OVERVIEW: SUMMER 2013 AT WALT DISNEY WORLD
Summer at Walt Disney World—loosely defined as Memorial Day in late May through Labor Day in early September–is an often difficult season.
Summer Disney World weather is hot and humid, and in mid-August shifts to hot, humid, and also the peak of the hurricane season.
Summer crowds at Disney World are very high most of the summer–lightest in the last part of August, and also lighter in early June. They peak over the Fourth of July holiday.
Disney World summer prices show a different pattern in 2013 than in prior years, and begin high only at the value resorts. They drop to near their lowest level of the year at the deluxe resorts resorts in mid-July, and at the moderate resorts and value resorts in early August.
Deals and discounts are available for parts of this period.
WALT DISNEY WORLD CROWDS DURING SUMMER 2013
Crowds range over the period from near lowest of the year to quite high—but in a predictable way:
- The week that includes Memorial Day is crowded–ranked 9. This is higher than in prior years, as summer breaks in 2013 begin a week earlier than in, for example, 2012.
- Crowds in early June then fall off, but increase over the course of the month, building from rankings of 7 to 9
- Summer crowds peak over the week that includes the Fourth of July, with a crowd ranking of 10, and remain high the rest of July
- Early August is as crowded as July
- Crowds drop substantially in the second half of August, with the last week having a ranking of 3
- The weekend that includes Labor Day is quite busy, but the days after it are not
These patterns come from the varying dates at which kids get out of and return to school.
See Summer Crowds at Walt Disney World, When to Go to Walt Disney World, 2013 weeks to visit, ranked in order, and the 2013 Disney World Crowd Calendar for help figuring out when to go.
WALT DISNEY WORLD SUMMER 2013 PRICING
Walt Disney World resort hotel pricing varies over the summer and is different than in prior years.
- Prices at the beginning of June are 50% higher than the lowest of the year for value resorts, 17% higher for moderate resorts, and 11% higher for deluxe resorts
- Moderates and values remain at the 17% and 50% higher levels the rest of July, but deluxe prices drop to near their lowest level of the year beginning July 14
- On August 4, the moderates and values join the deluxes in offering near lowest prices of the year
Click the image (a Pop Century Resort example) to see the impact of these price changes.
(When open, click again to enlarge; this image is from 2013 Walt Disney World Price Seasons.)
Disney usually increases theme park ticket prices 3-5% in the summer.
SUMMER DEALS AND DISCOUNTS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD.
Deals and discounts are being offered during some of this period.
WALT DISNEY WORLD SUMMER WEATHER
Weather during the summer at Disney World is steadily hot and humid, with afternoon thunderstorms common.
The hurricane season officially beings on June 1, but hurricanes are typically not material until the peak season begins in mid-August. Even then, hurricanes are rare, and even more rarely ruin a vacation.
See this for more on the hurricane season.
Click the image (from Weather and When to Go to Disney World) for more on temperatures.
(When open, click again to enlarge.)
MORE ON SPECIFIC SUMMER 2013 PERIODS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD
See the following for more specifics on shorter periods:
MORE ON WHEN TO GO TO WALT DISNEY WORLD
- For when to go to Walt Disney World, see this
- For the next best dates, see this
- For the best and worst times to visit, see this
- For 2013 weeks to visit, ranked in order, see this
- For the 2013 Week Picker, click here
- For 2014 weeks to visit, ranked in order, see this
- For forecasting crowds at Walt Disney World, see this
- For the 2013 Crowd Calendar, click here
- For the 2014 Crowd Calendar, click here
- For seasonal pricing at Walt Disney World, see this
- For 2013 price seasons, click here
- For projected 2014 price seasons, see this
- For weather at Walt Disney World, see this
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You bet Mary.
The general pattern is that weekends and Mondays are busier than the rest of the week–as per the Universal point–and that among those two groups, days with extra magic hours are busier at the respective parks than days in the same group without them. Then starkly different operating hours create additional crowd drawing and repelling effects.
Hours are pretty similar that whole week, except for at HS on 4/16–making that a good day for it.
Otherwise, on 4/12 avoid Epcot unless you want to use evening EMH as a way to see Illuminations but not then leave with the whole Epcot crowd, avoid HS on 4/13, avoid MK 4/14, avoid AK and HS 4/15, avoid Epcot 4/16, and avoid AK 4/17…
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Thanks for that, Dave. We will think about that. Assuming we don’t go to Universal though, can you tell me your recommendations for which parks would be best April 12-17?
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Thanks for the reply, Dave. By the way, I didn’t mean to imply that you would not have taken the NE break into consideration- you obviously are a thorough researcher! I should have asked to what extent it would affect the crowds. Anyway, I am thinking of going to Disney from April 12 (at night) through the 18. My kids are 14, 11, and 5. We’ll have 5 full days. The kids have been to Disney before, but we’ve never done Universal. What do you think about spending one of the days there? I’m thinking Saturday, since that seems to be one of the more crowded days at Disney. Does universal tend to have smaller crowds? Thanks so much!
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Oh Mary, no worries. This stuff is so complicated (believe it or not!) that all the time people ask me if I’ve thought about something, and I haven’t! So I love questions like yours–as a group, they help make the site more helpful–and that’s why it exists!!
I think every family with older kids who like thrill rides and coasters, and/or Harry Potter, should give Universal a try on one of their return visits to Orlando. And Saturday is a great day–see this response to someone who just asked a similar question: https://yourfirstvisit.net/#comment-137313 I also have a section dedicated to Harry Potter, but broadly applicable to Universal, that starts here: https://yourfirstvisit.net/2009/12/13/summary-of-instructions-for-your-first-family-visit-to-the-wizarding-world-of-harry-potter/
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Does the crowd level forecasted for the week of April 13 take into account the spring breaks taken by schools in New England?
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Mary, yes it does, that’s why it’s a “3” instead of a “2”.
There’s a couple of reasons why these breaks don’t have more of an impact.
One is that many districts with this break also have all of this week off as well, and visits get divided among the two.
The second is just math–the New England states, as fine as they are 🙂 , just don’t add up to all that much. E.g. Massachusetts, the biggest among them, is still just about 2% of US population, and just 3% or so of WDW visitors. For more see this: https://yourfirstvisit.net/2012/07/25/disney-world-crowds-2013-spring-break-2013/
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