Less-Known Crowded Times at Walt Disney World
Everyone knows that Walt Disney World is going to be more busy on major holidays, like Christmas and Easter. It's also going to be busier on weekends than on weekdays, and it's typically busier anytime school is on a break like Summer or Spring Break.
So, why, when you go in the middle of February, do you suddenly hit wall-to-wall crowds?
In this post, we're examining the less-known crowded times that seem to impact Walt Disney World. The good news is these times are typically only a day to a week in length, so they can be avoided. But half the battle is knowing what they are.
And here they are, in no particular order:
President's Day
Ok, yes, your local department store might have a President's Day sale, and the post office might be closed, but really? Yes, really. President's Day ranks right up there with Thanksgiving in terms of the crowds it can draw to Walt Disney World. The spike usually occurs on the weekend leading up to it, and the day itself.
President's Day is on the third Monday of February, and in the United States, it is a federal holiday. It celebrates all past US Presidents, and particularly, George Washington, whose birthday is February 22nd.
While most people don't get Presidents Day off of work unless they have a government job, schools usually do celebrate a long weekend, often combining the holiday with other professional development days around the same time. This is especially true of school in the Southeast, where families have enough proximity to Walt Disney World to decide to go for a long weekend. Additionally, this often falls during or near Mardi Gras which is a big deal in Louisiana, as well as mid-winter breaks in schools of the Northeast.
Jersey Week
Hint: No, it's not a week where everyone wears their favorite sports jersey, as young me used to think it was.
Jersey week is not really a full week, and the crowds it draws may cause an uptick of a point or two in crowd calendars, but not full blown level 9-10 crowds in most cases. Still, it is quite noticeable, especially when you start hearing all the East Coast accents and wondering if the entire state of New Jersey is at Walt Disney World (Yes, they are.)
Schools in New Jersey close for a teacher's convention the first Thursday and Friday in November. Because of the long weekend, families flock to Walt Disney World, which is a very popular location for residents of the East Coast in particular. Hence, the name Jersey week. Expect the largest uptick in crowds the first Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of November.
MLK Day and Veterans Day
Yes, these are two different holidays, but they both draw crowds for the same reason: They result in long weekends at area schools. MLK Day is the third Monday of January, and honors the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. Veteran's Day is November 11th, no matter what day of the week that falls on, and honors veterans of the armed forces. Because schools typically have vacation on both days, you will see a spike in crowds. Workplaces have also started to honor MLK Day by closing as well, in some situations. This will draw local crowds or crowds from the East Coast who can get to Walt Disney World easily. On Veteran's Day of 2023, we saw a crowd level 8 at Disney's Animal Kingdom (which was the least crowded of the parks), and a crowd level of 9 at the other three parks.
Food & Wine Festival
"Oh no!" you're probably thinking. "Food and wine runs basically an entire quarter of the year! How am I to avoid that??" Well, the good news is, the crowd impact is very specific. Let's break it down.
The International Food & Wine Festival is EPCOT's arguably most popular celebration. This is when those who like to drink around World Showcase plan to show up to do their thing. It draws locals and clubs of foodies and drinkers alike. And it runs from roughly June or July to November. The advice here is not to avoid it. It's actually really fun, and some of the times it is running are also on average the slowest times in the parks.
What you want to avoid, though, is being in World Showcase in the evening during the festival. Especially if that evening is a Friday or Saturday. You will encounter thick localized crowds if you do plan to be there during that time. These will make World Showcase feel like an 8, even if the rest of EPCOT is a 5 and the other parks are a 4 on crowd calendars. Or World Showcase could feel like a 10 on an evening where EPCOT is an 8. Where you are during this festival matters. We're not saying avoid it completely. In fact, it's quite fun when you want to partake. But when you don't want to partake, you might want to get out of the vicinity.
Walt Disney World Marathon Week (aka RunDisney)
The Walt Disney World Marathon (and 10k, and 5k, and other runs) draw runners from around the country to Walt Disney World. I mean, if you like running, who wouldn't want to run through an otherwise empty Magic Kingdom hub in the early morning hours, with Cast Members and characters cheering you on?
When it comes to crowds, though, the runners have an impact. However, it's not just the runners. It's also that the marathon takes place typically within the first week of January. And what else was a week ago? You guessed it - Winter Break. Christmastime is THE busiest time of year for Walt Disney World, and this lasts at least through New Year's Day. With the Marathon so near these dates, some crowds linger like a nasty New Year's hangover. The RunDisney crowds will typically continue to linger for 1-2 days after the last run and can raise the crowd levels in that first week of January to a 7 out of 10.
Cheer and Dance competitions
Disney's ESPN Wide World of Sports hosts several cheer and dance competitions, typically from January to about May. While the crowds these draw aren't enough for us to advise avoiding Walt Disney World, the crowds can have impacts in very specific ways.
If, for example, groups of teenage and college-aged kids traveling in packs and chanting their cheers may annoy you in the parks, you may want to avoid the times during which these competitions are happening. You may also want to avoid staying at any host resorts, which tend to be the value resorts. Typically All-Star and Pop Century resorts will be the first choices to host cheer groups. These resorts may feel like they are totally overrun by cheer squads during the competitions.
The exact dates of the competitions vary, so we suggest checking your possible travel dates to see if there are any cheer or dance competitions being hosted at Walt Disney World during this time.
What about Gay Days?
You may have heard of Gay Days, an Orlando event in early June that draws 150,000 plus LGBTQ+ people and their families to the area for a six-day event. Typically on the last day of this event, many will visit Walt Disney World, resulting in a crowd uptick of about 20-30,000 additional visitors on a single day, which is a significant uptick, if counted at face value.
But there's so much more to it than that. Because some people will not associate themselves with a park hosting events around Gay Days, there is also an almost equal and opposite downtick in attendance on days the park is hosting this event. Therefore, the crowd situation is almost a wash. Early June does tend to mark the beginning of crowded Summertime at Disney, and so you will notice moderate to heavy crowds, but we can't say they are caused by Gay Days because they persist and even grow after this event.
The advice here is simple. The crowd level is not going to impact you, but intolerance may. If you can't tolerate other people living their best life if it doesn't conform with your best life, then don't go during Gay Days. We personally are hetero, but we find the dynamic of the crowds during Gay Days to be pleasant and joyful and we would not avoid it for fear it would be too crowded (though we might avoid it for the heat that time of year).
Did we miss anything? Is there another event or lesser known holiday that causes a spike in crowds at Walt Disney World? Tell us about it by commenting on this post on our Facebook page. You can also follow us there to see when new articles are posted each week. Until next time...
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