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 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
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.
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!
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.
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!
Great use of a fish-eye lens and creative use of reflections :-).
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
I think you might be referring to this: https://www.disneytouristblog.com/magic-kingdom-early-entry-halloween-christmas-party-days/
Or maybe this: https://www.disneytouristblog.com/magic-kingdoms-third-slowest-day-2022/
With that said, I’ll probably being doing the same thing again this year, and things will be slightly different with the addition of TRON and subtraction of Splash.
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
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!
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.
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!
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.
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!!
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.
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.
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,..
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
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!
This is actually something we addressed at length recently here: https://www.disneytouristblog.com/disney-doesnt-want-lower-crowds/
Even with all of the additions, whether capacity has increased is debatable because most of them replaced existing areas of the parks. On top of that, a lot of entertainment and (much more importantly) park hours have been cut, effectively *reducing* capacity.
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?
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.
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?
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.
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
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.
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.