Yikes! Disney World Crowds Are More Complicated Than We Thought…

Magic or misery — sometimes Disney World can be a whole lot of both!

While there are a bunch of different things to consider when planning your Disney World vacation, selecting the dates of your trip is often your first step and the most critical one. Do you want to visit during the holiday season to see the beautiful decor? Or will the holiday crowds make the experience too stressful for you to enjoy? When are Disney World crowds at their WORST? Well, we’ve got some data and we’re going to break it all down for you!

There are a variety of factors you could consider when trying to figure out when Disney World crowds are at their worst, but for the purposes of this post, we’ll be looking at some average wait times. Each week, we look at the average ride wait times for each ride in every Disney World park.

For this post, we’ve averaged the wait times from those weeks together for each ride and each month (plus or minus a few days depending on just what day the month started/ended and the wait times data was collected) to come to some averages for each month.

So, based on the wait times, here’s what we’ve found. Each month is ranked in terms of how bad its wait times were on a scale of 1-12 with 1 being the WORST/busiest and 12 being the BEST/least busy.

January — 2/12 (SECOND WORST)

Based on 2023 wait times data

• Longest average wait time — 121 minutes for Avatar Flight of Passage
• Wait time of ALL rides averaged together — 31 minutes
• Number of rides with average wait times of 60+ minutes — 14

February — 3/12

Based on 2023 wait times data

• Longest average wait time — 114 minutes for Avatar Flight of Passage
• Wait time of ALL rides averaged together — 29 minutes
• Number of rides with average wait times of 60+ minutes — 11

March — 7/12

Based on 2023 wait times data

• Longest average wait time — 95 minutes for Rise of the Resistance
• Wait time of ALL rides averaged together — 28 minutes
• Number of rides with average wait times of 60+ minutes — 8

April — 5/12

Based on 2023 wait times data

• Longest average wait time — 101 minutes for Flight of Passage
• Wait time of ALL rides averaged together — 29 minutes
• Number of rides with average wait times of 60+ minutes — 10

May — 12/12 (BEST MONTH)

Based on 2023 wait times data

• Longest average wait time — 72 minutes for Flight of Passage
• Wait time of ALL rides averaged together — 22 minutes
• Number of rides with average wait times of 60+ minutes — 4

June — 11/12 (SECOND BEST MONTH)

Based on 2023 wait times data

• Longest average wait time — 89 minutes for Flight of Passage
• Wait time of ALL rides averaged together — 27 minutes
• Number of rides with average wait times of 60+ minutes — 9

July — 8/12

Based on 2023 wait times data

• Longest average wait time — 93 minutes for Flight of Passage
• Wait time of ALL rides averaged together — 27 minutes
• Number of rides with average wait times of 60+ minutes — 8

August — 9/12

Based on 2022 wait times data

• Longest average wait time — 92 minutes for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance
• Wait time of ALL rides averaged together — 24 minutes
• Number of rides with average wait times of 60+ minutes — 5

September — 10/12

Based on 2022 wait times data

• Longest average wait time — 90 minutes for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance
• Wait time of ALL rides averaged together — 21 minutes
• Number of rides with average wait times of 60+ minutes — 3

October — 6/12

Based on 2022 wait times data

• Longest average wait time — 99 minutes for Avatar Flight of Passage
• Wait time of ALL rides averaged together — 28 minutes
• Number of rides with average wait times of 60+ minutes — 12

November — 4/12

Based on 2022 wait times data

• Longest average wait time — 105 minutes for Avatar Flight of Passage
• Wait time of ALL rides averaged together — 28 minutes
• Number of rides with average wait times of 60+ minutes — 12

December — 1/12 (WORST MONTH)

Based on 2022 wait times data

• Longest average wait time — 126 minutes for Avatar Flight of Passage
• Wait time of ALL rides averaged together — 31 minutes
• Number of rides with average wait times of 60+ minutes — 14

Overview

Overall, it looks like the worst months in terms of wait times (and thus crowds) are unsurprisingly December and January. These had rides with the longest average wait times, plus lots of rides with average wait times over 60 minutes.

This is followed closely by February, November, and then April. October and March were after that — two popular months largely due to Halloween and Spring break (respectively).

Below that we had months like July, August, and September. August and September are notoriously slower months, so that’s no surprise. But what is interesting is to see that all the way at the bottom of the list (and thus some of the best months in terms of wait times data we have) are June and May.

Perhaps a mix of heat, a lack of bigger holiday offerings, and other factors contribute to these lower times. We also warned that the summer at Disney World in 2023 could be emptier, so it’s possible that these numbers reflect some of that too.

Of course, note that this is based on our average wait times from 2022 and 2023, but things can change. We’ll be interested to see how these numbers change over the coming years. Stay tuned for updates on that and continued wait times data to help you plan your trips.

Keep in mind that while wait times can be a great reflection of crowd levels, they’re not perfect. And crowds/wait times is just one factor to consider when planning your trip. Other things like opening dates for big attractions and the start of certain holidays or festival offerings can also impact your plans.

If you are planning a trip for a time when Disney World is expected to be crowded, check out some of our tips for conquering the day. We’ll continue to bring you data, tricks, and more that can help you plan your trip so stay tuned for more news!

What do you think is the BEST month to go to Disney World? Tell us in the comments!

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