Guide2WDW

🌴 Where are Disney World’s Summer Crowds?

You might think summer vacation is the busy season at Disney World, but wait times have actually gone down this summer.

If you rank every week this year by wait time, the five least crowded weeks at Disney World have all been in the summer season. That includes four of the last five weeks.

This year had the lightest June going back to 2021, by a lot: 22% lower than the average of the previous 5 years, according to Thrill-Data.com.

Why is this happening? I see 4 reasons:

First, international travel is down. Earlier this year in their earnings report, Disney signaled that they’re expecting fewer foreign travelers.

Second, the World Cup. Many foreign and domestic travelers are spending their travel budgets on that this summer.

Third, the heat has simply been insane. Disney World has been in the middle of an intense heat wave, with the heat index officially reaching “you gotta be kidding me” levels.

And the heat is a key factor in reason four: this is now the seasonal crowd pattern. I’ve been saying this for years: summer just isn’t the busy season it used to be, and it’s been this way pretty much this entire decade.

The busy season is the cooler months, winter and spring, while summer is now the savvy pick. If you can handle the heat, you can enjoy some great deals and some short lines.

Follow along if you want the inside track on what the crowd data actually says.