November 2019 Walt Disney World Crowd Calendar Update
The November Crowd Calendar update is now live. We are approaching the busiest time at Walt Disney World: New Year’s, Christmas, and Thanksgiving. It’s always a good plan to arrive early and use a touring plan. It’s even more important on high crowd level days.
November 2019
(Crowd Levels WDW:5.3 MK:5.3 EP:5.8 HS:5.7 AK:5.2)
November 11 is Veterans Day, and Thanksgiving is November 29. Veterans Day weekend (November 8-11) will see a bump in crowds. The Magic Kingdom hosts Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party on many nights between November 8 and 24. During the daytime hours on party days, the crowd level at the Magic Kingdom will be low. The days between the parties have higher crowd levels as more guests will choose to go to the Magic Kingdom when the park has longer park hours.
The week of Thanksgiving (November 23-30) will have crowd levels of nines and tens at all the parks. Pack your patience and use a touring plan.
December 2019
(Crowd Levels WDW:6.3 MK:5.5 EP:6.8 HS:7.3 AK:7.4)
Thanksgiving is late in 2019. This will only give three weeks of moderate crowds before the Christmas and New Year’s crowds start arriving on December 20. Magic Kingdom is hosting 13 Christmas Parties between December 1 and 22. The nine days without a party will have higher crowd levels.
December 5 is the opening date for Rise of the Resistance at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Hollywood Studios. The opening of the highly anticipated headline attraction for the Star Wars land will bring in the crowds in early December. We expect the crowds will be higher than normal for early December as locals and others try to experience the new ride before the holiday crowds descend on central Florida.
December 7 is the only day before December 30 where Magic Kingdom is scheduled to be open until midnight. This an unusually late closing time for early December, and is causing the change in the crowd level from 5 to 9. It looks like Disney is expecting the crowds that come in for the opening of Rise of the Resistance to flood into the Magic Kingdom on the 7th.
It is very likely Disney will extend park hours during the holiday period.
January 2020
(Crowd Levels WDW:5.7 MK:5.8 EP:5.4 HS:5.6 AK:6.2)
The first six days of the new year will still be crowded with Christmas and New Year’s crowds. Crowds will not completely dissipate as the Walt Disney World Marathon is the following week. Martin Luther King Day weekend (January 18-20) will have high crowds.
February 2020
(Crowd Levels WDW:6.1 MK:5.9 EP:5.9 HS:5.9 AK:6.5)
Early February will have low crowds. The weeks of Presidents’ Day (February 15-23) and Mardi Gras (February 22-29) are popular times for many school districts to take a break. Luckily the two holidays are on different weeks in 2020 and will help spread out the crowds.
March 2020
(Crowd Levels WDW:7.9 MK:7.8 EP:7.5 HS:8.1 AK:7.4)
April 2020
(Crowd Levels WDW:5.5 MK:5.2 EP:5.7 HS:4.9 AK:6)
May 2020
(Crowd Levels WDW:5 MK:4.9 EP:5.7 HS:4.5 AK:5.4)
Spring Break has become a very popular time at Walt Disney World, even more popular than the summer. With Easter moving around the calendar from year to year, the crowd pattern also changes. Easter 2020 is April 12. The week before Easter (April 4-11) will have the highest crowds during March and April.
The time between Easter (April 12) and Memorial Day (May 25) is a great time to visit Walt Disney World. The crowds are low, and the weather is moderate.
June 2020
(Crowd Levels WDW:6.1 MK:6.6 EP:5.4 HS:5.9 AK:6.3)
July 2020
(Crowd Levels WDW:6.2 MK:7 EP:4.7 HS:5.9 AK:5.8)
August 2020
(Crowd Levels WDW:5.3 MK:5.5 EP:4.6 HS:5.2 AK:4.6)
Memorial Day (May 25) kicks off the summer season at Walt Disney World. Schools are starting to wrap up, and most schools will be on break by the end of June. The summer heat and longer park hours help spread out the crowds. It will be interesting to see what Disney comes up with to entice guests to visit during summer 2020. Expect to see discounts and new attractions being opened.
September 2020
(Crowd Levels WDW:1.7 MK:2.5 EP:2.1 HS:1.5 AK:1.6
October 2020
(Crowd Levels WDW:4.3 MK:4.7 EP:4.6 HS:4.2 AK:3.7
The further we look into the future, the less information we know of Disney’s and school schedules. In April and May, schools will start finalizing their schedules for the 2020-2021 school year. Crowd levels for fall 2020 are mostly influenced based on fall 2019 data.
What we are watching
2021 is going to be the 50th anniversary for Walt Disney World. Disney will have a 16-24 month celebration. Guests who do not go to Walt Disney World every year will likely postpone their vacations until 2021. Disney’s marketing will be in full force trying to entice guests to visit before the 50th anniversary celebration. We also will be watching for the impact of Rise of the Resistance and other attractions opening in 2020.
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Is Thanksgiving week typically as crowded as the week between Christmas and New Years?
Hi! I am trying to look at crowd reviews from November 2019. We have a trip booked the 7th-17th of 2020. Trying to get some opinions on if that is a decent time to go as far as crowds? Thank you!
Crowds are low for early November. Thanksgiving week is very busy.
Steve
Ai
August 18, 2020 for MK went from a crowd level 2 to 1 – I am assuming this is due to expecting the Halloween party on this day correct? Also – what are your thoughts on touring MK on this day despite being closed at 6 – with crowd levels so low it seems you could knock out a ton of attractions with little to no wait. Is this a good strategy since most people go to other parks those days? Thanks any thoughts or experiences you have would be most helpful.
Touring the Magic Kingdom on a party day is an excellent strategy. You can experience a full day of attractions within the shorter park hours. Crowds will start picking up at 4 pm when party guests are allowed into the park. The biggest negative is that you will not get to experience fireworks at the Magic Kingdom.
If you have a park hopper ticket, going to the Magic Kingdom in the morning and then hopping to another park is also an excellent strategy. Schedule your FastPass+ attractions at the 2nd park.
Thanks our family was considering touring MK from 9AM – 2PM…take a break and then come back to MK around five to attend the Halloween party. It feels like a good chance to see a ton of MK attractions and see the halloween party plus the fireworks.
Sounds like a good plan. If you do plan to arrive at 5, try getting FastPasses at say 4:30 and 5:30. This way you won’t have to worry about the crowds from the overlap of day guests and party guests.
I’m going in January (11th through 17th) with a group of friends. Based on my experience, I’m fairly trusting of your predications. However, I have a friend who is skeptical about the predicated low crowds so shortly after Rise of the Resistance has opened. Why aren’t the predicted numbers higher? They went down a bit in this update, I think. Thanks!
Why is Tuesday March 10th a 10 overall? I would have thought this would be before the big spring break crowds and I’m not aware of a national holiday?
For schools that do not have a break in February, their spring breaks start earlier. The 2nd week of March is spring break for some. Take a look at the crowd levels for the 2nd Tuesday in March 2019.
Thank you for the update. Just an FYI, it does not appear that the crowd prediction change for MK on December 7, 2019, has been updated on the Crowd Calendar. Thanks.
Thanks for noticing. 🙂 This is fixed now.