Walt Disney World’s Extra-Slow Summer

It’s “slow” at Walt Disney World right now, and has been since the start of Summer. In fact, the data says that this is an extra-slow Summer. Yes, Summers have been becoming more of an “off-season” at Walt Disney World in recent years (or more like the past decade), but this year, Summer is extra-slow. Here’s a look at the data, and why this slow Summer could rebound as early as next year.

Low Crowds at Walt Disney World During Extra-Slow Summer

We’re going to start with the data because the “feels like” crowd situation tends to be subjective. Every time I write an article about wait times or crowds, there is inevitably someone who hit all the lines at the wrong time, including the lines for a hot dog at Casey’s Corner, and will tell me how wrong I am and that Walt Disney World is busy.

On the flip side of that, there are countless articles, Reels, and TikToks every so often that proclaim that Walt Disney World is a “ghost town”. They will rarely have on-the-ground experience or any data to back them up. Somewhere between “I waited two hours for Peter Pan’s Flight every day of my vacation” and “Walt Disney World is a ghost town and is going out of business” is the truth.

Now, posted wait times aren’t perfect. In fact, posted wait times are rarely a measure of actual wait times. That said, posted wait times are the best metric we have that isn’t internal data. I would also underline that there really hasn’t been a material change that we’re aware of when it comes to how Disney calculates or displays posted wait times in the past few years, which is the timeframe that we’re going to compare against, so this should be a pretty apples-to-apples comparison – even if you argue that my apple is an orange.

Because the COVID-era closures, reopenings, and “revenge travel” period were so volatile, we’re going to focus on data from January 2023 onward to try and determine what the new normal is. The graph below is the one that I’ll be working off of for the rest of this article. This graph shows monthly averages from January 2023 to today. It’s this graph that piqued my interest with regard to the topic of Disney’s extra-slow Summer.

We’re going to extract some numbers from the graph above to illustrate how the crowds have been trending downward in the Summer months (May – September) over the past few years. Note that the wait times listed are average wait times across all Walt Disney World theme park attractions and experiences, from 10am to 5pm. I didn’t set those times; they are set by thrill-data.com. Regardless, they are consistent across the date range that we’re comparing.

I was talking with a friend not too long ago about the slow Summer that Walt Disney World was having, and the stat that stuck out to me is that June and July have been as slow or even slower than the Septembers of years past. September is traditionally the slowest month of the year, so the fact that June and July 2026 have already met or dipped below that low watermark already raised a red yellow flag. Breaking that down even further, July 2026 is currently tied for the slowest month in years at Walt Disney World. It’s very likely that August and September could be the slowest non-COVID months in a decade or more, by average wait time.

Of course, it’s only July right now, so we don’t have data for the entire stretch of Walt Disney World’s 2026 Summer period, but it’s off to an extra-slow start.

If you’ve visited this Summer, I highly doubt that you would relay crowd info to your friends by saying that it felt like June was 4 minutes slower this year versus last year. However, as a percentage difference, you could more easily quantify and justify the “feels like” crowd as being 13% lighter than last year.

First, there really isn’t much drawing guests to Walt Disney World this Summer. That’s not to say that there isn’t a reason to visit, but for guests to flock to Walt Disney World en masse, you need a new land or a marquee new attraction. That wasn’t in the cards this Summer. Things like Cool KIDS SUMMER and attraction refreshes at Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin and Big Thunder Mountain give guests something new to look forward to, but they likely aren’t resulting in a huge number of new bookings. Even Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets, which is technically a new attraction(ish), isn’t going to draw people in like a brand new land or brand new attraction would.

Honestly, that’s ok. Earlier in this article, I mentioned that this year’s slow Summer may rebound as early as next Summer, and a new land is the reason why. Next year, the Tropical Americas land over at Disney’s Animal Kingdom will debut. Now, it’s worth noting that everything I’ve heard so far would suggest a second-half opening for the land, missing the Summer season. That said, I don’t think it’s completely out of the realm of possibility that at least a portion of the land opens for the Summer season. Will that be enough to draw crowds in? We’ll have to wait and see.

Another factor that I see get talked about a lot is the increasingly oppressive weather. It’s hot. Like, really hot. The heat and humidity during the Summers in Orlando seem to be getting worse over the past few years, and word is certainly spreading. While still uncommon, it’s not unexpected for heat waves to sweep through and bring the “feels like” temperature well into the triple digits on a whim. Simply put, the weather could be a significant factor in why more and more guests are opting out of Summer.

Of course, there is also the fact that there are fewer special offerings during the Summer in general. There is no EPCOT Festival, there are no special seasonal events, etc. But that speaks to why Summers are slower in general, not why this Summer is slower.

Subjectively, lower crowds are likely welcomed by guests who get to take advantage of them. Why? It’s a better experience. We know that as visitors, but so does Disney. That’s why their entire approach to operating their theme parks has been lower crowds at higher prices. That works well during the moderate to busy portions of the year when Disney is trying to protect against a ceiling, but are crowds dipping below the floor that Disney would be comfortable with during the Summer? I think it’s worth keeping an eye on.

Disney has been rolling out discounts and deals for Summer travel in recent years. I think the introduction of Cool KID SUMMER last year, and the continuation of it this year, suggests that the crowds are approaching or below the floor that Disney would like. By injecting some life into Summer, they’re hoping to entice guests to visit. While the Summer 2026 lineup of offerings has been very compelling for an “off year”, it doesn’t look like it has moved the needle that much when it comes to average wait times, and thus, crowds.

For anyone visiting between now and October, I think you’ll enjoy some lower-than-normal crowds. Looking into the future, this might be the slowest Summer we have for quite some time.

As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!