These free 2023 Walt Disney World crowd calendars charge dates so you possibly can select greatest weeks to go & keep away from the worst, skipping lengthy strains and excessive wait occasions. We cowl seasonal occasions, climate, park hours, Orlando journey traits, and elements impacting when to go to Florida’s theme parks. (Up to date February 24, 2023.)
Let’s begin with the unhealthy information, and that’s that crowds are extremely excessive by historic requirements. Journey demand stays extremely resilient and robust, with Presidents’ Day and Mardi Gras being the Worst Week of Winter 2023 at Walt Disney World. If airline reserving knowledge is to believed, it’s going to be an analogous story within the months to return.
To that time, there actually is not any “sluggish” season at Walt Disney World. Though there’s a park reservation system in place that Disney claims is to “defend the visitor expertise towards overcrowding” and “assure an awesome visitor expertise irrespective of when folks come,” that’s not the true objective of reservations. Nor does it accomplish that in follow, as crowds have been heavy all through the final year-plus.
Moreover, Walt Disney World makes use of promotions and particular occasions throughout beforehand sluggish timeframes to lure company to the parks, hosts main conventions and youth sporting occasions, and has dynamic pricing for tickets, motels, and even Genie+ and Lightning Lanes in an try to redistribute crowds.
Nonetheless, there are nonetheless positively large variations in crowd ranges, and it’s best to plan accordingly. Irrespective of how onerous Disney may attempt, there are particular timeframes that journey is slower. Faculty schedules, climate, seasonal festivities, youth sporting occasions, conventions, and different elements all play an enormous function in crowd ranges at Walt Disney World.
That brings us to the excellent news, which is that Walt Disney World crowd calendars are beginning to normalize as of February 2023. This makes crowd ranges simpler to foretell as soon as once more. Attendance traits nonetheless should not “regular” by any stretch of the creativeness, however acquainted patterns have returned by way of the very best & worst dates to go to, which largely observe historic traits. Nevertheless, there are a few caveats to this.
First, theme park reservations are nonetheless required. In the previous few months, the one parks which can be operating out of reservations with regularity are Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. This has been occurring on many days no matter wait occasions, with each parks going unavailable from time to time with 5/10 or decrease crowd ranges.
It’s because Walt Disney World is now utilizing park reservations to control attendance dynamics and redistribute crowds on many days. They’re doing this by capping reservations at Magic Kingdom and pushing folks in direction of Animal Kingdom and EPCOT to extend the utilization of these parks and normalize numbers throughout all 4 parks.
This truly doesn’t have a cloth impression on our Walt Disney World crowd calendars. If something, it makes them extra correct since we don’t break down suggestions by park (exterior of celebration season at Magic Kingdom). Since Disney is utilizing Park Go to maintain crowds constant throughout all 4 parks, the one time there’s a big same-day distinction among the many parks is when crowds are low…through which case, they’re usually low in all places!
Second, Walt Disney World attendance has surged by hundreds of thousands of company yearly, and virtually each single day of 2023 shall be considerably extra crowded than 2013. Equally, final yr was a lot busier than 2020 and 2021. Final yr additionally ended up eclipsing 2019 because of a powerful vacation season. Previous to that, 2019 was the busiest in Walt Disney World historical past–however even that fall skilled an unprecedented crowd drop across the opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
Crowd calendar scores are relative and calculated on a rolling foundation, that means a low day on the group calendar now appears like a reasonable day did a number of years in the past. In different phrases, a 1/10 right this moment just isn’t the identical as a 1/10 in September 2012 or October 2015. As we speak’s 1/10 is perhaps nearer to a 5/10 from 5 years in the past.
Moreover, scores are additionally relative to their respective parks–that means right this moment’s 1/10 doesn’t translate to the identical common wait time at Magic Kingdom because it does Hollywood Studios. To ensure that crowd calendars to serve a sensible objective reasonably than a historic one, this strategy is important–even when it may be complicated.
Lastly, these crowd calendars are largely a measure of wait occasions reasonably than congestion. Wait occasions are quantifiable whereas congestion is subjective and continuously altering. Whereas wait occasions are normally proxy for crowd ranges, they aren’t conclusive of attendance or in-park congestion.
There are a number of different variables that may impression “appears like” crowds, from festivals at EPCOT to climate to visitor demographics to experience breakdowns to operational effectivity to day of the week. Past that, wait occasions will be manipulated by Walt Disney World–they’re usually inflated, or in any other case inaccurate. However to the extent wait occasions are inflated, they’re constantly inaccurate, so all of it evens out ultimately.
This all impacts crowds, or the notion thereof, and the way they diverge from wait occasions. As such, posted waits are an imperfect measure of Walt Disney World’s uncooked attendance or crowds. Imperfect as they is perhaps, wait occasions are nonetheless the greatest measure of crowds–and the one goal one. The choice is counting on particular person visitor perceptions, that are way more flawed and incomplete.
With these limitations in thoughts, our 2023 Walt Disney World crowd calendars must be fairly correct. This is because of attendance normalizing, extra slack within the reservations system, plus fewer capability constraints and staffing shortages. Walt Disney World remains to be not completely “out of the woods” with with these woes, however they need to solely be elements through the busiest dates of the yr–when crowds can be 10/10, regardless.
Going ahead, new variables may disrupt crowd dynamics–every part from the financial system to gasoline costs to geopolitical danger to family steadiness sheets and extra. If oil costs spike once more or fears of a recession develop in 2023, attendance will drop. However even economists can’t agree on what’ll occur, so don’t anticipate Walt Disney World crowd forecasters to know. (As such, the additional out the 2023 Walt Disney World crowd calendars go, the much less correct they’re.)
I understand that is already a protracted and rambling preface, however that’s largely so that you perceive Walt Disney World attendance, wait time, and crowds. (Suffice to say, it’s not so simple as a each day numerical rating, and hasn’t been for some time.)
With that in thoughts, I’ll provide a number of quick-hit predictions for the near-term. In case you merely desire a checklist of dates in 2023 which can be prone to have the worst crowds, right here’s once we’d keep away from visiting Walt Disney World:
- March 11-19, 2023
- April 1-9, 2023
- April 13-16, 2023
- Might 26-29, 2023
Between now and Memorial Day 2023, these are the largest pink flags. Be aware that the above dates in March and April 2023 are highlighted because the worst weeks of these two months. It’s not simply these dates that’ll be unhealthy; each day between March 11 and April 17, 2023 could have reasonable to heavy crowds. We extremely advocate avoiding that total stretch if in any respect doable. (Weekdays on the finish of March shall be your greatest guess when you have some flexibility.)
See our Spring Break 2023 Crowd Calendar for complete predictions of every week, and the foremost faculty districts with breaks throughout that stretch. For extra perception into all of these dates and past, see the month-by-month crowd calendars under.
Lastly, it’s completely doable to beat unhealthy crowds by using Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, Early Entry, Prolonged Night Hours, rope drop, and many others. We cowl the very best & worst strategy for every park in Greatest Time-Saving Methods for Walt Disney World. (In case you’re solely going to learn one planning publish, make it that as an alternative of this!)
If you wish to learn a number of extra posts–all extra helpful than crowd calendars–make sure to additionally take a look at our Walt Disney World Itineraries for plans of assault, with choices now with and with out Genie+ and Lightning Lanes. Talking of which, we’ve got a ~4,500 phrase Information to Genie+ at Walt Disney World & Lightning Lane FAQ for individuals who wish to totally grasp the brand new paid FastPass system.
Actually, following itinerary and using good technique is far more vital than selecting the “proper” dates. Ideally, you’d go for a better of each worlds strategy–selecting good dates in addition to using savvy technique, however that’s not at all times doable. In any case, there’s a cause most households go to Walt Disney World throughout faculty breaks. In case you don’t have any selection however to journey throughout busier dates, you possibly can nonetheless beat the crowds.
With that mentioned, we’ve began the method of updating our month by month crowd calendars, and have options for once you ought to and shouldn’t go to Walt Disney World…
2023 Disney World Crowd Calendars
In case you’ve already narrowed down a season or vary of dates throughout which you wish to go to Walt Disney World, we’d advocate forgoing the rest of this publish. As an alternative, consult with our particular person month-to-month guides, which supply free crowd calendars and canopy climate, seasonal occasions, refurbishments, and what’s new & subsequent.
These 2023 Walt Disney World crowd calendars provide extra granular particulars for every particular month. We’d counsel studying all months for the time of yr you’re contemplating. For instance, for those who’re considering of a summer time trip, learn the Might by way of August month-to-month guides; for those who’re contemplating Christmas, seek the advice of each November and December.
Once more, these 2023 Walt Disney World crowd calendars are solely dependable about 6 months upfront. It’s nonetheless too early to make dependable predictions for subsequent spring and past. With that mentioned, among the identical basic patterns play out yr out and in, so later months are helpful for broader weekly traits–reasonably than particular dates to go to.
In case you’d choose one thing extra holistic as an alternative, we’d advocate consulting our 2023 Greatest & Worst Months to Go to Walt Disney World. That may be a broad overview of when to journey to Walt Disney World, plus a number of of our favourite weeks to go to. That’s extra of a qualitative evaluation that additionally elements in generalized crowd traits.
These Walt Disney World crowd calendars cowl the very best and works week to go to in every month, with overarching assessments of attendance traits and wait occasions at Walt Disney World. In so doing, we eschew numerical or color-coded crowd calendars for detailed, qualitative explanations.
We imagine this strategy to Walt Disney World crowd calendars is much extra helpful to readers. Whereas it’d be simpler to mindlessly select dates by what’s inexperienced or has a low quantity on crowd calendar, that strategy doesn’t do correct justice to attendance and wait time traits.
For these crowd calendars, we mix regular knowledge like wait occasions and different information that serves as a proxy for crowds with our in-person observations and anecdotal experiences. From all of this, we’ve discovered to identify patterns and see issues about wait occasions and attendance at Walt Disney World, which we share with you in our crowd calendars.
Suffice to say, you’re much better off spending the ~10 minutes to learn every crowd calendar part, as we clarify the why and how of those patterns. Some months of the yr–September by way of December, particularly–crowd calendars don’t inform the complete story.
Having somewhat information in regards to the ebb and circulation of attendance all through the day will much better put together you to keep away from crowds and zig when others zag. Some parks and points of interest see customer numbers and features spike throughout sure elements of the day, and it’s vital to grasp the why of this, so you possibly can plan across the peak crowds.
On high of that, attendance dynamics have modified through the years. January and February was once sluggish season and Summer time was once peak season–neither of that are true anymore. There are a number of different ways in which attendance patterns have modified at Walt Disney World that we deal with in these rankings.
Walt Disney World has change into aggressive with promotions and scheduling seasonal occasions through the slowest stretches to entice folks to go to and shut the hole. These makes an attempt to shut the hole have been profitable to a level in that there’s now actually no “useless” season. Nevertheless, the distinction in crowds between mid-September and the week earlier than Christmas stays important. That’s only one instance–selecting week versus a foul one will be large.
This isn’t to say that there’s no strategy to keep away from the crowds anymore–there completely is–and crowd calendars will assist with that. The slower dates are nonetheless noticeably slower than the busier dates. All we’re saying is that crowd calendars should not some ‘magic bullet’ that you need to use with out doing another analysis to have an awesome journey, strolling onto each attraction. Over-reliance on Walt Disney World crowd calendars (together with ours!) will result in disappointment.
In case you’re attempting to find out when to go to, we advocate beginning by selecting seasonal occasions and the kind of climate that enchantment most to you, after which narrowing your dates inside these broad parameters primarily based on what crowd calendars establish as the very best and first weeks to go to. Walt Disney World crowd calendars are nonetheless a great tool, however they’re not a planning panacea.
Selecting which days to go to Walt Disney World is only one side of planning a visit. To be sure you sort out every part, be sure you learn our Information to Planning a Walt Disney World Journey, which covers all the necessities. With that mentioned, right here’s what else to contemplate…
Climate
If climate is a crucial consideration, we extremely advocate heading down from in late September, October, early November, late February, March, or April. These are ultimate from a climate perspective. That’s, assuming you need extra temperate climate, reasonably than excessive warmth and humidity or extra chilly climate. In case you like your garments drenched in sweat from excessive temperatures, Might till late-August are the excellent occasions so that you can go to.
Late summer time and early fall are the peak of hurricane and storm season, which have change into more and more related. We extremely advocate consulting our Visiting Walt Disney World Throughout Storm Season article earlier than reserving a visit this time of yr. One of the best case state of affairs is navigating the afternoon showers with out them placing an excessive amount of of a damper in your journey. Worst case, an approaching hurricane forces you to cancel your journey or be at Walt Disney World whereas the parks shut because of the storm.
In case you should go to between the late spring by way of early fall, simply keep in mind to pack accordingly, bringing the Frogg Toggs for the humidity…and ponchos for the rain so that you don’t spend $179 on them at Walt Disney World. Learn our Distinctive Disney World Packing Record for some objects you won’t in any other case consider taking.
Whereas early December and January are nice occasions to go to to keep away from crowds, our expertise has been that these are the worst two months by way of climate. Not solely does it get extraordinarily chilly (properly, comparatively talking–it’s Florida in spite of everything), however there are substantial swings in temperature. You may end up desirous to put on shorts within the morning however by late afternoon it’s denims and sweatshirt climate. Because the night time rolls on, you may even end up desirous to placed on a parka.
In case you journey throughout these seasons, anticipate to carry extra baggage and make extra stops at your room to vary clothes (or at the least plan on renting a locker to retailer further layers of clothes every day). It’s possible you’ll be fortunate and discover comparatively constant temperate climate throughout these timeframes, nevertheless it’s greatest to arrange for the worst so that you simply don’t should buy a bunch of $50 sweatshirts from the Emporium on Important Avenue. These $50 sweatshirts can add up shortly! Try our Winter Packing Suggestions for Disney publish for extra perception on what to take in your winter journey to Walt Disney World.
Park Hours
In speaking to others, we’ve discovered that that is the one space that individuals take into account the least when planning their journeys, which we expect is at the least a small mistake. It’s vital to notice up entrance that, usually, much less busy seasons have shorter park hours and busier occasions have longer park hours.
It thus stands to cause which you could mainly get the identical quantity carried out in a shorter day throughout a much less busy time than you can throughout a busier time. Nevertheless, this isn’t at all times true. In case you use an environment friendly touring plan (see our Itineraries for Walt Disney World), you’ve got likelihood of getting extra carried out throughout a busier time of yr than throughout a slower stretch.
That is very true for those who get to the park early and keep late. Typically throughout particularly busy occasions, Magic Kingdom will open at 8 am and can shut at 11 pm. Whereas we’ve taken benefit of those hours with out taking a break through the day, we understand a few of you’re mere mortals.
An important technique to make use of throughout days with working hours equivalent to these is to get to the park shortly earlier than opening, keep till round 11 a.m., return to your resort to nap or loosen up, and return round time for dinner to remain till park shut. Whatever the time of yr, the parks will at all times be pretty sluggish through the first couple operational hours, and can at all times be pretty abandoned late at night time. Experience as a lot as you possibly can early within the day and do much less well-liked points of interest because the day wears on.
Equally, park hours must be taken into consideration primarily based upon your sleep habits. In case you’re a late-to-rise night time owl, the Fall and late Winter/early Spring months could also be a foul concept, as these entail many early closing occasions. In case you’re not going to get to the parks till midday anyway, your day is perhaps solely 7 hours or so.
Conversely, for those who get up early and usually name it a day by 5 or 7 pm or so, these midnight closings aren’t going to do you any good. Ensure you examine Disney’s park hours calendar when planning your journey. It’s vital to notice that this calendar is commonly inaccurate far upfront (Disney posts hours conservatively, then extends them as bookings improve).
Particular Occasions
It is a large one for us, as we’ve been to Walt Disney World so many occasions that it’s good to go to throughout totally different occasions of yr to maintain issues diverse. Even when it’s your first go to to Walt Disney World, when you have explicit pursuits, you may wish to take into account planning your journey round these particular occasions. The schedules for these varies, as does the worth (if any), so please seek the advice of the respective web page for every occasion when doing all of your planning and budgeting.
Halloween and Christmas occasions within the Magic Kingdom are individually ticketed, that means you possibly can’t use your customary park tickets for them. In contrast to common park tickets, you can also’t buy these tickets at a reduction from approved distributors (which may prevent some huge cash on common tickets). Regardless of this, each occasions are a ton of enjoyable and properly value experiencing. As you possibly can learn in our Final Information to Christmas at Walt Disney World, it’s our favourite time to go to the parks!
We’ve written ideas & tips for nearly each seasonal occasion at Walt Disney World, as a result of most aren’t merely a matter of “present up, have enjoyable.” We encourage you to click on these hyperlinks (they are going to open in a brand new tab) and skim the guides. Like all issues Walt Disney World-related, you’ll have a a lot better time and see extra that the occasion has to supply for those who do some advance planning…
Winter
- Walt Disney World Marathon – The flagship runDisney race weekend is held in early January, normally the weekend after New Yr’s. It usually happens whereas colleges are nonetheless out for winter break, successfully extending the vacation season crowds into early January.
- EPCOT Worldwide Competition of the Arts – Returning for 2023, this is likely one of the highlights of January and February at Walt Disney World for us. Actually captures the essence of old style EPCOT Middle.
Spring
Summer time
- EPCOT Worldwide Meals & Wine Competition – Starting in mid-July, that is EPCOT’s flagship culinary occasion. Wish to know what to do–and extra importantly what NOT to do? Learn our information. It’ll offer you an concept of what’s not definitely worth the cash, and what’s value doing.
Fall
- 2023 Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Occasion at Magic Kingdom – Probably greater than another particular occasion at Walt Disney World, it’s worthwhile to do advance planning for this. Character meet & greets can type hour-plus lengthy waits, and there’s a lot to do which you could’t accomplish every part in a single celebration. We extremely advocate studying this information!
- EPCOT Meals & Wine Competition – Identical as above normally continues by way of mid to late November.
Holidays
Faculty Schedules
If faculty schedules are one thing round which you should plan, chances are high you’re going to go throughout one of many busier (or at the least not one of many least busy) occasions of the yr. Faculty schedules are the paramount consideration for a lot of different households planning journeys, too.
It might appear handy to go to throughout one of many ‘holidays’ your youngsters have off from faculty, nevertheless it’s vital to contemplate whether or not different colleges have these identical dates off, as properly. Of the standard faculty holidays, solely Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends are good occasions to go to.
As a result of most colleges have the week earlier than Christmas till the shortly after New Yr’s off, that is an particularly crowded window to go to. Likewise, the identical goes for President’s Day weekend, Easter week, Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples’ Day week, Veterans Day week, everything of the Summer time, and Thanksgiving week.
Though colleges do fluctuate their Spring Break schedules, don’t anticipate the parks to be any much less busy due to staggered Spring Breaks. Mid-March till mid-April are additionally extremely busy dates for the parks due to Spring Breaks, with the 2 weeks abutting Easter being absolutely the worst (since most colleges nonetheless use Easter as a proxy for Spring Break).
Some folks don’t have many different choices, so it’s going throughout a college break or nothing. If that’s the case, it’s not the tip of the world. As we’ve burdened above, crowd calendars should not as vital as they was once. Merely pack your persistence and have touring plan (which is much extra vital than selecting dates primarily based upon a crowd calendar, anyway). For assist with this, consult with our Free Walt Disney World Park Itineraries & Touring Plans. We’ve the proper technique for enjoyable, environment friendly, and memorable days within the parks!
In case you don’t have youngsters or aren’t in any other case compelled to journey round holidays or conventional trip durations, we’d extremely advocate avoiding them. Not as a result of we’ve got something towards youngsters, however as a result of crowds and costs shall be larger throughout these breaks. Plan round them and save each money and time!
If you’re uncertain of when visiting Walt Disney World is perhaps greatest for you–or want customized assist with any side of your journey from motels to the Disney Eating Plan and extra–we advocate contacting a no payment “Approved Disney Trip Planner” (mainly, Disney’s time period for a journey agent) to get a quote and that can assist you plan. They get their fee from Disney, so not one of the approved (key phrase) planners will cost you for reserving their journey and serving to. Right here’s one such really helpful Approved Disney Trip Planner.
Finally, all of this can be a long-winded means of claiming that consulting crowd calendars for Walt Disney World in 2023 is helpful, however technique issues extra. That has been the case since ~2018, nevertheless it’s extra pronounced than ever proper now. With Disney Park Go reservations reserving up every day, crowds are largely being leveled and never reflective of precise, natural demand. That presumably does fluctuate way more day-to-day or week-to-week, however that’s not enjoying out with the capability caps in place.
As we regularly say, pack your persistence and arm your self with savvy technique for those who’re visiting Walt Disney World within the coming weeks or months. The unhealthy information is that it’s going to be very busy with “appears like” crowds and wait occasions among the many highest we’ve seen within the final two years. The excellent news is that these crowds are extra “beatable” than these of this winter or final vacation season.
Hopefully this can be a beneficial primer that can assist you select once you wish to go to Walt Disney World. Determining when to go to is a crucial first step, however there’s way more to know. You’ll additionally wish to learn our Suggestions for Saving Cash on Walt Disney World Tickets publish to purchase the most affordable tickets from official sources. To determine the place to remain, our Walt Disney World Resort Opinions web page is a good useful resource. Wish to know the place to eat or if the Disney Eating Plan is best for you? Our Walt Disney World Eating Sources will assist! For many different Walt Disney World journey planning ideas and complete recommendation, be certain that to learn our Walt Disney World Journey Planning Information.
Your Ideas
Visiting Walt Disney World throughout the very best dates to keep away from crowds might be some of the vital facets of journey planning. What season, month, or week do you typically go to WDW? Do you go to at occasions when you realize crowds shall be gentle, or do you go to when faculty is out of session? Do you agree or disagree with our recommendation? Any questions we may also help you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even once you disagree with us–is each attention-grabbing to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas under within the feedback!