For many families, summer is the most logical time to go on vacation. School’s out, the weather is nice, and those holiday weekends make it easier to take off work. Often, Disney World sees a spike in park attendance come summer, so it’s no surprise that many families plan to visit Orlando between June and August.
EPCOT
Although summer is a popular time of year for Disney World, some may be questioning their summer plans in the parks this year. Let’s talk about it.
1. Rising Cost of Genie+
This April, Genie+ (Disney’s FastPass+ replacement) cost as much as $35 per person, per day. Ever since Disney introduced surge pricing for Genie+, we’ve seen the cost of Genie+ vary from $15 to $35 depending on the crowd level and time of year.
And that’s not even including Individual Lightning Lanes, which require an extra, separate fee to skip the line for Disney’s most popular attractions!
Genie+
Many guests may be hesitant to visit the Disney parks this summer, given Disney’s history of raising the price of Genie+ during the busy times of the year. Could the price of Genie+ exceed $35? We don’t know! With such a high added cost to contend with, larger families may choose not to visit Disney World this year.
2. Disney’s Park Pass Reservation System
The Park Pass Reservation System has been a divisive topic of conversation for many Disney fans. In short, the system requires guests to make a reservation before entering a specific park, and guests must visit that same park before being able to park hop starting at 2PM.
Magic Kingdom entrance
Recently, Disney announced that the Park Pass Reservation System will be going away for those who have date-based park tickets. This means that people who buy theme park tickets that are linked to a specific date (or set of dates) will no longer need park passes to get into the parks. The thing is, this rule change will not start until January 9th, 2024.
Entrance to Disney’s Animal Kingdom
Because of this news, some travelers may decide to wait until 2024 to visit Disney World. If your family visits Disney World once every few years (and does not like using the Park Pass Reservation System), it might make sense to wait until 2024 for that big vacation.
Click here to see the full details of Disney’s new Park Pass Reservation rule change
3. No Disney Dining Plan This Summer
The Disney Dining Plan has not been available for a long time — it’s been YEARS since guests have been able to pre-pay for their Disney meals and take advantage of the Dining Plan service.
Dole Whip
If you’re unfamiliar, the Disney Dining Plan is a pre-purchased expense that is added onto a Disney Vacation Package (note that you must be staying at a Disney-owned-and-operated hotel and have purchased at least one park ticket per person). Then, during your vacation, all you have to do is head to a restaurant on the DDP list, eat, and scan your card!
A top-tier snack
Now, we FINALLY have a return date! January 9th, 2024 marks the day that the Disney Dining Plan will officially return.
Skipper Canteen
According to Disney, both the Quick Service and Standard Disney Dining Plans will be the only options to return (for now), and these plans must be booked as part of a Disney hotel package.
Ocean Moon Bowl at Disney’s Animal Kingdom
For those that are HUGE fans of the Disney Dining Plan, it might make the most financial sense to postpone a summer vacation until 2024, when the Dining Plan is back in action. If you and your family miss being able to scan that Disney Dining Plan card, you might want to skip that 2023 trip and start planning a vacation for next year!
Click here for the full details of the Disney Dining Plan
4. Too Crowded
Let’s face it: Disney World is not your local run-of-the-mill amusement park. It’s one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world! With such a famous reputation, it’s been BUSY in the parks and resorts lately.
It can get CROWDED in the parks!
Some may chalk those extra crowds up to the collective need to travel after the pandemic, while others may attribute the crowds to all of Disney’s new attractions and offerings. No matter what the case is for all those extra people in Disney World, it’s safe to say that the parks have seen some big crowds lately.
Look at all those people!
Families that want to avoid crowds may opt to visit Disney World during a slower time of year, like January or February. We typically recommend avoiding holidays if you want to keep the crowds at bay. With that in mind, some may be reconsidering a trip to Disney World around the Fourth of July this year.
5. It’s Hot.
Finally, we’ll end with an obvious one. Many people avoid Central Florida altogether in the summer due to the HEAT! If you don’t enjoy sweating, baking in the sun, or burning your skin on hot pavement, you should stay far away from Disney World in the summer.
Or you could just stay in the pool the whole time!
On any given day in the summer, the temperature can exceed 100° — and that’s not even factoring in the humidity! Take it from us. The Florida sun can be brutal, especially if you’re not used to it. If hot, hot weather isn’t your thing, you might want to consider a trip to Disney World in the fall instead.
Those pool chairs fill UP in the summer!
Disney travelers have TONS of different reasons for booking their trips to Orlando, and no two families have the same ideas about what’s best! If you’re planning a trip to Disney World this year, you might want to think carefully about what time of year works best for you and your family. In the meantime, we’re always on the lookout for the latest Disney news, so stay tuned for more!
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I’m not skipping it. So, there’s that. In fact, visiting Disneyland, WDW, and Disneyland Paris. Not a bad tour.
We are coming over from the UK (our first vacation since the pandemic). Over crowding is a concern to me but we have 14 days so will do big rides early and chill for the remainder of the day. We are also fortunate to have the dining card which was offered to UK customers last year
Disney can’t control the weather, but now they’ll realize how much guests dislike the reservation system and that most don’t want to pay additional fees for Genie+. This may be a wake-up call, and they will get rid of reservations and make Genie+ more like FastPass at no cost for Disney World and Disneyland.
Agree with your thoughts plus Some people I know are boycotting Florida due to Ron DeSantis extreme positions .
“Skipping” WDW this summer is relative to the reader. Disney will still be crowded, and many, if not most, guests ignore the fact about how hot it does get there and goes despite the heat (not a wise choice but I think that is the case).
Hey, what can I say? I’m taking my wife there at the end of August for her birthday, and I hope it is less crowded. I plan to bring and use a cooling towel and a neck fan! 100 days ’til we head there.
Ron Desantis (et al.) is still Gov.
Hear, hear. We WERE planning a trip for mid November and had been waffling between next March and this November. This really throws a wrench in things as we DO love the dining plan! And NO park reservations? My least favorite thing about Disney right now! Now for the reason I would still go in 2023? I finally know how to work Genie Plus as it stands now and they will be making changes next year, which will probably take time to sort out.
There is also the fact that many people are boycotting Disney for many reasons: the magic is gone, too expensive, agenda-driven content, too complicated for a vacation. And the economy isn’t the best right now to justify spending that much on a vacation to a stressful place.
I would NEVER go in summer. I don’t do well in hot humid weather, and would have to douse myself in sunblock AT LEAST once a day.
Ron DeSantis and the horrible policies he and other Republicans have enacted. We will go to Disneyland if we need a Disney fix.
Some people are boycotting Disney because of their politics.
Hey Dude and Sharon….Your reason to ditch Disney is Desantis? WDW must really feel good about your decision…..Thanks but no thanks… LOL !
Disney aside, the atmosphere of general intolerance currently being fostered in Florida has ruined its place as my preferred vacation destination. I treasure the memories made there, and heaven knows we have done our part to support their economy, but the ugly political climate and gun violence have definitely blunted our appetite for the Sunshine State.
my problem is the crowds – I pay whatever I have to pay but over the last years it’s gotten so busy that the crowds are almost unbearable. As I get older, it’s just harder to deal with. But I still love Disney!!
Reason very obvious. Half the country does not approve of the whole woke environment and don’t want to spend money for their kids yo be there. The economy doesn’t help so if you are on the fence, why spend the huge dollars when deep down you don’t even want to be there.
Jen I don’t think that “HALF” the country does not approve of “woke”…you are speaking for a lot of folks. – I just think that Disney has just out priced many folks unfortuntely. I used to go several times a year – but with the price increases – I have now pruned it down to twice a year. With me, it has nothing to do with the “woke”
Does anyone have other ideas to control crowds beside the Park Reservation System? I’m all ears 🙂
“Heat”, “Crowds” these will not go away in 2024. “Genie” don’t participate. “No dining plan” and “Reservation system” The former will be reimplemented and the latter, hopefully discontinued. So it appears that the main reasons people are choosing not to go to Disney are economics and political BS. When was the last time your vacation was ruined by this last thing – I’m curious.