Crowds usually are not heavy and wait occasions aren’t excessive over Labor Day weekend at Walt Disney World. This shares our predictions for the September 2024 vacation, why we’re forecasting low to reasonable crowd ranges all lengthy weekend, and every day park suggestions in the event you’re planning a go to.
By vacation weekend requirements, Labor Day weekend has not been busy dangerous crowd-wise within the final decade. Although it’s the unofficial finish of summer time, most college districts in Florida and different states return into session just a few weeks earlier than Labor Day. With out these key college districts, the vacation weekend is not the “final hurrah” of summer time crowds at Walt Disney World.
In a nutshell, Labor Day is just too late for summer time trip and too early for fall break. It’s in no man’s land, considerably just like Martin Luther King Day (between New 12 months’s and winter break) or Memorial Day (between spring break and summer time trip). Crowd ranges are related consequently, as the first draw is locals. If you’d like the Cliff Notes model of this submit, that’s it–no must learn any additional except you wish to dive deeper into the info, our different theories why it isn’t a busy vacation, and every day park suggestions for the lengthy weekend.
We begin by mentioning this as a result of it looks as if yearly, there’s “shock” by the “unexpectedly” low crowds over the Labor Day weekend. For no matter cause, many Walt Disney World followers have outdated conceptions of crowds for Labor Day that haven’t been true for years. Many of those similar followers nonetheless overlook Columbus Day and Veterans Day, that are all the time means worse.
With that mentioned, we begin by contextualizing Labor Day relative to different vacation weekends and not to different dates in August and September 2024. As all the time in the case of Walt Disney World crowds, your body of reference issues lots. This has turn out to be the slowest 6-week stretch of the 12 months for Walt Disney World, with reliably low crowds all through.
August by way of most of September stay inherently unpopular as a result of college simply went again into session, which is a big limiting issue on the pool of potential friends. Not solely that, however this is likely one of the hottest stretches of the 12 months and it’s the center of hurricane season.
So it needs to be famous from the soar that Labor Day weekend is just not sluggish as in comparison with different dates within the early fall low season. Select dates at random in August by way of mid-to-late September and there’s an inexpensive probability they’re slower than Labor Day weekend. Accordingly, in the event you’re doing a protracted journey that simply occurs to embody Labor Day weekend, you may discover a spike. For those who’re simply deciding whether or not to go to for the vacation weekend within the first place, apprehensive in regards to the prospect of crushing crowds, concern not.
It’s actually the second situation that this submit is geared toward–how busy Labor Day is at Walt Disney World by vacation weekend requirements, not relative to the remainder of August and September. For instance, let’s have a look at previous crowd ranges with wait time information and graphs courtesy of Thrill-Information.com:
Above is a graph of crowd ranges and common every day wait occasions throughout all of Walt Disney World for everything of the final three hundred and sixty five days. On the far left facet, you’ll see mid-August and September 2024. The primary set of inexperienced bars are August 28 by way of September 1. All of those are 1/10 crowd ranges.
Final 12 months, Labor Day weekend occurred September 1-4. Crowd ranges that Saturday had been 2/10 and Sunday was 4/10. Labor Day itself was additionally 1/10, with a mean wait time of 24 minutes–that was 10 minutes slower than Saturday.
Nearly throughout the board, Summer time 2024 has been slower than final summer time. The common wait time this July, for instance, was 6 minutes decrease than final July. (That will not look like a lot, however it’s an enormous distinction.) On condition that, the good cash could be on Labor Day Weekend 2024 being much less busy than final 12 months. There are causes that is probably not the case, which we’ll talk about in a bit.
In case you need extra comparisons, above is a graph of Labor Day wait occasions for the final a number of years. (The colour-coding is relative to different Labor Day dates, not every year as an entire.)
The busiest Labor Day was 2017, when the typical wait time was 33 minutes. To place that into perspective, the typical month-to-month wait occasions this for January by way of Might had been decrease than that. Inside these months, each single vacation weekend was busier.
Talking of holidays, Labor Day is the slowest vacation on common at Walt Disney World. Halloween is the one different vacation that’s shut, and that doesn’t actually matter (for my part) as a result of it’s not a federal vacation, isn’t celebrated by Walt Disney World exterior of a tough ticket occasion, and happens on random days of the week.
So far as weekend holidays, Labor Day is akin to Mom’s Day when it comes to common wait occasions. In a standard 12 months, the Sunday of Labor Day is the busiest of the weekend (adopted by Saturday), and even these days don’t maintain a candle to Columbus Day weekend. Nevermind any of the November and December holidays…and even the winter and spring ones.
Suffice to say, Labor Day is the weakest vacation weekend of your entire 12 months from an goal and historic perspective. And it’s not even a remotely shut name. We in contrast it to Memorial Day and MLK Day above, however each of these beat it handily. Labor Day weekend wait occasions are decrease than all different non-fake holidays. (Sorry, Worldwide Discuss Like A Pirate Day and Whacking Day. We nonetheless love you.)
For those who’re questioning why Labor Day received’t be busier (above and past it being within the low season after college goes again into session), this part will clarify that. Honest warning: a lot of what’s mentioned right here is similar to our submit analyzing low wait occasions for Fourth of July.
All the rationale from that can maintain true when utilized to Labor Day Weekend, too. The massive one right here is that many cost-conscious shoppers have been pushed away from weekends by increased costs on park tickets, lodging, and airfare. That’s the case even on common Friday and Saturday nights. Unsurprisingly, it’s much more pronounced for the vacation weekend.
The above chart exhibits the nightly commonplace room charges at Disney’s Pop Century Resort. Discover the distinction in charges for August 30 by way of September 1 as in contrast with the times earlier than and after? It’s the very same story with date-based pricing for park tickets, and I’m guessing that if I pulled up a versatile calendar on Southwest Airways, it will present one thing related.
The underside line is that friends with flexibility are going to decide on completely different dates in that timeframe. We all know this as a result of this has been occurring all 12 months lengthy–individuals have been gravitating in the direction of cheaper days of the week, and cheaper weeks inside the similar common date-ranges.
With it not being peak trip season, the most important drivers for Labor Day attendance at Walt Disney World are Southerners, diehard followers wanting a fast getaway, and locals. Nonetheless, each the Pixie Go and the Pirate Go–two reasonably priced admission choices for locals–are blocked out for everything of Labor Day weekend (August 30 to September 2, 2024). That’s much more Floridians than regular who thus wouldn’t be within the parks over the lengthy weekend, which ought to end in an exaggerated model of the ‘wonky weekends’ dynamic we’ve been speaking about for over a 12 months.
We’ve lengthy suspected that there’s a disproportionate variety of Pixie Mud Annual Passes in circulation, largely as a result of it was the one AP tier that was bought for over a 12 months. Though that hasn’t been the case for some time, inertia has most likely stored the discrepancy going. Floridians acquired used to paying a cheaper price, discovered it labored out simply nice for them, and didn’t improve when it got here time to resume. And at somewhat over half the price of the Pirate Go, the worth is actually proper–particularly for cost-conscious locals.
Walt Disney World doesn’t launch statistical breakdowns of its AP inhabitants, so that is solely idea. Nonetheless, it’s additionally corroborated by crowds. Each time these passes (particularly Pixie Mud) are blocked out past their regular weekends, it exhibits up in wait occasions information. This occurred, most lately, over Independence Day weekend. That was one other vacation that was “surprisingly” sluggish. (Besides it wasn’t in the event you’ve been being attentive to tendencies.)
A method 2024 will likely be completely different from final 12 months is when it comes to discounted tickets. There are two primary choices at present, the Florida Resident Uncover Disney Ticket, which is legitimate by way of September 28, 2024 with an advance park reservation. Extra important is the 4-Park, 4-Day Walt Disney World Magic Ticket, which is legitimate by way of September 22, 2024.
These are massively standard promos that may save guests a ton of cash (over $100 per individual!) and so they’re additionally repeats of offers that had been provided final 12 months. The important thing distinction is that each of these aforementioned ticket offers had been blocked out for the dates round Independence Day and Labor Day.
In consequence, there have been stories of the parks being “lifeless” or “ghost cities” final Fourth of July that made nationwide information and prompted a response from CEO Bob Iger. He attributed the slowness to climate and the exhaustion of pent-up demand. Whereas these had been undoubtedly contributing components, the larger variable was the ticket blockout. We all know this as a result of Labor Day was a repeat of Independence Day.
Disney realized from that mistake and didn’t block out these ticket offers for Labor Day weekend. Which means, in all chance, Labor Day 2024 will likely be busier than final 12 months. That’s to not say it’ll be busy–it most likely received’t for the explanations mentioned above. We simply wish to point out this as a countervailing issue; a cause to anticipate barely increased crowds than final 12 months.
With that mentioned, crowds have been trending decrease this summer time, with June and July down considerably year-over-year and August exhibiting related indicators of softness. The one significant exception to that was Fourth of July, which was up year-over-year however nonetheless very sluggish by goal and historic measures. (And actually, I’m undecided if it being slower than 2023 would’ve even been doable.)
Talking of which, there are the traditional crowd patterns for Independence Day vs. Labor Day. All else being equal, Fourth of July Weekend is often a lot busier than Labor Day. And in contrast to the comparability to Columbus Day and Veterans Day, all else truly does appear to be equal right here. So it will stand to cause that August 30 to September 1, 2024 needs to be even slower than July 1-4!
For reference, wait occasions peaked on July 1 at 31 minutes (3/10 crowd degree). July 2 had a 30 minute common; July 3-4 had been 25-26 minutes and 1/10 crowd ranges. I wouldn’t go so far as predicting decrease crowds for Labor Day weekend, if solely as a result of these numbers are so low that the safer guess is a rise–there’s not a lot room for them to drop even additional, even when that’s what our alerts level in the direction of.
Actually, the outcome-determinative issue might be climate. That’s nonetheless an unknown, however it’s most likely secure to forecast extra of the identical: excessive warmth and humidity…and perhaps rain. (Identical to the opposite 44 weeks of summer time in Florida.)
As somebody who plans on spending lots of time within the parks this Labor Day, I hope that isn’t the case. I might fortunately take unseasonably delicate temperatures that draw extra locals out of the consolation of their A/C at dwelling and into the parks, even when which means 4/10 crowds or increased.
There are different wildcards. The primary is Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Get together, which not solely attracts guests to Florida but in addition throws a monkey wrench into attendance dynamics this time of 12 months. Second is the EPCOT Worldwide Meals & Wine Pageant, which begins Labor Day weekend and will end in a spike in congestion or “seems like” crowds at EPCOT and will additionally draw diehards from out-of-state to take weekend getaways.
With that in thoughts, we all the time get questions on when to do every park over vacation weekends. Actually, that’s the far harder query than whether or not Labor Day will likely be busy or sluggish, because of the ‘conflicts’ with MNSSHP, begin of EPCOT Meals & Wine Pageant, and our commonplace Finest & Worst Day of the Week Recommendation, which does not apply over any vacation weekends.
If it had been me and I didn’t have Park Hopper tickets, I’d do the next:
- August 30: EPCOT
- August 31: Disney’s Hollywood Studios
- September 1: Animal Kingdom
- September 2: Magic Kingdom
If I did have Park Hopper tickets, I’d do that:
- August 30: EPCOT
- August 31: Disney’s Hollywood Studios -> Magic Kingdom
- September 1: Animal Kingdom -> EPCOT
- September 2: Magic Kingdom -> DHS
Right here’s some clarification for these picks, together with some which can be at odds with typical knowledge…
Doing EPCOT first places it on the second day of Meals & Wine Pageant. That’s after the preliminary day-one rush of bloggers and vloggers, however earlier than the weekend warriors arrive in full drive. It’ll nonetheless be busy–busier than regular–however that is one of the best day for it. (Wait occasions at EPCOT received’t be dangerous, however congestion will–it’ll really feel far worse than the wait occasions counsel.)
The massive stress right here is between Monday and MNSSHP at Magic Kingdom. Usually, Monday is the busiest day of the week at Magic Kingdom. Additionally usually, Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Get together days are slower at MK. Nonetheless, Labor Day itself is often slower and Magic Kingdom was not busy final 12 months on today. So it’s truly a fairly straightforward choose. If you’d like a full day in MK, you’ll want to decide on a distinct date–change Magic Kingdom and DHS.
The whole lot else works backwards from these decisions. Sunday is the busiest day, so prioritize the best park–Animal Kingdom. That leaves Saturday for Disney’s Hollywood Studios by strategy of elimination. The Park Hopper picks function from the same ‘work backwards’ perspective, ranging from not having the ability to keep late in Magic Kingdom on September 2, so then switching to the following ‘hardest’ park (DHS) on the slowest day.
Ultimately, it’s essential to emphasise that there are a number of ‘competing’ variables at play in the case of the park-specific suggestions, and a few or all of these may very well be ‘fallacious’ consequently. I’ve a better diploma of confidence within the larger image prediction that Labor Day Weekend will likely be sluggish than the granular park picks. The excellent news is that the larger image prediction issues much more, and ought to imply selecting one of the best park every day issues lots much less!
Planning a Walt Disney World journey? Find out about inns on our Walt Disney World Lodges Opinions web page. For the place to eat, learn our Walt Disney World Restaurant Opinions. To economize on tickets or decide which sort to purchase, learn our Ideas for Saving Cash on Walt Disney World Tickets submit. Our What to Pack for Disney Journeys submit takes a singular have a look at intelligent gadgets to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Journey Guides will assist. For complete recommendation, one of the best place to start out is our Walt Disney World Journey Planning Information for all the things that you must know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Are you visiting Walt Disney World for Labor Day Weekend 2024? What do you suppose attendance will likely be like for this 12 months’s vacation weekend? What about as in comparison with this month, final 12 months, or the remainder of August and September? Do you agree or disagree with our predictions? Any questions we may also help you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even whenever you disagree with us–is each attention-grabbing to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas under within the feedback!
