Disney DataViz: 2010-2015 Walt Disney World Crowd Calendar Donut

Readers:

In the past, I have blogged about Dave Shute’s 2014 and ’s 2015 Walt Disney World Crowd Calendar. Dave’s site is yourfirstvisit.net blog and discusses everything you need to know for your first visit to Walt Disney World.

Recently, Fred Hazelton of touringplans.com posted a variation of Dave’s calendar showing years 2010-2014 and 2015 projected. I have included Fred’s graph below with his explanation by month. Fred refers to his graph as “The Donut.”

For now, I am off to Disneyland…um…Disney World.

Best regards,

Michael

2010-2015 Walt Disney World Crowd Calendar Donut

New Year’s Eve is fast approaching, which means 2015 will soon be upon us. Let’s take a quick look at the 2015 Walt Disney World Crowd Calendar.

Disney World is a crowded place that attracts 50 million visitors per year, and 2015 will be no different. Below is the touringplans.com crowd calendar donut (until we find a better name) that shows the hot spots and low zones for Disney World crowds since 2010. There are three things we notice from the graphic right away: the extreme crowds of Christmas and Thanksgiving; the extreme crowds at Easter that fluctuate yearly depending on when Easter falls; and the low crowds of early September. But there are a lot of other little tidbits of information, as well; let’s take a closer look.

Walt Disney World Crowd Calendar 2015 – by month

January

The New Year’s rush should fade by Monday, January 5, quickly followed by crowded resorts during Marathon Weekend. We expect January to be a good month for visiting the parks in 2015 if you don’t mind the risk of cooler temperatures. Martin Luther King Jr. day is January’s only bump in crowds after New Year’s Day. Notice how January’s crowds have been slowly building over the years. We expect that trend to continue in 2015.

February

Mardi Gras and Presidents Day fall back to back in 2015, so watch out for major crowds that week. Avoid Magic Kingdom on Super Bowl Monday (after the big game) unless you want to see the parade. Any other time in February is manageable but busy.

March

Easter falls in early April in 2015, so March crowds will be influenced primarily by school breaks. There is enough variation in school schedules next year to make every week fairly busy throughout March. Early March is less crowded than late March.

April

Avoid the Easter crowds the first week of April, and you should find busy but manageable crowds the rest of the month. As we can see, the later in April you visit, the lighter the crowds become.

May

May crowds were light in 2014, but we expect slightly more moderate crowds in 2015. Memorial Day weekend is busy but not nearly as busy as most holidays – a good choice for a family trip if you want to minimize days off school. Star Wars Weekends highlight the event schedule in May and June, so watch out for bottlenecks at Disney Hollywood Studios on weekends.

June

As we see from the graphic, summer crowds are steady year in and year out, no matter the year. June 2015 will be hot, humid, and busy every day.

July

July 2015 will be like all other Julys: really hot, really humid, and very busy, especially around July 4th. Later in the month is less busy, but plan for large crowds every day. Extended hours in the summer allow for more options with your planning, so take advantage.

August

Think of August as two halves – early August with busy summer crowds and late August with smaller, fall-like crowds. If you plan to visit in August, the later the better.

September

Our favorite month for low crowds, if you can stand the heat. Crowds during the first two weeks of September 2014 were some of the lowest we’ve ever seen. Will 2015 be the same? Let’s hope so. What is clear is that September has the best, lightest crowds every year, by far.

October

Festive in a Not-So-Scary way, October is one of our favorite choices, too, but like January it has grown in popularity since 2010. October 2015 will bring steady crowds like we saw in 2014, but if you can avoid weekends, you will enjoy less crowded parks.

November

Thanksgiving crowds are among the busiest of the year, but we expect them to last only from the Tuesday before the big day until the Monday after in 2015. Other than that, November is a good time to visit, for crowds and weather.

December

Like August, December 2015 can be split into two groups. The moderate crowds of early December and the full-blown, five-alarm Christmas craziness of December 24 to January 2. Both halves of December are cool, festive, and worth doing, but not without a solid plan.

Happy Touring in 2015!

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Source: Fred Hazelton, Walt Disney World Crowd Calendar 2015, touringplans.com, December 28, 2014, http://blog.touringplans.com/2014/12/28/walt-disney-world-crowds-2015/.