2026 Disney World Crowd Calendar

ByTom Bricker
228 Comments

These free 2026 Walt Disney World crowd calendars rate dates so you can choose best weeks to go & avoid the worst, skipping long lines and high wait times. We cover seasonal events, weather, park hours, Orlando travel trends, and factors impacting when to visit Florida’s theme parks.

It’s been a strong to the year, which is typical. Winter hasn’t been the off-season for several years. Crowds will only grow over the next month-plus, with spring break season being unsurprisingly busy. We just shared Weeks When Spring Break Crowds Will Be Worst at Walt Disney World in 2026.

If you’re looking for a quick rundown of dates to avoid in the coming months, we also cover the red flag dates here. If that’s all you care about, scroll down to the ‘Red Flag Dates to Avoid in Spring 2026’ section. Much of this is otherwise a guide to explaining crowd dynamics at Walt Disney World and how to choose dates as we emphasize ‘teach a person to fish’ planning advice.

The good news is that it should be relatively smooth sailing between mid-April and mid-October. The almost 6-month stretch between Spring Break and Fall Break sees below-average crowds and lower wait times (see Why Summer is the New Low Crowds Season at Disney World). Suffice to say, winter being busier while summer hollows out are two pieces to the same puzzle.

As a general matter, crowds should be slightly lower throughout 2026. On the company’s first earnings call of the year, Disney warned of this, discussing attendance “headwinds” and specifically pointing to reduced international visitation.

There are a lot of other theories for crowds trending down, from Epic Universe to Disney pricing out the middle class. Generally speaking, those are beyond the scope of this post. Last year, attendance was down 1% according to Disney’s 10-K filing.

This year will likely see another 1% decline, so we’re not exactly talking a catastrophic crowds collapse. Let’s not sensationalize what’s likely a modest downturn, and one coming in between development cycles at Walt Disney World.

Wait times, on the other hand, have been down by around 3-5% year-over-year. This means that there’s a non-attendance explanation for the decrease. Our theory is that Lightning Lane utilization, both paid and via Disability Access Service (DAS), has decreased year over year.

We’ve written a lot about the impact of the DAS changes on wait times at Walt Disney World. Most recently in Is Lightning Lane Multi Pass Still “Worth It” at Disney World?” One of our main points with this has been that standby lines are shorter and faster moving, leading to lower wait times.

Since there’s no objective or comprehensive way to measure congestion, crowd levels are exclusively a measure of wait times–meaning that crowd levels drop when wait times drop, and vice-versa. Meaning that even if attendance is exactly the same, crowds can decrease.

Almost across the board, wait times are down by a few minutes year-over-year, which means crowds are a level or two below what was forecast. The good news is that this has been consistent, meaning that overall trends and patterns are what’s been expected, just lower.

In addition to shorter lines, the other good news is that the last couple years have seen normalizing attendance patterns, during which time it became much easier to predict crowd levels and wait times.

To the extent that crowd calendars have been inaccurate, it’s generally just a matter of across-the-board overestimates–the general trend lines have remained correct, just too high.

As mentioned above, January and February have become reliably busy. March and April are spring break season, although an earlier Easter also brings about an earlier shoulder season.

Red Flag Dates to Avoid in Spring 2026

Speaking of which, here are some red flag dates to avoid in the coming months:

  • March 13, 2026
  • March 16-20, 2026
  • March 30 to April 8, 2026

Those will be the worst dates of Spring Break season, which could see 8/10 to 10/10 crowd levels. The dates in between could see elevated crowds, as the entire stretch from mid-March to mid-April will be busy, but other days are more likely to have 6/10 to 7/10 crowds than 8/10 and above.

Elevated crowd levels in the 6/10 to 7/10 range can still be pretty bad, especially on a park by park basis. There are already several signs that the heart of Spring Break season has already arrived, such as Lightning Lane Premier Pass being sold out from now through March 16, 2026 at Magic Kingdom and Walt Disney World extending park hours pretty much every single day between now and March 28, 2026.

More days will sell out of Lightning Lanes and more park hours will be extended between now and the first week of April 2026. Those two signs alone suggest heavy crowds on the horizon for the next full month. Those red flag dates are simply the worst of the worst based on our forecasts.

Spring Break season is expected to end around Wednesday, April 8, 2026. The following couple of weekdays should still be busy, but the weekend should not. Spring break season will largely be over at that point, with the following week marking the unofficial arrival of shoulder season.

Once Spring Break ends, crowds typically decrease each and every month between April and September. Crowd levels typically bottom out in August, before rebounding ever-so-slightly in September.

October is the next truly busy month, owing largely to Fall Break. In fact, the next ‘red flag’ dates after April 8, 2026 won’t be until October 9-12, 2026. There are some busy dates in between, but nothing that’s truly bad. We’d be surprised if there are any 3-day or longer stretches with 8/10 or above crowds during that timeframe.

Following Fall Break, crowds accelerate in November and again in the second half of December. The week of New Year’s Eve is almost always #1 worst of the year and by a very wide margin. The week leading up to Christmas is usually #3 or #4, with the first week of January being #2.

Rounding out the top 5 are Easter and Mid-Winter Break (Presidents’ Day). Other weeks that are in the mix as being among the worst are the remainder of Spring Break season, Fall Break, and Thanksgiving. That’s Walt Disney World crowds in a nutshell!

If you’re looking for a convenient resource for planning a weeklong or so vacation to Walt Disney World and want to know when to visit or avoid based on crowds & congestion, weather, special events, and more–look no further than our lists of the 10 Best and 10 Worst Weeks to Visit Walt Disney World in 2026 & 2027.

Franky, we prefer those lists to these crowd calendars and send friends and family that post as opposed to this when they want help choosing dates. From my perspective, it’s foolish to rely solely on quantitative measures (that might be flawed!) when qualitative factors can be more make or break. These crowd calendars will tell you that the last week in August is a great time to visit, but that’s only true if you don’t mind triple-digit feels like temperatures.

Those lists of weeks were recently updated and will receive another refresh around the holiday season. Same goes with the crowd calendars here. If you’d like future updates, on the ground crowd reports and more, subscribe to our free email newsletter.

We’d also highly recommend avoiding Epic Universe during any of the aforementioned peak weeks. In fact, the worst dates at Epic Universe are far worse than the busiest dates at Walt Disney World or the rest of Universal Orlando. (There’s no reason to avoid Islands of Adventure or Universal Studios Florida; these Walt Disney World crowd calendars apply pretty much equally to those parks, too. )

The new park is plagued by ride reliability woes, with significant downtime and delays due to breakdowns and weather (most rides are outside, so they close when it rains). Even diehard Universal fan communities have soured somewhat on Epic Universe, and now recommend waiting out the crowds.

More good news is that there are reliably less-busy dates at Epic Universe, too! See our Secret to Conquer Crowds at Epic Universe: Best Dates to Visit in 2026. Note that traditional WDW crowd calendars do not apply to Epic Universe except in broad strokes–meaning that weeks like Christmas and New Year’s Eve will similarly be busier, but what’s make or break with EU is choosing the right days of the week and avoiding the worst.

Turning back to these 2026 Walt Disney World crowd calendars, we have a couple more notes.

First and foremost, low crowds does not equal no crowds. Even on 1/10 days, the parks will not be ghost towns allowing you to do snow angels on the ground. You will see rides with 60-90 minute posted wait times. You will encounter areas of congestion. “Uncrowded” at Walt Disney World does not mean empty. The most popular rides, especially during the middle of the day, will still have long lines.

You may be disappointed to see 60 minute waits on a supposedly low-crowd day, and conclude that it actually isn’t slow. But it gets much, much worse. Hour-long waits are better than 2-hour ones! Moreover, those numbers are averages, so it also means higher peaks and lower lows–so you can beat wait times in any crowd level with savvy strategy.

Avatar Flight of Passage might peak at a 300 minute wait on a 10/10 day when its average wait time is 140 minutes. That is objectively worse than a 60-minute wait time for the ride, which is what you’re likely to encounter on a 1/10 to 3/10 day.

If you want to understand more about Walt Disney World crowd calendars, their strengths and limitations, or addressing misconceptions about crowds, see our list of the “Top” 10 Ways Walt Disney World Fans Are Wrong About Crowds. That’s worth reading if you want a better understanding of WDW attendance patterns, feels like crowds vs. wait times, and a few fairly easy ways to “beat” the crowds.

There are still definitely big differences in crowd levels, and you should plan accordingly. No matter how hard Disney might try, there are certain times that travel is slower. School schedules, weather, seasonal festivities, youth sporting events, conventions, and other factors all play a huge role in crowd levels at Walt Disney World.

With all of that out of the way, here are more detailed suggestions for when you should and shouldn’t visit Walt Disney World…

2026 Disney World Crowd Calendars

If you’ve already narrowed down a season or range of dates during which you want to visit Walt Disney World, we’d recommend forgoing the remainder of this post. Instead, refer to our individual monthly guides, which offer free crowd calendars and cover weather, seasonal events, refurbishments, and what’s new & next.

These 2026 Walt Disney World crowd calendars offer more granular details for each specific month. We’d suggest reading all months for the time of year you’re considering. For example, if you’re thinking of a summer vacation, read the May through August monthly guides; if you’re considering Christmas, consult both November and December.

For these crowd calendars, we combine normal data like wait times and other info that serves as a proxy for crowds (school schedules, airport visitor volume, DVC point charts, ticket & hotel prices, and more) with our in-person observations and anecdotal experiences. From all of this, we’ve learned to spot patterns and notice things about wait times and attendance at Walt Disney World, which we share with you in our crowd calendars.

Note that the above crowd calendars do not, for the most part, offer park by park crowd levels. On a calendar day basis, that’s far too granular and no longer possible to predict.

However, we’d direct you to Best & Worst Days to Do All Parks at Walt Disney World for advice on choosing which day to do each park. Magic Kingdom, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and EPCOT typically follow patterns and picking the right (and avoiding the wrong) days can make a big difference, no matter what time of year (uncrowded or crowded) that you visit.

Having a little knowledge about the ebb and flow of attendance throughout the day will also prepare you to avoid crowds and zig when others zag. Some parks and attractions see visitor numbers and lines spike during certain parts of the day, and it’s important to understand the why of this, so you can plan around the peak crowds.

Suffice to say, crowd calendars are not some ‘magic bullet’ that you can use without doing any other research to have a great trip, walking onto every attraction. Over-reliance on Walt Disney World crowd calendars (including ours!) will lead to disappointment.

If you’re trying to determine when to visit, we recommend starting by choosing seasonal events and the type of weather that appeal most to you, and then narrowing your dates within those broad parameters based on what crowd calendars identify as the best and first weeks to visit. Walt Disney World crowd calendars are still a useful tool, but they’re not a planning panacea.

As for other tools, utilizing Lightning Lanes, Early Entry, Extended Evening Hours, rope drop, etc. will help immensely. 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!)

Be sure to also check out our Walt Disney World Itineraries for plans of attack. Following a good itinerary and utilizing smart strategy is often more important than choosing the “right” dates. There are some exceptions to this, such as going on December 29 (average wait time last year of 70 minutes) instead of October 1 (average wait time this year of 18 minutes), but by and large, using smart strategy will put you in a better position than picking better days and doing zero strategizing.

Ideally, you’d opt for a best of both worlds approach–choosing good dates as well as utilizing savvy strategy, but that’s not always possible. After all, there’s a reason most families visit Walt Disney World during school breaks. If you don’t have any choice but to travel during busier dates, you can still beat the crowds.

Choosing which days to visit Walt Disney World is just one aspect of planning a trip. To make sure you tackle everything, make sure you read our Guide to Planning a Walt Disney World Trip, which covers all of the essentials. With that said, here’s what else to consider…

Weather

If weather is an important consideration, you’ll want to target the months of November through April–and maybe October and May. Those are ideal from a weather perspective. That is, assuming you want more temperate weather, rather than extreme heat and humidity or more cold weather. If you like your clothes drenched in sweat from high temperatures, June through September are the perfect times for you to visit.

Late summer and early fall are the height of hurricane and storm season, which have become increasingly relevant. Consult our guide to Visiting Walt Disney World During Storm Season article before booking a trip this time of year. The best case scenario is navigating the afternoon showers without them putting too much of a damper on your trip. Worst case, an approaching hurricane forces you to cancel your trip or be at Walt Disney World while the parks close due to the storm.

If you must visit between the late spring through early fall, just remember to pack accordingly. Read our Unique Disney World Packing List for some items you might not otherwise think of taking. Seriously, you could save a ton of money on impulse purchase and have a more pleasant trip with our recommendations that’ll help you better prepare for staying comfortable in Florida weather (among other things).

Park Hours

We’ve found that park hours are the biggest variable that people fail to consider when planning their trips. This is at least a minor mistake. It’s important to note up front that, typically, less busy seasons have shorter park hours and busier times have longer park hours.

It thus stands to reason that you can basically get the same amount done in a shorter day during a less busy time than you could during a busier time. However, this isn’t always true. If you use an efficient touring plan, you have a good chance of getting more done during a busier time of year than during a slower stretch.

This is especially true if you get to the park early and stay late. Sometimes during especially busy times, Magic Kingdom will open at 8 am and will close at 11 pm. While we’ve taken advantage of these hours without taking a break during the day, we realize some of you are mere mortals.

A great strategy during days with operating hours such as these is to get to the park shortly before opening, stay until around 11 a.m., go back to your resort to nap or relax, and return around dinner time to stay until park close. Regardless of the time of year, the parks will always be fairly slow during the first couple operational hours, and will always be fairly deserted late at night. Ride as much as you can early in the day and do less popular attractions as the day wears on.

Similarly, park hours should be taken into account based upon your sleep habits. If you’re a late-to-rise night owl, the Fall and late Winter/early Spring months may be a bad idea, as these entail many early closing times. If you’re not going to get to the parks until noon anyway, your day might be only 7 hours or so.

Conversely, if you wake up early and generally call it a day by 5 or 7 pm or so, those midnight closings aren’t going to do you any good. Make sure you check Disney’s park hours calendar when planning your trip. It’s important to note that this calendar is often inaccurate far in advance (Disney posts hours conservatively, then extends them as bookings increase).

Special Events

This is a big one for us, as we’ve been to Walt Disney World so many times that it’s nice to visit during different times of year to keep things varied. Even if it’s your first visit to Walt Disney World, if you have particular interests, you might want to consider planning your trip around these special events. The schedules for these varies, as does the price (if any), so please consult the respective page for each event when doing your planning and budgeting.

Halloween and Christmas events in the Magic Kingdom are separately ticketed, meaning you can’t use your standard park tickets for them. Unlike regular park tickets, you also can’t purchase these tickets at a discount from authorized vendors (which can save you a lot of money on regular tickets). Despite this, both events are a ton of fun and well worth experiencing. As you can read in our Ultimate Guide to Christmas at Walt Disney World, it’s our favorite time to visit the parks!

We’ve written tips & tricks for almost every seasonal event at Walt Disney World, because most aren’t simply a matter of “show up, have fun.” We encourage you to click these links (they will open in a new tab) and read the guides. Like all things Walt Disney World-related, you’ll have a much better time and see more that the event has to offer if you do some advance planning…

Winter

  • Walt Disney World Marathon – The flagship runDisney race weekend is held in early January, usually the weekend after New Year’s. It typically occurs while schools are still out for winter break, effectively extending the holiday season crowds into early January.
  • EPCOT International Festival of the Arts – This is one of the highlights of January and February at Walt Disney World for us. Truly captures the essence of old school EPCOT Center.

Spring

Summer

  • Cool Kid Summer – A quasi event with dance parties and characters.

Fall

  • Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party at Magic Kingdom – Possibly more than any other special event at Walt Disney World, you need to do advance planning for this. Character meet & greets can form hour-plus long waits, and there’s so much to do that you can’t accomplish everything in one party. We highly recommend reading this guide!
  • EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival – Beginning over Labor Day weekend, this is EPCOT’s flagship culinary event. Want to know what to do–and more importantly what NOT to do? Read our guide. It’ll give you an idea of what’s not worth the money, and what is worth doing.

Holidays

School Schedules

If school schedules are something around which you must plan, chances are you’re going to go during one of the busier (or at least not one of the least busy) times of the year. School schedules are the paramount consideration for many other families planning trips, too.

It may seem convenient to visit during one of the ‘holidays’ your kids have off from school, but it’s important to consider whether other schools have these same dates off, as well. Of the traditional school holidays, only Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends are good times to visit.

Because most schools have the week before Christmas until the shortly after New Year’s off, this is an especially crowded window to visit. Likewise, the same goes for President’s Day weekend, Easter week, Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples’ Day week, Veterans Day week, the entirety of the Summer, and Thanksgiving week.

Although schools do vary their Spring Break schedules, don’t expect the parks to be any less busy because of staggered Spring Breaks. Mid-March until mid-April are also incredibly busy dates for the parks because of Spring Breaks, with the two weeks abutting Easter being the absolute worst (since most schools still use Easter as a proxy for Spring Break).

Some people don’t have many other options, so it’s going during a school break or nothing. If so, it’s not the end of the world. As we’ve stressed above, crowd calendars are not as important as they used to be. Simply pack your patience and have savvy strategy. Again, refer to our Free Walt Disney World Park Itineraries & Touring Plans. We have the perfect strategy for fun, efficient, and memorable days in the parks!

If you don’t have kids or aren’t otherwise forced to travel around holidays or traditional vacation periods, we’d highly recommend avoiding them. Not because we have anything against kids, but because crowds and prices will be higher during these breaks. Plan around them and save both time and money! As we often say, pack your patience and arm yourself with savvy strategy if you’re visiting Walt Disney World and you’ll do just fine, regardless of crowds.

If you are unsure of when visiting Walt Disney World might be best for you–or need personalized help with any aspect of your trip from hotels to the Disney Dining Plan and more–we recommend contacting a no fee “Authorized Disney Vacation Planner” (basically, Disney’s term for a travel agent) to get a quote and to help you plan. They get their commission from Disney, so none of the authorized (key word) planners will charge you for booking their trip and helping. Here’s one such Authorized Disney Vacation Planner that we recommend!

Hopefully this is a valuable primer to help you choose when you want to visit Walt Disney World. Figuring out when to visit is an important first step, but there’s much more to know. You’ll also want to read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post to buy the cheapest tickets from legitimate sources. To figure out where to stay, our Walt Disney World Hotel Reviews page is a great resource. Want to know where to eat or if the Disney Dining Plan is right for you? Our Walt Disney World Dining Resources will help! For lots of other Walt Disney World trip planning tips and comprehensive advice, make sure to read our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide.

Your Thoughts

Visiting Walt Disney World during the best dates to avoid crowds is probably one of the most important aspects of trip planning. What season, month, or week do you generally visit WDW? Do you visit at times when you know crowds will be light, or do you visit when school is out of session? Do you agree or disagree with our advice? 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!

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228 Comments

  1. Hi,
    i’m from italy and i’m planning to visit Disney World for two days: 2-3 September. I just found out that the first day of our stay will be the first monday of september and from what i read on the internet it’s labor day in america. Do you think it will be too crowded?

    Reply

    1. It will be pretty busy then. If you can visit another time, I’d recommend it, but it’s not a terrible time to visit if you have no other choice.

    2. I am planning our first trip to WDW which was scheduled for Columbus Day week and I heard the weather and crowds would be great – well I received a call from my agent offering me a deal in sept 14-21 which saved us over $1200 how could I pass that up but being our first time I am concerned with weather at that time! Any advice would be greatly appreciated – hope I didn’t make a mistake thanks Danielle

  2. Hi, I know this might be a little crazy question ,we r planing on going the 2nd week of july 2013 we r from tx n we never expirence thr tropical weather of Florida we r really looking about going but am holding back cause of the weather i believe i sern that might have thunder storm n i really would hate to be on a rainy vacation i read that its short times of rain can someone tell me how its really like rsiny weather wise, I really don’t know mind crowd s .

    Reply

  3. Hi Tom, We are planning to visit Disney World the last week of August, can you tell me how is the weather by this time of the year?? Thank You….

    Reply

    1. Hi,

      We went last August. Yes, it was hot and humid, but we’ve gone in May and experienced the same thing.

      It rained each day, but usually for about 20-30 minutes. Get some ponchos.

      We had just as much fun in August as in other months. We are going again this August.

  4. So much great info !
    I have so many questions as I have not been to Disney for 14 years. We will be going with our kids who will be 9 & 5 by November when we are planning on going. We hope to go and be back well before Thanksgiving. Will anything be decorated for Christmas and any holiday events be going on? What are the best tips to use to have a great trip with little ones? How exactly does fast pass work and do you recommend the meal plans ? Thanks in advance! Any info is greatly appreciated:)

    Reply

  5. Hey Tom,

    We will be going on our honeymoon the week before Marathon weekend, are he crows already big then or is it just the weekend itself?

    Thanks for your help!

    Reply

  6. Hi,
    I am really enjoying your blog, as well as your pictures! We are planning our first trip to Disney as a surprise for our five kids. My question concerns when we are going. We plan to arrive Thanksgiving Day and stay til the following Tuesday. I’ve read the Unofficial Guide and I have subscribed to touringplans.com. we are also using a travel agent to book everything….I just can’t get a real good idea of how busy the first few days of our trip will be. Are we crazy to go at that time for our first trip?
    Thanks,
    Lisa
    P.S. we are staying at POR..I was thrilled to read your opinion & review on the moderate resorts! Thanks so much for all the tips you give!

    Reply

    1. The first couple of days will be pretty busy, but the busiest part of Thanksgiving week will have already passed. We’ve done that weekend before and it hasn’t been too bad. If you’re used to light September crowds, it will be a bit of a change, but otherwise nothing to worry about.

    3. We were in Tampa for Thanksgiving and the Friday after thanksgiving we went to WDW to stay the night and go to MK on Saturday.
      We got more done on that day that almost any day we have ever been to WDW.
      I don’t know what Thanksgiving day was like, but the Saturday after it was a breeze.

  7. HI there,

    We are first timers and are planning on going October 6-11. Anyone know what the crowds are like? And when would be a good time to actually book to get the lowest rates? Thanks=)

    Reply

    1. Crowds will be light then. Discount offers for the fall usually become available in the summer.

  8. We’re planning for the last week of April the first bit of May. Our school district here does not observe a Spring Break recess so I’m simply taking my daughter out of class for a few days. (Horrible, I know! But she’s fine academically and can get away with it)

    I’m hoping the Flower and Garden festival doesn’t drive up the crowds too much that week but I’ve heard it doesn’t)

    I imagine there will be a lot of crowds, but hopefully it’s a bit quieter than say the week of July 4th.

    Reply

    2. We just came back we were there from April 29-may3rd and despite the unusual amount of rain we had it was a GREAT time to go no lines at the MK (again I don’t know if it was because of the weather)we accomplished everything we planned and more,and the rain didn’t really matter much.the temp was about 80 average just a wonderful time to go.have fun!

  9. My two cents. We are long time wow guests and I recommend the following. Go when you want, make all the plans you want but remain flexible. We have always had our most enjoyable time when we relax and stroll through the park at whatever pace we are in the mood for that day. Even when the kids were young. I always recommend staying on disney property regardless of offsite deals. Take a break during the day back at room, this is a must with little kids. We never get anything other than the park hopper. If you are going for a week or more spend a day just touring the grounds on the many modes of free transportation. The hotels are themed and pleasant to tour and sample different foods. Did I mention its all free to tour the grounds and see the events going on around the parks and still feel the disney magic. I have always been under the mindset the family vacations are supposed to be relaxing and enjoyable not stressful. Yes we tried to hit it all the first time we went to wdw, nowadays we stop and smell the roses and everyone enjoys the trip with or without hitting every ride. WDW does not appear to be going away, pick up where you left off on the next trip. In short look at the graphs, read the comments and the many books, download the apps and make mental notes, but go when your ready, go, relax and make lemonade with whatever Walt throughs your way.

    Reply

    1. I like the idea of relaxing and taking it easy if that’s how you want to approach the trip, but it doesn’t make sense to me to put so much effort into planning, but then to only do it half-heartedly. Doing the level of planning you’re suggesting without picking the best/least crowded days to visit doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me.

  10. I my family and I are off to Disney on 5.7.13 – 14.7.13, what will the crowds be like then??? oh please tell me not too bad!!!!!!! My daughter is turning 21 on 6.7.13 and this is where she want to be and oh boy I dont like huge crowds.

    Reply

    1. We recommend checking out TouringPlans.com for those specific dates. Enjoy the trip!

  11. We’re looking at Feb 17 – 24 for some last minute travel but REALLY don’t do well with huge crowds. How will this time be do you suspect?

    Reply

  12. I have been going to Disney now for we’ll over 30 years. I have noticed lately that there really are no slow times. So I asked and the answer I got from a cast member has me less than thrilled with the state of Disney. We are here now and just found out a week ago that a national dance competition was being held here. No where on Disney’s website is this mentioned. It is already somewhat crowded with the people here from South America. But now add in kids from 100+ high schools and you can see where I am going with this. I asked a cast member today and she told me that Disney has decided to spread out events in order to fill their typically low periods. So what once was considered low crowds by the web sites that track this data, is now moderate to heavy. Perfect example was today. Touring plans had magic kingdom at 3.2. It was more like a 7 to 8 with some rides showing 1 to 1.5 hours. The only day this week that was bearable was Wednesday. Today and yesterday all I saw were mobs of matching jackets everywhere. Point of my story….do some digging to find out who is here at Disney. Subscribe to as many of the sites that give information on Disney and read the newsletters. Disney apparently won’t post any of these events so you need to do it yourself if you really want to find that perfect week.

    Reply

  13. I just booked a week in Walt Disney World with my family to stay from May 11-18, you know how are the crowds in that time???. Thanks in advance

    Reply

    1. I have gone the past 3 years right about that time (we would leave the day after my last college class ended) and stay about 15 days. Towards the end, it would get very crowded but the first week has been fine, “normal” lines not super long or short. Touring Plans lists the crowd level that week last year as 5/6 out of 10. And the week after becomes 9/10. For your week, I’d say peak wait times for the Etickets would be 30-45mins (excluding the outliers like TSM, TT 2.0, Soarin, etc.)

    2. Go to touringplans.com they will tell you exactly what the crowds will be like and what parks to go to (green) what parks to avoid (red) and the middle ground (yellow). Also included is Universal Studios and Island of Adventure. It is GREAT.

    3. Yep, as stated in the post, we highly recommend TouringPlans.com. For any specific dates you may be considering, we defer to them.

  14. Tom, do you know – or could you point me to any resources – that would estimate the “best” race time to attend – and by best, I mean least crowded?? We’d like to do a RunDisney race, and aren’t particular about which one, and as we have a family and would also be vacationing at that time, we’d like to plan on going during the slowest crowd time. Appreciate your help and LOVE your blog!

    Reply

    1. TouringPlans.com’s daily crowd calendar.

      From what I understand, race weekends always spike crowds.

  15. My family and I have been to Disney many times but only ever in the summer. For the first time ever we are considering a trip around the second week of December…aiming to arrive the 8th or 9th and stay for a week. It is our hope that this will mean MUCH smaller crowds than our traditional August visits. However, I am really concerned about the weather. Call me crazy but I don’t know is Disney will seem like our beloved Disney, if it is cold. For some reason sweating our socks off seems to have become part of the tradition…while I don’t need or want it to be blistering, how cold do you think it will be? Will water rides be out of the question? Will it really be jacket-apropriate temperatures as the sun starts to set? I know the temperature drops drastically but in recent years how cold is a Floridian December? All I can find onnline are averages and record highs…but the whole USA seems hotter the past few years. THANK YOU IN ADVANCE!

    Reply

    1. Hi Casey!! My family of four always visits WDW in the colder months although that is not always an accurate description. In 2010 and 2011, we went two weeks before Christmas. In 2010, it was COLD the entire week, I mean heavy coat cold. In 2011, I forgot to pack short-sleeved shirts and only took heavy sweatshirts. Boy was that a mistake!! It was in the mid 80’s the whole trip. This has happened in January as well. In 2009, they had a record cold snap the week we were there. I recall feeling so sorry for the little kids who were walking around in their princess dresses and flip flops. 🙁 So, since we drive anyway, I’ve learned to pack everything but the kitchen sink!! It’s a lot, but it seems to be the best thing to do so we are not caught off-guard by those crazy temperature swings. 😉 For the most part, a hoodie is sufficient, but you can’t count on that. The crowds are so much better this time of year. As far as water rides, Splash Mountain is always down in January for it’s yearly maintenance. Usually one water park is still open in the winter. Hope this was of some help to you.

    2. We traveled during the same general times of year as you and we had similar experiences. In 2010, I packed no coat nor any sweatshirts (it was warm in 2008 at Christmas!) and had to buy warmer clothes. In 2011, I over-compensated and packed clothes that were too warm. This year I packed perfectly, though!!! 🙂

  17. I just discovered this blog and wanted to add something that has proved beneficial to us and that I haven’t seen mentioned elsewhere. If you are going with kids who are old enough for fireworks but not old enough to stay up too late, early park closing in the off-season can be a blessing. My kids can never make an 11 pm firework show, but they can handle the 8 pm show, or the – can you believe it – 6:30 or 7:00 showing of Fantasmic. They can see that one and still get to bed by 8:30. Otherwise, staying late for a firework show pretty much kills the entire next day for the little ones (very cranky from lack of sleep), which often isn’t worth it. When you can catch a 7:00 showing of the Main Street Electrical Parade in MK followed by Wishes fireworks at 8:00, it is great! Since early closing often goes hand-in-hand with early parade/fireworks, it is something to consider.

    Reply

    1. Thanks for the tip, Sarah! We’re planning to take our son for the first time and were a little bummed he wouldn’t get to see the Electrical Parade. Sounds like that might be a possibility now.

  18. Hopefully not too silly of a question, the wife and I just booked a week stay from April 13-20, is that considered “late” April? We’re hoping the rush month will begin to taper off at that time. Thanks, and awesome blog!

    Paul

    Reply

    1. Things should begin to taper off after April 14th this year. Based upon how things are going this year, I’d expect it to be moderately busy when you’re there.

    2. But don’t forget that there will be thousands of cheerleaders there between 20 April to 1 May, so may be more crowded then

  19. Tom, as usual, you are totally right. I usually go during the low season, as my schedule is flexible and I have a AP (plus, hotels are cheaper!). I’m on the list of people that will sacrifice park hours for fewer crowds. As you alluded to, you can get more done in less time, so longer hours are unnecessary. Also, TouringPlans crowd calendar is a life saver.

    Amazingly, one of my most relaxing WDW vacations was this past April. I went during “spring break” because my AP was about to expire and they were offering 35% of Mods, so I made a quick 3 night trip. Since it was so packed I basically gave up trying to tour commando style and just enjoyed the atmosphere. Despite the throngs of unwashed humanity, it was relaxing because I wasn’t trying to cross everything off my list. I was just happy to be there!

    Reply

  20. Hi Tom,

    Myself and my fiance are currently planning our Disneymoon (very excited!) for next August. We use the Fastpass system a lot when we visit DisneyWorld, but we’ve never heard of the fact that you can return after the later time. Just to check, if the Fastpass was for 4.00-5.00, we could return anytime after 5pm? Sorry if this is a silly question!

    Thanks,

    Joy

    Reply

    1. Hi Joy,

      As of the date of this post, that is the correct. It’s an unofficial policy, but we have *never* had an issue returning well beyond the window. We usually save FastPasses for the afternoon when crowds are the worst, and try to ride as many attractions via the standby line earlier in the day. The only things that are enforced are the day (can’t use it the next day–although this wasn’t always the case!), and the early return time.

      Hope that helps.

      -Tom

    2. Thank you that’s brilliant. We’ll definately be making use of this information next August!

      Joy

    3. I think this has now changed and you will find they stick to the time stated with perhaps a 5/10 minute leaway unless you have a really good excuse as to why you were late. Too many people were ignoring the time block.

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