Excellent news! The Crowds Capybara (aka “Bay Lake Beatrice”) noticed her shadow, predicting six or so weeks of low wait instances at Walt Disney World. With Spring Break within the rearview mirror and summer time remains to be one other month-plus away, it is a good forecast by the rodent–as we’re coming into “Shoulder Season.”
This crowd report shares wait instances knowledge, which dates ended up being the worst of the season, and our on-the-ground observations about congestion and contours. Plus, predictions on attendance ranges subsequent month and all through Summer season 2025, in addition to how the opening week and months of Epic Universe at Common Orlando might affect Walt Disney World.
We’ll begin by looking again on the final month-plus of Spring Break season at Walt Disney World. Particularly, we’ll have a look at what our Spring Break 2025 Crowd Calendar for Walt Disney World obtained proper and fallacious with its predictions, and simply how dangerous Easter ended up being.
The excellent news is that the broad contours of the forecast ended up being correct. Our prediction was twin peaks of heavy crowds the week of Orange County’s recess and one other virtually a month later main as much as Easter, with considerably of a valley in early April. We have been overly aggressive predicting the beginning of Spring Break, however crowds have been heavy beginning March 17-29 and once more April 12-19. In each circumstances, peak crowds began a pair days after our forecast window and ended 1-2 earlier.
Equally notable have been the decrease factors. March 30 by means of April 11 noticed low to reasonable crowds, fairly much like what we’d count on through the upcoming Shoulder Season. That’s what a late Easter causes–a later second spike in Spring Break crowds, and in addition quasi-Shoulder Season in between.
Save for some Spring Break stragglers, ‘Shoulder Season’ has kind of already arrived at this level. We don’t count on one other excessive crowds week till October 2025, and even above-average weeks are going to be few and much between for the following a number of months.
As at all times, what’s lined in these “crowd” studies is definitely posted wait time knowledge that’s pulled from My Disney Expertise and compiled into graphs for monitoring and evaluating numerous days, weeks, months, and years. Lots could be gleaned from posted wait instances, nevertheless it’s not essentially conclusive of in-park congestion or crowds.
If you wish to perceive extra about these studies and crowd calendars, their strengths and limitations, or addressing misconceptions about crowds, see our checklist of the “High” 10 Methods Walt Disney World Followers Are Fallacious About Crowds. That’s value studying if you would like a greater understanding of WDW attendance patterns, appears like crowds vs. wait instances, and some pretty straightforward methods to “beat” the crowds.
In brief, wait instances are an imperfect measure of Walt Disney World’s uncooked attendance or crowds. Earlier than going deeper into the dialogue of crowds, let’s dig into the info and have a look at Walt Disney World wait instances. As at all times, all graphs and stats are courtesy of thrill-data.com:
We’ll begin with the month-to-month numbers for Walt Disney World as a complete.
For the reason that lows of final September and October, Walt Disney World has gotten progressively. Which may seem to be excellent news for the parks themselves, till you distinction the numbers with the identical months on a year-over-year foundation. December 2023 by means of March 2024 have been extremely sturdy, main us to query whether or not we have been seeing a reverberation of revenge journey at Walt Disney World.
That didn’t final. Crowds fell every month beginning in April, bottoming out through the fall low season (October was one thing of an anomaly as a consequence of hurricanes). Crowds have risen since, however to nowhere close to the identical diploma because the earlier vacation season and winter. Spring Break is a really comparable story–wait instances are down noticeably on a year-over-year foundation for the final two months.
Final 12 months, the typical for March was a 40 minute wait time or 7/10 crowd stage. March 2025 noticed a 36 minute common for five/10 crowds. April was really equivalent each years: 34 minute waits for 4/10 crowd ranges. These comparisons aren’t apples to apples since Easter was in March final 12 months, which means we’d count on April 2025 to be busier. Additionally, the month isn’t over but, and the slowest days are nonetheless forward. Which means that even with Easter, April 2025 might find yourself being slower than final 12 months.
Talking of which, above is a have a look at the weekly crowd ranges. The 6 bars on the far proper are what we’ll be . The final bar is the present week (by means of April 27, 2025) and reveals the Shoulder Season slowdown already in progress. Previous to that’s Easter, which is at all times the height week of Spring Break.
The earlier two weeks are the aforementioned ‘valley’ in early April 2025 after Southern college districts went on recess however previous to Easter week crowds heating up. As you’ll see within the day by day numbers, these yellow bars considerably overstate crowd ranges throughout these weeks.
The 2 bars earlier than that have been when Orange County and different college districts in Florida (to not point out the remainder of the US) went on break. Observe that none of those weeks have been 10/10 crowd ranges. The primary two weeks, in mid-to-late March, have been 6/10 ranges. Easter was “solely” 8/10, which can appear heavy–however that was the slowest Easter week we’ve seen since 2021.
Zooming in additional, we come to the resort-wide day by day numbers for Walt Disney World.
The week main as much as Easter was unsurprisingly busy, with a little bit of a lull (comparatively) for the vacation weekend itself. No large shock there, as crowds heading dwelling earlier than the weekend has more and more turn into the development. That is pushed by numerous elements, however largely increased costs.
We additionally wish to draw your consideration to the few inexperienced bars between the height weeks of Spring Break. These are 1/10 to three/10 crowd ranges the final two days of March and first week of April 2025. That was a good time to go to (I communicate from expertise!) and is value remembering for the following time Easter is so late. So file that information away till 2028, I suppose.
For these questioning how Walt Disney World’s wait instances evaluate to Common Orlando, the development is about the identical, simply from a decrease baseline. As Comcast has reported on numerous earnings calls during the last 12 months, they’ve seen a pointy slowdown within the submit pent-up demand period–worse than Walt Disney World.
To that time, Comcast simply reported its earnings for the primary three months of the 12 months on April 24, 2025, and attendance dropped at Common’s theme parks in america. Comcast reported that theme parks income was down 5.2% year-over-year, to $1.876 billion. The corporate attributed the decline partially as a consequence of January’s wildfires, which compelled the momentary closure of Common Studios Hollywood. Adjusted EBITDA within the theme parks section additionally was down for the quarter by 32.1% year-over-year.
Whereas the wildfires unquestionably performed a job, there’s additionally this attention-grabbing development of each Comcast and Disney attributing decreases to externalities. The trend-line can also be down at Common Orlando, so this isn’t simply a matter of the wildfires. In Common’s protection, there may be virtually actually a ‘calm earlier than the storm’ with individuals suspending visits previous to the opening of Epic Universe.
However we’re additionally anticipating the primary few months of Epic Universe to underperform expectations, with softer bookings than initially anticipated. We’ll have a extra in-depth have a look at this quickly, however simply to be clear, it’s not trigger for long-term concern or an indication of disinterest in Epic Universe. Such a phenomenon isn’t unusual with main new openings, and Common ought to virtually actually see a lift within the coming quarter because of Epic Universe. That’s form of a given, although, when including a brand new theme park to the combo.
It’s additionally value declaring that the one greatest rationalization for the year-over-year drop in wait instances at Walt Disney World is the foremost modifications to its queueing insurance policies in late Could 2024. Wait instances haven’t been as excessive since, even on comparably congested days. And as a reminder, the entire above measures are of posted standby wait instances, which act as a proxy for crowds–they completely don’t congestion.
We defined why Walt Disney World is seeing decrease wait instances throughout the board in Right here’s Why Standby Strains and Lightning Lanes Are Shifting Sooner at Walt Disney World and have mentioned it elsewhere. That’s actually value studying if you wish to perceive the rising disconnect between ‘appears like’ crowds and wait instances.
The underside line is that the DAS modifications and, to a lesser extent, swap from Genie+ to Lightning Lane Multi-Move are having a major affect. It ought to go with out saying that there are controversies, downsides, and unlucky realities to the above. However the enchancment to the move of strains–standby and Lightning Lanes–in addition to decrease wait instances can also be plain.
Turning to on-the-ground observations, I’ve spent a number of time at Walt Disney World for the reason that begin of Spring Break season. This included Orange County’s Spring Break, the height week of Easter, and the bottom stage week in between at first of April.
As a normal matter, I used to be pleasantly stunned by crowds. My most detrimental expertise got here with making an attempt to make use of the Skyliner from Artwork of Animation to do Early Entry at EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. As standard, mornings have been fairly tough at DHS throughout busier dates (something 5/10 or above). Not precisely a brand new improvement, although. Unsurprisingly, I additionally encountered excessive demand for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind throughout complete discipline testing. (Outcomes of which can be nonetheless coming quickly!)
My most constructive experiences all got here at Magic Kingdom. (Nicely, Animal Kingdom was additionally wonderful, however that’s to be anticipated.) There have been a number of days and nights at Magic Kingdom that have been a lot better than anticipated, and the expertise actually benefited from the 11 p.m. park hours extensions (though these have been rarer than final 12 months). Generally, I virtually at all times perceived decrease crowds at Magic Kingdom than the precise crowd ranges mirrored. That’s a pleasant feeling, and one that usually isn’t the case at Magic Kingdom. (Granted, I prevented Fortunately Ever After, so I by no means skilled that exodus.)
Most curiously, my notion of Easter crowds was a lot better than anticipated. Truthfully, I by no means would’ve guessed that week had 8/10 crowd ranges whereas visiting the parks. I used to be totally ready to do a write-up about an unexpectedly gradual Easter week based mostly on my on-the-ground expertise, and was stunned that the degrees have been really 8/10. A part of that was getting fortunate (or relatively, selecting appropriately) my park visits every day, however crowds felt pretty reasonable.
If something, I’d’ve guessed that mid-March was worse than Easter week based mostly alone observations. Each have been unquestionably busier than final 12 months’s late summer time/early fall low season, however they didn’t really feel as dangerous because the worst weeks of winter. It in all probability helped that the climate felt extremely comfy by spring requirements, and that may make up for lots. I’ll fortunately take a 6/10 day with nice temperatures than a 1/10 day with triple-digit “appears like” warmth and humidity.
Level being, wait instances typically don’t inform the complete story of crowds at Walt Disney World. And conversely, anecdotal experiences of crowds and congestion are variable, which is why they’re unreliable. Others who visited throughout Easter week would possibly ‘hold forth’ within the feedback with horror tales about simply how busy it was. That doesn’t make both of us fallacious–we simply had totally different experiences. Walt Disney World is a giant place; it occurs.
Wanting ahead, Walt Disney World is now out of the woods with the worst of Spring Break. We’ll have one other replace to our 2025 Walt Disney World Crowd Calendars very quickly, however the backside line is that there are only a few ‘purple flag’ dates within the coming months.
At this level, it’s principally simply what’s at the moment on the ESPN Broad World of Sports activities calendar. The subsequent couple of weekends, there are Cheerleading Championships, Cheerleading Worlds and Dance Worlds, and the Summit occasions for a similar. All of these occasions happen the following couple of weeks and will trigger a slight bounce-back by way of crowds.
These are main dance and cheerleading competitions that enhance attendance on the parks and occupancy on the inns, normally the All Stars and Coronado Springs. Nevertheless, the affect on crowd ranges within the parks isn’t important as a complete–and tends to be overblown based mostly on anecdotal experiences, which could be fairly dangerous. (Which means that you possibly can assume they’re a large detrimental when you’re caught in line for Haunted Mansion behind a bunch of 100 cheerleaders…otherwise you would possibly by no means see a single participant throughout a weeklong journey.)
Other than these cheer and dance occasions, that are value bringing to your consideration however not you fretting over, the excellent news is that it’s Shoulder Season. That is the interval between two heavier seasons. I suppose that’s as a result of the shoulders are beneath the “peak” of the physique, or the top. Wherein case, maybe we must always begin referring to September as butt-season? It has a sure understated stupidity to it.
Anyway, Walt Disney World’s attendance patterns are largely dictated by college breaks. On account of this, far fewer visitors in Disney’s core demo go to shortly after or earlier than a significant break. One main break simply occurred, and one other doesn’t begin for one more month-plus.
Final 12 months’s Shoulder Season ran from roughly April 15 till the Friday earlier than Memorial Day. Each single week in Could of final 12 months noticed beneath common crowds (together with these coinciding with cheer and dance occasions), with the three weeks main as much as Memorial Day being the slowest and having 2/10 to three/10 crowd ranges. Crowds rebounded the final week however have been nonetheless barely beneath common.
It’s not possible to say with any diploma of confidence whether or not the 2025 Shoulder Season shall be slower than final 12 months. I’m inclined to foretell that it’s going to. Final 12 months, Walt Disney World obtained aggressive in releasing offers to stop a collapse in crowds (as occurred in Could 2023). For every of the final two years, reductions have been launched alongside an identical timeframe, and with comparable high quality/amount for this time of 12 months.
On condition that, and the truth that crowd ranges have been down just about throughout the board as soon as adjusted for Easter, it appears protected to foretell a slower Shoulder Season than final 12 months. There’s additionally the truth that completely nothing that counts as a significant draw to Walt Disney World is debuting between now and Memorial Day.
Accordingly, we’d in all probability count on to see extra 1/10 to three/10 days than final 12 months, and fewer 4/10 and 5/10 days. It in all probability received’t be a dramatic distinction, nevertheless it would possibly be sufficient that we are able to name Could 2025 the low season versus Shoulder Season.
Wanting ahead, the opening of Epic Universe is Could 22, 2025. Usually, the Thursday earlier than Memorial Day is commonly when crowds begin to decide up, which is why Common Orlando selected to open Epic Universe on that day. So far as how the opening of Epic Universe will affect crowds at Walt Disney World, it’s tough to say–there’s not precisely a ton of precedent for a way new competing theme parks alter attendance at Walt Disney World.
One factor to notice is that paid previews of Epic Universe have been underway for a few week, and have to this point had zero affect on Walt Disney World attendance. Granted, they have been introduced final minute and the eligibility pool is proscribed (for now), however to this point, these haven’t even been a blip on the radar for EPCOT and Animal Kingdom (the 2 parks almost certainly to be impacted).
Our greatest guess is that opening weekend of Epic Universe shall be slower than a traditional Memorial Day weekend at Walt Disney World, as Common sucks up all of the oxygen within the room. Many locals have bought tickets and booked lodge stays for Epic Universe that weekend, and vacationers are unsurprisingly doing likewise. This dynamic will exist all through the summer time, nevertheless it’ll be most pronounced by means of Monday, Could 26, 2025.
Opposite to standard knowledge, we don’t anticipate a lot of a noticeable affect on Walt Disney World attendance or wait instances all through Summer season 2025 as a consequence of Epic Universe, save for at EPCOT and Animal Kingdom. We do count on decrease crowds than final 12 months–and it’s not like Summer season 2024 was busy within the first place–however that largely has to do with financial uncertainty and plummeting worldwide journey.
The worst affect of that may coincide with the opening of Epic Universe, however correlation doesn’t equal causation. (It received’t cease many followers eager to see Disney “fail” from drawing the conclusion.) It additionally doesn’t assist that Walt Disney World doesn’t have any blockbuster new additions opening in Summer season 2025. The one massive factor is Starlight Evening Parade, and there’s no opening date for that but, which means it’s trying more and more like a July debut. That’ll enhance nighttime crowds in Magic Kingdom, however is unlikely to maneuver the needle on posted wait instances at points of interest or non-local attendance.
We will see, although. Maybe Bay Lake Beatrice is fallacious and crowds will decide up in mid-Could and keep elevated all summer time lengthy. Or perhaps it’s not simply six slower weeks, however extra like 6 slower months. Crowd Capybaras are about as dependable as crowd calendars nowadays, so it might go both manner. It’ll be an attention-grabbing saga to observe unfold, and our greatest guess based mostly on the elevated sense of urgency with reductions is that that is going to be a protracted interval of low to reasonable attendance.
Planning a Walt Disney World journey? Study inns on our Walt Disney World Resorts Evaluations web page. For the place to eat, learn our Walt Disney World Restaurant Evaluations. To economize on tickets or decide which sort to purchase, learn our Suggestions for Saving Cash on Walt Disney World Tickets submit. Our What to Pack for Disney Journeys submit takes a singular have a look at intelligent objects to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Experience Guides will assist. For complete recommendation, one of the best place to begin is our Walt Disney World Journey Planning Information for the whole lot it’s essential to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Are you visiting Walt Disney World throughout Shoulder Season between Spring Break and Summer season 2025? Have you ever visited up to now through the month of Could? Have been you within the parks over the previous couple weeks? In the event you visited throughout Easter week, what was your notion of crowds? Pleasantly stunned or did you discover it to be extremely busy? Ideas on the affect of Epic Universe? Do you agree or disagree with our evaluation? Any questions we will help you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even whenever you disagree with us–is each attention-grabbing to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!
Excellent news! The Crowds Capybara (aka “Bay Lake Beatrice”) noticed her shadow, predicting six or so weeks of low wait instances at Walt Disney World. With Spring Break within the rearview mirror and summer time remains to be one other month-plus away, it is a good forecast by the rodent–as we’re coming into “Shoulder Season.”
This crowd report shares wait instances knowledge, which dates ended up being the worst of the season, and our on-the-ground observations about congestion and contours. Plus, predictions on attendance ranges subsequent month and all through Summer season 2025, in addition to how the opening week and months of Epic Universe at Common Orlando might affect Walt Disney World.
We’ll begin by looking again on the final month-plus of Spring Break season at Walt Disney World. Particularly, we’ll have a look at what our Spring Break 2025 Crowd Calendar for Walt Disney World obtained proper and fallacious with its predictions, and simply how dangerous Easter ended up being.
The excellent news is that the broad contours of the forecast ended up being correct. Our prediction was twin peaks of heavy crowds the week of Orange County’s recess and one other virtually a month later main as much as Easter, with considerably of a valley in early April. We have been overly aggressive predicting the beginning of Spring Break, however crowds have been heavy beginning March 17-29 and once more April 12-19. In each circumstances, peak crowds began a pair days after our forecast window and ended 1-2 earlier.
Equally notable have been the decrease factors. March 30 by means of April 11 noticed low to reasonable crowds, fairly much like what we’d count on through the upcoming Shoulder Season. That’s what a late Easter causes–a later second spike in Spring Break crowds, and in addition quasi-Shoulder Season in between.
Save for some Spring Break stragglers, ‘Shoulder Season’ has kind of already arrived at this level. We don’t count on one other excessive crowds week till October 2025, and even above-average weeks are going to be few and much between for the following a number of months.
As at all times, what’s lined in these “crowd” studies is definitely posted wait time knowledge that’s pulled from My Disney Expertise and compiled into graphs for monitoring and evaluating numerous days, weeks, months, and years. Lots could be gleaned from posted wait instances, nevertheless it’s not essentially conclusive of in-park congestion or crowds.
If you wish to perceive extra about these studies and crowd calendars, their strengths and limitations, or addressing misconceptions about crowds, see our checklist of the “High” 10 Methods Walt Disney World Followers Are Fallacious About Crowds. That’s value studying if you would like a greater understanding of WDW attendance patterns, appears like crowds vs. wait instances, and some pretty straightforward methods to “beat” the crowds.
In brief, wait instances are an imperfect measure of Walt Disney World’s uncooked attendance or crowds. Earlier than going deeper into the dialogue of crowds, let’s dig into the info and have a look at Walt Disney World wait instances. As at all times, all graphs and stats are courtesy of thrill-data.com:
We’ll begin with the month-to-month numbers for Walt Disney World as a complete.
For the reason that lows of final September and October, Walt Disney World has gotten progressively. Which may seem to be excellent news for the parks themselves, till you distinction the numbers with the identical months on a year-over-year foundation. December 2023 by means of March 2024 have been extremely sturdy, main us to query whether or not we have been seeing a reverberation of revenge journey at Walt Disney World.
That didn’t final. Crowds fell every month beginning in April, bottoming out through the fall low season (October was one thing of an anomaly as a consequence of hurricanes). Crowds have risen since, however to nowhere close to the identical diploma because the earlier vacation season and winter. Spring Break is a really comparable story–wait instances are down noticeably on a year-over-year foundation for the final two months.
Final 12 months, the typical for March was a 40 minute wait time or 7/10 crowd stage. March 2025 noticed a 36 minute common for five/10 crowds. April was really equivalent each years: 34 minute waits for 4/10 crowd ranges. These comparisons aren’t apples to apples since Easter was in March final 12 months, which means we’d count on April 2025 to be busier. Additionally, the month isn’t over but, and the slowest days are nonetheless forward. Which means that even with Easter, April 2025 might find yourself being slower than final 12 months.
Talking of which, above is a have a look at the weekly crowd ranges. The 6 bars on the far proper are what we’ll be . The final bar is the present week (by means of April 27, 2025) and reveals the Shoulder Season slowdown already in progress. Previous to that’s Easter, which is at all times the height week of Spring Break.
The earlier two weeks are the aforementioned ‘valley’ in early April 2025 after Southern college districts went on recess however previous to Easter week crowds heating up. As you’ll see within the day by day numbers, these yellow bars considerably overstate crowd ranges throughout these weeks.
The 2 bars earlier than that have been when Orange County and different college districts in Florida (to not point out the remainder of the US) went on break. Observe that none of those weeks have been 10/10 crowd ranges. The primary two weeks, in mid-to-late March, have been 6/10 ranges. Easter was “solely” 8/10, which can appear heavy–however that was the slowest Easter week we’ve seen since 2021.
Zooming in additional, we come to the resort-wide day by day numbers for Walt Disney World.
The week main as much as Easter was unsurprisingly busy, with a little bit of a lull (comparatively) for the vacation weekend itself. No large shock there, as crowds heading dwelling earlier than the weekend has more and more turn into the development. That is pushed by numerous elements, however largely increased costs.
We additionally wish to draw your consideration to the few inexperienced bars between the height weeks of Spring Break. These are 1/10 to three/10 crowd ranges the final two days of March and first week of April 2025. That was a good time to go to (I communicate from expertise!) and is value remembering for the following time Easter is so late. So file that information away till 2028, I suppose.
For these questioning how Walt Disney World’s wait instances evaluate to Common Orlando, the development is about the identical, simply from a decrease baseline. As Comcast has reported on numerous earnings calls during the last 12 months, they’ve seen a pointy slowdown within the submit pent-up demand period–worse than Walt Disney World.
To that time, Comcast simply reported its earnings for the primary three months of the 12 months on April 24, 2025, and attendance dropped at Common’s theme parks in america. Comcast reported that theme parks income was down 5.2% year-over-year, to $1.876 billion. The corporate attributed the decline partially as a consequence of January’s wildfires, which compelled the momentary closure of Common Studios Hollywood. Adjusted EBITDA within the theme parks section additionally was down for the quarter by 32.1% year-over-year.
Whereas the wildfires unquestionably performed a job, there’s additionally this attention-grabbing development of each Comcast and Disney attributing decreases to externalities. The trend-line can also be down at Common Orlando, so this isn’t simply a matter of the wildfires. In Common’s protection, there may be virtually actually a ‘calm earlier than the storm’ with individuals suspending visits previous to the opening of Epic Universe.
However we’re additionally anticipating the primary few months of Epic Universe to underperform expectations, with softer bookings than initially anticipated. We’ll have a extra in-depth have a look at this quickly, however simply to be clear, it’s not trigger for long-term concern or an indication of disinterest in Epic Universe. Such a phenomenon isn’t unusual with main new openings, and Common ought to virtually actually see a lift within the coming quarter because of Epic Universe. That’s form of a given, although, when including a brand new theme park to the combo.
It’s additionally value declaring that the one greatest rationalization for the year-over-year drop in wait instances at Walt Disney World is the foremost modifications to its queueing insurance policies in late Could 2024. Wait instances haven’t been as excessive since, even on comparably congested days. And as a reminder, the entire above measures are of posted standby wait instances, which act as a proxy for crowds–they completely don’t congestion.
We defined why Walt Disney World is seeing decrease wait instances throughout the board in Right here’s Why Standby Strains and Lightning Lanes Are Shifting Sooner at Walt Disney World and have mentioned it elsewhere. That’s actually value studying if you wish to perceive the rising disconnect between ‘appears like’ crowds and wait instances.
The underside line is that the DAS modifications and, to a lesser extent, swap from Genie+ to Lightning Lane Multi-Move are having a major affect. It ought to go with out saying that there are controversies, downsides, and unlucky realities to the above. However the enchancment to the move of strains–standby and Lightning Lanes–in addition to decrease wait instances can also be plain.
Turning to on-the-ground observations, I’ve spent a number of time at Walt Disney World for the reason that begin of Spring Break season. This included Orange County’s Spring Break, the height week of Easter, and the bottom stage week in between at first of April.
As a normal matter, I used to be pleasantly stunned by crowds. My most detrimental expertise got here with making an attempt to make use of the Skyliner from Artwork of Animation to do Early Entry at EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. As standard, mornings have been fairly tough at DHS throughout busier dates (something 5/10 or above). Not precisely a brand new improvement, although. Unsurprisingly, I additionally encountered excessive demand for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind throughout complete discipline testing. (Outcomes of which can be nonetheless coming quickly!)
My most constructive experiences all got here at Magic Kingdom. (Nicely, Animal Kingdom was additionally wonderful, however that’s to be anticipated.) There have been a number of days and nights at Magic Kingdom that have been a lot better than anticipated, and the expertise actually benefited from the 11 p.m. park hours extensions (though these have been rarer than final 12 months). Generally, I virtually at all times perceived decrease crowds at Magic Kingdom than the precise crowd ranges mirrored. That’s a pleasant feeling, and one that usually isn’t the case at Magic Kingdom. (Granted, I prevented Fortunately Ever After, so I by no means skilled that exodus.)
Most curiously, my notion of Easter crowds was a lot better than anticipated. Truthfully, I by no means would’ve guessed that week had 8/10 crowd ranges whereas visiting the parks. I used to be totally ready to do a write-up about an unexpectedly gradual Easter week based mostly on my on-the-ground expertise, and was stunned that the degrees have been really 8/10. A part of that was getting fortunate (or relatively, selecting appropriately) my park visits every day, however crowds felt pretty reasonable.
If something, I’d’ve guessed that mid-March was worse than Easter week based mostly alone observations. Each have been unquestionably busier than final 12 months’s late summer time/early fall low season, however they didn’t really feel as dangerous because the worst weeks of winter. It in all probability helped that the climate felt extremely comfy by spring requirements, and that may make up for lots. I’ll fortunately take a 6/10 day with nice temperatures than a 1/10 day with triple-digit “appears like” warmth and humidity.
Level being, wait instances typically don’t inform the complete story of crowds at Walt Disney World. And conversely, anecdotal experiences of crowds and congestion are variable, which is why they’re unreliable. Others who visited throughout Easter week would possibly ‘hold forth’ within the feedback with horror tales about simply how busy it was. That doesn’t make both of us fallacious–we simply had totally different experiences. Walt Disney World is a giant place; it occurs.
Wanting ahead, Walt Disney World is now out of the woods with the worst of Spring Break. We’ll have one other replace to our 2025 Walt Disney World Crowd Calendars very quickly, however the backside line is that there are only a few ‘purple flag’ dates within the coming months.
At this level, it’s principally simply what’s at the moment on the ESPN Broad World of Sports activities calendar. The subsequent couple of weekends, there are Cheerleading Championships, Cheerleading Worlds and Dance Worlds, and the Summit occasions for a similar. All of these occasions happen the following couple of weeks and will trigger a slight bounce-back by way of crowds.
These are main dance and cheerleading competitions that enhance attendance on the parks and occupancy on the inns, normally the All Stars and Coronado Springs. Nevertheless, the affect on crowd ranges within the parks isn’t important as a complete–and tends to be overblown based mostly on anecdotal experiences, which could be fairly dangerous. (Which means that you possibly can assume they’re a large detrimental when you’re caught in line for Haunted Mansion behind a bunch of 100 cheerleaders…otherwise you would possibly by no means see a single participant throughout a weeklong journey.)
Other than these cheer and dance occasions, that are value bringing to your consideration however not you fretting over, the excellent news is that it’s Shoulder Season. That is the interval between two heavier seasons. I suppose that’s as a result of the shoulders are beneath the “peak” of the physique, or the top. Wherein case, maybe we must always begin referring to September as butt-season? It has a sure understated stupidity to it.
Anyway, Walt Disney World’s attendance patterns are largely dictated by college breaks. On account of this, far fewer visitors in Disney’s core demo go to shortly after or earlier than a significant break. One main break simply occurred, and one other doesn’t begin for one more month-plus.
Final 12 months’s Shoulder Season ran from roughly April 15 till the Friday earlier than Memorial Day. Each single week in Could of final 12 months noticed beneath common crowds (together with these coinciding with cheer and dance occasions), with the three weeks main as much as Memorial Day being the slowest and having 2/10 to three/10 crowd ranges. Crowds rebounded the final week however have been nonetheless barely beneath common.
It’s not possible to say with any diploma of confidence whether or not the 2025 Shoulder Season shall be slower than final 12 months. I’m inclined to foretell that it’s going to. Final 12 months, Walt Disney World obtained aggressive in releasing offers to stop a collapse in crowds (as occurred in Could 2023). For every of the final two years, reductions have been launched alongside an identical timeframe, and with comparable high quality/amount for this time of 12 months.
On condition that, and the truth that crowd ranges have been down just about throughout the board as soon as adjusted for Easter, it appears protected to foretell a slower Shoulder Season than final 12 months. There’s additionally the truth that completely nothing that counts as a significant draw to Walt Disney World is debuting between now and Memorial Day.
Accordingly, we’d in all probability count on to see extra 1/10 to three/10 days than final 12 months, and fewer 4/10 and 5/10 days. It in all probability received’t be a dramatic distinction, nevertheless it would possibly be sufficient that we are able to name Could 2025 the low season versus Shoulder Season.
Wanting ahead, the opening of Epic Universe is Could 22, 2025. Usually, the Thursday earlier than Memorial Day is commonly when crowds begin to decide up, which is why Common Orlando selected to open Epic Universe on that day. So far as how the opening of Epic Universe will affect crowds at Walt Disney World, it’s tough to say–there’s not precisely a ton of precedent for a way new competing theme parks alter attendance at Walt Disney World.
One factor to notice is that paid previews of Epic Universe have been underway for a few week, and have to this point had zero affect on Walt Disney World attendance. Granted, they have been introduced final minute and the eligibility pool is proscribed (for now), however to this point, these haven’t even been a blip on the radar for EPCOT and Animal Kingdom (the 2 parks almost certainly to be impacted).
Our greatest guess is that opening weekend of Epic Universe shall be slower than a traditional Memorial Day weekend at Walt Disney World, as Common sucks up all of the oxygen within the room. Many locals have bought tickets and booked lodge stays for Epic Universe that weekend, and vacationers are unsurprisingly doing likewise. This dynamic will exist all through the summer time, nevertheless it’ll be most pronounced by means of Monday, Could 26, 2025.
Opposite to standard knowledge, we don’t anticipate a lot of a noticeable affect on Walt Disney World attendance or wait instances all through Summer season 2025 as a consequence of Epic Universe, save for at EPCOT and Animal Kingdom. We do count on decrease crowds than final 12 months–and it’s not like Summer season 2024 was busy within the first place–however that largely has to do with financial uncertainty and plummeting worldwide journey.
The worst affect of that may coincide with the opening of Epic Universe, however correlation doesn’t equal causation. (It received’t cease many followers eager to see Disney “fail” from drawing the conclusion.) It additionally doesn’t assist that Walt Disney World doesn’t have any blockbuster new additions opening in Summer season 2025. The one massive factor is Starlight Evening Parade, and there’s no opening date for that but, which means it’s trying more and more like a July debut. That’ll enhance nighttime crowds in Magic Kingdom, however is unlikely to maneuver the needle on posted wait instances at points of interest or non-local attendance.
We will see, although. Maybe Bay Lake Beatrice is fallacious and crowds will decide up in mid-Could and keep elevated all summer time lengthy. Or perhaps it’s not simply six slower weeks, however extra like 6 slower months. Crowd Capybaras are about as dependable as crowd calendars nowadays, so it might go both manner. It’ll be an attention-grabbing saga to observe unfold, and our greatest guess based mostly on the elevated sense of urgency with reductions is that that is going to be a protracted interval of low to reasonable attendance.
Planning a Walt Disney World journey? Study inns on our Walt Disney World Resorts Evaluations web page. For the place to eat, learn our Walt Disney World Restaurant Evaluations. To economize on tickets or decide which sort to purchase, learn our Suggestions for Saving Cash on Walt Disney World Tickets submit. Our What to Pack for Disney Journeys submit takes a singular have a look at intelligent objects to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Experience Guides will assist. For complete recommendation, one of the best place to begin is our Walt Disney World Journey Planning Information for the whole lot it’s essential to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Are you visiting Walt Disney World throughout Shoulder Season between Spring Break and Summer season 2025? Have you ever visited up to now through the month of Could? Have been you within the parks over the previous couple weeks? In the event you visited throughout Easter week, what was your notion of crowds? Pleasantly stunned or did you discover it to be extremely busy? Ideas on the affect of Epic Universe? Do you agree or disagree with our evaluation? Any questions we will help you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even whenever you disagree with us–is each attention-grabbing to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!
Excellent news! The Crowds Capybara (aka “Bay Lake Beatrice”) noticed her shadow, predicting six or so weeks of low wait instances at Walt Disney World. With Spring Break within the rearview mirror and summer time remains to be one other month-plus away, it is a good forecast by the rodent–as we’re coming into “Shoulder Season.”
This crowd report shares wait instances knowledge, which dates ended up being the worst of the season, and our on-the-ground observations about congestion and contours. Plus, predictions on attendance ranges subsequent month and all through Summer season 2025, in addition to how the opening week and months of Epic Universe at Common Orlando might affect Walt Disney World.
We’ll begin by looking again on the final month-plus of Spring Break season at Walt Disney World. Particularly, we’ll have a look at what our Spring Break 2025 Crowd Calendar for Walt Disney World obtained proper and fallacious with its predictions, and simply how dangerous Easter ended up being.
The excellent news is that the broad contours of the forecast ended up being correct. Our prediction was twin peaks of heavy crowds the week of Orange County’s recess and one other virtually a month later main as much as Easter, with considerably of a valley in early April. We have been overly aggressive predicting the beginning of Spring Break, however crowds have been heavy beginning March 17-29 and once more April 12-19. In each circumstances, peak crowds began a pair days after our forecast window and ended 1-2 earlier.
Equally notable have been the decrease factors. March 30 by means of April 11 noticed low to reasonable crowds, fairly much like what we’d count on through the upcoming Shoulder Season. That’s what a late Easter causes–a later second spike in Spring Break crowds, and in addition quasi-Shoulder Season in between.
Save for some Spring Break stragglers, ‘Shoulder Season’ has kind of already arrived at this level. We don’t count on one other excessive crowds week till October 2025, and even above-average weeks are going to be few and much between for the following a number of months.
As at all times, what’s lined in these “crowd” studies is definitely posted wait time knowledge that’s pulled from My Disney Expertise and compiled into graphs for monitoring and evaluating numerous days, weeks, months, and years. Lots could be gleaned from posted wait instances, nevertheless it’s not essentially conclusive of in-park congestion or crowds.
If you wish to perceive extra about these studies and crowd calendars, their strengths and limitations, or addressing misconceptions about crowds, see our checklist of the “High” 10 Methods Walt Disney World Followers Are Fallacious About Crowds. That’s value studying if you would like a greater understanding of WDW attendance patterns, appears like crowds vs. wait instances, and some pretty straightforward methods to “beat” the crowds.
In brief, wait instances are an imperfect measure of Walt Disney World’s uncooked attendance or crowds. Earlier than going deeper into the dialogue of crowds, let’s dig into the info and have a look at Walt Disney World wait instances. As at all times, all graphs and stats are courtesy of thrill-data.com:
We’ll begin with the month-to-month numbers for Walt Disney World as a complete.
For the reason that lows of final September and October, Walt Disney World has gotten progressively. Which may seem to be excellent news for the parks themselves, till you distinction the numbers with the identical months on a year-over-year foundation. December 2023 by means of March 2024 have been extremely sturdy, main us to query whether or not we have been seeing a reverberation of revenge journey at Walt Disney World.
That didn’t final. Crowds fell every month beginning in April, bottoming out through the fall low season (October was one thing of an anomaly as a consequence of hurricanes). Crowds have risen since, however to nowhere close to the identical diploma because the earlier vacation season and winter. Spring Break is a really comparable story–wait instances are down noticeably on a year-over-year foundation for the final two months.
Final 12 months, the typical for March was a 40 minute wait time or 7/10 crowd stage. March 2025 noticed a 36 minute common for five/10 crowds. April was really equivalent each years: 34 minute waits for 4/10 crowd ranges. These comparisons aren’t apples to apples since Easter was in March final 12 months, which means we’d count on April 2025 to be busier. Additionally, the month isn’t over but, and the slowest days are nonetheless forward. Which means that even with Easter, April 2025 might find yourself being slower than final 12 months.
Talking of which, above is a have a look at the weekly crowd ranges. The 6 bars on the far proper are what we’ll be . The final bar is the present week (by means of April 27, 2025) and reveals the Shoulder Season slowdown already in progress. Previous to that’s Easter, which is at all times the height week of Spring Break.
The earlier two weeks are the aforementioned ‘valley’ in early April 2025 after Southern college districts went on recess however previous to Easter week crowds heating up. As you’ll see within the day by day numbers, these yellow bars considerably overstate crowd ranges throughout these weeks.
The 2 bars earlier than that have been when Orange County and different college districts in Florida (to not point out the remainder of the US) went on break. Observe that none of those weeks have been 10/10 crowd ranges. The primary two weeks, in mid-to-late March, have been 6/10 ranges. Easter was “solely” 8/10, which can appear heavy–however that was the slowest Easter week we’ve seen since 2021.
Zooming in additional, we come to the resort-wide day by day numbers for Walt Disney World.
The week main as much as Easter was unsurprisingly busy, with a little bit of a lull (comparatively) for the vacation weekend itself. No large shock there, as crowds heading dwelling earlier than the weekend has more and more turn into the development. That is pushed by numerous elements, however largely increased costs.
We additionally wish to draw your consideration to the few inexperienced bars between the height weeks of Spring Break. These are 1/10 to three/10 crowd ranges the final two days of March and first week of April 2025. That was a good time to go to (I communicate from expertise!) and is value remembering for the following time Easter is so late. So file that information away till 2028, I suppose.
For these questioning how Walt Disney World’s wait instances evaluate to Common Orlando, the development is about the identical, simply from a decrease baseline. As Comcast has reported on numerous earnings calls during the last 12 months, they’ve seen a pointy slowdown within the submit pent-up demand period–worse than Walt Disney World.
To that time, Comcast simply reported its earnings for the primary three months of the 12 months on April 24, 2025, and attendance dropped at Common’s theme parks in america. Comcast reported that theme parks income was down 5.2% year-over-year, to $1.876 billion. The corporate attributed the decline partially as a consequence of January’s wildfires, which compelled the momentary closure of Common Studios Hollywood. Adjusted EBITDA within the theme parks section additionally was down for the quarter by 32.1% year-over-year.
Whereas the wildfires unquestionably performed a job, there’s additionally this attention-grabbing development of each Comcast and Disney attributing decreases to externalities. The trend-line can also be down at Common Orlando, so this isn’t simply a matter of the wildfires. In Common’s protection, there may be virtually actually a ‘calm earlier than the storm’ with individuals suspending visits previous to the opening of Epic Universe.
However we’re additionally anticipating the primary few months of Epic Universe to underperform expectations, with softer bookings than initially anticipated. We’ll have a extra in-depth have a look at this quickly, however simply to be clear, it’s not trigger for long-term concern or an indication of disinterest in Epic Universe. Such a phenomenon isn’t unusual with main new openings, and Common ought to virtually actually see a lift within the coming quarter because of Epic Universe. That’s form of a given, although, when including a brand new theme park to the combo.
It’s additionally value declaring that the one greatest rationalization for the year-over-year drop in wait instances at Walt Disney World is the foremost modifications to its queueing insurance policies in late Could 2024. Wait instances haven’t been as excessive since, even on comparably congested days. And as a reminder, the entire above measures are of posted standby wait instances, which act as a proxy for crowds–they completely don’t congestion.
We defined why Walt Disney World is seeing decrease wait instances throughout the board in Right here’s Why Standby Strains and Lightning Lanes Are Shifting Sooner at Walt Disney World and have mentioned it elsewhere. That’s actually value studying if you wish to perceive the rising disconnect between ‘appears like’ crowds and wait instances.
The underside line is that the DAS modifications and, to a lesser extent, swap from Genie+ to Lightning Lane Multi-Move are having a major affect. It ought to go with out saying that there are controversies, downsides, and unlucky realities to the above. However the enchancment to the move of strains–standby and Lightning Lanes–in addition to decrease wait instances can also be plain.
Turning to on-the-ground observations, I’ve spent a number of time at Walt Disney World for the reason that begin of Spring Break season. This included Orange County’s Spring Break, the height week of Easter, and the bottom stage week in between at first of April.
As a normal matter, I used to be pleasantly stunned by crowds. My most detrimental expertise got here with making an attempt to make use of the Skyliner from Artwork of Animation to do Early Entry at EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. As standard, mornings have been fairly tough at DHS throughout busier dates (something 5/10 or above). Not precisely a brand new improvement, although. Unsurprisingly, I additionally encountered excessive demand for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind throughout complete discipline testing. (Outcomes of which can be nonetheless coming quickly!)
My most constructive experiences all got here at Magic Kingdom. (Nicely, Animal Kingdom was additionally wonderful, however that’s to be anticipated.) There have been a number of days and nights at Magic Kingdom that have been a lot better than anticipated, and the expertise actually benefited from the 11 p.m. park hours extensions (though these have been rarer than final 12 months). Generally, I virtually at all times perceived decrease crowds at Magic Kingdom than the precise crowd ranges mirrored. That’s a pleasant feeling, and one that usually isn’t the case at Magic Kingdom. (Granted, I prevented Fortunately Ever After, so I by no means skilled that exodus.)
Most curiously, my notion of Easter crowds was a lot better than anticipated. Truthfully, I by no means would’ve guessed that week had 8/10 crowd ranges whereas visiting the parks. I used to be totally ready to do a write-up about an unexpectedly gradual Easter week based mostly on my on-the-ground expertise, and was stunned that the degrees have been really 8/10. A part of that was getting fortunate (or relatively, selecting appropriately) my park visits every day, however crowds felt pretty reasonable.
If something, I’d’ve guessed that mid-March was worse than Easter week based mostly alone observations. Each have been unquestionably busier than final 12 months’s late summer time/early fall low season, however they didn’t really feel as dangerous because the worst weeks of winter. It in all probability helped that the climate felt extremely comfy by spring requirements, and that may make up for lots. I’ll fortunately take a 6/10 day with nice temperatures than a 1/10 day with triple-digit “appears like” warmth and humidity.
Level being, wait instances typically don’t inform the complete story of crowds at Walt Disney World. And conversely, anecdotal experiences of crowds and congestion are variable, which is why they’re unreliable. Others who visited throughout Easter week would possibly ‘hold forth’ within the feedback with horror tales about simply how busy it was. That doesn’t make both of us fallacious–we simply had totally different experiences. Walt Disney World is a giant place; it occurs.
Wanting ahead, Walt Disney World is now out of the woods with the worst of Spring Break. We’ll have one other replace to our 2025 Walt Disney World Crowd Calendars very quickly, however the backside line is that there are only a few ‘purple flag’ dates within the coming months.
At this level, it’s principally simply what’s at the moment on the ESPN Broad World of Sports activities calendar. The subsequent couple of weekends, there are Cheerleading Championships, Cheerleading Worlds and Dance Worlds, and the Summit occasions for a similar. All of these occasions happen the following couple of weeks and will trigger a slight bounce-back by way of crowds.
These are main dance and cheerleading competitions that enhance attendance on the parks and occupancy on the inns, normally the All Stars and Coronado Springs. Nevertheless, the affect on crowd ranges within the parks isn’t important as a complete–and tends to be overblown based mostly on anecdotal experiences, which could be fairly dangerous. (Which means that you possibly can assume they’re a large detrimental when you’re caught in line for Haunted Mansion behind a bunch of 100 cheerleaders…otherwise you would possibly by no means see a single participant throughout a weeklong journey.)
Other than these cheer and dance occasions, that are value bringing to your consideration however not you fretting over, the excellent news is that it’s Shoulder Season. That is the interval between two heavier seasons. I suppose that’s as a result of the shoulders are beneath the “peak” of the physique, or the top. Wherein case, maybe we must always begin referring to September as butt-season? It has a sure understated stupidity to it.
Anyway, Walt Disney World’s attendance patterns are largely dictated by college breaks. On account of this, far fewer visitors in Disney’s core demo go to shortly after or earlier than a significant break. One main break simply occurred, and one other doesn’t begin for one more month-plus.
Final 12 months’s Shoulder Season ran from roughly April 15 till the Friday earlier than Memorial Day. Each single week in Could of final 12 months noticed beneath common crowds (together with these coinciding with cheer and dance occasions), with the three weeks main as much as Memorial Day being the slowest and having 2/10 to three/10 crowd ranges. Crowds rebounded the final week however have been nonetheless barely beneath common.
It’s not possible to say with any diploma of confidence whether or not the 2025 Shoulder Season shall be slower than final 12 months. I’m inclined to foretell that it’s going to. Final 12 months, Walt Disney World obtained aggressive in releasing offers to stop a collapse in crowds (as occurred in Could 2023). For every of the final two years, reductions have been launched alongside an identical timeframe, and with comparable high quality/amount for this time of 12 months.
On condition that, and the truth that crowd ranges have been down just about throughout the board as soon as adjusted for Easter, it appears protected to foretell a slower Shoulder Season than final 12 months. There’s additionally the truth that completely nothing that counts as a significant draw to Walt Disney World is debuting between now and Memorial Day.
Accordingly, we’d in all probability count on to see extra 1/10 to three/10 days than final 12 months, and fewer 4/10 and 5/10 days. It in all probability received’t be a dramatic distinction, nevertheless it would possibly be sufficient that we are able to name Could 2025 the low season versus Shoulder Season.
Wanting ahead, the opening of Epic Universe is Could 22, 2025. Usually, the Thursday earlier than Memorial Day is commonly when crowds begin to decide up, which is why Common Orlando selected to open Epic Universe on that day. So far as how the opening of Epic Universe will affect crowds at Walt Disney World, it’s tough to say–there’s not precisely a ton of precedent for a way new competing theme parks alter attendance at Walt Disney World.
One factor to notice is that paid previews of Epic Universe have been underway for a few week, and have to this point had zero affect on Walt Disney World attendance. Granted, they have been introduced final minute and the eligibility pool is proscribed (for now), however to this point, these haven’t even been a blip on the radar for EPCOT and Animal Kingdom (the 2 parks almost certainly to be impacted).
Our greatest guess is that opening weekend of Epic Universe shall be slower than a traditional Memorial Day weekend at Walt Disney World, as Common sucks up all of the oxygen within the room. Many locals have bought tickets and booked lodge stays for Epic Universe that weekend, and vacationers are unsurprisingly doing likewise. This dynamic will exist all through the summer time, nevertheless it’ll be most pronounced by means of Monday, Could 26, 2025.
Opposite to standard knowledge, we don’t anticipate a lot of a noticeable affect on Walt Disney World attendance or wait instances all through Summer season 2025 as a consequence of Epic Universe, save for at EPCOT and Animal Kingdom. We do count on decrease crowds than final 12 months–and it’s not like Summer season 2024 was busy within the first place–however that largely has to do with financial uncertainty and plummeting worldwide journey.
The worst affect of that may coincide with the opening of Epic Universe, however correlation doesn’t equal causation. (It received’t cease many followers eager to see Disney “fail” from drawing the conclusion.) It additionally doesn’t assist that Walt Disney World doesn’t have any blockbuster new additions opening in Summer season 2025. The one massive factor is Starlight Evening Parade, and there’s no opening date for that but, which means it’s trying more and more like a July debut. That’ll enhance nighttime crowds in Magic Kingdom, however is unlikely to maneuver the needle on posted wait instances at points of interest or non-local attendance.
We will see, although. Maybe Bay Lake Beatrice is fallacious and crowds will decide up in mid-Could and keep elevated all summer time lengthy. Or perhaps it’s not simply six slower weeks, however extra like 6 slower months. Crowd Capybaras are about as dependable as crowd calendars nowadays, so it might go both manner. It’ll be an attention-grabbing saga to observe unfold, and our greatest guess based mostly on the elevated sense of urgency with reductions is that that is going to be a protracted interval of low to reasonable attendance.
Planning a Walt Disney World journey? Study inns on our Walt Disney World Resorts Evaluations web page. For the place to eat, learn our Walt Disney World Restaurant Evaluations. To economize on tickets or decide which sort to purchase, learn our Suggestions for Saving Cash on Walt Disney World Tickets submit. Our What to Pack for Disney Journeys submit takes a singular have a look at intelligent objects to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Experience Guides will assist. For complete recommendation, one of the best place to begin is our Walt Disney World Journey Planning Information for the whole lot it’s essential to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Are you visiting Walt Disney World throughout Shoulder Season between Spring Break and Summer season 2025? Have you ever visited up to now through the month of Could? Have been you within the parks over the previous couple weeks? In the event you visited throughout Easter week, what was your notion of crowds? Pleasantly stunned or did you discover it to be extremely busy? Ideas on the affect of Epic Universe? Do you agree or disagree with our evaluation? Any questions we will help you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even whenever you disagree with us–is each attention-grabbing to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!
Excellent news! The Crowds Capybara (aka “Bay Lake Beatrice”) noticed her shadow, predicting six or so weeks of low wait instances at Walt Disney World. With Spring Break within the rearview mirror and summer time remains to be one other month-plus away, it is a good forecast by the rodent–as we’re coming into “Shoulder Season.”
This crowd report shares wait instances knowledge, which dates ended up being the worst of the season, and our on-the-ground observations about congestion and contours. Plus, predictions on attendance ranges subsequent month and all through Summer season 2025, in addition to how the opening week and months of Epic Universe at Common Orlando might affect Walt Disney World.
We’ll begin by looking again on the final month-plus of Spring Break season at Walt Disney World. Particularly, we’ll have a look at what our Spring Break 2025 Crowd Calendar for Walt Disney World obtained proper and fallacious with its predictions, and simply how dangerous Easter ended up being.
The excellent news is that the broad contours of the forecast ended up being correct. Our prediction was twin peaks of heavy crowds the week of Orange County’s recess and one other virtually a month later main as much as Easter, with considerably of a valley in early April. We have been overly aggressive predicting the beginning of Spring Break, however crowds have been heavy beginning March 17-29 and once more April 12-19. In each circumstances, peak crowds began a pair days after our forecast window and ended 1-2 earlier.
Equally notable have been the decrease factors. March 30 by means of April 11 noticed low to reasonable crowds, fairly much like what we’d count on through the upcoming Shoulder Season. That’s what a late Easter causes–a later second spike in Spring Break crowds, and in addition quasi-Shoulder Season in between.
Save for some Spring Break stragglers, ‘Shoulder Season’ has kind of already arrived at this level. We don’t count on one other excessive crowds week till October 2025, and even above-average weeks are going to be few and much between for the following a number of months.
As at all times, what’s lined in these “crowd” studies is definitely posted wait time knowledge that’s pulled from My Disney Expertise and compiled into graphs for monitoring and evaluating numerous days, weeks, months, and years. Lots could be gleaned from posted wait instances, nevertheless it’s not essentially conclusive of in-park congestion or crowds.
If you wish to perceive extra about these studies and crowd calendars, their strengths and limitations, or addressing misconceptions about crowds, see our checklist of the “High” 10 Methods Walt Disney World Followers Are Fallacious About Crowds. That’s value studying if you would like a greater understanding of WDW attendance patterns, appears like crowds vs. wait instances, and some pretty straightforward methods to “beat” the crowds.
In brief, wait instances are an imperfect measure of Walt Disney World’s uncooked attendance or crowds. Earlier than going deeper into the dialogue of crowds, let’s dig into the info and have a look at Walt Disney World wait instances. As at all times, all graphs and stats are courtesy of thrill-data.com:
We’ll begin with the month-to-month numbers for Walt Disney World as a complete.
For the reason that lows of final September and October, Walt Disney World has gotten progressively. Which may seem to be excellent news for the parks themselves, till you distinction the numbers with the identical months on a year-over-year foundation. December 2023 by means of March 2024 have been extremely sturdy, main us to query whether or not we have been seeing a reverberation of revenge journey at Walt Disney World.
That didn’t final. Crowds fell every month beginning in April, bottoming out through the fall low season (October was one thing of an anomaly as a consequence of hurricanes). Crowds have risen since, however to nowhere close to the identical diploma because the earlier vacation season and winter. Spring Break is a really comparable story–wait instances are down noticeably on a year-over-year foundation for the final two months.
Final 12 months, the typical for March was a 40 minute wait time or 7/10 crowd stage. March 2025 noticed a 36 minute common for five/10 crowds. April was really equivalent each years: 34 minute waits for 4/10 crowd ranges. These comparisons aren’t apples to apples since Easter was in March final 12 months, which means we’d count on April 2025 to be busier. Additionally, the month isn’t over but, and the slowest days are nonetheless forward. Which means that even with Easter, April 2025 might find yourself being slower than final 12 months.
Talking of which, above is a have a look at the weekly crowd ranges. The 6 bars on the far proper are what we’ll be . The final bar is the present week (by means of April 27, 2025) and reveals the Shoulder Season slowdown already in progress. Previous to that’s Easter, which is at all times the height week of Spring Break.
The earlier two weeks are the aforementioned ‘valley’ in early April 2025 after Southern college districts went on recess however previous to Easter week crowds heating up. As you’ll see within the day by day numbers, these yellow bars considerably overstate crowd ranges throughout these weeks.
The 2 bars earlier than that have been when Orange County and different college districts in Florida (to not point out the remainder of the US) went on break. Observe that none of those weeks have been 10/10 crowd ranges. The primary two weeks, in mid-to-late March, have been 6/10 ranges. Easter was “solely” 8/10, which can appear heavy–however that was the slowest Easter week we’ve seen since 2021.
Zooming in additional, we come to the resort-wide day by day numbers for Walt Disney World.
The week main as much as Easter was unsurprisingly busy, with a little bit of a lull (comparatively) for the vacation weekend itself. No large shock there, as crowds heading dwelling earlier than the weekend has more and more turn into the development. That is pushed by numerous elements, however largely increased costs.
We additionally wish to draw your consideration to the few inexperienced bars between the height weeks of Spring Break. These are 1/10 to three/10 crowd ranges the final two days of March and first week of April 2025. That was a good time to go to (I communicate from expertise!) and is value remembering for the following time Easter is so late. So file that information away till 2028, I suppose.
For these questioning how Walt Disney World’s wait instances evaluate to Common Orlando, the development is about the identical, simply from a decrease baseline. As Comcast has reported on numerous earnings calls during the last 12 months, they’ve seen a pointy slowdown within the submit pent-up demand period–worse than Walt Disney World.
To that time, Comcast simply reported its earnings for the primary three months of the 12 months on April 24, 2025, and attendance dropped at Common’s theme parks in america. Comcast reported that theme parks income was down 5.2% year-over-year, to $1.876 billion. The corporate attributed the decline partially as a consequence of January’s wildfires, which compelled the momentary closure of Common Studios Hollywood. Adjusted EBITDA within the theme parks section additionally was down for the quarter by 32.1% year-over-year.
Whereas the wildfires unquestionably performed a job, there’s additionally this attention-grabbing development of each Comcast and Disney attributing decreases to externalities. The trend-line can also be down at Common Orlando, so this isn’t simply a matter of the wildfires. In Common’s protection, there may be virtually actually a ‘calm earlier than the storm’ with individuals suspending visits previous to the opening of Epic Universe.
However we’re additionally anticipating the primary few months of Epic Universe to underperform expectations, with softer bookings than initially anticipated. We’ll have a extra in-depth have a look at this quickly, however simply to be clear, it’s not trigger for long-term concern or an indication of disinterest in Epic Universe. Such a phenomenon isn’t unusual with main new openings, and Common ought to virtually actually see a lift within the coming quarter because of Epic Universe. That’s form of a given, although, when including a brand new theme park to the combo.
It’s additionally value declaring that the one greatest rationalization for the year-over-year drop in wait instances at Walt Disney World is the foremost modifications to its queueing insurance policies in late Could 2024. Wait instances haven’t been as excessive since, even on comparably congested days. And as a reminder, the entire above measures are of posted standby wait instances, which act as a proxy for crowds–they completely don’t congestion.
We defined why Walt Disney World is seeing decrease wait instances throughout the board in Right here’s Why Standby Strains and Lightning Lanes Are Shifting Sooner at Walt Disney World and have mentioned it elsewhere. That’s actually value studying if you wish to perceive the rising disconnect between ‘appears like’ crowds and wait instances.
The underside line is that the DAS modifications and, to a lesser extent, swap from Genie+ to Lightning Lane Multi-Move are having a major affect. It ought to go with out saying that there are controversies, downsides, and unlucky realities to the above. However the enchancment to the move of strains–standby and Lightning Lanes–in addition to decrease wait instances can also be plain.
Turning to on-the-ground observations, I’ve spent a number of time at Walt Disney World for the reason that begin of Spring Break season. This included Orange County’s Spring Break, the height week of Easter, and the bottom stage week in between at first of April.
As a normal matter, I used to be pleasantly stunned by crowds. My most detrimental expertise got here with making an attempt to make use of the Skyliner from Artwork of Animation to do Early Entry at EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. As standard, mornings have been fairly tough at DHS throughout busier dates (something 5/10 or above). Not precisely a brand new improvement, although. Unsurprisingly, I additionally encountered excessive demand for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind throughout complete discipline testing. (Outcomes of which can be nonetheless coming quickly!)
My most constructive experiences all got here at Magic Kingdom. (Nicely, Animal Kingdom was additionally wonderful, however that’s to be anticipated.) There have been a number of days and nights at Magic Kingdom that have been a lot better than anticipated, and the expertise actually benefited from the 11 p.m. park hours extensions (though these have been rarer than final 12 months). Generally, I virtually at all times perceived decrease crowds at Magic Kingdom than the precise crowd ranges mirrored. That’s a pleasant feeling, and one that usually isn’t the case at Magic Kingdom. (Granted, I prevented Fortunately Ever After, so I by no means skilled that exodus.)
Most curiously, my notion of Easter crowds was a lot better than anticipated. Truthfully, I by no means would’ve guessed that week had 8/10 crowd ranges whereas visiting the parks. I used to be totally ready to do a write-up about an unexpectedly gradual Easter week based mostly on my on-the-ground expertise, and was stunned that the degrees have been really 8/10. A part of that was getting fortunate (or relatively, selecting appropriately) my park visits every day, however crowds felt pretty reasonable.
If something, I’d’ve guessed that mid-March was worse than Easter week based mostly alone observations. Each have been unquestionably busier than final 12 months’s late summer time/early fall low season, however they didn’t really feel as dangerous because the worst weeks of winter. It in all probability helped that the climate felt extremely comfy by spring requirements, and that may make up for lots. I’ll fortunately take a 6/10 day with nice temperatures than a 1/10 day with triple-digit “appears like” warmth and humidity.
Level being, wait instances typically don’t inform the complete story of crowds at Walt Disney World. And conversely, anecdotal experiences of crowds and congestion are variable, which is why they’re unreliable. Others who visited throughout Easter week would possibly ‘hold forth’ within the feedback with horror tales about simply how busy it was. That doesn’t make both of us fallacious–we simply had totally different experiences. Walt Disney World is a giant place; it occurs.
Wanting ahead, Walt Disney World is now out of the woods with the worst of Spring Break. We’ll have one other replace to our 2025 Walt Disney World Crowd Calendars very quickly, however the backside line is that there are only a few ‘purple flag’ dates within the coming months.
At this level, it’s principally simply what’s at the moment on the ESPN Broad World of Sports activities calendar. The subsequent couple of weekends, there are Cheerleading Championships, Cheerleading Worlds and Dance Worlds, and the Summit occasions for a similar. All of these occasions happen the following couple of weeks and will trigger a slight bounce-back by way of crowds.
These are main dance and cheerleading competitions that enhance attendance on the parks and occupancy on the inns, normally the All Stars and Coronado Springs. Nevertheless, the affect on crowd ranges within the parks isn’t important as a complete–and tends to be overblown based mostly on anecdotal experiences, which could be fairly dangerous. (Which means that you possibly can assume they’re a large detrimental when you’re caught in line for Haunted Mansion behind a bunch of 100 cheerleaders…otherwise you would possibly by no means see a single participant throughout a weeklong journey.)
Other than these cheer and dance occasions, that are value bringing to your consideration however not you fretting over, the excellent news is that it’s Shoulder Season. That is the interval between two heavier seasons. I suppose that’s as a result of the shoulders are beneath the “peak” of the physique, or the top. Wherein case, maybe we must always begin referring to September as butt-season? It has a sure understated stupidity to it.
Anyway, Walt Disney World’s attendance patterns are largely dictated by college breaks. On account of this, far fewer visitors in Disney’s core demo go to shortly after or earlier than a significant break. One main break simply occurred, and one other doesn’t begin for one more month-plus.
Final 12 months’s Shoulder Season ran from roughly April 15 till the Friday earlier than Memorial Day. Each single week in Could of final 12 months noticed beneath common crowds (together with these coinciding with cheer and dance occasions), with the three weeks main as much as Memorial Day being the slowest and having 2/10 to three/10 crowd ranges. Crowds rebounded the final week however have been nonetheless barely beneath common.
It’s not possible to say with any diploma of confidence whether or not the 2025 Shoulder Season shall be slower than final 12 months. I’m inclined to foretell that it’s going to. Final 12 months, Walt Disney World obtained aggressive in releasing offers to stop a collapse in crowds (as occurred in Could 2023). For every of the final two years, reductions have been launched alongside an identical timeframe, and with comparable high quality/amount for this time of 12 months.
On condition that, and the truth that crowd ranges have been down just about throughout the board as soon as adjusted for Easter, it appears protected to foretell a slower Shoulder Season than final 12 months. There’s additionally the truth that completely nothing that counts as a significant draw to Walt Disney World is debuting between now and Memorial Day.
Accordingly, we’d in all probability count on to see extra 1/10 to three/10 days than final 12 months, and fewer 4/10 and 5/10 days. It in all probability received’t be a dramatic distinction, nevertheless it would possibly be sufficient that we are able to name Could 2025 the low season versus Shoulder Season.
Wanting ahead, the opening of Epic Universe is Could 22, 2025. Usually, the Thursday earlier than Memorial Day is commonly when crowds begin to decide up, which is why Common Orlando selected to open Epic Universe on that day. So far as how the opening of Epic Universe will affect crowds at Walt Disney World, it’s tough to say–there’s not precisely a ton of precedent for a way new competing theme parks alter attendance at Walt Disney World.
One factor to notice is that paid previews of Epic Universe have been underway for a few week, and have to this point had zero affect on Walt Disney World attendance. Granted, they have been introduced final minute and the eligibility pool is proscribed (for now), however to this point, these haven’t even been a blip on the radar for EPCOT and Animal Kingdom (the 2 parks almost certainly to be impacted).
Our greatest guess is that opening weekend of Epic Universe shall be slower than a traditional Memorial Day weekend at Walt Disney World, as Common sucks up all of the oxygen within the room. Many locals have bought tickets and booked lodge stays for Epic Universe that weekend, and vacationers are unsurprisingly doing likewise. This dynamic will exist all through the summer time, nevertheless it’ll be most pronounced by means of Monday, Could 26, 2025.
Opposite to standard knowledge, we don’t anticipate a lot of a noticeable affect on Walt Disney World attendance or wait instances all through Summer season 2025 as a consequence of Epic Universe, save for at EPCOT and Animal Kingdom. We do count on decrease crowds than final 12 months–and it’s not like Summer season 2024 was busy within the first place–however that largely has to do with financial uncertainty and plummeting worldwide journey.
The worst affect of that may coincide with the opening of Epic Universe, however correlation doesn’t equal causation. (It received’t cease many followers eager to see Disney “fail” from drawing the conclusion.) It additionally doesn’t assist that Walt Disney World doesn’t have any blockbuster new additions opening in Summer season 2025. The one massive factor is Starlight Evening Parade, and there’s no opening date for that but, which means it’s trying more and more like a July debut. That’ll enhance nighttime crowds in Magic Kingdom, however is unlikely to maneuver the needle on posted wait instances at points of interest or non-local attendance.
We will see, although. Maybe Bay Lake Beatrice is fallacious and crowds will decide up in mid-Could and keep elevated all summer time lengthy. Or perhaps it’s not simply six slower weeks, however extra like 6 slower months. Crowd Capybaras are about as dependable as crowd calendars nowadays, so it might go both manner. It’ll be an attention-grabbing saga to observe unfold, and our greatest guess based mostly on the elevated sense of urgency with reductions is that that is going to be a protracted interval of low to reasonable attendance.
Planning a Walt Disney World journey? Study inns on our Walt Disney World Resorts Evaluations web page. For the place to eat, learn our Walt Disney World Restaurant Evaluations. To economize on tickets or decide which sort to purchase, learn our Suggestions for Saving Cash on Walt Disney World Tickets submit. Our What to Pack for Disney Journeys submit takes a singular have a look at intelligent objects to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Experience Guides will assist. For complete recommendation, one of the best place to begin is our Walt Disney World Journey Planning Information for the whole lot it’s essential to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Are you visiting Walt Disney World throughout Shoulder Season between Spring Break and Summer season 2025? Have you ever visited up to now through the month of Could? Have been you within the parks over the previous couple weeks? In the event you visited throughout Easter week, what was your notion of crowds? Pleasantly stunned or did you discover it to be extremely busy? Ideas on the affect of Epic Universe? Do you agree or disagree with our evaluation? Any questions we will help you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even whenever you disagree with us–is each attention-grabbing to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!
