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Disney World Crowds Significantly Lower After Holiday Rush

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Posted on by Kelly Coffey 2 Comments
disney world crowds

Left Image Credit: It's Pat / Right Image Credit: @abby_higley

It’s no secret that the Walt Disney World Resort brought in crowds during the 2020 holiday season, with theme parks even hitting their limited capacity on multiple different days. However, now that the holidays are in the past and we are beginning the New Year, it seems that, for now, the crowds have been left behind in 2020.

Related: Disney World Hits Capacity AGAIN, But It Isn’t Too Crowded

Guests were visiting the Walt Disney World theme parks and Disney Springs during the holidays to still experience the Disney magic, joy, and happiness, despite the cancellation of Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party and the Dream Lights on Cinderella Castle.

But, with the holidays now over, more Guests seem to be staying home and away from the theme parks as crowds and wait times for popular attractions have tremendously decreased.

magic kingdom
Credit: Disney

Disney World Crowds Before and After the Holidays

Before

On December 29, you can see a decent amount of crowds at Magic Kingdom, specifically between Fantasyland and New Fantasyland.

Related: Just One Day After Christmas, Disney World Crowds Lower

On December 31, It’s Pat on YouTube went live for the day at Magic Kingdom where you can see the crowds all throughout the theme park — specifically, you can see crowds of Guests coming down Main Street, U.S.A.

disney world crowds
Credit: It’s Pat

Also on New Year’s Eve, Disney’s Hollywood Studios saw queues extend with several Guests waiting to board their favorite attractions. Check out the video thanks to Isaura Crisostomo Frias on Instagram.

After

However, on January 3, just two days after 2021 began, one Disney World Guest, Britney, took to Twitter to share a photo of Cinderella Castle, in which you can see a few Guests scattered throughout but not nearly as many as prior to the holidays.

And once again, It’s Pat went live on YouTube to share that on January 3, Magic Kingdom was much more a “chilled-out, stress-free way. No hassles. No giant lines. No headaches.”

Juan Gabriel Rivera on Instagram posted this photo, which shows some Guests walking down Main Street U.S.A., but nothing like they were prior to New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day.

Abby also posted on Instagram a photo of her in front of Cinderella Castle on Main Street U.S.A. on January 3, 2021.

Over at EPCOT, the crowd levels look significantly down, which you can see in this photo posted by Matthew on Instagram.

And over at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Harrison posted this photo which you can see a handful of Guests taking photos in front of the Tree of Life.

It is worth noting that in some photos, it may look more crowded than in others. This could depend on character cavalcades, time of day, and so on. Keep in mind that Disney World is operating on a limited capacity every day and is monitoring the crowds with the new Park Pass system in place.

Attraction Wait Times Decrease

Before

As you can see, according to Walt Disney World Wait Times, the average wait time for EPCOT on Tuesday, December 29th (just a few days before New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day), was 51 minutes.

And on December 30, the average wait time was nearly 53 minutes for Test Track.

Related: Plexiglass Installation Helps Drastically Reduce Wait Times

Over at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, on New Year’s Eve the average wait time for Avatar Flight of Passage was 43 minutes.

After

On Saturday, January 2, Test Track (which had an average wait time of 51 minutes on December 29 and 53 minutes on December 30) had an average of 39 minutes.

Over at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, on January 3, the average wait time for Avatar Flight of Passage was 32 minutes — 10 minutes lower than a few days earlier.

More Disney Park Pass Availability

Additionally, during the holidays nearly every theme park hit the limited capacity every single day. However, now that the holidays are over, the parks still have plenty of Park Passes available. You can check the most-up-to-date availability for each theme park by visiting the Walt Disney World calendar here.

disney world guests
Credit: Disney

Planning to Visit Walt Disney World?

If you are planning to visit Walt Disney World, please remember to follow the new safety and health protocols in order to keep you and others safe during this time. Keep your distance from others, wear your face coverings, use the hand sanitizer located throughout the resort, try to use paperless payment methods, and cover your mouth and nose while sneezing or coughing. For more information on Disney World’s safety protocols, visit their official website here.

If you want to plan a vacation to Disney World, but aren’t sure where to begin planning, don’t hesitate to reach out to our friends at Academy Travel. Get started with your free quote today!

Have you visited Disney World recently? Do you plan to visit Disney World for its 50th Anniversary this year? Let us know in the comments below.

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Kelly Coffey

Having been a Walt Disney World Annual Passholder since 2017, Kelly loves visiting the Most Magical Place on Earth where she can typically be found people watching on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover, relaxing at Baseline Tap House, snacking on Mickey-shaped foods, sipping on adult beverages on Sunset Boulevard, or hanging out with her foolish mortals at the Haunted Mansion.

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