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. I have a question about Monday, January 29th. Magic Kingdom closes at 4:30. Does this day follow your advice the same as other days with an early closure as a good day to go to Magic Kingdom? Will it be similar to a party day where it’ll be less crowded because of the early closure

    Reply

    1. Yes–absolutely! That will be one of the 5 slowest days of the year at Magic Kingdom.

      And also, thanks for the reminder. I saw that schedule change back when it happened, but forgot about it in the chaos of Christmas. I’ll go back and update the January 2024 crowd calendar with that quirk shortly.

  2. Hey Tom, we love your blog and have found the tips priceless. I would like your thoughts on the current crowds. We arrived 9/11/23 and are staying until 9/19/23. We always come this time of year for ‘low’ crowds and have never been disappointed on the past. This time crowds are crazy big. Even early entry at magic kingdom at 7:30 on a party night had us backed up to in front of the castle, and wednesday 9/13 at magic kingdom was so crowded you couldn’t move. Animal Kingdom today 9/16 saw eaits for the safari before 11 am at over an hour! It was always 25 minutes or less in years past. Maybe your blog has become so popular that it has moved the crowd needle? Anyway curious on your thoughts for crowds for mid- september!

    Reply

  3. I would like to read your recommendations on a Monday-Friday park itinerary at Disneyworld- we are going for spring break and won’t be there on a weekend.

    Reply

  4. I will be at DW November 11-19th and i am trying to follow your strategy of going to MK on party days and inversely going to the other three on non party days. Do you think this strategy holds true for Veterans Day crowds on the 11th/12th? Since there are MMVMCP dates sandwiching (9th,10th,13th,14th) Veterans Day weekend. My plan was to stay out of MK that weekend but should I plan on all parks being 10/10 crowded regardless? Thank you so very much!

    Reply

  6. Hi Tom,

    I found a great blog that you did on rope dropping on party days (MNSSHP in my case) and the route to take, which rides to do first, i can not, for the life of me find it again! could you point me in the right direction please!

    Love your blog, although i think i am trying to plan a little too far in advance of our trip this October ??

    Thanks

    Reply

    2. Thanks a lot, I will try and cool my jets a bit and make sure I follow the new one when its ready further down the line. Will this be the same for the other touring plans? Are you likely to review them before October?
      Many thanks

  7. Just came back from a five day stretch at Disney. The crowds were less and the wait times lower both early mornings and late nights. Didn’t need any paid passes! Weather was perfect! It was probably one of our best weeks in years!

    Reply

  8. Why is Sunday, April 30 a day to avoid at Hollywood Studios? I’ve seen a couple calendars note it as a high crowd day but can’t figure out what would drive that specifically.

    Reply

    1. That’s an update within the last 2 days, as Fantasmic will be dark on May 1-2, which will result in larger crowds the day before and after when it’s being shown. May 4 will be busier at DHS because of Star Wars Day.

      None of those dates will be truly “bad” by any stretch. This is generally a good time of year to visit; you’ve already missed the worst of spring break, and are arriving before summer season starts. Don’t sweat it too much!

  9. Is there a simple hyperlink in any of these articles that takes you directly to the crowd calendar? I’ve been scrolling through several articles and can’t seem to find it.

    Reply

  10. We have a trip planned Dec. 31, 2022-Jan. 9, 2023, and I’m optimistic that crowds will be decent simply because we could still get ALL our dining reservations for the week several days after the 60-day window opened! That NEVER happens!!!

    AND there were several times to choose from, meaning we got the exact reservations and times we were looking for, without stress and without paying for the alert program we usually need. Fingers crossed this is a sign for low crowds!!

    Reply

  11. Just returned from three days in the DisneyWorld parks (11/2-4) using Tom’s tips and it turned out great! We started at AK in the morning (with Park Hopper and G+ all three days) but reserved ILL and LL for HS where we hopped that afternoon. Took Skyliner from POP very early and walked onto Remy. Rode it a second time with a very short wait. Then had 5-15 min. waits for Frozen, Soarin’, Spaceship Earth and all the rest we wanted to do at EPCOT before hopping to HS at 2. Even able to ride Guardians after messing up the virtual queue process. (NOTE: Guest Relations was extremely helpful to us throughout our stay with helping us fix our technology mistakes!)

    Using our ILL and LL selections we were able to ride all the “big” rides we wanted to do at HS. Next day at MK was great — with all the pricy extras we added, we were able to avoid any line longer than about 20 minutes.

    Finally, our third day we started at AK, then hopped over to EPCOT for Friday afternoon. BIG MISTAKE and we were kicking ourselves since Tom warned us not to go on Friday afternoon during the Food & Wine Festival! It was MADNESS and we knew we quickly knew we made a big mistake so we stayed out of the World Showcase and focused on the other parts of EPCOT.

    I know Tom predicted huge crowds in November but we were pleasantly surprised that the crowds weren’t that bad at any of the four parks, EXCEPT the one time we didn’t take Tom’s advice and we hopped over to EPCOT. We stayed at POP and loved taking the Skyliner to EPCOT and HS. It’s so much easier, quicker and more pleasant than the shuttle busses.

    I can’t say enough about WDW Guest Relations. We had several snafus (missed our LL window due to overlapping plans, messed up virtual queue for Guardians, etc.) and they fixed it for us every time. After reading so much about the parks/resorts being filthy, rude cast members, etc. we were wary of going but our experience was just the opposite. We had a wonderful time (about our 15th visit) but were very tired after all that walking.

    Listen. To. Tom. His tips (plus Genie+ and ILLs and Park Hopping) were what enabled us to have such a good time and very short waits in line. Although I have to say I was a little annoyed at all the extra charges Disney is now requiring for a more pleasant visit.

    Reply

    1. Just realized in my earlier post that I wrote we started at AK in the morning and hopped to HS. We actually started at EPCOT and hopped to HS on the first day.

  12. Veteran Disney fans, the set including any who have held an annual pass more than one year, have likely ridden most rides multiple times and now, regarding park rides, abide with interest in the new things that come along at a pace but know that the experience of being in the parks is far greater than the sum of the rides. i don’t need the rides terribly much at this point. with all the competitive energy required. I just want somewhere we can go and be happy among other people being happy. Therefore (and here is the point) i wish disney would concentrate on creating the glorious common areas of ideal parks, distanced enclosures of the eternal afternoon, well suited for collective contemplation, for instance, but free from any particular sectarian restraints,.. (except for America, of course,..)
    Why not? like what I suppose was recently planned big for EPCOT,..

    Reply

  13. We are going Dec 1st. Last year we went 2 days after thanksgiving- so roughly the same time frame. I am hopeful it wont be too crowded. We really enjoyed the weather last year- my sons were in jeans and hoodies every day ,so not typical for Orlando- helped with the Christmas vibes

    Reply

  14. After reading this I did a quick look into estimated theme park attendance at WDW. From 2012 to 2019 the annual attendance across all parks increased by over 10 million. Estimated attendance at AK and HS were both below 10 million in 2012. So that increase of 10 million plus effectively means that 5 theme parks worth of crowds are now trying to squeeze into 4 parks, and the capacity in those parks has not increased, or only done limitedly. Until Disney builds additional places for these guests to go the crowds will not diminish. It is ridiculous that it has been 24 years and counting since Disney gave us a new theme park. If they were keeping up with the pace of the first decades of operation we would have 6 gates right now!

    Reply

  15. Tom – I know you are planning to do more test runs on party days in Magic Kingdom again, but we are planning to do MK on November 8. It’s a party day, but park pass reservations are already full for MK that day. Should we plan on purchasing Genie+ because of that?

    Reply

    1. Exact same thing happened with the first MNSSHP day, and it ended up being 1/10 (and had low “feels like” crowds–I was there that whole day). Here was our explanation for that prior to it happening: https://www.disneytouristblog.com/no-these-dates-wont-be-busy-at-disney-world/

      My expectation is that November 8 will be at least a slightly different story, as that’s likely to be a busy week at WDW. My guess would be 5/10 or 6/10 crowds at Magic Kingdom, and higher elsewhere. I would not be the least bit surprised to see both that week and Thanksgiving go totally grey on the calendar. Hard to say just how busy it’ll get, though.

      I would consider buying Genie+ for that day in MK, but I don’t think it’ll be essentially if you do Early Entry.

  16. Hi Tom, the date (Dec 18) I wanted to attend the Christmas Party sold out. Historically, has Disney released more tickets for a sold out date or sold day-of tickets? Or am I SOL?

    Reply

  17. Tom,
    We just returned from our visit to WDW in September. Your recommendation to go in September was great. Crowds were low and thanks to you we were prepared to deal with the rain. It only rained hard three afternoon’s out of the seven days we were there. Your recommendation to go to Magic Kingdom on the day of MNSSHP was spot on. Crowds were very low and we walked on to a lot of rides. We had the Lighting lanes purchased for each day of our visit. I know that you do not recommend this but it worked out well with our park hopping. And the few rides that had waits in the stand by lines we were able to get Lighting lanes for. We did buy some individual lighting lanes and I know that you say no to this but when you only go to Disney once every three or four years and you want to ride the individual lighting lane rides twice you have to rope drop them and buy the individual lighting lane, which we did Thanks for the great advice By the way the longest line we stood in was at Giedion’s in Disney Springs and that was 25 minutes. This was the best trip for low wait times that I have every made to WDW.

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  18. Kudos…I say again Kudos to you…This is a superlative site..I will be going to Disneyworld Epcot for first time ever next month. I’m a bit OCD when it comes to traveling and thus those who fail to plan. Plan to flail all over…I can breathe easier and relax now that I know what to pack, where to go, what to eat and when to get there..Thank you again…Joe

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  19. Thanks for the introspection and appreciate your analysis but this post is Waaaaaayyyyy too long. I’m a patient reader but even I was rapid scrolling at the last 1/3rd.

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  20. Happy New Year! I have been reading your posts for years and appreciate your fair assessment of all things Disney (and your sense of humor). We’ve avoided many potential pitfalls during our visits to WDW because of your suggestions. I was just clicking on links for each month in 2022 and the link for September goes to September 2021, not 2022. Thought you should know. Thanks again.

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