2024 Disney World Crowd Calendar
These free 2024 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. (Updated April 1, 2024.)
Three months are in the books on 2024, and it’s already been a weird year for Walt Disney World crowds. Wait times have increased year-over-year so far in 2024, reversing monthly declines that occurred in the last 11 months of 2023. Although January, February and March 2024 all had higher average wait times than the same months last year, it hasn’t been an across-the-board increase. Some days and weeks have been slower, with Orange County’s Spring Break–which was downright dead–being a prime example.
This honestly was not what we expected. As a whole, our 2024 Walt Disney World crowds forecast was for pent-up demand to continue exhausting itself, a process that had not yet fully played out as of the end of last year. As such, we expected crowd levels to drop slightly through at least the first half of 2024. Instead, the opposite is happening. In What’s Causing Higher Crowds at Walt Disney World in 2024?, we theorize about the why of that, with discussion of various factors that have led to ‘re-revenge travel’ this year.
Regardless of whether crowds increase or decrease for the remainder of 2024 as compared to last year, you should be prepared for high wait times by historical standards. This year likely won’t be on par with the stratospheric heights reached in 2022 (due to a unique set of circumstances that’ll hopefully never be repeated), but it’ll still higher than any year between 2014 and 2019.
Even amidst last year’s “slowdown” at Walt Disney World, average wait times still reached 2018 levels. This year is shaping up to be, at minimum, a repeat of 2019 and much busier than 2020-2021. This is key context since wait times in 2019 were almost 10 minutes higher on average than any year before 2017.
In other words, your frame of reference matters. Walt Disney World is still very crowded by historical standards. We expect this trend to continue throughout 2024 and the parks to be busier than they were 6+ years ago, even if crowd levels don’t hit the record-setting peaks from 2022.
Part of Walt Disney World has seen a rebound in crowd levels thus far in 2024 is due to discounting, especially on park tickets. Walt Disney World releasing tons of different discounts for 2024. Deals are better than the last two years and are coming out earlier, and the end result is that it’s actually less expensive to visit Walt Disney World now than it was in the last two years. Beyond that, the company is pulling more “levers” in an attempt to entice guests to return, and a lot of them appear to be working.
The next three months are a roller coaster of crowd levels that include both some of the slowest dates and also some of the busiest weeks of the entire year. Post-Easter, Walt Disney World has entered the second half of Spring Break, which (unsurprisingly) should be busy.
After that, “shoulder season” arrives. That was one of the slowest 6-week stretches of last year, but we expect late April and May 2024 to be busier. That’s in large part due to the aforementioned ticket deals, which are being offered to both Florida residents and the general public. There’s also the completed overhaul of EPCOT, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure opening in June 2024, and new summer offerings designed to lure people to the parks.
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–check out our list of the 10 Best and 10 Worst Weeks to Visit Walt Disney World in 2024 & 2025.
Note that crowd levels are calculated on a rolling basis relative to the prior 365 days. They are not anchored to 1971 or 1993 or 2008 wait times. In other words, a 1/10 today is not the same as a 1/10 in September 2012 or October 2015. Today’s 1/10 might be closer to a 5/10 from five years ago.
Pretty much every single day in 2024 would be 10/10 if we used 2008 or earlier as the baseline. If you last experienced Walt Disney World several years ago, your baseline expectations and experience probably differ from someone who visited over holiday weeks in 2022 when pent-up demand was running hot.
Not only that, but a ‘low’ crowd levels does not mean that in absolute terms. 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 means something different than it does at the American Dream Mall or Wyoming in The Last of Us. The most popular rides, especially during the middle of the day, will still have long lines.
For example, going from a 10/10 crowd level to a 1/10 crowd level means you might encounter a 65-75 minute average wait time for popular rides–including but not limited to Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Peter Pan’s Flight, Slinky Dog Dash, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, Frozen Ever After, Na’vi River Journey and Avatar Flight of Passage–as opposed to 90+ minute wait times. Those numbers are averages, so it also means higher peaks and lower lows. Below-average crowd levels does not mean every ride is a walk-on!
We’re not trying to be debbie downers. Our goal is to provide realistic expectations and preparation for crowds. And if you read reports of the parks being empty, ghost towns, or dead…well, you might have be surprised to encounter “only” an hour wait time for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. (Yes, that’s a lot of waiting–but that posted wait time is also inflated and still far lower than it’d be during peak season.)
Point being, 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.
If all of this sounds overwhelming or imprecise, the good news is that it’s entirely possible to beat bad crowds. In fact, we recommend savvy strategy over choosing the “best” days to visit!
By utilizing Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, Early Entry, Extended Evening Hours, rope drop, etc. We cover the best & worst approach for each park in Best Time-Saving Strategies for Walt Disney World. (If you’re only going to read one planning post, make it that!)
If you want to read a few more posts–all more useful than crowd calendars–be sure to also check out our Walt Disney World Itineraries for plans of attack, with options now with and without Genie+ and Lightning Lanes.
Speaking of which, we have a ~4,500 word Guide to Genie+ at Walt Disney World & Lightning Lane FAQ for those who want to thoroughly master the new paid FastPass system.
Honestly, following a good itinerary and utilizing smart strategy is way more important than choosing the “right” dates. There are some exceptions to this, such as going on December 29, 2024 instead of September 6, but by and large, using smart strategy will put you in a better position than picking the least-busy 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.
With that said, here are more detailed suggestions for when you should and shouldn’t visit Walt Disney World…
2024 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 2024 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.
- January Walt Disney World Crowd Calendar & Info
- February Walt Disney World Crowd Calendar & Info
- March Walt Disney World Crowd Calendar & Info
- April 2024 Walt Disney World Crowd Calendar & Info
- May 2024 Walt Disney World Crowd Calendar & Info
- June 2024 Walt Disney World Crowd Calendar & Info
- July 2024 Walt Disney World Crowd Calendar & Info
- August 2024 Walt Disney World Crowd Calendar & Info
- September 2024 Walt Disney World Crowd Calendar & Info
- October 2024 Walt Disney World Crowd Calendar & Info
- November 2024 Walt Disney World Crowd Calendar & Info
- December 2024 Walt Disney World Crowd Calendar & Info
These Walt Disney World crowd calendars are most reliable about 6 months in advance. It’s still too early to make reliable predictions for next summer and beyond. With that said, some of the same general patterns play out year in and out, so later months are useful for broader weekly trends–rather than specific dates to visit.
For these crowd calendars, we combine normal data like wait times and other info that serves as a proxy for crowds 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.
This isn’t to say that there’s no way to avoid the crowds anymore–there absolutely is–and crowd calendars will help with that. The slower dates are still noticeably slower than the busier dates. All we’re saying is that 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.
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, we highly recommend heading down from in late September, October, early November, late February, March, or April. 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, May until late-August 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. We highly recommend consulting our 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, bringing the Frogg Toggs for the humidity…and ponchos for the rain so you don’t spend $179 on them at Walt Disney World. Read our Unique Disney World Packing List for some items you might not otherwise think of taking.
While early December and January are great times to visit to avoid crowds, our experience has been that these are the worst two months in terms of weather. Not only does it get extremely cold (well, relatively speaking–it is Florida after all), but there are substantial swings in temperature. You might find yourself wanting to wear shorts in the morning but by late afternoon it is jeans and sweatshirt weather. As the night rolls on, you might even find yourself wanting to put on a parka.
If you travel during these seasons, expect to bring more luggage and make more stops at your room to change clothing (or at least plan on renting a locker to store additional layers of clothing each day). You may be lucky and find relatively consistent temperate weather during these timeframes, but it’s best to prepare for the worst so that you don’t have to purchase a bunch of $50 sweatshirts from the Emporium on Main Street. Those $50 sweatshirts can add up quickly! Check out our Winter Packing Tips for Disney post for more insight on what to take on your winter trip to Walt Disney World.
Park Hours
In talking to others, we’ve found that this is the one area that people consider the least when planning their trips, which we think is at least a small 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 (see our Itineraries for Walt Disney World), 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 to employ 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
- EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival – Our Guide to the Flower & Garden Festival. We think this is one of the most underrated events at Walt Disney World. Epcot looks so beautiful in full bloom.
Summer
- EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival – Beginning in late summer, 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.
Fall
- 2024 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 Food & Wine Festival – Same as above usually continues through mid to late November.
Holidays
- 2024 Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party at Magic Kingdom – Read this post for our Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party tips & tricks, including what to do and when to do it at the party.
- EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays – This expanded event now features food, Holiday Storytellers in the World Showcase, and other entertainment.
- Candlelight Processional at Epcot – Here we cover whether you should do the dinner package, along with a list of the narrators, and some photos from recent Candlelight Processionals we’ve attended.
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 a good touring plan (which is far more important than choosing dates based upon a crowd calendar, anyway). For help with this, 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!
I just came from Disney World, and it was pretty okay from Nov. 7-10, but then got SLAMMED at Nov. 11th and never let up. Even the Cast Members were horrified and shocked at the rush. I kind of expected it given how hotels were actually SOLD OUT as of a month ago until more opened up (cancellations/more hotel staff?). Asking around, me and most other people admitted “I would have considered September, but I figured that would be insanely busy because of the 50th, so held off a month”. So we basically all had the same idea at the same time, lol.
My plan involved more or less setting up an extended trip so it didn’t matter so much if I couldn’t do anything (Frozen, Rise & Mine Train all hit 1.5-2 hours wait routinely) on any given day. HS & MK required Genie+, but the others did not. Even so, even my “rise early and get there at the beginning” trick didn’t always pan out (twice the big rides- Rise & Train- were broken at park opening), and scheduling a proper day is a miserable experience thanks to the weirdly staggered bus & park openings so I didn’t always get that right.
Coming from someone with no kiddos, but still looking to have a super fun time, would you say May is a safe month to go? The flower garden sounds amazing and something I could see myself and husband really enjoying. My husband is a big guy, and HATES humidity, would you say this is getting into a danger zone of hot weather?
I agree with everything you’ve written here. Excellent information that covers almost every angle of choosing a date. Almost. As of Oct 12th it’s missing one important category to consider. Price of onsite hotel. Right now WDW is offering nothing except a so so AP 25% discount from Dec 12th to Dec 24th. That’s actually a pretty good time for out of state AP’ers to go. If you can afford it, add a couple of full price days to stay past Christmas.
Personally I suspect next year will have great prices for rooms to offset lower crowds. Without going into reasons why suffice it to say that conditions in the country will make it so. My advice is save today like there’s no tomorrow and a much needed trip to Disney will be very affordable in 2022.
We’re coming the first week of November. I just seen that it’s the wine and dine run at Disney World and Jersey week? Do you expect the crowds to be bad at the resort? I may have to reschedule our trip . We are doing three days at the parks and three days at the resort.
I’m concerned that during our early November trip, it will be overrun with Brits since the travel ban will have just been lifted. Actually, I’m looking forward to hearing the beautiful accents in line! Just wondered if you had taken that into account. Thanks for all your updates, can’t wait to hear how Genie+ goes!
It’s really hard to say how that will play out. I know early bookings have been strong for international flights, but we’re still skeptical it’ll meaningfully move the needle on crowds that quickly. It’s really short notice and there would have to be a LOT of them coming all at once.
Unfortunately after our last visit, from which we returned 3 days ago. . .I think Disney has lost its magic! Too many issues to go into. We’ll not be back any time soon.
Going in the middle of January. What kind of weather can I generally expect?
Hi,
I have a three day park pass for December. I am planning Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studious on a Thursday to Saturday. Which day would you recommend to visit each park?
Thank you for your time.
Hi Tom,
My kids are attending in person school and have their Spring Break scheduled for the week of March 15th. I’m an avid reader of your blog and a WDW veteran. I agreed with your mid-March assessment and was happy that their break was nowhere near Easter 🙂 Oddly, I’ve just popped in to the Park Pass calendar and seen DHS booked for 3/15 (Mon) through 3/18 (Thurs) for WDW resort guests but not APs (we are both). The rest of the calendar is a sea of green, even for DHS! Any thoughts on this?
Thanks for all you do!
Meagan
Hi Tom. I have a trip booked for May 2021 and have been waiting for your updated version of that month. But it seems that you have skipped May and gone straight on to June, July, and August. Will you be updating May for 2021?
Sorry for the delay–it’s now updated for May 2021!
It doesn’t look like all of the individual monthly calendar posts have been updated for 2021 yet, such as May, August, and others. Do you know if May will be updated soon?
What is the best time to visit the parks during the season of the Coronavirus?
Will they hand out masks and gloves?
They do not hand out masks but have many available for purchase. Please do not wear gloves thinking that is in any way protecting yourself or others. It is much better to frequently wash your hands or use hand sanitizer.
And so the slow decline begins. I have talked to 8 different families that all have recently returned from WDW. Last 4 months. All right said it will quite some time before they go back if ever.
Main reason? Crowds lines and costs. It appears the management has pushed the line beyond what families are willing to endure.
Personally our recent vacation to Florida did not include WDW for the first time in years.
It was by far the least stressful vacation we’ve had. Did state and national parks and focused on wildlife type excursions and had the most incredible times we’ had in years.
Good bye WDW. You will NOT be missed.
I was not sure if we were the only ones, but with a recent visit to Disney 1/25/21 to 1/29/21, we have discovered the disillusionment with Disney. We are avid Disney travelers, and feel that Disney had “it” for several years. But this year was different. I understand the abnormal normal, but what I do not understand is the greed Disney has…especially in the times where they are depending on their consumers to keep them out of the hole. Not only have we lost all of the entertainment, but the magic was gone. We stayed at Art of Animation and were hugely disappointed. The main pool was down, dining was poor at best (we had to order a coke and cupcake and wait for over 20 mins to have them bring it to us), the food choices were terrible, the staff was minimal, the cleanliness was questionable, the transportation was awful, the prices were raised and were exorbitant, and the experiences were minimal.
What I do not understand is why the public keeps allowing Disney to operate this way, and not only allows it, but flocks to Disney. The prices go up and up every year, and people keep paying it. We are heading down to the Disney area the end of Feb for a pool weekend of relaxation, and we were ready to stay at a Disney resort, however, has anyone checked out the prices of Disney resorts lately? Since when did Pop Century have a min. of a $200 a night charge? I would never pay $200 a night to stay at a value resort, especially that has no amenities and terrible food!! When are we going to say enough is enough? I think my family is finally saying enough is enough. We will put our money elsewhere to serve the economy better, not a greedy company who keeps giving less and less, but charging more and more for it. The magic of Disney is wearing off fast, and I hope others start to see that… then maybe changes may be able to be made. Disney has no way where the consumer can constructively give criticism. There is no way to voice the publics opinion. Since when did paying $4 for a bottle of water become right?
I am waking up too
We’ve been quite successful at planning Disney vacations using crowd calendars over the last few years. However, using the crowd calendars again for our trip this past late February, proved to be useless as the parks were more crowded in late February than they were when we went in the summer last year. I attribute this glitch in planning to the popularity of Galaxy’s Edge (Ride of the Resistance, Smugglers Run) and Mickey’s Runaway Railway. While these are in Hollywood Studios, most people planning to visit Disney still go to other Disney parks. The spillover into the other non Hollywood Studios parks was noticeable. Last year we could easily get Fastpasses after using our first three. This time- no Fastpasses available for the rides we rode numerous times with the ease using Fastpass kiosks. The only time we could ride otherwise less popular rides without Fastpass was during an EMH at MK in the morning.
We stayed at Pop Century, booking it 9 months out, before Skyliner opened. Something to consider, this transportation option to HS and Epcot is a game changer for good! It doesn’t open up early enough to get to HS if you need to be there at opening for Ride of the Resistance, but in all other ways is the best way to get to HS and Epcot. However, the resorts it is attached to are much more difficult to book as they are now very popular. We tried to book Pop Century again, and it didn’t have any rooms available the week we usually go this time.
My thoughts are that crowd calendars are not going to be reliable the next few years while Star Wars is working out it’s kinks in the rides. It makes sense that the typical times of year for lower crowd levels from before would still hold true, but I agree that even though the crowds might be lower, it doesn’t feel like it anymore!
Last year, Disney World was very busy at the end of January and throughout most of February as well. So, I don’t think the business of those weeks this year is just because of Galaxy’s Edge. I think this is the new busy time at Disney because so many people want to avoid the heat and believe they are also avoiding the crowds.
I really hope it doesn’t impact Christmas. It’s the only time we can go this year. It’s already crazy enough
I think I’ve finally convinced my wife to take a 4 day trip to WDW this summer. This will be our first adults only trip there. Due to scheduling, the only time we can go would be the first week of June (my wife is a 1st Grade teacher). We understand that it will be hotter than our usual trip in March/April for Spring Break. But I’m sure it won’t be much worse than where we live (Southern Illinois, where it’s usually 100% humidity by June).
How are the crowds that first week of June compared to Spring Break? I don’t particularly mind the crowds, as we usually have a solid plan and know where we’re going and when to do it. We also won’t have our four kids with us, so that will save some of the time we need to slow down for them. Thanks to anyone who can chime in!
*And don’t worry about the kids, we’re taking them to Disney Land and Universal Hollywood in July*
Hi Andrew,
To be honest, I think that early June will be a better time to go than March/April. It will definitely be hot and crowded (as it is always crowded), but I don’t think it will be as crowded as Spring Break. It is the beginning of Summer for many states during that time period, but I still think it will be a bit less crowded than Spring Break. As you said, with your plan, you will be golden! Enjoy!
Hi Tom,
I am a Disney vet – have been many times throughout my childhood and even in the recent years (I am 27) – I still love to go! I will be visiting Disney for 5 days (May 16th-May 20th of 2020) staying at the Disney All-Star Resort. We are doing 4 days at Disney Parks at 1 day at Universal.
I have never to been to Disney this time of year before. What do you anticipate the crowds will be like during this Saturday May 16th-Wednesday May 20th visit? It is RIGHT before Memorial Day Weekend, but I am wondering if the MDW weekend crowds will impact that week, or if we will get lucky and it won’t get busy until around that Friday of MDW, when we will have left on Wednesday? We were supposed to be there this week (Feb 1st-5th), but I came down with the flu. Can you compare the two times?
Let me know your thoughts!
Thanks for your help!
We returned from Disney World last week. I’m so appreciative of the articles to give better insight from someone who has traveled to that wonderful place so many times. We had a blast! There were many people from all over the world who were kind, weather was perfect, a really positive experience except we all were exhausted.
What do you think about Veterans Day being on a Wednesday this year? Will that make a difference in crowds?
Hi. I have four kids ages 5-13 at time of travel and due to our varied activities we have two chances to visit this spring, either March 22-28 or Easter Sunday April 12-18. I have read many of your articles, which I love, that say both of these options are horrible for crowds. Will I really be pulling my hair out with either one? The Easter Disney hotel spike is balanced by lower airfare so for good weather and less horrendous crowds, which of the above-mentioned weeks do you recommend?