Yet another set of Walt Disney World Resort guests is reporting far fewer crowds at the Central Florida Disney parks than usual during the summer. Typically, families take advantage of summer vacation from school and flock to Magic Kingdom Park, EPCOT, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park. This year, though, something appears to be keeping guests away from the Most Magical Place on Earth.
Inside the Magic has covered the declining crowd levels multiple times in recent weeks. Guests report low wait times and empty walkways as Walt Disney World Resort offers several simultaneous discounts on Disney Resort hotels, theme park tickets, and select add-on experiences. Disney is trying to lure families to Florida, but it might not be working.
On Tuesday, Disney Parks fans on Reddit discussed the lack of crowds at Walt Disney World Resort. It started with a post from u/BeerandGuns, who wrote: “I’m looking at wait times as of 1:30 central time on June 17 and they are far lower than I would expect mid-June. Soarin 5 minutes, GotG 60 minutes, Tower of Terror 30 minutes etc. These are much lower than when we went in early March. Anyone there and have input on current park levels or employees seeing this? If I’d have known it was this reasonable I’d be there now.”
In the comments, recent Walt Disney World Resort visitors shared their experiences at Magic Kingdom Park, EPCOT, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park.
“I walked onto remy last night and soarin’ and many other rides today,” u/Least-Ambassador-781 commented. “Its been awesome.”
“We were just there at the end of last week and the wait times were definitely lower than usual,” u/Accesobeats replied. “It was still busy, but we were surprised how many rides we were able to jump on with <20 minute waits.”
“It’s empty here in the area in general right now – not just Disney,” said u/sparty219. What’s weirder to me is that I’m seeing restaurants show up as available that I haven’t seen in years. Space 220 has been an impossible get for anyone not staying on property and it’s popped up for me with July and August dates pretty frequently lately. Anecdotally, living just a few miles from Disney, I’d say that foreign tourism is way, way down.”
Disney Parks fans shared their theories about low crowd levels, from the economy to the Central Florida heat.
“It is hotter than the first level of hell here,” u/ChevronSugarHeart wrote. “The economy is uncertain – nothing is conducive to coming right now.”
“It’s 50% casually rate hot out there!” said u/CantaloupeCamper.
Some blamed Epic Universe, Universal Orlando Resort’s third theme park that opened last month.
“To add in, Epic Universe opened 2 weeks ago,” u/Dramaticnoise wrote. “I just got back from Disney World and the heat was….rough.”
“People are going with a brand new park that opened up a month ago 20 minutes up the road,” u/Ad-hocProcrastinator agreed.
Still, others claimed that the current crowds at Walt Disney World Resort are normal.
“Wait times look pretty normal to me,” u/Chris-Jean-Alice argued. “I think the old summer is packed thing isn’t really true anymore, they’re busy all year round now and only during peak Christmas time are they really that slammed.”
Have you visited Walt Disney World Resort recently? Share your experience with Inside the Magic in the comments!
The post Disney World Empty, Theme Parks Barren as Crowds Flee in Droves appeared first on Inside the Magic.
