Category — a. When to Go to Walt Disney World

2025 CROWDS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

The chart lower on the page shows my forecasts for 2025 crowds by week at Walt Disney World.

My Disney World crowd forecasts are based on a combination of historical patterns and the specific influence of school breaks. The varying year to year timing of school breaks particularly shapes crowding during the spring break season.

Ticket and even hotel prices also had some influence on my forecasts, but ticket prices are not the clear crowd forecast that some think they are.  Lower-priced days will be less crowded, but not all higher priced days are more crowded, as Disney prices tickets not only for quantitative demand but also for perceived value. For more on 2025 ticket prices at Disney World, see this.

As always, I forecast by Saturday arrival date, and the forecast includes the arrival Saturday through the second Sunday following–so 9 total days. [Read more →]

COLOR-CODED HEAT MAP OF 2025 THEME PARK TICKET PRICES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

I’ve color coded the start dates of the various base ticket lengths from four to ten theme park days in Disney World’s date-based ticket pricing system to indicate less and more expensive ticket dates in 2025, compared to prices in all of 2025. (The basics of how tickets work are at the link above; as is explained in more detail at that link, the lowest priced periods can save a family of four more than a thousand dollars in ticket prices compared to the highest priced periods.)

In what follows, compared to other dates for the same ticket length

• The more and the darker the green, the better the price for the ticket that begins that day
• The more and the darker the red, the worse.

Dates with a white background are everything else–you can think of them as “typical” for that ticket length.

Note the color boundaries.  Tickets listed cover anything from seven days including purchase (for four day tickets) to 14 days (for ten day tickets). So if you are using these colors as a proxy for a crowd calendar–which kinda works, though not exactly–when they change from green to red, focus on the shorter length tickets, especially the four day tickets at the left of each column.

I begin with an overview of the year so that you can see the flow of 2025 heat map Disney World ticket price colors in one spot, and then move to three month calendars.

The general pattern is the same as most years:

• Lower prices, indicated by more green, in the typical semester–beginning months of January, early February, and especially later August and September. You’ll also find lighter-green stretches much (but not all) of May, June and July.
• Higher prices/more red during the concentrated school break periods of spring break (early March through late April in 2025), Thanksgiving, and especially the Christmas/New Years holidays. Some tickets that include other typical popular student breaks (e.g. before and after Presidents Day, before Memorial Day, before the 4th of July, and during the fall break period in October centered on Columbus Day) also show red.

Let’s look in more detail at three month heat maps.

JANUARY THROUGH MARCH 2025 DISNEY WORLD TICKET PRICES

January ticket prices begin low, and are low or low-average the rest of the month into early February.

At the end of the first week of February, prices go up, and stay up until the weekend after Presidents Day. (Presidents Day is February 17 in 2025, prices are thus high through the 22nd.)

Prices in late February and early March are average to a little high, and start increasing near the end of the first week of March. Prices are high the rest of March and into April through the weekend after Easter.

APRIL THROUGH JUNE 2025 DISNEY WORLD TICKET PRICES

April prices begin and stay high until the weekend after Easter.  The very late Easter in 2025 is April 20, and ticket prices remain high until the weekend after–the weekend of April 26.

Ticket prices then shift to average/lowish until ticket dates begin including Memorial Day weekend. Shorter tickets see higher prices up until the 24th or so (Memorial Day itself is the 26th in 2025).

May prices then end low or low-average. June continues with low prices until around June 24, when prices increase and stay high through July 2 for longer ticket types, and for another week for shorter tickets.

JULY THROUGH SEPTEMBER 2025 DISNEY WORLD TICKET PRICES

July ticket prices begin high then shift to low or low average after the Fourth of July. Green then begins to increasingly dominate the heat map, with green in all of August and September, and the lowest ticket prices of the year in the second half of August and the first half of September.

OCTOBER THROUGH DECEMBER 2025 DISNEY WORLD TICKET PRICES

October begins with some hints of lower prices and green, but then red quickly takes over until near the end of the month. Average or low average prices return around October 24, continuing to around ticket start dates around November 3.

The rest of the year is a sea of red, with particularly high prices for tickets with use periods that include Thanksgiving week, and tickets whose start date is Saturday December 13 or later.

Note that my work is based on the rounded per-day prices Disney publishes. Prices shown are pre-tax.

You can find exact prices on Disney World’s ticket-buying pages.

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2025 RESORT HOTEL PRICE SEASONS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

The material below shows Walt Disney World resort hotel price seasons at different times of the year in 2025.

Resort prices can be almost twice as high during some periods as they are at others. The information on this page helps you identify lower and higher cost periods.

Disney has three price classes among its hotels: Value, Moderate, and Deluxe resorts. At all three classes, in 2025 the lowest prices go from early January into early February, and the highest prices are in the second half of December.  You can clearly see that in the chart, which shows average prices over the next seven days by arrival date from a sample of six Disney World resort hotels:

Another way to think about changes in pricing over the year is whether or not prices are below or above the year’s  average. The chart below takes three of the hotels from above (one from each price class) and also depicts their 2025 average price, as a dotted line.

As you can see on the chart, at all three price classes, 2025 Disney World resort hotel prices are largely at or below average from late April until early September, and mostly high-ish or above average from right before Presidents Day until the week after Easter, and then again from before Thanksgiving through the end of the year.

Beyond that things vary quite a bit by date and price class, especially in the summer and fall. All this is covered in detail later in this post, but to give you a quick way to assess, I’ve put together a Disney World resort hotel price heat map for 2025.

In the 2025 heat map, I’ve averaged “percent higher than the lowest of the year” across each of the resort classes. More red=higher prices, more green=lower prices. Yellow is in between.

Note, for example July in the heat map, which after the 4th shows light yellow in the values, green in the deluxes, and light green in the moderates. This difference is due to the differing effects of conventions on prices. All Disney hotels compete with the hundred thousand or so rooms elsewhere, and the deluxes in particular see their prices affected by convention business.  No sensible convention is in Florida from June through September, hence the lower prices in “deluxe”-type lodging across the market.  The values, in contrast, compete for family business year round, and the summer continues to be a convenient time for family vacations.

In the rest of the material below, I focus on the three price classes in turn. I compare 2025 hotel prices over the year for each hotel class to that class’s lowest price of 2025, its “value season” in parts of January and February.

Grouping of dates is based on “price seasons,” a grouping tool Disney World no longer makes public, but which can be identified analytically, and named (sorta) based on past practices. Disney charges based on the actual price of the actual nights, so if your visit straddles price seasons, you’ll pay the prices of each price season.

The charts average prices for each resort’s lowest-cost rooms over the next seven nights, by arrival date.  This eliminates what would be otherwise be incomprehensible bumpiness from Thursday/Sunday and/or Friday/Saturday upcharges. Within each price class, the charts show three different resorts. For exact prices by night by room type by date, see MouseSavers.com.

2025 DISNEY WORLD RESORT PRICE SEASONS: VALUE RESORTS

The Disney World value resorts see their lowest 2025 prices for arrival dates from early January through early February, with low-ish prices also mid-August through early September.

Additional below average prices in 2025 at the value resorts are from the end of March through early April, the end of April until just before Memorial Day, and mid-September until the Thursday a week before Thanksgiving.

The highest prices are for arrival dates in later February and most of March, the weeks before and after Easter, and early December through New Years.

The lowest prices of the year–the value season–are offered 1/5 through 2/5/2025, except

• Prices are 10% higher 1/10 to 1/12

Regular season prices 2/6 through 2/13: 30% higher than the lowest of the year

Presidents Day holiday prices 2/14 and 2/15: 40% higher than lowest of the year

Spring season prices 2/16 through 2/23: 40-50% higher

Regular season prices 2/24 through 2/27: 30% higher

Spring season prices 2/28 through 3/29: 40-50% higher

Regular season prices 3/30 through 4/10: 30% higher

Easter holiday prices 4/11 through 4/24: 60-75% higher

Spring season prices 4/25 and 4/26: 40-50% higher

Regular 2 season prices 4/27 through 5/22: 25-30% higher

Prices are 40% higher for Memorial Day holiday 5/23 through 5/25

Summer season prices 5/26 through 8/2: 30-40% higher except

• Prices are 40% higher for 4th of July holiday July 4 and July 5

Summer 2 season 8/3 through 8/16: 20-25% higher

Value 2 season 8/17 through 9/6: 7-11% higher except

• Prices are 25% higher for Labor Day holiday 8/29 through 8/31

Fall season 9/7 through 10/18: 25-30% higher except

• Prices are 40% higher 10/3 through 10/5

Fall 2 season 10/19 through 11/19:  25% higher except

• Prices are 30% higher 10/30 to 11/1

Thanksgiving season 11/20 through 11/28: 50% higher

Winter season 11/29 through 12/4: 35% higher

Winter 2 season 12/5 through 12/11: 50-65% higher

Peak season 12/12 through 12/24: 75-90% higher

Holiday season 12/25 through 12/31: 80-95% higher

2025 DISNEY WORLD RESORT PRICE SEASONS: MODERATE RESORTS

The Disney World moderate resorts see their lowest 2025 prices for arrival dates in early January through early February, then a long sweep of low-ish prices from late-April through early September.

Prices continue to be mostly below average from the rest of September until mid October.

The highest prices are for arrival dates in later February and most of March, the weeks before and after Easter, and early December through New Years.

The lowest prices of the year–the value season–are offered 1/5 through 2/5/2025, except

• Prices are 7% higher 1/10 to 1/12

Regular season prices 2/6 through 2/13: 20-25% higher than the lowest of the year

Presidents Day holiday prices 2/14 and 2/15: 33% higher than lowest of the year

Spring season prices 2/16 through 2/23: 30% higher

Regular season prices 2/24 through 2/27: 20-25% higher

Spring season prices 2/28 through 3/29: 30% higher

Regular season prices 3/30 through 4/10: 20-25% higher

Easter holiday prices 4/11 through 4/24: 45-50% higher

Spring season prices 4/25 and 4/26: 30% higher

Regular 2 season prices 4/27 through 5/22: 20% higher

Prices are 25% higher for Memorial Day holiday 5/23 through 5/25

Summer season prices 5/26 through 8/2: 15-20% higher except

• Prices are 20% higher for 4th of July holiday July 4 and July 5

Summer 2 season 8/3 through 8/16: 15-20% higher

Value 2 season 8/17 through 9/6: 10-20% higher except

• Prices are 30% higher for Labor Day holiday 8/29 through 8/31

Fall season 9/7 through 10/18: 20-25% higher except

• Prices are 35% higher 10/3 through 10/5

Fall 2 season 10/19 through 11/19:  25-35% higher except

• Prices are 35% higher 10/30 to 11/1

Thanksgiving season 11/20 through 11/28: 35-45% higher

Winter season 11/29 through 12/4: 25-35% higher

Winter 2 season 12/5 through 12/11: 35-45% higher

Peak season 12/12 through 12/24: 50-75% higher

Holiday season 12/25 through 12/31: 60-75% higher

2025 DISNEY WORLD RESORT PRICE SEASONS: DELUXE RESORTS

The Disney World deluxe resorts see their lowest 2025 prices for arrival dates in early January through early February, then again for most of the period from after the 4th of July into mid- September, with particularly low prices most of mid-August through early September.

Also with lower than average prices at the deluxes is the period after Memorial day through the 4th of July.

The highest prices are for arrival dates in later February and most of March, the weeks before and after Easter, and early December through New Years.

The near-lowest prices of the year–the value season–are offered 1/5 through 2/5/2025

• Prices are 10% higher 1/10 to 1/12

Regular season prices 2/7 through 2/13: 20-25% higher than lowest of the year

Spring season prices 2/14 through 2/22: 30-35% higher

Regular season prices 2/23 through 3/6: 20-25% higher

Spring season prices 3/7 through 3/27: 30-35% higher

Regular season prices 3/28 through 4/5: 20-25% higher

Spring season prices 4/6 through 4/12: 30-35% higher

Easter holiday prices 4/13 through 4/24: 40-50% higher

Regular 2 season prices 4/25 through 5/22: 20-25% higher

Prices are 30% higher for Memorial Day holiday 5/23 through 5/25

Summer season prices 5/26 through 7/3: 10-20% higher

Prices are 20% higher for 4th of July holiday July 4 and July 5

Summer 2 season 7/6 through 8/14: 3-7% higher

Value 2 season 8/15 through 9/11: lowest of the year or 1% or 2% higher, except

• Labor Day holiday prices 8/29 through 8/31: 10% higher

Fall season 9/12 through 10/2: 10-20% higher

Prices are 30% higher 10/3 through 10/5

Fall 2 season 10/6 through 10/23: 20-30% higher

Fall 3 season 10/24 through 10/29:  30-40% higher

Prices are 35% higher 10/30 to 11/1

Fall 2 season 11/2 through 11/25: 20-30% higher

Thanksgiving season 11/26 through 11/29: 35-40% higher

Winter season 11/30 through 12/4: 30-40% higher

Winter 2 season 12/5 through 12/11: 45-50% higher

Peak season 12/12 through 12/24: 70-75% higher

Holiday season 12/25 through 12/31: 75-80% higher

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DISNEY WORLD IN 2024

Some elements of the Disney World fan community continue to view the company with a degree of disquiet, dismayed by needless intrusion into controversies, astonishing price increases, and increasing complexity to managing a day in the parks.

On the other hand, in late September I accompanied a couple of six year old children for their first visit to the parks, and their experience was magical.

Their parents and grandparents had not been in the parks since the end of 2016, and they were astonished by the improvements at Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and intrigued by and willing to be patient with what was going on at Epcot. The three best rides at Disney World—Flight of Passage, Rise of the Resistance, and Guardians of the Galaxy—have all opened since these folks last visited…

So while some repeat visitors may be dismayed, for first-time visitors and folks who have not been in a while, Disney World remains a marvelous, marvelous destination.

WHAT’S NEW AT DISNEY WORLD IN 2024

There’s no major new attractions opening in 2024, but a couple of significant re-dos are expected to open later in the year:

• At Magic Kingdom, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, a very promising re-do of the much-missed Splash Mountain, is expected to open in Frontierland in late 2024.
• At Disney’s Hollywood Studios, the old Little Mermaid show never re-opened after COVID, and will be replaced in the fall of 2024 by The Little Mermaid – A Musical Adventure, promising new “set pieces, cutting-edge effects, and a bold new design.”

The post-COVID slimmed-down transformation of Epcot is largely complete, with just a few walls left to come down.

Epcot has added a good ride (Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure) and a great one (Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind), a promising new evening show, Luminous, and some minor elements of great charm, including night light show capabilities on the surface of Spaceship Earth and a walk through attraction much better than most expected it to be, Journey of Water, Inspired by Moana.

Finally, park reservations will no longer be required for those visiting after January 8, 2024 who have date-based tickets (most of you reading this will have date-based tickets).

DISNEY WORLD TICKET PRICING IN 2024

Disney World moved to date-based ticket pricing in 2018. After early January 2024, those with date-based tickets will no longer need reservations as well to enter a park.  For current 2024 Disney World ticket prices, see this.

DISNEY WORLD RESORT PRICING AND DEALS IN 2024

Disney World uses a combination of complicated and changing room pricing, and, on top of that, deals, to keep its resort hotel occupancy very high. Typically, rooms are more expensive—sometimes much more—during the more attractive times to go to Disney World.

Mousesavers.com has specific material on nightly prices in 2024 by hotel and within them room types here, and I have easier to use but much less detailed information on 2024 Disney World resort hotel seasonal prices here.

Several hotel deals have come out for early 2024, and more will follow. Find more on current Disney World deals here.

The simplest way to handle getting any deals that might be available is to make your initial booking through a travel agent, who will then–if a deal comes out for your dates–move heaven and earth to try to get you in to it.

DISNEY WORLD CROWDS IN 2024

Despite disquiet with Disney’s pricing, divisive choices, and operational changes, I expect the Disney World parks to continue to see substantial demand in 2024.

Moreover, a higher degree of resistance to taking kids out of school than before the pandemic will continue to particularly focus much of this demand into the traditional US school holidays.

I have a summary view of 2024 crowds at Disney World here.

Early January 2024 will be busy through the first full weekend, as lots of kids continue on holiday on break through January 3, 2024, and almost 40% are off through January 7. The rest of the month should be much better, with the Martin Luther King holiday weekend being the next worst dates in the month.

Presidents Day 2024, February 19 in 2024, is late in its possible range.  Moreover, in 2024, Presidents Day week does not overlap Mardi Gras week the way it did in 2023, so I expect crowds over the week to return to lousy, but not spectacularly bad, levels. (Tons of kids in the northeast have the whole week of Presidents Day off, and a much lesser number in a few southern states have breaks around Mardi Gras.)

Easter in 2024 will be early in its possible range, on March 31.  This will make crowds better in April and worse in March than in years with a later Easter. The patterns of spring breaks in 2024 show three particularly bad weeks, the weeks beginning 3/9, 3/23, and 3/30.

As you can see from the chart, the weeks beginning 3/2 and 4/6 are fine, and the weeks of 3/16 (especially the weekdays), 4/13, and 4/20 will also be OK.

Summer 2024 crowds I expect to return to the moderate levels in June and July and low levels in August that we saw immediately pre-COVID. There are no new attractions opening in late spring to drive summer attendance, and folks over the years have become wiser about avoiding the heat and humidity you’ll find in Orlando from late May through September.

Kids start getting out of school in substantial numbers on May 24, 2024, are more than half out by June 6, more than 80% out by June 12, and fully out of school by June 27, 2024. Thus, as in most years, early June will be better than July—as will be later August, with more than half of kids back in school by August 12, and 80% back in school by August 22.

Thanksgiving 2024, November 28, 2024, is as late in 2024 as it can possibly be.  This leaves one fewer good December holiday season week than in some years–only the weeks beginning 11/30 and 12/6 are good in 2024–but one more good early November weeks.

Christmas 2024 is on a Wednesday in 2024.  This means long holiday breaks are pretty tightly grouped from Saturday 12/21/24 through Sunday 1/5/2025.

The compression of holidays into these two weeks (see the chart above for 2023/2024 to see how such breaks can be spread over three weeks) means an even more crowded holiday season than is already common 12/21 through 1/5, with the peak horror being 12/24/24 through 1/1/25, when  both long breakers s and short breakers are out of school.

See the links for more on 2024 at Walt Disney World:

• 2024 Disney World crowd forecasts
• 2024 Disney World resort hotel price seasons
• 2024 Disney World ticket prices
• 2024 Disney World week rankings
• Deals and Discounts

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OVERVIEW: THE BEST TIMES IN 2024 TO VISIT WALT DISNEY WORLD

The rankings of times to visit Walt Disney World that follow are designed for first time visitors who do not know whether or not they will return.

For visitors on a return trip or first timers who will return, less concerned about ride closures or the peak of the hurricane season, the later January, early February, later August, and September weeks would be ranked much higher. All weeks good for returning visitors are marked in green at the far right of the image below.

(Larger image.)

The rankings are in calendar order in the image above. In the discussion below, for each group, they are in rank order within that group. At the end of the post I have an image of the full year in rank order.

These week rankings are based on my 2024 Disney World Crowd Calendar, on Disney World’s 2024 resort hotel price seasons, and on Disney World’s 2024 ticket price calendar. (I handled prices a bit differently this year,* but this ended up making no material difference except where noted in the text.)

Other factors are key as well–the holiday program, ride closure season and hurricane season in particular.

For more on how I build these rankings–although it’s old, it still is mostly I do it–see this.

RECOMMENDED 2024 WEEKS AT DISNEY WORLD, RANKED IN ORDER

The twelve recommended weeks that follow are the best weeks to visit Walt Disney World in 2024 for first time visitors who may never return. They are lower crowd and moderate-minus crowd weeks that are not in the peak hurricane or ride closure seasons.

I divide them into two groups–the first group is lower crowd weeks, and the second group selected moderate-minus crowd weeks. In both groups, holiday season weeks go to the front of the line.

Among the low crowd weeks, the first two have the full holiday program, and the rest have none of it, and are scattered throughout the year. Weeks 3, 4 and 5 are very close, and I rank them based on better weather earlier in the late April/early May period they cover.

• 1: 11/30/24
• 2: 12/7/24
• 3: 4/27/24
• 4: 5/4/24
• 5: 5/11/24
• 6: 10/26/24
• 7: 2/24/24

Weeks 8 through 12 are the moderate-minus crowd part of my recommended weeks. In the past, I have not recommended any moderate crowd weeks, but the tools of Early Entry, ILL, and Genie+ make such weeks easy to manage. Listed first among these is a week with some of the 2024 holiday program. The weeks after are then ranked by price.

Those staying at deluxe resorts will want to flip weeks 6 and 7.

• 8: 11/16/24 (busy at the end of the week, fine before then)
• 9: 4/20/24
• 10: 5/18/24 (busy at the end of the week, fine before then)
• 11: 4/6/24 (busy early in the week, fine after then)
• 12: 3/2/24 (busy at the end of the week, fine before then)

Those staying at moderate resorts will want to flip weeks 11 and 12.

This completes the weeks in 2024 that are recommended for first-time visitors to Disney World who may never return.

2024 WEEKS I’M LESS KEEN ON

Weeks 13-30 all have moderate crowd levels, with different prices and weather, and those with some or all of the holiday program coming at the head of the line. I don’t particularly recommend these  weeks for first time visitors, but if you have to pick one, with good plans they are quite manageable. They are also fine for returning visitors.

As always I rank these weeks first by crowd levels, then by prices.

However, as in all these rankings, the levels I use for “resort hotel prices” is based on the simple average across all three resort types, so a week with high prices at the values, low at the moderates, and moderate at the deluxes would be evaluated the same as a week with low prices at the values, moderate at the moderates, and high at the deluxes.

So you might want to dig into the specifics (presented on the chart) to pick the best week for you based on where you are staying.

Weeks 13-15 see the lowest crowds of this moderate crowd group, but have bitterly hot weather, which is why despite similar crowd levels they are not included in the second group of my “recommended weeks.”

• 13: 7/20/24
• 14: 7/27/24
• 15: 6/1/24

Weeks 16-24 will be a bit busier than weeks 13-15, with weeks 16 and 17 seeing some of the holiday program. Weeks 18-24 are sorted by prices.

• 16: 11/9/24 (some holiday program)
• 17: 11/2/24 (some holiday program at end of week)
• 18: 6/15/24
• 19: 7/13/24
• 20: 6/22/24
• 21: 6/8/24
• 22: 7/6/24
• 23: 4/13/24
• 24: 10/19/24

Those staying at value resorts will want to flip the order of 23 and 24.  Those staying at deluxe resorts will want to move week 18 all the way down to between 22 and 23.

Last in this group are its highest-crowd weeks, with the first two seeing all or some of the holiday program, and the rest sorted by price.

• 25: 12/14/24 (high prices, very busy at end of week
• 26: 12/30/24 (very busy at beginning of week)
• 27: 10/12/24 (busy at beginning of week)
• 28: 6/29/24 (busy at end of week)
• 29: 5/25/24 (busy at end of week)
• 30: 3/16/24 (busy both weekends, fine during week)

Those staying in deluxe resorts will want to flip weeks 27 and 28.

Weeks 31-40 have one thing in common: while low or moderate crowd weeks, they all occur during the peak of the hurricane season. Hurricanes are rare and even more rarely affect a Disney World vacation, but for first-timers who may never return, why not just avoid the risk? I’ve always thought this, and am completing this page nearing my one-year anniversary of being trapped in Orlando due to Hurricane Ian…reinforcing this recommendation even more…

For returning visitors, though, the low-crowd, lower price weeks that can be found among this group can be, with weather luck, wonderful times to visit.

These peak hurricane season weeks are ranked in order of first crowd levels, and within the same crowd level by prices.

Weeks 31-35 have some of the lowest crowds and lowest ticket prices of the year, and generally nicely reasonable hotel prices.

• 31: 8/17/24
• 32: 8/24/24
• 33: 9/7/24
• 34: 8/10/24
• 35: 9/14/24

Weeks 36-38  have slightly higher but still fine crowds.

• 36: 8/31/24
• 37: 8/3/24
• 38: 9/12/24

Weeks 39 and 40 are the moderate-crowd weeks in this hurricane group.

• 39: 9/28/24
• 40: 10/5/24

2024 WEEKS TO AVOID AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

There’s two groups of weeks to avoid in 2024: high crowd weeks and weeks when some rides are often closed.

The first group, ranked 41-47, should be avoided because of crowds that traditionally range from high to unbelievable.

This group includes many of the busy March and April spring break weeks beginning 3/9/2024, and the busiest holiday weeks—President’s Day week, the weeks before and after Easter, Thanksgiving week, and the weeks around Christmas.

See the table above for exact rankings within these lousy weeks.

The next group includes the January and early February 2024 weeks when rides are often closed for repair or refurbishment—weeks 48-53.

Some of these weeks have among the lowest crowds and lowest prices of the year. However, this is the peak time for ride closures at Walt Disney World, especially the January weeks.

If this may be your only family visit, why go when you know likely a few of the best of Disney World will probably be closed?

2024 WEEKS AT DISNEY WORLD, RANKED IN ORDER

(Larger image)

*Traditionally, I have taken the average of hotel prices, and broken ties with ticket prices. This however does not work precisely given the wide variation between hotel prices in the three hotel price classes.  For example, if you sum these prices (for longer trips and a four person family),

• At a value resort, across the year on average tickets cost 2/3 of the total, and lodging just 1/3
• At a moderate resort, tickets and lodging each cost about half
• At a deluxe resort, tickets cost about 1/3 the total, and lodging 2/3

I did thus separate rankings for each resort class, but the differences weren’t wildly material, so I don’t show them. But once you have decided on your resort class, the color codes in the resort pricing columns are worth double-checking. For example, if you are staying at a deluxe, the weeks of 7/13 and 7/6 (ranked 19 and 22) are lower-priced at these hotels than all the other weeks with a crowd ranking of 6 that start at week 16…

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2024 CROWDS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

The chart lower on the page shows my current forecasts for 2024 crowds by week at Walt Disney World.

I’m forecasting a “return to normal” for crowd patterns in 2024, with less crowding in particular in January and in the summer compared to 2022 and 2023–though 2023 was a mixed bag.

My Disney World crowd forecasts are based on a combination of historical patterns and the specific influence of school breaks. The varying year to year timing of school breaks particularly shapes crowding during the spring break season.

Ticket prices also had some influence on my forecasts, but ticket prices are not the clear crowd forecast that some think they are.  Lower-priced days will be less crowded, but not all higher priced days are more crowded, as Disney prices tickets not only for quantitative demand but also for perceived value. For more on 2024 ticket prices at Disney World, see this.

As always, I forecast by Saturday arrival date, and the forecast includes the arrival Saturday through the second Sunday following–so 9 total days. [Read more →]