Our information to July 2023 at Walt Disney World gives a free crowd calendar, when to go to & keep away from, climate, new attraction openings & closures, and Independence Day occasions. Plus information & suggestions for summer season season at Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios. (Updated July 9, 2023.)
July is often the peak of summer season trip at Walt Disney World and the time when summer season storm season intensifies. Generally talking, July is a month for individuals who haven’t any higher alternate options. It’s summer season trip season, a time when college is out of session and oldsters with younger kids and lecturers head to the parks in full drive.
With that stated, when you have a visit deliberate for July, the sky just isn’t falling. For one factor, “a rainy, crowded day at Walt Disney World is better than a perfect day at home.” For one other, July 2023 is proving to not be practically as unhealthy because the final couple of years–see the ‘July 9, 2023 Update’ part beneath…
Normally, July is a literal good storm of climate and crowds. Walt Disney World’s major demographic is households, and on common, they trip about midway by means of the summer season break. Although college schedules in some districts have modified and Disney has raised peak season pricing on tickets & accommodations, summer season continues to be the busy season at Walt Disney World.
This has shifted round lately, however it’s nonetheless typically true–and we’ll cowl the everyday crowd dynamics over the course of the summer season season on this July 2023 crowd calendar.
JULY WEATHER AT DISNEY WORLD
The humidity is at “intense back-sweat” ranges each time the solar is up. On the plus aspect(?), that back-sweat will often be washed away by the each day afternoon showers, which may very well be a 20-minute incidence or might final the higher a part of the night. Welcome to July in Florida.
If you assume we’re exaggerating, let’s begin by looking on the climate. July is the most well liked month of the 12 months with common excessive temperatures above 90 levels each single day of the month. Average lows and highs vary from 74 to 91 levels. As demonstrated by the “comfortable” band on this web page for July, 27% of the time, the climate is in “hot” (85-100 levels) territory.
If there may be any silver lining on this, it’s that July has a larger proportion of “comfortable” climate than August (20% vs. 15%)…so these hours of the day once you’re in your lodge room asleep in air con, it’s truly not too unhealthy exterior!
Then there’s precipitation. Unless you’re homies with Zeus, it will rain throughout your July journey. It’s not a matter of “if”, it’s a matter of “how often and much how?”
Especially later within the month, Florida is beginning to get into the coronary heart of hurricane and storm season, so you ought to be ready for that. You’re common each day probability of some quantity of precipitation in July ranges from 67% to 71%. I’m no mathematician, however that claims to me it’s a small miracle if it goes 2 consecutive days with none rain.
In addition to our normal Unique Items to Pack for Disney (overlook bringing the low cost 10-packs of ponchos that we usually advocate–pack this Olaf raft to get across the parks in fashion! 😉 ), we advocate studying our Tips for Beating Summer Heat & Humidity put up for concepts on issues to deliver, and methods to reduce the have an effect on of disagreeable summer season climate throughout your trip.
JULY SPECIAL EVENTS AT WDW
The large factor is clearly Independence Day in the beginning of the month. That first (lengthy) weekend might be particularly busy consequently, however these crowds might be rewarded with a few of the greatest fireworks exhibits of the 12 months. Magic Kingdom and Epcot each have particular fireworks exhibits for the Fourth of July.
“Disney’s Celebrate America” fireworks show is proven at Magic Kingdom on each July 3 and July 4. We extremely advocate seeing Celebrate America on July 3. If you’re unable or unwilling to courageous the crowds in Magic Kingdom, a terrific place to view it to see the complete scale of the fireworks is exterior the park on the Ticket & Transportation Center.
The motive we advocate seeing Magic Kingdom’s Independence Day fireworks on July 3 is as a result of you’ll be able to solely see the EPCOT Forever fireworks with the “Heartbeat of America” finale on July 4.
For extra on particular leisure, learn our Celebrating Independence Day at Walt Disney World put up.
The starting of July could have different particular occasions. The 2023 EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival already ended its run on July 5. (If you’re already looking forward to 2024, don’t be shocked if that occasion ends earlier subsequent 12 months–probably in June.)
After that comes a festival-less hole, throughout which the park will briefly turn into “Diet EPCOT.” But not for lengthy. The 2023 EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival will start earlier than the top of the month, on July 27, 2023. This is the largest, longest, and hottest occasion of the 12 months at Epcot. (It’s additionally our least favourite and probably the most missing in substance, however folks like it.)
In phrases of different seasonal occasions, the France pavilion at Epcot will provide a really minor celebration of Bastille Day on July 14. Nothing round which it is best to plan a visit, however it’s neat to cease by to see.
JULY REFURBISHMENTS & NEW ATTRACTIONS
For an thought of what’s going to be closed in July 2023, test the Walt Disney World Refurbishment Schedule. The excellent news is that there aren’t many sights which are at the moment closed. The unhealthy information is that calendar doesn’t totally cowl the development throughout Walt Disney World–simply journey closures.
EPCOT is beginning to look higher in Summer 2023, however it’s removed from completed. The huge reimagining on the entrance of EPCOT that has resulted in half the park being a veritable dust pit might be winding down, and extra of those walkways at the moment are open. Still, it isn’t all completed, so anticipate to come across development partitions between no less than now and October 2023.
On the plus aspect, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, Space 220 Restaurant, Creations Shop, Club Cool, Connections Cafe, and extra all have now debuted.
When it involves Cosmic Rewind, experiencing the recently-added journey is a bit difficult. Be certain to take a look at our How to Ride Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind & Virtual Queue Speed Strategy to enhance your possibilities of success for becoming a member of the free digital queue. We’re anticipating the digital queue to finish any day now…however we’ve been anticipating that for a matter of months. So who is aware of.
Another various for Cosmic Rewind is shopping for line-skipping entry through the Individual Lightning Lanes. Those posts clarify the free and paid choices, their professionals & cons, and all the pieces else it’s good to know. Suffice to say, don’t simply present as much as EPCOT anticipating to hitch the standby line–as there isn’t one.
Then there’s the largest addition to Magic Kingdom: TRON Lightcycle Run. This is the most recent main attraction at Walt Disney World, having formally opened in April. This works very equally to Cosmic Rewind; see our Virtual Queue Strategy Guide for TRON Lightcycle Run for particulars, suggestions & methods for achievement, and extra.
There is appreciable overlap between the digital queues for the 2 rides, so that you most likely solely have to learn the VQ information for TRON Lightcycle Run and might apply those self same “lessons” to each. Unlike Cosmic Rewind, we don’t anticipate this digital queue to be retired earlier than 2024.
Beyond that, there are a number of sights that haven’t but opened and certain received’t till Summer 2023 or later. The most pertinent of which is Moana’s Journey of Water at Epcot, which formally opens in Late 2023, however might have a shock early opening. (It’s been nearly completed since spring break.)
For an outline of what else is on the horizon, see What’s New & Next at Walt Disney World in 2023 & 2024. Nothing else is prone to debut this summer season. All of the remaining tasks that’ll debut this 12 months are at EPCOT, and the timeline for these is all “Late 2023” or “later in 2023.” In each circumstances, meaning October by means of Christmas 2023.
JULY 2023 DISNEY WORLD CROWD CALENDAR
There’s no color-coded July 2023 crowd calendar to begin this as a result of that’s reductionist and doesn’t provide the full image of Walt Disney World attendance traits. Moreover, WDW crowd calendars are much less dependable attributable to how Disney manipulates attendance patterns, staffing, closures, and journey capability. It higher serves readers to supply an evidence when it comes to what to anticipate crowd-wise this summer season at Walt Disney World.
Since Disney doesn’t launch official attendance numbers, crowd calendars use issues like college schedules, airport visitors statistics, lodge pricing & occupancy, and so on., as proxies for crowds. We use these to forecast wait occasions and the ensuing crowd ranges. In brief, predicting wait occasions through Walt Disney World crowd calendars is an imperfect science. Hopefully that is sensible!
There are different wrinkles that make predicting summer season crowds at Walt Disney World troublesome. One is the stress between pent-up demand and the pre-closure development of summers being much less busy. (See “Summer Isn’t Peak Season at Walt Disney World.”)
As lined in that article, July is not one of many busiest months of the 12 months at Walt Disney World–or no less than, it wasn’t from 2017 by means of 2019. That’s to not say it was low season at Walt Disney World in July throughout these years (removed from it!), simply that the start of the month is not massively crowded. It was nonetheless summer season trip season. Nevertheless, the parks have been busier in October than in July throughout these years.
Typically, the primary week of July–the one encompassing Independence Day–could be far and away the busiest week of the month. Crowds would regularly lower after that, dropping barely with every subsequent week. However, that’s not how Summer 2023 has performed out to date…
July 9, 2023 Update: Based on wait time knowledge from the final a number of months coupled with the conventional trajectory of summer season crowd ranges, it now seems more and more probably that the final week of June was the height of the summer season season. Wait occasions rose regularly between the week earlier than Memorial Day and the final week of June, and have steadily dropped within the final two weeks–together with Independence Day.
Even late June was not busy, with 5/10 crowd ranges throughout all of Walt Disney World. Given the trend-line, our expectation is weekly crowd ranges within the 4/10 and beneath vary for the rest of July 2023. (Those are weekly averages, with each day crowd ranges of 1/10 to six/10.) It’s potential that one other slight spike might happen within the subsequent couple of weeks, particularly as Walt Disney World has gotten extra aggressive with discounting, and pricing is extra favorable.
With that stated, the worst crowd ranges are nonetheless prone to be bel0w-average and be totally completed by July 20. Expect crowd ranges at or underneath 5/10 between now and July 14, 2023. Crowd ranges at or underneath 4/10 are probably July 17-21, 2023. For July 24-28 and July 31, 2023, anticipate 3/10 to 4/10 crowd ranges.
Some days, particularly Mondays and Tuesdays, might spike to six/10 or maybe even a uncommon 7/10 at Magic Kingdom or Disney’s Hollywood Studios. It’s unlikely that any particular person day will surpass 8/10 crowd ranges, barring unbelievable climate or atrocious attraction breakdowns.
For the remaining weekends in July 2023, anticipate 1/10 to three/10 crowd ranges. If you’re questioning why Saturday and Sunday attendance forecasts are decrease, see the ‘Wonky Weekends at Walt Disney World’ part of our lately up to date Best & Worst Days to Do All Parks at Walt Disney World in 2023 for a dialogue of this dynamic. (This is a brand new development as of this 12 months.)
Expect all of those traits to proceed into August 2023, which is able to probably be slower than this month. That’s par for the course, as faculties begin going again into session mid-month, and fewer households are inclined to take summer season holidays within the couple of weeks heading again into college. The result’s sometimes that crowds proceed to taper off all through August earlier than bottoming out in September. Expect the identical dynamic in late summer season and early fall. It’ll be attention-grabbing to see simply how low crowds can go within the low season!
All of that is pretty in line with the final couple of months at Walt Disney World. If you’ve been following our current crowd experiences, you’re probably already conscious that numbers nose-dived after Easter, with the slowest 6-week stretch at Walt Disney World in 2 years previous to Memorial Day. Wait occasions have elevated since then, however it has not been busy.
There have been a number of 7/10 days this summer season season WDW-wide, and likewise a handful of days when Magic Kingdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studios hit 8/10. No park has had a 9/10 or 10/10 day to date this summer season, although.
Before you get enthusiastic about these “unprecedentedly” low crowd forecasts for the rest of Summer 2023, somewhat context is suitable. For starters, crowd ranges are calculated on a rolling foundation relative to the latest one year round them. They are not anchored to 1971 or 1993 or 2008 wait occasions–that will be completely ineffective from a sensible/planning perspective.
Meaning that 2023 crowd calendars are relative to final 12 months when pent-up demand was nonetheless working robust at Walt Disney World. If you look again to 2018 or 2019, the present crowd ranges are nonetheless below-trend…however not manner beneath common. Looking again even additional, just about each single day in 2023 could be 10/10 if we used 2008 or earlier because the baseline.
Point being, if you happen to final skilled Walt Disney World within the post-reopening interval, and even in 2017 or through the Great Recession, your baseline expectations and expertise most likely could be completely different than somebody who visited throughout vacation weeks over the last 12 months or when pent-up demand was actually working scorching.
Not solely that, however a ‘low’ crowd ranges doesn’t imply that in absolute phrases. Even on 1/10 days, the parks is not going to be veritable ghost cities (for probably the most half) permitting you to do snow angels on the bottom. You will see rides with 60-90 minute posted wait occasions. You will encounter areas of congestion. “Uncrowded” at Walt Disney World means one thing completely different than it does on the American Dream Mall or Wyoming in The Last of Us. The hottest rides, particularly through the center of the day, will nonetheless have lengthy strains.
For instance, going from a ten/10 crowd degree to a 1/10 crowd degree means you would possibly encounter a 65-75 minute common wait time for standard rides–resembling Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Peter Pan’s Flight, Slinky Dog Dash, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, and Avatar Flight of Passage–versus 90-120 minute wait occasions. Since these numbers are averages, it additionally means increased peaks and decrease lows. Below-average crowd ranges doesn’t imply each attraction is at all times a walk-on!
Another particular downside level is Happily Ever After. Unfortunately, congestion is the not-so-new regular for fireworks at Magic Kingdom. For the sake of illustration, let’s say that there are–on common–40,000 folks in Magic Kingdom in the direction of the top of a busy night time.
On a slower day, let’s say the quantity is 20,000 folks–half the variety of a busy day. Now let’s assume that 10,000 folks match on or round Main Street USA. It’s a simple arithmetic downside. Regardless of whether or not it’s a gradual or busy night time, the variety of folks desirous to see Happily Ever After exceeds the capability of the viewing areas on and round Main Street.
Finally, anticipate there to be day-to-day and park-to-park variance for the rest of July 2023. This is past the scope of this crowd calendar, and can largely find yourself being pushed by journey breakdowns, upkeep points, and climate.
If it’s a very scorching or wet day, Floridians will largely keep away from the parks, which might scale back crowd ranges. If it’s an unseasonably dry or cooler (by Orlando in summer season requirements) day, Floridians will flock to the park. If a number of sights expertise downtime, that may trigger wait occasions to balloon in all places else. All of those are extra random variables, however they collectively can transfer the needle on crowd ranges significantly.
JULY PRICING & DISCOUNTS
While particular gives for Walt Disney World are often weak for summer season, there’s truly an above-average variety of offers for Summer 2023. Not solely are there extra reductions out there than is typical for this time of 12 months, however the proportion financial savings are additionally increased than regular.
Normally, Walt Disney World has one thing of a captive viewers through the summer season months as many households can solely go to then attributable to college being out of session. Disney solely gives reductions in an effort to fill lodge rooms and entice extra friends to go to. They don’t actually need any further incentive for the summer season, as that’s when individuals are most inclined to journey to Florida, even within the face of the climate we talked about above.
In phrases of pricing, July has increased than common charges. One-day park tickets are costliest throughout this month, with most of July being “peak” season (learn our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets put up for multi-day ticket suggestions to keep away from having to take care of seasonal pricing). Hotels aren’t fairly as unhealthy, because it’s the “Summer” pricing season for them most dates; general, lodge charges are barely above common, exterior from the dates round Independence Day.
Even with below-average crowds, you’ll nonetheless need a strong itinerary for touring the parks. July can be a secure guess on the subject of seeing the brand new leisure and sights at Walt Disney World, and the longer hours. There’s additionally upside within the inclement climate: it clears out the parks. If there’s heavy rain for over an hour (and also you comply with our tricks to stick it out), you’ll be rewarded with a far less-crowded park after the rain stops.
Many friends aren’t ready for heavy rain, and a heavy rain in early afternoon can imply considerably decrease crowds the remainder of the day. It’ll additionally settle down the parks a bit. From an goal perspective, July is without doubt one of the worst months of the 12 months, however it does have upside and if you happen to’re pressured to go to through the summer season attributable to your college or trip schedule, you shouldn’t hesitate to take action. You’ll nonetheless have a great time!
Planning a Walt Disney World journey? Learn about accommodations on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews web page. For the place to eat, learn our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To get monetary savings on tickets or decide which sort to purchase, learn our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets put up. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips put up takes a novel have a look at intelligent gadgets to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will assist. For complete recommendation, the perfect place to begin is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for all the pieces it’s good to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Do you agree {that a} wet day at Walt Disney World is best than an ideal day at dwelling? Do you want July at Walt Disney World? If you’ve visited in July, do you may have any suggestions so as to add? Do you agree or disagree with our evaluation of July? Any questions we will help you reply? Hearing your suggestions–even once you disagree with us–is each attention-grabbing to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!