Why Summer is the New Low Crowds Season at Disney World
Walt Disney World is having a slow summer. Another one. This does not mean that the parks are dead or ghost towns. Calling the parks empty is an exaggeration. However, attendance has decreased noticeably, wait times are down, ADR availability is ample, and the company continues to pull new levers to entice locals and fans back to the parks. We dig into the data and offer our theories for the summer slowdown.
The one thing summer hasn’t been, though, is peak season. Not for a long time. Back on June 26, 2017 we first published: Summer Is Not Peak Season at Walt Disney World. That explained how, despite the conventional wisdom that Memorial Day through Labor Day is the busiest stretch of the year in Florida, summer crowds weren’t as bad as in the past. It offered several potential theories explaining the why of this.
Last year, we followed that up with Summer (Still) Is NOT High Crowds Season at Walt Disney World. If you want a recap of 2016-2018, 2019, 2020, 2021-2022, and 2023-2024 (all listed separately because they have their own unique wrinkles), so the first half of that post. It explains the Star Wars Slump, “Revenge Travel,” overly aggressive pricing, and more. We’re revisiting the topic again in 2025 because this year is once again its own new ‘era’ and crowds have been even lower thus far in Summer 2025.
You might notice that the titles of these posts have ‘evolved’ over time. The first was that summer is not peak season. The second was that it’s not high crowds season. This one is that summer is the new lower crowds season. None of that is coincidental. This trend started about a decade ago, but contrasting crowd levels from those summers with today makes them look downright packed by comparison. (This is because overall Walt Disney World attendance still doesn’t even approach its peak 2018-2019 levels.)
In fact, Summer 2025 has been so slow thus far that I was tempted to use the word “off-season” in the title. When I first started working on this, there was a strong case to be made that this summer was proving to be the off-season. The last week cast doubt on that, and even if it hadn’t, there’s also the reality that August and September will be slower than June and July. Can we really have a 4-month off-season stretch?
From my perspective, the answer is no. Off-season signifies the lowest of the low. Not only that, but if summer is the off-season, the “shoulder season” before it starts to lose meaning. So instead we’ll stick with cumbersome verbiage to describe what summer has become. It’s definitely not peak season, but it also isn’t off-season (yet). It’s somewhere in between. A new elbow season, if you will.
Even though June was the least-busy month of 2025, it’ll likely be surpassed by the next 3 months. Not only that, but plenty of other busier (as a whole) months do have lower lows; they’re just accompanied by higher highs to balance out averages. June has a tighter range to crowd levels, without much in the way of spikes or sharp drops. Perhaps we should call summer the “consistently uncomfortable season,” which is vague yet 100% accurate.
Before we discuss the potential explanations for why summer is (yet again) slower at Walt Disney World, let’s take a look at wait times. As always, all graphs and stats are courtesy of thrill-data.com.
June 2025 Crowds
June has been the slowest month of the year to date, with an average wait time of 31 minutes and a crowd level of 2/10. As always, that is an average, which still means that hour-plus waits (or even 90+ minutes!) are possible for the headliners at peak times. They’re just offset by 5-10 minute waits for lower profile attractions.
There have also been plenty of days that have been busier than that average. June 2-3 had 36-37 minute waits for 5/10 and 6/10 crowd levels; June 23-24 had 35 minute averages for 5/10 crowds. By contrast, June 12-15 was the slowest stretch of the month, with wait times bottoming out at 22 minutes (1/10 crowds) and never exceeding 30 minutes (on average) for that stretch.
To the point about more consistent crowd levels across summer, it’s worth pointing out that even as June ranks 6 (out of 6) for crowd levels thus far in 2025, it still only had two truly ‘dead’ days. In fact, if you zoom out further, there wasn’t a single day in June that was among the least busy 30 days in the last year. There were many dates from last August through December that beat June (although hurricane scares played a role in September and October).
Not that it’s any surprise at this point, but weekends are less busy than weekdays. This is a trend that’s several years running, but is amplified during summer and minimized once Party Season starts. As a whole, June 2025 was slightly less busy than May, which was slightly less busy than April (one minute month-to-month decreases in both cases).
If you’re trying to trend-spot or time a vacation next summer, the last week of June was the busiest (4/10 crowds for the full week) and the second week of the month leading up to Father’s Day was least busy (1/10 crowds). These are about as close to patterns as we get for summer travel, and you can probably expect something similar in June 2026. Other than that, not really a ton that’s worth talking about. Summer is the least interesting season for crowds since it tends to be the most consistent.
Before we turn to potential explanations, let’s preemptively rule out anything that falls apart when examining the heavy crowds over Easter, or the potential for year-over-year increases during October, high crowds at Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, or in Winter 2026. Because it’s important to note that even as summer has eroded in popularity, other dates are just as busy–or even busier–than ever at Walt Disney World.
Basically, any theory that would be contradicted by higher crowds in the last few months or the next few months is off the table. Meaning that higher prices, fewer perks, and Disney’s declining reputation do not explain the lower summer crowds trend. This may seem obvious, but it’s nevertheless necessary because discussing attendance has become a loaded issue with many fans who want to see their own narratives reinforced. If you believe that Disney is doomed or failing because of X or Y, that is certainly your prerogative, but X or Y as an explanation fails when crowds get crazy–and they will, later this year.
With that out of the way, let’s talk theories as to why summer is slower now than it was back in the day…
Epic Universe
We might as well start with the elephant in the room: Epic Universe. This is where we begin not because I believe it’s the #1 explanation for lower crowds at Walt Disney World. But rather, because this is the #1 rationale that many fans will proffer–especially those wanting to see Disney “taken down a notch.”
My unpopular opinion is that Epic Universe has close to no net impact on summer crowds at Walt Disney World. It does undoubtedly have some impact at the margins, and there are countless anecdotes (we’ve heard ’em!) about fans skipping Walt Disney World for Universal this year. That is unquestionably happening. However, new visitors are also being drawn to Orlando due to Epic Universe and also visiting Walt Disney World as a result (the “rising tides lifts all ships” thesis).
It’s not even necessary to get into all of those anecdotes and theories to determine which side is “winning,” because we have data. As explained in our Epic Universe 2025 Crowd Calendar Predictions: High Crowds Despite Low Attendance?!, Epic Universe ticket sales are low.
On an average day this summer, Epic Universe is greeting fewer guests than Animal Kingdom. That’s not good. While high wait times often reflect high attendance, they can also reflect low capacity. That’s the true tale of Epic Universe thus far: high wait times due to low throughput masking low attendance (got all that?!).
We can also look to wait times data for Universal Orlando. The resort as a whole is about on par with last year’s numbers, but if you look at only Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios Florida (the two parks open last summer), they’re down in Summer 2025 versus last year. So either Epic Universe is cannibalizing attendance at Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando (but disproportionately the latter), or there are better explanations as to why both operators continue the downtrend. In our view, it’s the latter.
International Travel
During the most recent earnings call, Disney CFO Hugh Johnston was asked if the domestic parks have seen a hit to international visitation (reasons discussed in Canadians Are Canceling Walt Disney World Vacations).
In terms of the attendance, Johnston indicated that international attendance at the domestic parks still has not gotten back to pre-COVID levels (this is not a new development), but it is still in the double-digits. As for recent international visitation, Walt Disney World and Disneyland have “seen a bit of an impact” of roughly 1% to 1.5% declines.
What Disney expects going forward is something similar to that, but the company points out that it is “more than making up for it with domestic attendance–attendance at the parks has been terrific.” More broadly speaking, data shows that demand from Canada has dropped sharply, and there are early indicators (surveys and statements from airlines) suggesting a similar dynamic from Europe.
Still, as we discussed in the aforementioned article about Canada (and Disney’s own data reinforces), international travelers are not that significant of a demographic for Walt Disney World. If every single international visitor stayed home, it would be very noticeable–but that’s not even close to what’s happening. It’s a downtick of a few percentage points, at most.
It’s also unclear whether the worst of this is already in the rearview mirror. The Greater Orlando Aviation Authority just released stats for May 2025, and they’re illuminating. International passenger traffic was up 9.3% for the month, while domestic passenger traffic was down 4.2% for a combined decrease of 2.6%. The rolling 12-month total stands at 56.5 million annual passengers.
International traffic now accounts for 14.6% of passengers at MCO, an all-time high, surpassing the previous record from the summer of 2019, with an average of over 22,500 international passengers per day. Of course, MCO did add a new terminal, which has contributed to its record-setting run, but that was nearly 3 years ago at this point. Anyone who has passed through the legacy terminals in the last year-plus can tell you that MCO is insanely busy…pretty much all the time!
Economic Uncertainty
Disney’s CFO indicated during last December’s earnings call that they need to be “smart about pricing,” especially at the lower end of the market where consumers are “feeling stress.” (This is similar sentiment to what fast food chains and retailers have reported during their recent earnings calls.)
Johnston said that Disney has tried to hold prices steady for lower-priced offerings at the parks and that most of the price increases were concentrated among premium packages or during high-demand dates. He added that the company wants to “tap in to those families and build the habit of coming to Disneyland or Disney World, not one time, but multiple times.”
All of this explains why Walt Disney World has gotten so aggressive with discounting this summer. As we’ve reported at length elsewhere, you could get the cheapest Walt Disney World trip in July 2025 since at least 2019. That’s kind of crazy if you realize how much base prices have exploded post-COVID. This is a trend we expect to continue, with higher-occupancy winter months getting more expensive and summer further decreasing in 2026 and beyond.
At the same time, we’ve repeatedly cited consumer confidence, economic anxiety, ongoing inflation, Americans being squeezed from every direction, and more as reasons why Walt Disney World could see decreased attendance in the future. And yet, the number one thing we keep hearing on corporate earnings calls is how “resilient” the American consumer is and how “robust” spending remains.
It would seem that people express fear, anxiety, and concerns when surveyed about this stuff, but then behave differently. (In fact, survey data also bears this out, there’s a decoupling of perceptions about the broader economy versus their own finances–and has been for a few years.) In other words, this is a non-factor…for now?
Starlight Delays
Then there’s theoretical delayed trips for Starlight Night Parade and/or Test Track opening, similar to the pre-Star Wars Slump of 2019. I find this to be implausible at scale. We’ve seen nothing to indicate a meaningful number of guests postponed trips in the lead-up to Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind or TRON Lightcycle Run, nor were there noticeable spikes after those debuted.
They were, essentially, non-factors. This is actually an interesting topic in and of itself (one of my theories is that the complexity of accessing new attractions has given guests cold feet about planning around them), but beyond the scope of this post.
Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised Walt Disney World saw a bigger bump this holiday season or in early 2026 due to Epic Universe (guests “waiting out the crowds” + “rising tides” thesis) than they will from any of their own upcoming offerings. And even then, I don’t think the (positive) Epic effect will be all that meaningful.
Shifting Schedules
Back when we first tackled this topic in 2017, shifting schedules was offered as one explanation–more schools switching to year-round calendars with longer breaks throughout the year. I was somewhat dismissive, as that was not a sudden occurrence that began in the last few years. School calendars have been trending this way for a decade or more.
I am much more receptive to this explanation now. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that this is the dark horse candidate that probably isn’t given enough credit. Summer is the most convenient time for most families to visit due to school breaks. This is the rationale for summer being the peak tourist season in the first place. For decades, summer has seen sustained crowds at just about every tourist destination, for that very reason.
However, we would posit that this matters less and less in the post-COVID climate. After extended stretches out of school, families are less “afraid” to pull their kids out of school for vacation. Not all families or even most families, but just enough to move the needle. Anecdotally, we’ve heard from more and more readers who do exactly this. We can’t back it up with hard stats, but it passes the smell test and seems highly plausible to us.
Equally as important given the rise of the childless Disney Adult as a core demographic for Walt Disney World is the hybrid work/play trips. Although many Americans have faced return to office mandates, remote work is still a viable option for many, giving rise to a new generation of digital nomads.
As people who did this long before it was normalized by COVID, we’ve observed this in a number of destinations we frequent. It used to be the case that more desirable “off-season” dates were cheaper and less busy; but now, word has gotten out and numbers have leveled out. An illustrative example of this is winter crowds at Walt Disney World, which continue to increase comparatively. That’s also what makes this the best explanation, in our view, as it shows the redistribution of attendance in action.
High Heat & Humidity
Summer being unbearably hot and humid in Central Florida is not a recent development, so this shouldn’t be a year-over-year non-factor. However, the last few summers have been especially brutal and that has garnered headlines. The Orlando area has seen record-setting highs on several occasions, wirth temperatures consistently in the 90s, with “feels like” temperatures well above 100º.
According to the company, weather is the overriding factor in the summer slowdown. It was such a hot topic a couple years ago that it drew an explanation from CEO Bob Iger, who attributed the slowness to an exhaustion of pent-up demand and unseasonably bad weather, even by summer in Orlando standards. On subsequent earnings calls, the CEO or CFO have mentioned Florida weather on a few more occasions.
It’s not just Disney, either. In its quarterly and annual points, OLC (the owner and operator of Tokyo Disney Resort) has repeatedly pointed to weather as the primary reason for lower attendance. Given that OLC is more transparent about its numbers–and doesn’t have a huge portfolio of parks to cloud the results–this explanation strikes us as plausible. This is playing out again in Summer 2025, with the last two months being the slowest stretch at Tokyo Disneyland since last August.
When it comes to weather, the big wild card now is awareness. The internet continues to break down barriers, and what used to be an abstraction in the text of various books and resources is made plainly visible and presented in more colorful ways. It’s one thing to read about high heat in Birnbaum’s, it’s another entirely to see your favorite vlogger sweat their way around World Showcase. The former you might be more likely to dismiss, questioning just how bad it could be. The latter is much more vivid–a tangible cautionary tale.
Add to that the aforementioned willingness to pull kids out of school, and there’s a scenario where families have increased information coupled with decreased incentive to visit in the summer. Others who are reluctant or unable to skip school might simply be more inclined to visit during breaks.
This extends to Annual Passholders and locals. Floridians stay home when the forecast turns unseasonably hot, humid or rainy. Some of them might bear the weather if Disney gives them a reason to do so, as used to be the case with summer celebrations. That hasn’t been true for a few years, though. On top of that, I would hazard a guess that Central Florida’s growing transplant population is not suited to summer weather, and stays in the cooling comfort of air-conditioning during the summer months (disproportionate to native Floridians).
This comfort-seeking behavior also explains why feels like crowds or congestion are lower during the summer. Whereas in the winter guests might wander around enjoying the atmosphere of the parks, they seek refuge indoors like heat-seeking missiles (except in reverse). That actually could mean that wait times are elevated relative to attendance during the summer months. Anecdotally, I can say with complete certainty that the parks often look dead from June through September even if the wait times don’t always reflect that.
Shorter Hours
I feel like a broken record about this, but back when we fell in love with summers at Walt Disney World, the hours were longer. Although EPCOT and DAK are unchanged, Disney’s Hollywood Studios saw later closings on Star Wars Weekends nights and Magic Kingdom was open until 11 pm or midnight every night, with evening Extra Magic Hours until as late as 3 am.
Being able to Park Hop to Magic Kingdom and stay as late as 3 am made the summer heat more tolerable to plan around. We could start early, take a midday break, and then return for ~6 hours after sunset. It made summers satisfying, and was an easy way to mitigate the high heat.
Thankfully, Starlight will bring back those 11 pm closings, but it’s still perplexing that only one Walt Disney World theme park is currently open for an hour after sunset. There’s a reason why Extended Evening Hours is so much more popular during the summer months, and Walt Disney World knows this. Yet, it seems like a vicious cycle for summer park hours–with lower crowds begetting shorter hours.
No Special Events
Speaking of special events, another factor is the lack of special events to prop up summer numbers. This is somewhat an outgrowth of weather, because Walt Disney World simply cannot schedule runDisney races or outdoor ESPN Wide World of Sports competitions in June or July. It’s likely that Disney Meetings and Fairytale Weddings sees a similar summer slowdown.
It’s once again Diet EPCOT during the summer, with that being telegraphed far in advance for 2025. (Last year, at least there was the launch of CommuniCore Hall.) To be fair, there is GoofyCore Hall and Cool Kid Summer as the summer push, but that is largely marketing. It’s not like the summer ‘spectaculars’ of old, and I cannot imagine that an appreciable number of visitors booked for the substance of Cool Kid Summer. (The discounts are a different story.)
All of this is precisely why we expected a new festival at EPCOT or a revival of Summer Nightastic. Walt Disney World used to have blockbuster events that kicked off Memorial Day weekend, and made summer an exciting time to visit despite the weather. Maybe we’ll see a return to that in 2026, as even aggressive discounts haven’t moved the needle much.
Minimal Mitigation
I also feel like a broken record about this, but Imagineering has seemingly built all of its recent expansions for the California climate. Toy Story Land, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, World Celebration, and more are absolutely miserable ~8 months of the year. There’s little shade offering a way to escape the heat or summer showers.
It’s honestly mind-boggling that Walt Disney World has not only done nothing in terms of mitigation measures, but they’ve instead actively built things for a more Mediterranean climate. The most popular and newest areas of the parks–the places people spend a disproportionate amount of time–being especially unpleasant during the summer has likely contributed to guest perceptions that summers are less comfortable at Walt Disney World.
There are likely other variables I’m overlooking that could help explain why summer attendance has been down. Other factors might be at play, and in aggregate may have a noticeable impact, but I think those variables would be something visitors wouldn’t notice if it weren’t for the pricing, post-COVID schedule disruptions, and the weather.
Ultimately, it’s true that wait times have been below-average thus far in Summer 2025. Not quite off-season levels but not even rising to moderate. It’s also true that this is not a recent development. Summer being slower was the new-normal for a few years pre-COVID closures, and that trend has only accelerated since. Judging by the wait times we’re currently seeing, not even Walt Disney World’s lowest prices since at least 2019 could reverse the trend. It’ll be interesting to see which new levers they pull for 2026.
Before you read all of this and think that summer suddenly sounds like a great time to visit, uh, don’t. If you previously ruled out a summer vacation to Walt Disney World, consider the possibility that you did so for good reason. I’m not saying you’ll have a bad time–as we often say, “a rainy day at Walt Disney World is better than a perfect day at home.” That’s true as always.
What I will say is that whatever “gains” you’ll experience during summer at Walt Disney World by virtue of objectively lower crowd levels and wait times will be wiped out by subjectively inferior everything else. If you forced me to choose between mid-June and mid-December, I would choose the latter without hesitation. I would take 5/10 crowds with great weather and seasonal events over 1/10 crowds with miserable weather and nothing special happening. And it’s not even a remotely close call. Judging by all of the above, it would seem that I’m far from alone in this sentiment.
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Your Thoughts
Do you agree or disagree with our assessment as to why summer crowds at Walt Disney World have been below-average? Or, do you disagree entirely, and think it’s been as busy–or busier–than normal? Any observations about attendance trends during the fall months that follow this summer dip? Hearing your feedback about your experiences is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts or questions below in the comments!
Some data for you from me as an elementary school principal in upstate suburban New York. Pre-Covid yearly attendance rates from 2015-2020 were 96.2%. The post-covid data from 2021-2025 shows a whopping change to 87.9% attendance rate for kinder through 5th grade at my school. Parents do NOT care about school attendance and will freely write, ‘my child is absent to spend a week in Disney World’. Covid changed perspectives like nothing this world has ever seen. Thanks for another great article Tom and team!
YES. Teacher in upstate suburban NY here and you are spot on! Bad news-the parents of hs students don’t care about attendance either anymore. Pulling kids out for Disney trips 3 weeks before required exit exams and then getting angry when they fail!?! I think this who cares they’ll just “get the papers” attitude is absolutely impacting summer attendance. Among other things.
As a parent myself, Disney ruined itself from bad movies and high prices. Kids aren’t interested in visiting Disney for vacation or anything. Disney played itself. Instead, they are interested in going to other countries where they could enjoy the cultural experiences. Japan for example for anime and various Nintendo, Pokemon, and manga. The dollar is also buys much more yen that makes vacation much cheaper than going to Disney World.
I hate the weather but our APs expire in Sept and we want to see the new parade. Plus I promised my college kid a make-up day in AK. (They got Covid at the end of our Jan trip.) It’ll be a while before we get back so we’ll suck it up for a short (and very strategic) trip. We’ve never done a Disney water park. Is it worth trying that while it’s too hot to do other things?
It’s the heat and the fact that people have become accustomed to air conditioning. When I was a kid back in the 1960s, almost no one had air conditioning so we were used to being hot and dressed accordingly. Today folks are “spoiled” and can’t tolerate any discomfort. (I’m one of them!) Also, as you mention in the article, Florida is now home to many transplants from cooler parts of the country. Higher costs might play a factor, but it’s Disney after all and you know it’s going to be expensive.
I agree, my family didn’t have air-conditioning when I was growing up in the 80’s-90’s and I think it conditioned us to better endure the heat. Nowadays, I’m taken aback if I stay somewhere without central air. I would also add that people generally weigh more now than we did back then. This is not a judgement in any way. But it’s jut harder to exist in extreme heat when you have extra weight. Add in 20K steps per day and it’s misery. No one wants to spend 5K on a trip and be miserable. I’m thinking of the John Pinette’s “Epcot Death March” bit. “IT’S YOUR VACATION” Lol.
These are also excellent points about how society has changed in recent decades, making high heat even less tolerable for many.
I miss the parks during Covid. lol We went in November of that year and even though we had to wear masks even outside, the lack of shoulder to shoulder people made it really enjoyable! (though we really did miss many of the shows and whatnot that were closed during that timeframe, but that’s a whole other story! I do believe the heat and humidity of Florida (we have it in Virginia Beach too) can definitely be unbearable and when there’s no shade and nothing but the sun and heating beating down on you, I would imagine that would keep people away. (though there are 90 degree days in November too, though not nearly as often!) I do think the parks need to really think about adding more shade. That could just be by adding more trees with benches underneath, or A/C areas, or even areas with the fans and misters. They have them all throughout Busch Gardens up here, along with multiple areas to get wet or go inside and watch a show or ride an indoor ride. Disney needs to step up their game if they want to continue to be part of it. Epic Universe I’m sure is impacting the lower numbers, but as you said in the article, Universal’s other parks comparatively are also down in their numbers.
I also wonder if the anniversary last year and people flocking to it then are decreasing numbers this year too? I know we stayed away last year because we just knew it would be too crowded to be able to enjoy it.
I don’t remember if I read it in your blog or someone’s comments, but the fact that Disney the company has become a little more political may also have an impact. I even find my love for Disney diminishing at times. (and soooo frustrated with Disney Plus- not the programming itself., but the way the billing and renewals are handled- actually put a very sour taste in my mouth)
However, I still love the old classic stories, I still love the parks and hope they figure out how to make them even more enjoyable. (shade, water areas, more misters, better promotions…) And I always loved the extended hours. From the time when I was a kid (my first time going was at 13) to when I brought my son at 6 for his first time and my daughter for her first time at 2.5 and every time staying until at least 1am. We are night owls, so we find no need to rope drop when the lines and weather are so much better after dark. I do miss those days and hope they bring those back.
Having lived in South Florida for 6 years, I absolutely HATE the summers there. As a teacher I was fortunate to be able to leave for much of the summer. I have always said that someone would have to pay me to go to WDW in the summer. The weather just isn’t worth it. Well, in June, my school district did pay me to go to WDW (a conference). Another teacher and I went to Epcot, but only because there was After Hours that night. It was great! The longest wait we had was Guardians of the Galaxy (28 min. each time) and that was mostly walking through the queue. I absolutely would not have gone during the day though. I cannot handle the heat.
We went to DISNEYWORLD end July 2024 and I was really worried about the heat and humidity and feeling like I was going to pass out. Who would want to spend their vacation in Florida heat in summer ! But it actually wasn’t as bad as I expected. Sure , it was very hot , but the lines were not bad , there was a lot of available slots to book for lighting lanes and mostly all the restaurants had availability to book last minute . The key to surviving the heat in summer at WDW is to dodge in and out of air conditioning and carry a pocket fan or spritzer.
100% agree. May I add bring a good attitude. You’re at Disney everyone!! Have a good time!
I do wonder if the complaints about heat are coming mostly from overly frequent visitors? We go once every 3-5 years, always in July/August and enjoy every moment (and mickey bar) even though yes..it’s hot…but it wasn’t any hotter last time than any of the other times dating back to the 70s
It feels like stating the obvious that the main reason is the weather. I live in the South but the last thing I want to do in the Summer is vacation in FL, let alone walk around theme parks in the blazing sun.
I don’t follow the discounts that closely, but they seem to be aimed mostly at the Summer months. Which brings me back to the vicious cycle you mentioned about the short hours. Might be a worthwhile experiment for Disney to try longer hours instead of ever more discounts. It would be real heat mitigation aimed at what I think is the main issue. Something that could be implemented right away vs building more indoor space. (This will likely become necessary as well – just mind-boggling that the playbook only seems to contain discounts.)
We are trying mid-August this year, last time we went in August was 2017. I think price is the main driver for lower crowds. We started staying off property the last couple visits. When we stayed on property, we stayed at moderate resorts. The room we have this time is $100 less per night than any moderate resort after the current disney discount being offered with more space. We used to like the dining plan also but is now too expensive. In the past, you could breakeven on the plan without much effort
Magic Kingdom was pretty good today, wait times are fairly low thanks to Pirate & Pixie passes being blocked out. We’re sorcerer pass holders and had a good morning and early afternoon there.
I don’t agree that the reason so many experiences have been built without proper shade is because of California-based Imagineers. Epic Universe was created by a Florida-based team and with seemingly no consideration for weather at all. I think the reality is that when push comes to shove, budgets are being allocated to other things.
I agree it’s completely shortsighted, though. I’d like to see Orlando parks start an initiative like the one at Disneyland Paris, where they’re specifically prioritizing shade structures because they recognize things are only going to get hotter.
You’re right–and my “seemingly” is doing heavy lifting there. I don’t know how else to explain it, even though I’ve been told before that is *not* the primary explanation. (I do still believe that SWGE was designed first for California, but TSL obviously was not.)
I also don’t know how to explain why the EPCOT Food & Wine Festival menus still have so many heavy dishes. That’s all done by a Florida team! But I’ll get off my soapbox for now.
A ‘Florida Team’ of transplants from Northern states and CA trying to be the next weird food truck artist…..there Tom, fixed it for you. That is why the food & wine is so terrible at epcot. If disney really wanted something great they would partner with the Gonzmart family here in Central Florida, but I wouldn’t expect a bunch of out of state people claiming to be on the ‘Florida team’ to grasp that concept.
We live in Orlando and last summer hosted some friends from England (a mom and her two kids ages 12 & 14) in the month of July. They seemed to have more fun spending their days at either the Florida Mall or the Mall of Millenia than going to one of the theme parks. They ended up spending a couple of days in parks but they weren’t “magical experiences” due to the high heat and humidity. I hope Disney and Universal builds more indoor experiences in the future to attract visitors in the summer months. Otherwise, I feel most of the theme park attendance will shift to other moths of the year.
The closest I’ve come to summer was mid-May in 2018, and we were miserable. We will be there for one night pre-cruise this August, and I have no doubt we will double down on winter.
I think Disney will need to do a lot more by way of summer discounts and DVC point realignment over the long haul.
Increasing summer attendance is going to cost Disney one way or another. A tens of millions of dollars across the board investment in shade structures, trees, splash pads, misting stations etc. would be prudent. I know none of those things are a sexy new land or ride. But if it’s miserable for your guests to be in your park for half the year, what’s the point? Are their people in Parks and Resorts that are still really focused on logistics/health/safety that could pull this off? Or because it’s not marketable or magical, it would never fly?
I don’t think I can ever hack it at the parks during one of the hot weather months again unless Extra Extra Magic Hours (or whatever they called it) from 2019 came back. Walking up to a desolate Tower of Terror before the crack of dawn, knocking out a couple more rides before a late morning hotel AC nap was *chef’s kiss*.
That’s what it was called! Extra, Extra Magic Hours was glorious. Crazy how much has changed since those ‘good ole days’ of late summer and fall 2019!
Excellent article covering multiple reasons. I’d like to add one which I think is the main reason and which is the worse for Disney.
After years and years of Disney taking advantage of its guests by increasing costs while taking away big perks (Magic Express) and not maintaining the park leaving it looking beat up and used. In addition to Igers insistence on making the Disney company political which is a no no regardless of which side you fall on.
People have had enough. The Disney name is no longer magical. And customers are simply not going to the parks or seeing any many of their film options. That combined with EPIC and the fact that Universal is cheaper.
Disney has a bigger problem on their hands then you think. They are losing their customer base and in turn losing those kiddies who would grow up and take their kids. Will they win them back??? Im a stockholder and a big Disney fan so I really hope so. But its not going to be any time soon.
I would argue you did not read the article.
We were just there June 14-21 and thought the weather was perfectly tolerable! We’re from Maryland, so squarely not the North and not the South. We used to visit in August/Early September, so June to us feels better than that at least. We also always do a midafternoon break in our hotel room, to get out of the heat for a couple hours and reset.
I’d much rather go during a time of year when it’s sunny and feels like Florida, than going in the winter when it’s dark at 5:30pm and weather that swings down into the 40’s/50’s. Our kids tend to do fine with the hot weather too, although we only started taking them at age 2, not as smaller infants where the heat would have been dangerous. I also much prefer the simplicity of packing when you know every day you’ll be wearing shorts and sleeveless shirts. We visited in December one year and decided the unpredictability of the weather, and having to pack such a range of clothing, was more stressful to us than the summer heat and storms
“…winter when it’s dark at 5:30pm and weather that swings down into the 40’s/50’s…”
To each their own, as this sounds like my ideal WDW visit!
I totally get what you’re saying…I just far prefer the earlier sunset, and appreciate the huge swings in temperatures that help clear out the parks at night!
My husband and I took 2 fantastic trips in July in 2009 and 2011 prekids. But I promised myself we would never go in the summer with kids- families looked miserable. Disney has done nothing to sway that decision. I am curious as someone who works in a school and has 3 kids in the school system, when you would recommend going if considering traditional breaks. My husband are debating thanksgiving week (current front runner), Xmas break or spring break for the next trip. I would love to hear your input!
Statistically speaking, Thanksgiving has really seen its wait times drop over the last few years. On the other hand, ‘feels like’ crowds are worse and it can be difficult to plan around MVMCP at MK.
Spring Break really depends upon your dates. But even without knowing them, and assuming they’re the “best” set, I’d still take Thanksgiving over Spring Break–especially if you stay after Thanksgiving, as crowd levels really drop that weekend (except EPCOT).
We just got back from a WDW 6/17-6/22 hoping for lower crowds. While it certainly wasn’t the busiest, I have ever seen it (Thanksgiving week and never again lol) I wouldn’t have said it was low attendance by any means. We had 90 min stand by lines for Tiana’s and longer for Tron. Flight of passage was 2 hr plus waits. I didn’t see these dates specifically above and the chart didn’t seem to help either. Can you share what the crowd levels were the 18th through the 21st?
They’re on the chart, just not labeled. Your dates would’ve been 3/10 to 5/10–you just missed the lowest dates–at the WDW-wide level. Individual parks would’ve varied across those days. Here’s the data: https://www.thrill-data.com/waits/chain/wdw/
For our family it’s absolutely the heat & humidity, plus the predictable daily thunderstorms which close pools and the skyliner for hours.
It makes for a miserable visit.
Every summer seems to be getting worse than the last one down here. There’s no doubt that the miserable summer heat is what keeps us out of the parks from mid May till mid September. Even then, it’s only because of Not So Scary that we are enticed out during September. It’s intolerable. I live in the Tampa Bay area and I garden and fish, so I can handle the local heat and know how to mitigate its effects. But there’s no escaping its effects in the parks and you just can’t handle 12 hours of summer daylight pounding pavement. Summers here are intolerable, period.
As transplants, we realized we couldn’t cut it in Florida. 2019 and 2020 didn’t seem so bad (even with masks–don’t know how we did that during the summer, in hindsight), but the next two were brutal. They’re what did us in. We love to be outdoors, and realizing that between the later sunset and hot weather, we had to take our nightly walks at 9 pm–and largely couldn’t do them in the parks since they’d be closed or closing–sealed the deal for us.
It amazes me that Walt Disney World hasn’t done more for mitigation, and that new projects aren’t being designed with weather front-of-mind. It’s like the people in charge of the parks never leave their offices.
On the mitigation front, I wonder if Epic Universe will actually be a turning point for making this more front of mind for Florida parks. The two big complaints I keep seeing are lack of shade, and how most of the rides have to shut down when it storms, making the few that are open have comically long lines. Imagineering already has the “keep attractions mostly indoors” down; hopefully they will learn from their and Universal’s past mistakes and get better at the “shade and shelter” part of it.