Walt Disney World is now over one month into the low season, and crowds have dropped to their lowest degree of 2025. This wait instances report covers information for Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom. It additionally covers how our predictions carried out, forward-looking forecast for Fall 2025, and why this weekend was in all probability a turning level.
To rapidly recap, Walt Disney World has not been busy for the previous few months. It was a sluggish summer season at Orlando’s theme parks, for causes mentioned in Why Summer time is the New Low Crowds Season at Disney World. That additionally discusses why this shouldn’t be an enormous shock, as this was a pattern first noticed in 2016-2018; it’s simply turn into extra pronounced within the final two years.
August and September have been even much less busy than Could by means of July. That is neither shocking nor surprising. Summer time has turn into like a protracted shoulder season, with only some slight spikes into reasonable territory earlier than college goes again into session and the actual low season arrives. Because of this, common wait instances have fallen to their lowest ranges of the 12 months, surpassing even Fourth of July and different low factors of the summer season season.
Attendance has been largely unchanged year-over-year at Walt Disney World in keeping with the corporate on the newest earnings name, which encompassed the primary half of summer season. Extra importantly to the corporate (however to not us), visitor spending and resort occupancy are each up, and Walt Disney World simply reported report quarterly income. So it’s not precisely as if the parks are hurting for enterprise!
As we regularly level out, what’s coated in these “crowd” reviews is definitely posted wait time information that’s pulled from My Disney Expertise and compiled into graphs. It’s beneficial for monitoring and evaluating wait instances throughout days, weeks, months, and years. So much might be gleaned from posted wait instances, however they’re not essentially conclusive of in-park congestion or crowds.
Posted wait instances provide perception into how busy Walt Disney World is, however they’re an imperfect measure. They’re virtually at all times inflated, some traces don’t put up wait instances, they don’t account for Lightning Lane adjustments, EPCOT festivals, and many others. Nonetheless, wait instances are the one goal measure of crowds that we’ve got. On-the-ground observations might be helpful, however additionally they have shortcomings.
Suffice to say, attendance being flat year-over-year whereas wait instances are down–two issues that may be true on the identical time–ought to underscore the above caveat. As for the why or how of this, we strongly suspect it’s a matter of Lightning Lane utilization. For a full clarification of this pattern, see Is Lightning Lane Multi Cross Nonetheless “Price It” at Disney World?
The CliffNotes model is that standby traces are shorter and quicker shifting as a result of they’re being prioritized extra (versus Lightning Lanes), resulting in decrease wait instances. Even when attendance is strictly the identical, crowd ranges could be decrease given this dynamic. Nearly throughout the board, wait instances are down by a couple of minutes year-over-year, which suggests crowds are 1-2 ranges under comparable dates final 12 months.
With that background out of the way in which, let’s check out crowd ranges for August by means of the primary half of September 2025. As at all times, all graphs and wait time stats are courtesy of Thrill-Knowledge.com:
We’ll begin with the month-to-month numbers for Walt Disney World as an entire, courting all the way in which again to 2019.
Month-to-month crowd ranges climbed from final October by means of this March, after which have been on a gentle decline since. That is in step with final 12 months, and similar to most different years. Probably the most notable change is that Could was busier than June or July, when it was the shoulder season slowdown. Could remains to be a slower month relative to spring break, however then crowds simply saved dropping post-Memorial Day.
August has been the slowest full month of 2025 to this point, with a 28 minute common wait time and 1/10 crowd degree. These numbers are literally similar with final August, so on this case, flat attendance does correspond with flat wait instances. Previous to that, July was the second slowest month of 2025, with a median wait time of half-hour and a pair of/10 crowd degree. The third-slowest full month of the 12 months was June…and so forth and so forth.
Midway by means of the month, September 2025 is poised to take the “crown” from August. This month is at present sitting at a median wait time of 24 minutes, which can be a 1/10 crowd degree. Only a decrease one. If this pattern holds, September 2025 could be the slowest month since September 2021. That was again earlier than the fiftieth Anniversary, amidst COVID cancellations as a result of Delta wave and reinstated masks guidelines.
September will doubtless find yourself being the slowest month of 2025. It’s already received a 4 minute “lead” on August, which is lots to beat midway by means of. The larger query is whether or not it’ll surpass final September and October, which bottomed out at 26 minute averages.
It’s going to be a extremely shut name. The second half of September is sort of at all times busier than the primary half, and we anticipate an uptick in crowds for the subsequent couple of weeks for quite a lot of causes mentioned under. My wager is that September finally ends up coming inside one minute of final September and October.
August was on par with July for wait instances by means of the center of the month. As anticipated, the previous few weeks went downhill quick as soon as extra faculties began going again into session.
The final week of August, heading into Labor Day weekend, had a median wait time of 25 minutes. Popping out of the vacation, the primary week of September was even decrease at 23 minutes. Suffice to say, there’s a cause why we wrote about this being One of many Finest Weeks at Walt Disney World and referred to as it to your consideration late final 12 months. And why we’ve been stating for some time that Labor Day Weekend Isn’t Busy at Disney.
This previous week, crowds ticked up a bit to a median wait time of 26 minutes. That’s nonetheless a 1/10 crowd degree and higher than any week throughout the coronary heart of summer season season, save for Fourth of July. However as you’ll see once we delve into day by day information, it was actually a “story of two weeks” by way of wait instances.
Wanting on the day by day information for the final 12 months, it must be pretty simple to identify two lulls round mid-June and the Independence Day vacation weekend, plus spikes in each late June and late July by means of early August.
Put up summer season, August tenth was the day with the massive drop-off. Since then, the dailies have been up and down, with spikes over the weekends–particularly on Saturdays–whereas weekdays have been constantly low. That is really an atypical dynamic. For a lot of the previous couple of years, weekends have had decrease wait instances (however usually not decrease “looks like” crowds or attendance).
Even so, we’re taking a look at spikes to crowd ranges of three/10 to five/10. These haven’t precisely been peak season numbers, however it however might be fairly jarring–particularly for guests going from (fairly actually) the slowest days of your complete 12 months from Wednesdays by means of Fridays to reasonable numbers (plus even greater “looks like” crowds).
The distinction in wait instances from this previous Wednesday to Saturday was +12 minutes. That’s an enormous leap, particularly for this time of 12 months.
And that may very well be even worse relying on the park, misfortune with upkeep & breakdowns, and so forth. It’s thus simple to see why varied Walt Disney World guests report dramatically completely different experiences with crowds.
I converse from firsthand expertise right here. I used to be within the parks each day within the lead-up to Labor Day when a number of dates had a median wait time of 20-22 minutes. If you’re taking a look at resort-wide numbers for a multi-day stretch, these are insanely low. A number of points of interest backside out at 10 minute wait instances even once they’re stroll ons.
For the stats to be this low, which means the headliners additionally needed to have far decrease wait instances than regular. They usually did! It was unimaginable. I lastly noticed the elusive 7 minute posted wait time for Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice!
I used to be not within the parks as a lot over the vacation weekend till the afternoons and evenings (as a result of Vacation spot D23), however what I did see was noticeably busier. Nonetheless not even remotely dangerous as in comparison with Spring Break or perhaps a couple months in the past, but when your body of reference is the low season low factors, it’s fairly the distinction.
As at all times, all of those numbers are averages, which nonetheless signifies that hour-plus waits are potential for the headliners at peak instances. They’re simply offset by 5-10 minute waits for decrease profile points of interest, or standard rides initially of the morning and finish of night. I additionally noticed 70+ minute waits for Seven Dwarfs Mine Practice throughout the identical span.
For park by park evaluation, we’ll begin with Magic Kingdom.
Magic Kingdom has already began its “porcupine sample” of crowds for Celebration Season, with full working days being noticeably busier than days of Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Celebration. That is mirrored within the wait time information, and it’s much more evident from the in-park expertise.
On the times when the park closes at 6 pm Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Celebration, it’s been nothing however 1/10 days at Magic Kingdom. That is one thing we’ve mentioned at size, most notably in Finest & Worst 2025 Crowd Days at Magic Kingdom. Suffice to say, these predictions have confirmed true so far and all of Magic Kingdom’s slowest days of the 12 months have come because the begin of August.
The flip facet has additionally been correct with regards to congestion on non-party nights, which is not measured by the above graph (once more, it’s solely experience wait instances). I can converse to this from private expertise, as there’s been a noticeable uptick for Starlight and Fortunately Ever After, which is sensible on condition that there are fewer nights per week to expertise each.
We anticipate this to worsen within the second half of September and past. To this point, non-party dates haven’t been that dangerous at Magic Kingdom. They are going to be deeper into Celebration Season, particularly because the weekly variety of occasions will increase and round peak weeks.
Animal Kingdom has seen its crowd ranges everywhere this month. The low was 11 minutes on September third, with a excessive of 36 minutes on September thirteenth. That’s an enormous unfold–an over three-fold improve–and one with out an apparent clarification.
Clearly, avoiding weekends proper now could be the important thing. That’s true with each park, and will likely be for just about the remainder of the month. Should you’re capable of go to solely on weekdays, you’ll be forward of the curve.
If that’s not potential, the excellent news is that, as at all times, early mornings and late afternoons stay undefeated at DAK and precise wait instances are minimal throughout these timeframes even on a busier day.
Over at EPCOT, wait instances are beginning to present indicators of life after a sluggish summer season.
EPCOT is at all times a wildcard, however I’ll admit that this one caught me abruptly. We at all times level out that EPCOT is the locals’ park, and Floridians usually tend to go to for festivals and ambiance than rides. This summer season was Eating regimen EPCOT, explaining the decrease crowds as soon as Flower & Backyard ended.
Nonetheless, the 2025 EPCOT Meals & Wine Pageant is now underway. In trying on the information, you may be inclined to imagine that is the reason for greater crowd ranges on weekends. I’m not so positive about that. Meals & Wine is positively spiking weekend attendance. However usually, that doesn’t translate to greater posted wait instances or crowd ranges. It’s like a mirage within the information. However for the final 3 weeks, it seemingly has been mirrored within the numbers. Extra on this in a minute.
Lastly, there’s Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
As at all times, that is the park with the very best common wait instances in all of Walt Disney World, owing to its disproportionate variety of headliners. Disney’s Hollywood Studios didn’t see a lot of a summer season slowdown, doubtless as a result of Little Mermaid ~ A Musical Journey and Disney Villains Unfairly Ever After. A surprisingly sturdy displaying for Cool Child Summer time may’ve helped, too.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios has however seen a September slowdown, however not as pronounced as the opposite parks. And it’s seen the identical weekend uptick as the opposite parks over the past couple weekends. As soon as once more, we’ll level out that Disney’s Hollywood Studios is the #1 park for Lightning Lane Multi-Cross. Should you’re going to purchase LLMP anyplace, make it DHS.
Our Prediction Efficiency
Within the final crowd report and crowd calendars, we shared that our expectation was that “September 2-12, 2025 would see the bottom crowds of the month, total 12 months, and fairly probably the bottom ranges in a number of years.” We identified that this identical adjusted timeframe has seen the bottom common posted wait instances since October 2021 in every of the final two years.
In truth, September 1-11, 2025 noticed the bottom crowds of 2025, and tied the identical timeframe final 12 months together with the hurricane scare in October (though that’s an outlier as a result of it will have been a lot busier however for the hurricane) because the slowest stretch since October 2021. August 24-29 was not far behind, and that total week at present ranks because the second-slowest of 2025.
We additionally stated that “turning level” for greater crowds could be Saturday, September 13, 2025. It appears like that’ll be correct, though we’d anticipate extra midweek lulls, simply not with the identical low lows as over the past 3 weeks.
Observe that the September 1-11, 2025 stretch was low despite September sixth “spiking” to a excessive 2/10 crowd degree. Frankly, I’m glad I don’t do day by day predictions, as I’d’ve missed the mark on that one. (That is a part of the explanation why we wish to zoom out a bit when making predictions. It’s simpler to be correct when taking a look at wider home windows, however whereas one-off anomalies occur on a regular basis!)
Late August and the primary half-ish of September 2025 nonetheless weren’t even near being as sluggish as August and September 2021. That stretch nonetheless holds the crown for the bottom crowds within the final 5 years. That was such a novel set of circumstances that it’ll in all probability take a hurricane scare throughout the low season to ever beat that month-plus stretch. And whilst a lot as I like low crowds, I frankly don’t wish to see that occur. Belief me–there’s such a factor as too low of crowds.
Fall 2025 Crowd Predictions
As we’ve been stressing on this website for over a decade, September is one of the best month of the 12 months to go to from a wait instances perspective. With solely a few exceptions, your complete month sees under common attendance. These exceptions are fast-arriving.
As mentioned within the newest replace to the September 2025 Crowd Calendar, the explanation why weekends are busier in September is the multi-month Florida resident ticket deal is winding down. These are “use it or lose it” tickets, and so they expire on September 27, 2025. Locals are likely to work on weekdays, so the final couple weekends of validity are likely to spike because of this. Meaning the pattern of busier weekends is simply going to speed up, and we’re additionally going to see this bleed into some weekdays (particularly Fridays and Mondays), too.
This isn’t the one ticket deal winding down in September. There’s additionally the Youngsters 50% Off and 3-Park Magic Ticket, which finish on September twentieth and twenty second. These are geared toward a special viewers, in order that they don’t have the identical influence on crowds. However the level stays that crowds spike in late September 2025 as folks rush to make use of ticket offers earlier than they finish.
Nonetheless, there’s no “dangerous” time to go to in September, save for upcoming Saturdays and Sundays. What caught me abruptly shouldn’t be that weekends spiked in September–we predicted it will–however that it began sooner than regular. Usually, the final minute “use it or lose it” rush is actually evident 2 weeks earlier than the deal ends.
That is additionally why we’re not assured September 2025 will find yourself being the slowest month since October 2021 as soon as the mud settles. With a 4 minute lead midway by means of the month, it’s doubtless cemented victory over August 2025. However solely 2 minutes versus final September and October isn’t insurmountable, particularly if crowds improve from the final couple of weekends, which is what we’re anticipating. If that occurs, September 2025 may very well be busier than September 2024. Nonetheless, “busier” is a relative time period, as each months must be actually mild in comparison with the whole lot of October 2025 (which is able to virtually actually beat October 2024 absent one other hurricane scare).
Regardless, mid-August by means of mid-September stays the final bastion of the low season at Walt Disney World. This has been constantly true whilst attendance has spiked throughout different beforehand low season months. Whereas different low season months have gotten busier, September has stayed the identical–and (knock on wooden) at all times ought to stay that approach as a result of college schedules and fewer fascinating climate. Even when Disney will get aggressive with pulling extra “levers” sooner or later to entice demand, there’s solely a lot they’ll do; we noticed this again in 2019 when not even the launch of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and Additional, Additional Magic Hours may overcome the low season slowdown.
Should you’re trying ahead to 2026, 2027, and many others., you may safely e-book a visit throughout this stretch and anticipate low crowds. This is applicable to each the week earlier than Labor Day, two weeks after, and even the vacation itself. Whether or not avoiding weekends will likely be advisable relies upon solely about when the Florida resident ticket deal ends. There was nothing shocking or unprecedented about the previous few weeks, even when they have been the slowest of 2025 and among the many lowest since October 2021.
Wanting ahead previous the expiration of the outgoing ticket offers, the massive query marks are group occasions and conference crowds. There’s an outdoor probability that the final week of September sees an outsized spike due the arrival of those, plus early fall breaks for varied college districts across the nation. However for probably the most half, it ought to nonetheless be too early for all of that to meaningfully influence crowds.
Our expectation is that the arrival of fall crowds in “full pressure” coincides with Columbus Day weekend. It doubtless received’t let up a lot after that. One other large query mark is future ticket offers. Disney has been getting extra aggressive in making an attempt to place extra bandwidth within the parks to make use of, and we’re attending to the purpose that we’re sort of anticipating a ticket deal for mid-October by means of mid-December 2025. That might additionally enhance crowd ranges within the ultimate few months of the 12 months.
Even absent such a ticket deal, indicators already level to the final three months of the 12 months being busy. Should you solely care about numbers–and never climate or Christmas–the subsequent few weeks adopted by the late October lull is the time to go to Walt Disney World. Should you do care about these issues, there are a handful of different sluggish home windows amidst the height weeks–all of that are flagged in Finest & Worst Weeks to Go to Disney World in 2025, 2026 & 2027.
Planning a Walt Disney World journey? Study accommodations on our Walt Disney World Accommodations Evaluations web page. For the place to eat, learn our Walt Disney World Restaurant Evaluations. To save cash on tickets or decide which sort to purchase, learn our Suggestions for Saving Cash on Walt Disney World Tickets put up. Our What to Pack for Disney Journeys put up takes a novel take a look at intelligent objects to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Trip Guides will assist. For complete recommendation, one of the best place to start out is our Walt Disney World Journey Planning Information for all the things you might want to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Ideas on low season crowds at Walt Disney World? Predictions for the remainder of the month or October? Assume September will find yourself being the slowest month since Fall 2021? Should you’ve visited inside the final month, what did you consider wait instances? Have you ever executed Magic Kingdom throughout the day of a MNSSHP evening? Do you agree or disagree with something in our report? Any questions we will help you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even whenever you disagree with us–is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas under within the feedback!
