Walt Disney World is the guts of its busiest week of 2025, with peak wait instances of 2-3 hours at the most well-liked rides, most priced (and bought out) Lightning Lanes, and extra. This publish covers the colossal crowds and triple-digit wait instances within the lead-up to New 12 months’s Eve, and what to anticipate within the days to come back.
Let’s begin by speaking crowds. It’s not going to shock anybody that this has already been a busy week. Crowds at all times construct in mid-December, and the weeks round Christmas and New 12 months’s Eve are the busiest of the yr. This pattern will proceed into early 2025, with crowds not relenting till Central Florida colleges return into session following their vacation breaks.
That is at all times the busiest (singular) 3-week stretch of the yr at Walt Disney World, and these are additionally normally the three (particular person) busiest weeks of the yr. The week of New 12 months’s Eve is #1 and by a really vast margin. The week of Christmas is often #3, with the primary week or so of January being #2.
The heavy crowds within the first week or so of January typically surprises individuals. It’s as a result of vacation breaks being ongoing, decrease costs (in comparison with the 2 weeks earlier than), and Annual Cross blockouts lifting, amongst different elements. Count on peak vacation crowds to relent on January 5, 2026. Crowd ranges received’t drop to low ranges instantly, however as contrasted with the earlier two weeks, it’ll really feel prefer it!
Crowds don’t actually drop to low or reasonable ranges till the next week, normally across the Sunday of the Walt Disney World Marathon weekend. That’ll be January 11, 2026. Even so, it’s not uninterrupted stretches of low crowds after, as the beginning of ticket offers, vacation weekends, runDisney occasions, Mid-Winter Break, Mardi Gras and extra will throw monkey wrenches into Winter 2026 crowd ranges.
What may be a shock is that the times and weekend round Christmas truly weren’t that dangerous. Don’t get us incorrect–crowds had been excessive, however as an entire, the typical wait time for final week was 40 minutes and the group stage was solely 7/10. That’s effectively under final Christmas, and the primary time we’ve seen a crowd stage under 9/10 for that individual week throughout regular instances.
In reality, it was the least-busy Christmas week since 2020, which was slower for pretty apparent causes (I bear in mind having a troublesome time acquiring park reservations that week in 2020, so it might have been busier however for the strict attendance caps). Even Christmas 2021, which noticed a slowdown beginning in late September as a result of a resurgence of COVID and reinstatement of masks guidelines, was busier than this previous week (as measured by common wait instances).
This primary caught my consideration due to social media posts displaying an empty Fantasmic seating space for the third efficiency of the nighttime spectacular (it’s widespread for low crowds on nights when it’s introduced 3 instances, however not no crowds), in addition to Frontierland having last-minute entrance row spots for the second Starlight night time parade.
There have been different posts alongside these traces, underscoring simply how a lot the crowds have dropped off within the evenings. If this had been taking place proper now, chilly climate could be the apparent rationalization–but it surely was late final week and over the weekend.
This has not meant low daytime waits. My spot-checking of My Disney Expertise during the last week-plus has proven 120 minute peaks for headliner points of interest in all 4 parks on each single day. It however does illustrate simply how helpful a ‘fully-loaded’ leisure slate and longer working hours may be for managing even above-average crowds.
For reference, Christmas week was nonetheless the busiest since Easter and can go down because the 4th worst week of 2025. It simply wasn’t practically as dangerous as final yr or (particularly) 2022-2023 or 2019. All of these had been excessive 10/10 weeks; 7/10 is an enormous drop-off as contrasted with these.
(Word that that is on the thrill-data.com scale. I’d be inclined to argue that if per week is the 4th worst of the yr, it’s a ten/10 it doesn’t matter what the averages. Crowd stage measurements ought to be based mostly on rolling 1-2 yr numbers; too lengthy of a time horizon skews issues an excessive amount of.)
It’ll be attention-grabbing to see whether or not this turns into a brand new pattern, following the lead of Thanksgiving (our #1 choose on the checklist of Least-Dangerous Weeks to Go to Walt Disney World for Households on Faculty Schedules) or if this yr was an anomaly. That’s one thing we’ll be watching intently out of self-interest.
I’m truthfully jealous of anybody who has been (or is presently at) Walt Disney World within the final week. We love this time of yr within the parks and don’t thoughts ridiculously chilly climate; as we gear up for yet one more atmospheric river and rainout of New 12 months’s Eve at Disneyland, the climate in Florida is sounding fairly good!
In any case, the moderate-to-high crowds are firmly within the rearview mirror and the height week New 12 months’s crowds have now descended upon Walt Disney World…
Though it’s solely a few days outdated, the present week has a median wait time of 60 minutes and a crowd stage of 10/10. That’s dangerous sufficient to make it far and away the busiest week of 2025, worse than the height week of 2024, and on par with the worst of 2019 and 2022-2023. After all, there are nonetheless a number of days left to go, in order that common might rise or fall because the week wears on.
The worst dates fluctuate from yr to yr, however what we’ve seen usually within the post-COVID period is wait instances peaking within the days earlier than New 12 months’s Eve, versus on December thirty first. It’s thus our expectation that December 29-30 would be the busiest days of this week, with January 1-2, 2026 seeing a resurgence. New 12 months’s Day is at all times a wildcard; visitors are sometimes late-arriving, which may drag down the each day stats, however they choose up later within the day.
The weekend is likewise much less predictable. Vacationers begin heading dwelling to return to high school and work, however that’s offset by locals with AP blockouts lifting. It’s normally solely partially offset. Suffice to say, it’s potential we’ve already seen the worst of the NYE wait instances–or will in the present day. Talking of which, right here’s a take a look at the height instances from yesterday afternoon by means of this morning:
From my perspective, essentially the most attention-grabbing set of wait instances is the final one–captured at 8:55 am this morning. That’s throughout Early Entry or shortly after rope drop, and even so, wait instances are over an hour (or two!) for a number of points of interest. That is fairly the distinction to these mornings earlier within the vacation season once I was in a position to Seven Dwarfs Mine Prepare, TRON Lightcycle Run, Slinky Canine Sprint, and so forth., all as walk-ons throughout Early Entry (and in a few instances, publish rope drop!).
You would possibly see the above wait instances and suppose that the wait time common have to be even worse than “solely” 60 minutes. That’s an inexpensive evaluation. When you polled visitors presently within the parks about their perceptions of wait instances, the consensus common would seemingly be a a lot larger quantity. However averages take the whole day and the whole attraction roster under consideration.
Particularly, these points of interest are answerable for dragging down the general common:
Clearly, the day continues to be younger and it’s solely potential this finally ends up being the busiest day of the week. And even tomorrow! Though NYE is normally not the worst day for wait instances, Monday by means of Wednesday are usually the excessive water marks.
The final couple of weeks have already contained some surprises, so maybe that’ll proceed with worsening crowds by means of Friday. The underside line is that on daily basis for the remainder of this week/yr and into the primary few days of January has an opportunity of being the busiest of the week, and even the whole lot of 2025 or 2026, because the case could also be.
One other shock is that Lightning Lane Multi-Cross is bought out at two parks in the present day:
As you possibly can see from the above screenshot, LLMP is listed as unavailable for Magic Kingdom and EPCOT. To the very best of my recollection, that is the primary time Lightning Lane Multi Cross has bought out shortly. Single Cross sells out more often than not (so typically that it’s not even noteworthy), and Premier Cross does a number of the time.
It’s been some time since we mentioned Lightning Lane pricing–not because the worth improve across the begin of the brand new fiscal yr. For reference, listed here are the height costs for Lightning Lane Multi-Cross:
- Magic Kingdom: $45 per particular person
- Disney’s Hollywood Studios: $39 per particular person
- EPCOT: $37 per particular person
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom: $35 per particular person
These are unchanged since October. On the time, we speculated that Walt Disney World was merely resetting the ceiling in the beginning of the fiscal yr versus ready till the guts of the vacation season–in order that all the worth improve headlines could be lumped collectively. That proved to be right. Dangerous information for anybody who visited on that random slower weekday in October with peak season pricing, however excellent news for everybody else.
Curiously, in the present day did not have peak pricing for Lightning Lane Multi-Cross. It was (or is) a tick under the maximums, for causes unknown. Previous dates and future ones revert to the maxes, with costs steadily falling over the weekend till they hit low season ranges beginning January 8, 2026.
It’s probably additionally price mentioning that Lightning Lane Premier Cross does have peak season pricing in the present day:
- Magic Kingdom: $449
- Disney’s Hollywood Studios: $349
- EPCOT: $249
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom: $199 per particular person
These costs didn’t improve in the beginning of the fiscal yr, which caught us unexpectedly. They did go up at Disneyland, however not Walt Disney World…regardless of LLP promoting fairly effectively.
To that time, Lightning Lane Premier Cross promote outs truly began on Christmas Eve Eve (aka Festivus, or December twenty third) and prolong by means of early January 2026. By the point all is claimed and performed, Magic Kingdom and DHS may have bought out for a roughly two-week stretch, which makes me surprise why Walt Disney World didn’t increase the utmost.
Suffice to say, you need to count on peak season crowd ranges for the following a number of days, with the potential of 10+/10 crowd ranges, for lack of a greater time period. That will not make full sense, however final yr’s peak week is an effective illustration.
December thirtieth was the worst day of final yr, with a ten/10 crowd stage however a median wait time of 65 minutes. Two days later–January 2, 2025–was additionally a ten/10 crowd stage with a median wait time of 54 minutes–that was just one minute larger than a 9/10 crowd stage.
That’s an 11 minute unfold–which is completely large–however the very same crowd stage. Nowhere else on the dimensions (besides, I assume, 1/10 because it might theoretically begin at 0 minutes–however that by no means occurs in apply) has that vary. Often a crowd stage has a spread of a pair minutes earlier than it strikes up or down. Not 10/10. It may be 54 minutes, 67 minutes, 80 minutes, and so forth. Therefore the ten+/10 crowd stage.
Hope that is sensible. Even when not, the salient level is that there are various levels of ‘dangerous’ crowds and that 10/10 isn’t a static stage of awfulness. Yesterday was 10+/10, and the identical is probably going for in the present day and tomorrow. January 1-4, 2026 ought to be slower, however nonetheless with the potential for 9/10 or 10/10 crowds.
On the plus facet, the parks will probably be working in ‘most effectivity’ mode, which presents extra alternatives for beating the crowds in the event you’re keen to work a bit. Good luck to anybody visiting Walt Disney World proper now or not too long ago–we’d love to listen to your expertise, whether or not you encountered decrease than anticipated crowds over Christmas or are there proper now within the stomach of the beast!
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you suppose of the present wait instances at Walt Disney World? Ideas on the parks not seeing 10/10 stage crowds the week of Christmas? When you’re visiting throughout the previous couple of weeks, what’s been your impression of wait instances, congestion, and so forth? Do you agree or disagree with my evaluation? Any questions we might help you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even if you disagree with us–is each attention-grabbing to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas under within the feedback!
