It’s the #1 Worst Week of 2023 at Disney World!
It’s official! Between Christmas and New Year’s Eve has surpassed all of the “competition” to claim the crown as the #1 worst week of 2023 at Walt Disney World. This post covers the astronomical attendance and terrible triple-digit wait times right now at Walt Disney World, plus Genie+ selling out in two parks for the first time ever, along with commentary about crowding. (Updated December 29, 2023.)
Let’s start by talking crowds. As noted, we’re in the midst of what will almost certainly go down as the worst week of 2023 when all is said and done. It’s currently #1, just ahead of the very first week of the year. To that point, the current crowd conditions will continue into early 2024, which is why all of the big changes don’t take effect until January 9. Like last year, the first week of 2024 will probably be worse than the week leading up to Christmas.
It’s only half over, but the current week has an average wait time of 56 minutes and a crowd level of 10/10. That’s 2 minutes worse than the first week of January, but 5 minutes behind the same week last year. However, the average wait time is still increasing and will likely narrow the gap by the time New Year’s Eve rolls around.
In our previous crowd report from halfway through that day, we reported that December 27, 2023 was tied at the time for the busiest day of the year (with January 3, 2023). At that point, we indicated that wait times had probably peaked for the day, and we expected the average dip back to 64 minutes.
That was incorrect! Wait times didn’t drop–they increased by another 2 minutes, to a 67 minute average. In the end, December 27 went down as the busiest day of 2023 and was tied for the busiest day in the last 365 (with December 29, 2022). That’s actually the highest/worst wait time we have on record in the post-reopening era.
That is, until December 28, 2023 arrived. That day ended with a 68 minute average wait time, which was another new record. Not to point out the obvious, but that was once again a 10+/10 crowd level, and the worst average wait times since at least January 2020.
However, the day is still young and there’s a shot for today (December 29, 2023) to surpass yesterday. The current average is 69 minutes, so if the day ended right now, it’d be another record. And that’ll probably happen–for each of the last several days, the average kept rising until well into the afternoon. It’s only 1:30 p.m. now, so there’s a very good chance that average will eclipse 70 minutes when all is said and done. It’d be fitting for today to be the busiest day of 2023 given that December 29 was also the busiest day of 2022!
In any case, every day for the rest of this week/year has a chance of being the busiest of the week/entire year. In fairness, we warned you that crowd levels would be 10+/10 this week! Here’s a look at just how bad wait times are at Walt Disney World:
For those keeping score at home, that’s 8 attractions with wait times at or above 2 hours. There are another 4 rides with triple-digit waits. Add to that 16 more attractions with hour-plus wait times.
Most notable of these is Avatar Flight of Passage with a 280 minute wait time. That’s, uh, a lot! However, this actually is not a record for the attraction. According to the DTB archives, Avatar Flight of Passage had a 6-hour wait time back in 2019. (It has had 200+ minute wait times on so many occasions that we don’t even keep count. This is, sadly, not abnormal.)
This is obviously very bad and we feel for stuck in these lines. That’s especially the case when it comes to families who have heard Disney executives speak for the last couple of years about how the reservation system prevents overcrowding, and planned a trip on that basis. Even though this week is a historically busy time and that’s “common knowledge” to Disney fans, not everyone knows that. There are a lot of people who still mistakenly think that higher prices equals lower crowds!
As we’ve discussed at length on many occasions–most notably in Disney Doesn’t Want Lower Crowds–this is false. That title pretty much says it all; none of the company’s policies or changes made under the guise of prevented overcrowding have been for that purpose. Not now, not in the past, and not in the future. There are always for optimization.
If Walt Disney World could have both higher crowds and higher spending, they would absolutely take both. The week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve is Exhibit A in this argument every single year, and it’s honestly astounding to me that we keep having this debate. There’s a common viewpoint that price increases are actually good because they decrease attendance and help cut crowds. That is erroneous. This is a go-to line when raising ticket prices, and one that has been mindlessly parrotted by a certain subset of Walt Disney World fans.
We have rejected this perspective time and time again. For one thing, there is ample evidence to the contrary, as attendance has increased by millions of guests per year in the pre-closure decade. For another, if Disney wants to reduce crowds, there are ways to accomplish that–building more attractions or not taking 84 years to open a cloned roller coaster in an otherwise empty warehouse. In reality, Disney has little desire to reduce attendance–they want to “optimize” wait times, staffing, and pricing.
Just putting this explanation here, once again, so I can share this link the next time someone praises price increases in the comments or requests more of them to reduce crowds. (Yes, that is a thing that people actually say!) Anyway.
Speaking of higher prices, here are the prices for Genie+ at Walt Disney World for December 29, 2023:
- Multiple Parks (valid with Park Hopper tickets): $39
- Magic Kingdom: $39
- Disney’s Hollywood Studios: $35
- EPCOT: $32
- Animal Kingdom: $29
These record-high amounts started on December 23 and we expect these precise price points to continue through New Year’s Eve. On January 1, 2024, it’s likely the max price will fall back to $29. Don’t be surprised if Genie+ sells out several times in the days and week to come despite the record high prices.
Despite the record high prices, December 28, 2023 was the first time ever that Genie+ sold out at Animal Kingdom. It was also sold out at Disney’s Hollywood Studios for the second time ever…and second consecutive day! Guess what? Both parks also sold out on December 29, 2023. Third straight day for DHS and second for Animal Kingdom.
I mentioned this back when the change was made to per-park pricing, but it was my understanding at the time that ‘issues’ with Animal Kingdom last year at Christmas were actually a main motivation for the move to per-park pricing. Not the only reason Walt Disney World did it, but one of many factors.
Basically, Animal Kingdom does a bad job of handling crowds because it has so few headliners and because people generally arrive late and leave early. Consequently, there’s insufficient capacity for the peak hours when the park is packed. That’s why Animal Kingdom oscillates between having very low and very high crowds–once it reaches a certain tipping point, the park is a nightmare. Before that, it’s usually relatively manageable. It should be self-evident that the point was reached in the last two days.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios is a somewhat similar story, except with more capacity but also more demand. Its top heavy lineup is why it averages the highest wait times (by far) in all of Walt Disney World. This dynamic at both parks is also why they can be surprisingly easy to strategize–people hit a wall at both and head for the exits as a result. We’ve discussed that in countless crowd reports, though.
As I’m writing this, Genie+ has not yet sold out for Magic Kingdom and EPCOT. Judging by Lightning Lane availability, I’d be surprised if either did. I currently see options for just about every headliner in both parks (part of that is that I appear to have hit a ride reservation refill time at EPCOT). Magic Kingdom being open until midnight also helps on the capacity side.
As previously mentioned, the next two weeks or so will see peak season plus attendance, with crowd levels of 10+/10, for lack of a better term. That may not make complete sense, but last year’s peak week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve is a good illustration. December 20 was a 10/10 crowd level day with an average wait time of 54 minutes–that was only one minute higher than a 9/10 crowd level. By contrast, December 29 was the worst day of last year, also with a 10/10 crowd level but an average wait time of 67 minutes.
That’s a 13 minute spread–which is absolutely massive–but the exact same crowd level. Nowhere else on the scale (except, I guess, 1/10 since it could theoretically start at 0 minutes–but that never happens in practice) has that range. Usually a crowd level has a range of a few minutes before it moves up or down. Not 10/10. It can be 54 minutes, 67 minutes, 80 minutes, etc. Hence the 10+/10 crowd level.
Hope that makes sense. Even if not, the salient point is that there are varying degrees of ‘bad’ crowds and that 10/10 isn’t a static level of awfulness. Right now is pretty bad, but next week will almost certainly be way worse. On the plus side, the parks will be operating in ‘maximum efficiency’ mode, which presents more opportunities for beating the crowds if you’re willing to work a bit.
We’d once again recommend reading Making the Most of Midnight in Magic Kingdom & Beating Peak Season Crowds! That’s a recent post that I put a ton of work into based on my midnight experience, and it was relatively overlooked by readers. The tips there can save you a ton of time and stress if you’re visiting Walt Disney World in the next two weeks.
It’ll be interesting to see how many days Genie+ sells out between now and January 6, 2024. My previous guess was 3-4, with all of the sell outs occurring later in the week as NYE draws nearer and crowds crescendo.
Genie+ selling out despite higher prices actually shouldn’t be a surprise. For one thing, there’s a certain amount of price inelasticity when it comes to paid line-skipping. Most guests who don’t balk at the $35 price point also are unlikely to be dissuaded from buying the service when it’s priced at $39. That’s especially true of visitors who pay peak season prices to visit Walt Disney World–they’re less likely to be cost-sensitive (if they were, they’d choose cheaper dates in the first place).
There’s also the practical reality that Genie+ is more valuable when crowds are higher. As we’ve discussed previously, there is a “sweet spot” for buying the Genie+ service, and you are arguably better off skipping it in favor of superior strategy when prices are highest due to lack of Lightning Lane availability (see When to Skip Genie+ at Walt Disney World).
However, that’s not exactly intuitive to a lot of people who aren’t savvy planners. In general, the more guests see longer wait times, the more likely they are to want to skip those standby lines. Worse wait times creates a higher incentive for bypassing lines, meaning higher uptake of Genie+ even when it costs more. Demand for beating crowds increases as crowds increase, and as such, Genie+ will always be most popular when it’s most expensive. That’s true even if its advantage is somewhat illusory in 10/10 crowds, since availability worsens and so too do the Lightning Lane return lines.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of Genie+ setting a new all-time record high price of $39? If you’re visiting during the week of New Year’s Eve, what’s the maximum price you’ll pay for the line-skipping service? Thoughts on our perspective that demand for Genie+ will continue to be highest on the busiest/most expensive days? Any other considerations we failed to take into account or details we missed/got wrong? Do you agree or disagree with my assessment? 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!
Leaving MK now after the 6:30 fireworks! We (2 parents – kids ages 16, 13, and 8) had a fabulous day and were able to strategize and do everything we wanted to. We focused on LL with quick return times and didn’t wait for anything – except our Tron boarding group – 90 minutes 🙁
Got to the park at 6:45 – smooth parking and ferry to MK. Beautiful sunrise and an empty park until about 7:40. Didn’t have early entry so started with Pirates at 8:00. Thunder Mt was down. Rode 6 rides by 10:00 (including Thunder) mostly walk ons expect Peter Pan LL at 9:15. We swore we’d never come at the busy times, but truly I prefer today with 60 degree temps over a non busy August day with 95 degree temps. Plus a day at WDW is always better than 40 degrees and raining in Ohio!
I was worried about today because we had fabulous park days at Universal 12/27 and 12/28. The express pass was perfect – much better than Genie + but so expensive. Yes, I put in a lot of planning and my husband helps me strategize in the park, but I would definitely come back to MK after Christmas again!
However, I looked for ride refills repeatedly throughout the day and none of the headliners ever seemed to have more availability after about 5:00 PM. After 1:00 -2:00 pm Genie + reservations were out past 7:00 PM return times. I’m glad we used genie + aggressively early.
Off topic but is there anyway to fix the way your site “stutters” on Safari on iOS? I’m not sure if it’s ads reloading or what but the page almost always ends up jumping up or down as I’m reading it. It takes several attempts just to read through the article and comments.
Are you able to switch to Reader mode? I had a similar problem, so if I’m reading on my phone, I automatically switch to Reader and that takes care of it. I have to switch back to regular mode to see the comments, but I don’t seem to have that stutter in that section.
We were there last week and had a great time, using as many of Tom’s tips and tricks as we could. (Loved our first stay at Pop Century so much!!) I have a couple of groups of friends there this week, and I honestly can’t imagine. Those wait times at every park!! I really do feel for the folks who arrive for a week after Christmas gift trip with small children and think that that experience is just what Disney is always like. One of these years, I’m definitely hoping to check out that blessedly “empty” week after Thanksgiving.
Historically how does this week compare to President’s Day week in terms of crowds? We’ve always gone between Christmas and New Year with plans this year to go in February instead. Wondering if it’ll feel less crowded just since the worst week is what we’re used to.
This week is currently +13 minutes on average as compared to Presidents’ Day. That may not seem like a lot, but it really is. I would say that’s the difference between ‘very busy, but doable’ to ‘beyond the breaking point.’
With that said, the extra hours this week do provide more bandwidth. If you arrive for Early Entry, leave midday, return at night, and use Lightning Lanes…it can ‘feel’ not-so-terrible. So it at least partially depends upon how you’ve approached the parks during this week in the past.
We are at EPCOT, right now. Paid $270 for Genie+ and got – literally – zero rides for the full day.
Just giving Disney $270 for absolutely nothing. They should not sell it if there are no genie+ spots available. This is fraud.
You should definitely go to Guest Relations and request a refund. I’m sure they’re hearing a lot of complaints this week. Sorry this was your experience in the first place, though.
I saw from one poster that if you truly do not use your genie plus for any ride reservations that you can talk to guest services and see if they will refund you.
FWIW, we were able to get into Test Track at 7:30 and then Ratatouille at 8:40p. A very, very crowded day.
Good to know for our Monday visit. Thanks. I thought they limited the Genie plus. That’s crazy.
What are your thoughts about Genie plus for Epcot on Jan 1? We are not staying onsite, so no early or extra hours. I’ll have my 17 & 22 yo sons who will want to ride Ratatouille, Mission Space, Soarin, test track. We’ll try the virtual que for Guardians.
Is it realistic for you to arrive at rope drop, or are you staying out late for NYE the night before?
Crowds tend to arrive late on New Year’s Day (for obvious reasons), but do get bad later in the day. If you’re an early riser, you can beat them via standby. If not, I would definitely recommend Genie+ on 1/1. Good luck!
I’m hoping for rope drop, but we’ll see. If everyone will be miserable with rope drop we might be a little later.
We spent most of the day at Animal Kingdom today and honestly the “people volume” (if that’s a term) didn’t seem bad walking around, but Flight of Passage topped out at 330 minutes which I imagine has to be close to a record. Even Expedition Everest hit 150 minutes which I can’t remember seeing before.
We refer to it as congestion, but “people volume” works too. Good to hear that, at least, wasn’t terrible.
To the best of my knowledge, Avatar Flight of Passage hitting 330 minutes (I didn’t see that–thanks for the heads up!) is a new record high for any attraction in 2023…breaking FoP’s own records yesterday and the day before.
I feel what they are charging for Genie+ is outrageous! Two years ago it was $15 now it’s up to $35. Out of reach for many people.
You’d think so, wouldn’t you, but they’re still selling it out, so . . . . . apparently not. Somewhere, ages ago, I remember reading that Disney’s metric for concluding that they’d raised prices too much would be declining attendance. If one believes that overall attendance IS down, as many contend, then if one also believes their latest P&L statements, this drop is being offset by the monetization of everything but the bathrooms and generally increased prices of everything else. In other words, less people are willing to pay more money and the bottom line isn’t suffering. Under these circumstances they’ve no reason to stop. Look for more increases in the not too distant future.
We spent yesterday, the 28th, in the Magic Kingdom from 11 am to midnight and it was absolutely fantastic! We didn’t think the crowds were out of control. We bought Genie plus and were able to get all the rides we wanted: Peter Pan, Space, Buzz, Haunted Mansion, Jingle Cruise. We could have used more, but they were just not needed after about 10pm. We spent the first hour or so on Main Street, eating, enjoying the Christmas atmosphere. Our first ride was Pirates around noon. It was only 30 minutes standby and that was our longest line of the night. I had no problem getting a Tron spot for my husband and daughter. I’ve always had trepidation about a 10/10 day, but it exceeded my expectations. If you know what you’re doing, and stack those LLs, you’ll be just fine!
I’m beginning to the think the last 2 hours of a park day are better than the first 2 hours. Plus you get to sleep in.
Just leaving extended hours at AK now. Worked way better than I would’ve thought! We got there at 7:45 and did Lion King, Navi River, Triceratops Spin (have kids, don’t judge ), and Flight of Passage, all by 10:05.
Was part of the Aninal Kingdom sell-out today. Paid for park hopping genie+ and the extra money was a total waste because we went to Hollywood Studios and couldn’t get a single ride booked. That being said, had a great day at animal kingdom with my line-shortening capabilities.
Animal Kingdom today… Flight of Passage stuck at over 4 hours most of the day. Safari over 2 hours.
Every “real” Genie sold out by noon. Actually needing a Genie+ for Lion King.
Not helped by Everest going down for most of the day.
Oof. Thanks for the on-the-ground report. Hopefully you arrived early and/or are planning to outlast the crowds!
No outlasting crowds. 7:10 pm now. Waiting 40 minutes for Navi River WITH lightning lane. Standby is still listed as nearly 3 hours.
Not sure how extended hours will work….
*Glances at Disneyland app*: Hmm, those wait times seem not that bad for right now?
*Glances at WDW app*: OH MY.
That all-passholder blockout must be working wonders at Disneyland this time of year, where the wait times being reported on the app over the past few days, in most cases, aren’t dramatically different from, say, what I experienced there this past October. Granted, higher overall park capacity makes a difference, but I imagine that they’re doing more than fine with a still-high number of non-passholder guests coming into the park for the season and likely spending a fair amount to do so.
WDW appears to be a very different story-though I can’t help notice that they could be doing a *bit* more to move crowds than they are actually doing. If the wait times are as high as reported in the app right now, why not run the night version of Kilimanjaro Safaris and move a ton of people through that attraction? Why is the MK Railroad stopping operation at 6 PM even though the app says there’s around a 30 minute wait at at least one station right at closing time? Seems silly to leave any potential extra capacity on the table given how busy those parks are at the moment.
It’s definitely the AP blockout at Disneyland. The first few days of that have become a great time to visit–especially this year thanks to the rain–as it’s become a sweet spot with blockouts but before the tourists arrive. There’s also the matter of different demographics. Even if WDW had the same blockouts, I doubt the results would be the same.
Totally agree with that last paragraph. At least Walt Disney World has extended hours (something they haven’t done consistently well), but there’s still a lot of room for improved operational efficiency.
2023 Quote of the Year: “if Disney wants to reduce crowds, there are ways to accomplish that–building more attractions or not taking 84 years to open a cloned roller coaster in an otherwise empty warehouse.”
We head there in the morning for a week at the Beach Club! Taking a momentary break from packing since I’m driving myself crazy second guessing what 60 degrees REALLY feels like. This is yearly for us, so we know what we’re in for; and since we’re frequent guests, rides don’t matter as much as eating and drinking through our DVC rewards. I’ll pick up an ILL or two and may splurge on G+ Saturday to fill our time at MK before the pre-midnight dessert party, but otherwise it’s just go with the flow (or in this case, deluge). We’re pretty elastic on price, so this would have been the plan regardless.
Seeing reports like this makes me so thankful we could go at non peak times that were not summer. You can always try and make the most of situations, but I would rather not go than deal with 10/10+ crowds or Florida in the summer.
our group of 4 just got back and we had a blast… crowded? duh… plan better and give yourself more time…
Yup. Once again, very glad not to be there!