Summer Is Not Peak Season at Disney World.
Summer crowds have been low at Walt Disney World the last few years, which bucks conventional wisdom that it’s peak tourist season in Florida. Summer 2020 is likely to be the least-busy stretch of the year at WDW, even though Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is now open and both Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway will be open by then. (Updated February 14, 2020.)
The first time we experienced these low summer crowds, we assumed it was an anomaly. Wait time trends suggested otherwise. Even then, we assumed it was a one-off for that summer. However, the last couple of years have demonstrated that low to moderate crowds from late May through September are not a one-off or anomaly: it’s the new normal in terms of Walt Disney World crowds.
This is good news for those of you planning summer trips to Walt Disney World, as you should expect noticeably lighter crowds than what you would’ve experienced 4 years ago. It’s bad news for literally anyone else, as the decrease in summer attendance does not exist in a vacuum–it’s a redistribution of summer crowds to other months of the year. For proof of this, look no further than our new Peak Crowds in Winter 2020 “Off-Season” at Walt Disney World post…
As we discuss in our 2020 Walt Disney World Crowd Calendar: When to Go & Avoid post, we are not expecting this to change in Summer 2020. This is despite Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure debuting in the France pavilion at Epcot this summer, and even though Star Wars: Rise fo the Resistance is still new.
The reality is that the excitement and hype over these new things is not enough to overcome the undesirability of a summer visit due to pricing and weather, and other factors we’ll discuss below…
The first reason for lower crowds during the summer is pricing. For both tickets and hotel rooms, summer pricing tends to be the highest of the year. To be sure, there are brief windows that see room rates and ticket prices spike higher, particularly around holidays and spring break. However, no other multi-month period has the same sustained level of higher prices as you’ll find in June and July.
While the average visitor to Walt Disney World does not do much planning, most do look at pricing to determine whether a visit fits in their budget. When they do, they are met with a price calendar on DisneyWorld.com showing significantly higher prices for the summer months:
For some people, it does not matter. Summer is the most convenient time for them to visit due to school breaks, so that’s when they go. This is the rationale for summer season being peak season in the first place. For decades, summer has been peak season in just about every tourist destination, including Walt Disney World, for that very reason.
For many visitors, the elevated prices in June and July are significant. Between hotels and park tickets, the surcharge for a summer vacation could be over $1,000 for a family of 5, and that’s enough to justify postponing a visit for many people. Even a 1-day summer visit could cost an extra $100 or so for a family.
If you’re a Florida resident, or even living within driving distance in the South, it’s pretty easy to delay your visit until the late summer or on a weekend during the fall if price is an issue. Even if you don’t live in the South, you may be considering an impulse-visit to Disney’s Hollywood Studios to experience Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance on an already-planned vacation to Florida.
That is, until you see the premium pricing. At which point, you might decide to wait until off-season, when prices are better. For as long as we can remember, this has been the case with rack rates on hotel rooms. However, seasonal ticket pricing is a relatively recent addition, rolling out for 1-day tickets only a few years ago, and for multi-day tickets last year. Redistribution of crowds was part of the intent of the pricing scheme, but I’d contend this is an overcorrection.
Although they represent a much smaller piece of the pie, Annual Passholder trends also could explain some of the shift in summer crowds at Walt Disney World. As Annual Passes have rapidly escalated in price, no doubt some people have dropped them entirely.
Others might instead move to a lower tier, particularly the Weekday Select and Silver passes, both of which are blocked out for almost the entire months of June and July. These blockouts coupled with the lack of festivals largely explains why Epcot feels like a ghost town in the summer.
Another thing that would cause guests to stay home, Floridians in particular, is the weather. It’s no news that summer is unbearably hot and humid in Central Florida.
However, the last couple summers have been especially brutal, and as more people avail themselves of online planning resources, tourists become more cognizant of just how hot and humid summers are in Florida.
Things were pretty bad last summer. Florida’s numbers haven’t been as bad as the heat wave in the Southwest, but the Orlando area saw highs consistently in the 90s, with “feels like” temperatures above 100º. In that kind of heat, you can bet that some Annual Passholders opt to skip their weekend day trip.
Stretches of poor weather are not something that impact tourism numbers, as tourists cannot really plan for it. They know the summer is hot and it rains during storm season, but not when a heat wave is going to occur. However, it’s a safe assumption that those tourists who are on vacation during a heat wave are spending more time at the hotel pool and less time in the parks.
Another explanation is that international visitation is down, particularly from Europe and the United Kingdom, and these foreign visitors would be most likely to come during the summer months. (Meanwhile, tourism from South America has actually rebounded in the last couple of years–but they’re visiting disproportionately in the winter months, which is summer in Brazil, Argentina, etc.)
Despite Florida greeting a record number visitors last year, which have been increasing by about 3-5% every year for the last several years, the number of international tourists has been dropping for the last few years. Two years ago, just under 11 million international tourists visited Florida, which was a 1% drop. This follows two consecutive years of 2% drops. (We don’t have final numbers for last year, but tentative results show overseas tourism to Florida is down another ~3%.)
More schools shifting to year-round calendars with longer breaks throughout the year is another explanation, but this is not a sudden occurrence that began in the last few years. School calendars have been trending this way for a decade or more.
Then there’s the common explanation cited by commenters on this blog whenever attendance gets busier: we “let the secret out!” and “everyone started going during ____ week because of you!” Except in this case, less people are attending, and the “secret” would be that it’s unbearably hot and humid during the summer in Florida (shhh…don’t tell anyone).
While there are a lot of Disney blogs (not just this one) offering trip planning advice that likely includes recommendations as to when to visit, the vast majority of Walt Disney World visitors either do not or cannot follow this advice. It’d sure be neat if everyone followed our advice, but the practical reality is that most visitors to Walt Disney World do very little research and do not have the time to pore over Disney blogs for hours. On the plus side, a lack of critical mass is why a lot of tips you’ll find on Disney blogs work in the first place.
There are likely other variables I’m overlooking that could help explain why summer attendance has been down the last two years. Epcot’s growing ‘festival seasons’ have probably drawn guests to every month of the year except June through August. Gas prices might play a role. However, my bet is that the noticeable decrease is caused by the confluence of higher seasonal pricing, decline in international tourism, and pre-Star Wars slump. 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 changes in ticket pricing, international visitation trends, and the weather.
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 assessment as to why summer crowds at Walt Disney World have been noticeably below-average the last two years? 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!
Hi Tom! We were at Disney World for two weeks during the last Christmas period and we were very surprised at the very low crowd levels compared to what it was supposed to be like. Maybe this is a year long trend… Universal is also attracting more and more people that are fed up with the cast member cuts and the overall diminishing standards at Disney.
When you say “Christmas period” do you mean the week before Christmas until January 2? Because that would also fit with this theory based upon Peak Season ticket pricing and Annual Pass blockout dates during that same timeframe.
Yes Tom, we were there mainly from December 23rd to January the 3rd 2017.
Thank you to you and your wife for all the great work. It is greatly appreciated!
We’re in California so we usually go to Disneyland. Anaheim has absolutely perfect weather. This year we decided to do a Disney cruise out of Cape Canaveral in late August, so naturally we felt we had to visit WDW as well. We are NOT looking forward to the heat and humidity. We live in NorCal where it regularly goes over 100 degrees in the summer, but it’s the humidity aspect that’s going to kill us I’m sure. Still it’s hard to pull the kids out of school for the length of time we’ll be there (10 days with the cruise) so August it is. We’ll be purchasing the cooling towels you suggested though, Tom. Hopefully that will take the edge off. Thanks for the tip.
I haven’t been to WDW in the summer since I was a kid (we usually go during February break), but we have a family trip planned for July to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. We’re planning plenty of pool/water park time, scoping out which shows are air conditioned, and packing the Frogg Toggs. It’s nice to hear that we might at least have lower crowds to contend with.
I’ve also noticed the low crowd summer trends and more than once have I looked at booking a trip at the end of August…but what’s stopped me is the cost of trying to book something now. If I want to stay in something other than the all-star values,, it’s guaranteed at least $200 a night (or more) with taxes and fees, and then you add in a couple days worth of park tickets and airfare (which is not particularly cheap right now in MI), meals, etc. And then I wonder if it’s really “worth it” to drop $2,000 for three nights…the pricing really has scared me from coming back anytime soon, which makes me think that others might be putting off their trips for this same reason.
I think the high costs have dissuaded a lot of people from visiting in general. One of Disney’s (stated) goals was to decrease attendance while increasing revenue (via per guest spending), and that has definitely occurred.
However, it doesn’t explain what’s happening with summer crowd patterns, specifically.
Why would they want to decrease attendance? I follow your blog pretty closely but that seems counterintuitive from any sort of business standpoint. I understand maintaining or increasing revenue but decreasing attendance doesn’t make sense to me.
It was presented on an earnings call at some point last year (I cannot recall which quarter), but it very well might’ve been ex post facto BS to explain away decreased attendance as somehow ‘good.’ If I recall correctly, reduced operational costs were mentioned alongside it.
That also is superficially plausible, but once you actually think about it, any operational savings by lower attendance should be more than offset by increases in revenue from higher attendance. There’s an outside possibility that less crowds = higher guest satisfaction = higher per guest spending, but I don’t recall that being the explanation given.
In other words, you’re probably right.
I completely agree with you about the costs. We have gone to WDW for the past 3 years and it cost us $1700 this year for 3-day passes (4 adults, 2 kids). The only “new” rides we went on were Frozen Ever After and Na’vi River Journey, Everything else was pretty much what we have done before, so the cost increase for a handful of new things is substantial. We probably won’t go again until Star Wars Land is finished, and then probably just one day to Hollywood Studios.
Much of the American public is waking up to the fact that politicians are in the pockets of industry. Trump was a small way to say f.u. to that system. The people I know who supported Trump are kind and are not racists, etc…. Perhaps you should not simplify people you do not know.
Um, I think you’re forgetting a big reason a lot of Canadians are not going to the US for the last two years. 45.
I know travel is down from Canada (and Europe) to the United States, and this is posited as one of the reasons, but he wasn’t president last year, so I have a difficult time believe it does much to explain 2017-2018 summer crowd trends.
I’m not sure how much it has affected it, but anecdotally as a Canadian, a lot of my friends have changed their travel plans because of this. My family has personally chosen to only travel to blue states (so we are still going to DL and DCA 🙂 ) It is not just 45 per se, but the growing realization that a large number of Americans can condone the kinds of hateful rhetoric he spews. It started before the election as well with other Republican runners and the large amount of support their ideas were receiving, even during the primaries. We are a very socially liberal nation and to hear a lot of the racist/homophobic/misogynist hate speech was disturbing. Sorry to get political, but I think it cannot be discounted as a cause of sudden changes.
Robyn, honestly…that’s just silly. Some Americans (myself included, although i did not vote for trump) have simply gotten tired of being told we can’t hold any opinion contrary to whatever the prevailing media theory is without being branded whatever the “ism” of the moment is. People need to stop heing hysterical and realize most Americans are the same as we always were. Some are nice, some are intolerant jerks…I’ve been to many countries and found people to ultimately be fairly similar in that respect everywhere….
I doubt 45 has anything at all to do with travel to the U.S. It is just an opportunity for people who dislike him to once again interject their political opinions into a discussion that has nothing to do with politics. People don’t make travel decisions based on who is in power at the time. It is usually economics.
Regardless of opinions of the U.S. president, his impact on tourism is documented and pretty difficult to dispute.
The question, at least in the context of this article, is whether that has an impact on summer attendance to Walt Disney World. I do not think it does, but reasonable minds could differ on that.
Let’s not turn this into something personal because another commenter chose to share an anecdote that reflects a view representative of a majority of Canadians and Europeans.
If that’s your reason, it is absurd, about as ridiculous as me not traveling to Canada because of 23.
Amen, friends!
I’d rather go during the cooler months of the year then summer. For many years as a child, my family went during the summer and it was too hot. The crowds were to large and my parents had to sit all the time. So, as a parent, I said never during the summer moon this; I’d rather pay the extra money and enjoy the cooler months. Plus, the free Disney dining plan helps tremendously with food costs. And I’m hoping we use all the credits for the Disney dining plan.
Totally agree. I’d much rather visit during November/December and potentially pay more and/or have higher crowd levels (or both) than visit in the summer and deal with the heat.
Or, visit in January/February when crowds and prices are at their lowest, and prices are, too. Best of all worlds! 🙂
Last time I checked, Disney World is open 365 days a year. The theme parks don’t shut down unless there’s a hurricane. Disney cast members aren’t given summer sabbaticals. Whether you plan or don’t plan, climate happens. A few years ago, I planned a perfect vacation in May. Unfortunately, it rained 6 out of 7 days. On the day that I’m flying home, perfect sunny weather.
So my kid will soon start 3rd grade. I can no longer take students out of school due to having to keep up. I’m planning on going in the summer next year. Thankfully, lower summer crowds will make this an easier decision despite the awful weather, which is a question you could ask why Disney built in Paris, Shanghai, and Orlando. Fifty percent of Disney theme parks are in the worst places for the weather.
We were just at Disney World the first week of June (starting June 6) – we had last been two years ago during the same week. We all commented that it seemed less crowded than when we had been previously. Yes, Pandora was crowded, and wait times were long there, but every other ride at Animal Kingdom (including Everest) was a virtual walk-on (wait times of less than 15 minutes). Obviously there were still people and crowds, especially in Magic Kingdom, but it wasn’t the wall-to-wall crowds we have seen in past summers.
We live in SOUTH Florida so we’re used to the summer heat. We were in Orlando this weekend and could barely handle the heat. Oppressive! Even the offsite restaurants were hot, unable to compete with the heat. We’re happy to be AP holders with a blackout in the summer. From our seat in the Abracadabar, we watched folks duck in just to avoid the heat for even a few minutes. I don’t know how our visitors handle the heat when we can barely deal with it. Even the pools were no relief!
I really hope this trend continues. As a two teacher family, we’ve been doing long weekends around Jewish holidays in September for the past couple of years in favor of lower crowds and prices as compared to other times of the year. We are getting so sick of the never-ending Food and Wine Festival and the early Magic Kingdom closings due to the ever-increasing number of Halloween parties. This year’s September trip will be our last, and I’m thinking we’ll maybe try summer instead of going back to spring break – the weather is great in March/April, but spring break crowds are awful. I think for our 2018 trip we’ll try July. Being able to spend a full week down there with no festivals and parties is worth sweating it out in the heat – lower crowds will be a bonus!
Before booking, I’d keep an eye out for 1-day ticket pricing seasons for next summer. If my theories are accurate, this is something Walt Disney World could easily correct by adjusting its rate charts and/or offering more seasonal discounts for summer.
We visited the week starting with memorial day. I didn’t notice low crowds, but that could have been holiday/Pandora related as you said.
Temperatures were brutal (95 to 97 and humid) most of the week, so we opted for much more pool time than usual.
Based on these “low crowd” reports, we’re debating that same week next year or going a week later.
One thing to keep in mind is that if Toy Story Land opens that same weekend, you’re looking at a repeat of this year’s crowd trends.
I noticed you threw the first week of September in the summer season. Do you expect a lower trend for that, as well? I hope so. Heat doesn’t bother us much. And I can’t believe that people spend so much money on a vacation and don’t research it!!! Blows my mind.
My prediction would be that we’ll see a slight bump in crowds towards the end of August (due to postponed “Peak Season” trips) but with lower crowds continuing into September until they start rising towards mid-September into what’s now the busy/busier season in October.
Thank you!!! Kind of you to answer. You’re kind of famous on the Disboards and I appreciate your input. 🙂
Your article is on point. We were at Disney World June 17-22, 2017. First time we were ever there this time of year and the weather was oppressive. It stormed every day with temperatures in the 90’s. The best part? No crowds.
Could it have anything to do with Disneys over manipulation of releasing packages. My husband and I have been going to Disney 1 or 2 times per year for 35 years and know how to play the game(sometimes). This year we want to go after thanksgiving or early December. We’ve been looking everyday for good prices for moderate or value resorts during that time frame and website and phone reservations say none are available. Since I’ve been going to Disney for so long I know this is because prices haven’t been released yet as they are trying to fill more expensive resorts first and prices will come later…I hope. If I was new to Disney or still inexperienced I would just assume these resorts were already booked and since I couldn’t afford deluxe would just quit looking. I don’t know, but I really doubt all the rooms at all those resorts are full even with pop warner crowds. I think Disney may be cooking their own goose by trying to squeeze the $$ too tight and losing crowds as well as loyal travelers as well…thereby losing $$ if they don’t stop
Joan, thank you for posting this because I have been running into the same issue myself and was getting very frustrated. In fact, on Friday, I received an email with a personalized code (not sure if this is called a “PIN code” I’ve read about before) for a room discount for this time frame – I clicked on it moments after received the email only to have it say there were no rooms at either Port Orleans resort. AT ALL. All weekend I kept trying and to no avail. Why send me a code and not have any rooms to offer? Since you mentioned you’ve been at this for 35 years, would your opinion be to just keep trying? Thank you!
We received a pin code also which was a joke… quoted us 30% off of 3 resorts only.
All Star Music Suite at $1399.85 + tax for 6 nights. Which is on double one sleeper.
Or 2 different deluxe resort 1 bedroom suites starting at $6000.
Did I mention this was for pop warner week…even reservation operator chuckled about all star option. Past 5 years we’ve gotten room only discounts in the $160 range for moderates and as low as $79 for value at that time of year. Don’t know what’s going on, but I’m going to wait.
I lived in Florida for 6 (miserable summer) years. I NEVER go to WDW in the summer. I did go for 2 weeks at the end of May/beginning of June this year (which was technically not summer yet). I only went because it was my daughter’s 10th birthday and it’s what she wanted to do for her birthday. The weather wasn’t all that bad other than the first two days in the high 90s and the deluge rain storms for 3-4 hours each day. At least the rain cooled things down (unlike later in the summer when it just makes it more hot, humid, and miserable). The crowds weren’t too bad either. But, the weather and crowds were both worse than when we usually go in the fall or winter. My daughter now understands why we don’t normally go in the summer.
I also agree that most people don’t do much planning. People are always amazed when I tell them that the more days you go to WDW the less expensive the tickets are per day. Most people have absolutely no clue about that and thus are probably scared away by those one day prices. My ex-husband met us a WDW on our recent trip and bought a one day ticket. Before he left for the day he ended up converting it to a 4 day (Florida resident) ticket for not much more money than he had paid for the one day ticket (he felt much better about the expense once he did this). Now he has 3 more days to look forward to in future.
So you were there in the week following Memorial Day? Even though that’s the start of Peak Season (for 1-day tickets), I think that’s a bit of an outlier because it’s a holiday weekend and also because fans would’ve planned trips around the opening of Pandora – World of Avatar.
Did you notice a decline in crowds towards the end of your visit as compared to the beginning?
Oh, and if I lived in Florida, I don’t think I’d ever go outdoors in the summer, let alone visit Walt Disney World! 😉
That’s the nice thing about being a teacher. I pretty much left for as much of the summer as possible when I lived there. I always thought we should go to school in the summer in Florida and have winter off since you pretty much have to be inside in air conditioning all summer anyway.
We went to Pandora on June 1st and it was CRAZY crowded. When we went back on June 7th it wasn’t nearly as bad. (That was the only way we could get Fast Passes for both the new rides). The crowds actually seemed to go down quite a bit the weekend we left (6/10) according to wait times on the Disney app. They weren’t terrible while we were there, just a bit more than what I’m used to (we usually go 1st week of November, the week before Christmas, or early Feb.). We also noticed a lot of people from England, especially at the beginning of our trip. Turns out it was end of term break. Some of them we talked to chose to pay the fine for taking their kids out of school to stay longer instead of going later in the summer.
We traveled from Pennsylvania with our teenagers in June of 2012 (our big blowout trip). We had to choose summer because of the school calendar and chose June before summer school activities started back up. June was hot, rainy (tropical storm) and I guess crowded but we did almost everything we intended to do in our week at Disney. Now my husband and I are planning our even bigger blowout 25th anniversary trip for 2019. Our anniversary is in May and we were originally planning that time frame. However, with all the new lands that are under construction, we decided to push our visit back to the Fall; planning September since it seems to be less busy. We recently got back from a family trip to an Ohio amusement park in 90 degree weather. It was hot! My husband and I have now decided to push our 2019 trip back even a few more months for cooler weather in November but before the Thanksgiving rush. If we are going to spend a bunch of money and time at Disney, we decided temperature comfort was a bit more appealing than crowd comfort especially since we plan to be a Disney for an extended period of time.
Is it possible that people are put off by all the over-planning that goes into a WDW vacation now. What with needing dining reservations and ride reservations months in advance to be able to eat where you wish and ride what you wish; the spur-of-the-moment stop at WDW is a thing of the past, at least for me. And for travelers with children, what if their dining reservations and Fastpass Plus reservations don’t fit those children’s schedule? I’ve been spending my discretionary vacation dollars at local amusement parks instead making m annual trek to WDW for the last 3 years. And I have spent 29 vacations at WDW prior to e day when minute planning of every second was required.
That is possible (and I know it’s true for some), but that wouldn’t explain a decrease in June through mid-August coupled with a dramatic increase late September through early November. Attendance would just be down across the board.
Ed I agree. It’s to much like work now. The money spent to rush to your next app aka fast pass . Dining reservations, booking fast passes. The pool is nice yes , but you’re there for the whole “MAGICAL” experience. It’s way to much work. It is not anyway near the vacation it was 5 years ago, let alone 30. This is not what Walt intended. One of his famous quotes. ” It takes years to build a relationship, but one bad day to lose one. This is our first year in 30+. Disney wins, they got their $$$$$
I think part of it has to do with people taking advantage of Free Dining throughout the fall. They assume that it’s a better deal than it is (it sounds great!), and don’t do the work to research which discount would be better. It’s been both for us – advantageous sometimes, other times not. Also, a lot of people from my area (Middle TN) love to go over Fall Break, which is in October, even though Disney has stopped offering FD during most of October. It makes me nervous to try to plan my 2018 anniversary trip because I feel like crowds are so unpredictable at this point. We’ll be without kids, so we’ll be more flexible, but I also don’t want to have to deal with ridiculous crowds during what’s supposed to be a less crowded time.
A lot of people take advantage of Free Dining, but that’s been the case for 10 years (since 2007). This is a trend that has emerged in the last two years, so I don’t think Free Dining helps explain it.
One thing I don’t see mentioned is the increase in cost of the regular annual passes. A ton of Floridians I know of decoded to get the weekday and weekend passes. 3 years ago it was very competitive on the pricing now to get a annual pass that goes during summer I believe no black out dates is over 700 dollars. Where for the one I get is about 300 and no summers so we don’t do summers anymore I know a lot of people agree with me and am sure there are many I don’t know.
Sorry quoted wrong price it’s 550 dollars to 250 dollars for the one I get. Extra 300 dollars heat waves and all not worth it
That’s a really good point and one that fits neatly alongside the Peak Season 1-Day ticket pricing. I’ll go back and add something about this to the post. Thanks!
I have to say that I was happy to read this article! Last night I read that you ranked August last in order of months to visit. We are a two-teacher family, so we have to go in the summer. We will be there the second week of August. I’m hoping the trend for lower crowds continues. A little bonus for dealing with the weather! Thank you for all of your time and work on this blog. It’s been very helpful! I am constantly telling my husband, “Well, Tom Bricker says…”
No offense to Tom but I am sure your husband enjoys that.lol
I am always telling my BF ‘Tom Bricker says’ also LOL
As does my sister – who I got hooked on this blog.
She is going mid- Aug, I am going the last week – and agree, hoping the crouds are not too bad to make up for the horrible heat we know we have to endure!
Borrowing a term from my teenage daughter, I refer to Tom as my “Disney Senpai.” 🙂
We went last August (bc of school year in Canada), the weather was fine, only 2 times I remember minding the heat & the rain was only a shower here & there. The low crowds were amazing, so much so my son doesn’t want to go back when it is busy! Enjoy your trip!