While families often dream of a big Disney vacation, once you get to the parks, the reality can be less than magical. The cost can be exorbitant, and you're likely to be hit with massive crowds and long lines if you go when kids are out of school—as they are right now. This summer, however, guests say Disney Parks are strangely "empty," and they have a few theories as to why.
RELATED: Disney Parks Threaten to Ban Guests for Life Over Controversial "Line Hack."
In a June 22 post on X, one park guest said that Disney World is basically a "ghost town" now.
"I live in Orlando with year passes to Disney," they wrote. "Disney attendance is crazy light. We have never seen the park so empty in our lives. I remember in 2000 you couldn't walk past main street before bumping into someone's shoulders. Now the place is a ghost town."
They're hardly the only one who has noticed this. Phil Wood, a writer for the Disney Parks news source WDW News Today, detailed a similar experience in a July 13 article for the site.
"While visiting Magic Kingdom today, we experienced incredibly low crowds for a summer Saturday," he wrote.
As Wood explained, annual passholders at Disney World usually have to make park reservations to enter one of the four theme parks, unless the day is labeled as a good-to-go day.
"These days usually fall during the week, and signify that Disney is expecting low crowd levels. Very rarely do these days fall on Saturdays, especially in the summer," he wrote. "Yet, today was labeled as a good-to-go day at all four theme parks, including Magic Kingdom. Based on our research, this may be the first Saturday ever to earn that distinction at Magic Kingdom."
According to Wood, it made sense once he entered the park because Magic Kingdom "was looking rather desolate."
"The area outside of Town Square Theater was mostly empty, with plenty of space for guests to walk and take pictures," Wood noted.
RELATED: 20 Secrets Disney Park Employees Never Tell You.
But why is attendance lower than normal this summer? As Rick Lyle, an avid Disney fan and writer for the Disney-based news source Inside the Magic, explained in a July 15 article for the site, some fans have theorized that extreme heat is to blame.
It's true that Central Florida has been experiencing hotter than normal weather this year, with feels-like temperatures reaching above 110 degrees Fahrenheit in recent weeks. But guests wouldn't have been aware that things would be heating up quite so much when they booked their trip.
Another major theory among guests is the cost. Disney Parks have never been cheap, but rising prices and new fees for services that used to be free are leaving people feeling frustrated—and making it harder for them to justify the expensive trip.
"No, Walt Disney World isn't empty this summer because of 'shifting guest visiting patterns' or Disney's goal of removing seasonality from their business. It's empty because it costs more than ever to visit people are scoffing at the idea of having to pay for stuff that used to be free," Disney Glimpses stated in a July 9 X post.
As Lyle explained, guests now have to pay significantly more for extras like Lightning Lane passes, and the company has gotten rid of free perks that used to come with a Disney vacation, like Fast Pass, Magical Express, Extended Hours for all Disney Resort guests, and free MagicBands.
"If you've gotten the feeling that Disney World has become more expensive, it is NOT all in your head," DisneyFoodBlog summarized in a July 10 X post.
