtesy of Thrill-Data.com:

We’ll start with the monthly numbers for Walt Disney World as a whole, dating all the way back to 2019.

Monthly crowd levels climbed from last November through this March, and then were on a steady decline from April through this September. This is consistent with last year, and comparable to most other years. September has been the slowest full month of 2025 to date, with a 26 minute average wait time and 1/10 crowd level.

October was a turning point for crowds, which was exactly what we expected. This is a notable deviation from last year, when September and October had identical crowd levels. However, as we’ve discussed at length previously, that was due to hurricanes. Those really dragged down the overall numbers, and caused $130 million in cancellations as disclosed by Disney on quarterly earnings calls. So it’s unsurprising that October 2025 bounced back from that in a big way!

Even so, October had average wait times about on par with July and August. Frankly, that’s lower than we expected, especially after summer has become the new low crowds season at Walt Disney World. Regardless, October definitely was not the off-season when you zoom out and look at the month as a whole. Closer examination tells a slightly different and more nuanced story, though…

Above is a look at weekly wait times for the last year.

This paints a fuller picture of the highs and lows of October crowds. In a nutshell, there were two weeks in the middle of the month that saw sharp spikes; these were the busiest weeks since Easter.

At the other end of the spectrum, both the beginning and end of October were on par with the lows of September. In fact, the last two weeks of the Florida resident ticket deal were actually busier than the first and last two weeks of October 2025.

Looking at the daily data for the last year, it should be fairly easy to spot the Fall Break spike, roughly October 4-18, 2025.

The truly busy dates during that stretch were October 10-18, 2025 (minus 10/16). The dates before that were busy relative to the first few days of October, but not truly bad in absolute terms. If you look back to the summer months, they were about on par with the bulk of June and July.

Since then, there was another spike October 24-25, and then again to start November 2025. The first few days of the month and the entire second half (minus October 24-25) basically marked a return of the off-season lows from mid-August through much of September.

For those keeping score at home, we flagged October 10-18, 2025 as being one of the the 10 worst ‘weeks’ of the year.

We also had both September 28 to October 5, 2025 and October 19-30, 2025 as two of the 10 best weeks of the year. This is just one of many ‘flipping a switch’ stretches when crowds go from awful to awesome (or vice-versa) overnight–with several more on the horizon in the next two months.

I’m pretty pleased with our performance during that stretch, especially given last year’s wait times data was unusable due to the aforementioned hurricane scares. We did “miss” October 4-5, 16th and October 24-25, but that’s precisely why we recommend date ranges as opposed to giving numerical scores to individual dates. Too many one-offs for the latter to be credible these days.

See our list of the 10 Best and 10 Worst Weeks to Visit Walt Disney World in 2025 to 2027.

Looking Forward at November 2025

Expect several more ‘flipping a switch’ crowd dynamics in the next 3 months. We often refer to the holiday season as having roller coaster crowd levels, because these few months have low lows and high highs.

The highs are mostly obvious. People having time off work and school districts having student holidays, and wanting to visit Florida during one of the most pleasant times of year and Walt Disney World’s best seasonal event. The lows are essentially the inverse of that–due to the proximity of the aforementioned breaks, families are less likely to pull their kids out of school to travel during those windows.

Beyond the obvious of the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve, there are some landmines or smaller holidays this time of year that sneak up on Walt Disney World planners.

We’ve already discussed most of these at length in our November 2025 Crowd Calendar and December 2025 Crowd Calendar for Walt Disney World, so you should be familiar with the impact of Jersey Week or Veterans Day by this point (if not, they’re discussed again below).

If you just want the short version of this, the aforementioned best & worst weeks list has another red flag stretch starting very soon: November 3-10, 2025. This is one of the worst weeks of the entire year, due to multiple “holidays” colliding. Let’s discuss each and its potential impact on crowd levels…

Jersey Week

The New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) convention on November 6-7, 2025 is what gives rise to the infamous Jersey Week, during which no less than 73% of the Garden State descends upon WDW.

Although this holiday continues to catch fans by surprise, as does the outsized impact of “only” one state having a break, it is always a very busy week. This year, we’re going to see just how big Jersey Week actually is with Veterans Day and Christmas both happening later than normal.

My guess is that it’s going to reveal that Jersey Week is actually the biggest driver of crowds during this stretch. For some of you, it might stretch credulity that a single state–and one geographically fairly far from Florida–could have such a significant impact on crowds. I don’t know what to tell you other than: it does.

Crowds in the coming week being elevated due to Jersey Week is hardly a bold or new prediction. The annual teachers’ convention has had a significant impact for as long as I can remember. I’ve been in the parks for many Jersey Weeks, have chatted with many guests from the Garden State, and even departed MCO in each of the last two years with the Jersey Week wave.

My one criticism of Jerseyites is that they don’t rep Devils jerseys in high numbers. (“You gotta support the team!” ~Puddy) Perhaps that is how New Jersey can be represented in Soarin’ Across America, with the Chief Flight Attendant reprising his Devils face paint?!

Election Day

Not that many states offer days off for the election, and none that do are within reasonable driving distance of Walt Disney World. Even so, there are longer holiday breaks in November that are more desirable for trips to Walt Disney World.

However, readers have pointed out that select school districts have Election Day and the Monday beforehand off work, because schools are often used as polling places for ease and accessibility. As a result, districts in the Midwest, Northeast–and possibly beyond–have long weekends. The 4-day break is attractive enough to move the needle, especially for families that want to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas at home.

The problem here is that we don’t have good data on the impact (or lack thereof) of Election Day. Last year was a presidential election, so I’m not necessarily sure that’s representative, but Monday and Tuesday did see elevated wait times–worse than the following week. Consider this is a contributing factor at minimum, and part of the reason we expect Jersey Week to be busier than the week that follows.

Veterans Day

The major nationwide holiday on the horizon is Veterans Day, which falls on Tuesday, November 11, 2025.

This is the week after Jersey Week, and it might be a bold prediction to have the aforementioned ‘worst week’ end one day before Veterans Day itself. But my expectation is that to the extent it is treated as a long weekend, most guests will be departing Walt Disney World on November 11th. This actually happens with a lot of long weekend holidays–even ones that fall on Mondays.

Veterans Day is always a “sneaky” holiday for crowds at Walt Disney World. It’s under-discussed, but a surprisingly high number of government workers, students, and others do have the day off. We’ve been warning about Veterans Day crowds for years, as it has been almost on par with Thanksgiving some years. It’s a long weekend that can have an outsized impact on crowd levels.

One thing to note here is that November 11, 2025 will not be like flipping a switch to low crowds. It’ll still see elevated crowds, just not ‘worst’ level. We could probably extend the ‘dates to avoid’ recommendation to November 14, 2025 just to err on the side of caution, as we’ve observed elevated crowds in the past throughout that whole week.

However, recent trends suggest a mid-week downturn and the height of the crowds arriving before Veterans Day. The week that follows still isn’t good, but it’s not as bad as Jersey Week before it. Of course, it’s not the only big holiday during November and December, but I doubt any Walt Disney World fans would doubt that Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year’s Eve are busy stretches. Along with Columbus Day (also one of the worst weekends/weeks), Veterans Day sneaks up on a lot of people!

If you’re looking for the next set of best dates, those are November 15-21, 2025.

It’s unlikely that Jersey Week/Veterans Day/etc. crowd levels surpass Easter, but this week-plus almost certainly will surpass Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples’ Day/Fall Break. Thanksgiving will probably edge out Jersey Week, especially with Veterans Day being on Tuesday and no other major events this year exacerbating crowds this week.

Choosing the optimal days to do each park, especially Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom is huge. Both of those parks have earlier openings on select dates throughout November (and presumably December), so taking advantage of Early Entry is incredibly advantageous. Do not underestimate Early Entry, or visiting those parks on days that are likely to be less crowded. It’s a similar story with DHS or Animal Kingdom in the evenings.

By simply arriving early or staying late at every park, you can beat the worst of the midday crowds. (Of course, that’s “simple” in theory but more difficult in practice, especially if you have small children. That’s a big reason why wait times are lower first thing in the morning and later in the evenings.) Beyond that, be sure to also check out our Walt Disney World Itineraries for plans of attack.

It’s entirely possible to beat the upcoming ‘worst weeks’ crowds by utilizing Lightning Lane Multi-Pass, Early Entry, Extended Evening Hours, rope drop, etc. We cover the best & worst approach for each park in Best Time-Saving Strategies for Walt Disney World. If you’re only going to read one planning post, make it that.

There are great ways to beat the crowds–even on busy days–without buying Lightning Lane Multi-Pass (LLMP) or Single Pass (LLSP). We don’t buy line-skipping services most of the time, and find we’re able to do just fine so long as we’re up early or out late–ideally both!

Speaking of which, we have a comprehensive Guide to Lightning Lanes at Walt Disney World for those who want to thoroughly master paid FastPass. Weeks like this, it’s definitely a good option for Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and maybe EPCOT. (We seldom recommend LLMP at Animal Kingdom, and that remains true.)

Overall, that’s about what you can expect to experience this month at Walt Disney World. How things unfold over the next couple of weeks really depends upon how many non-Jerseyite Northeasterners and Midwesterners have time off from school or work. Those are the unknowns. Years of on-the-ground experience and wait times data tell us that Jersey Week is going to be a big driver of attendance.

In the end, we wouldn’t necessarily avoid the upcoming week if you have a school-aged child and have no better options outside of the even bigger holiday breaks in the final quarter of the year (not like you’re going to change your plans at this point, anyway, as the aforementioned worst week starts today).

Even as we’re warning about the upcoming window, there should be little doubt that the weeks of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Even will be much worse than Veterans Day/Jersey Week/etc. They always are.

For comprehensive tips for planning your Christmas-time trip to Walt Disney World, check out our Ultimate Guide to Christmas at Walt Disney World. For Walt Disney World trip planning tips and comprehensive advice, make sure to read our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide and related articles.

YOUR THOUGHTS

Have you visited Walt Disney World during November in the past? What did you think of the crowds? Are you visiting this year? Do you have any of the above holidays off work or school? Anything else we missed that could impact crowds in November 2025? Do you agree or disagree with anything in our crowd forecast for Walt Disney World? Any questions we can help you answer? 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!