Summer is not our favorite time to visit Walt Disney World. There are several reasons for this, from the lack of special events to the weather and overall travel costs. However, there’s a growing number of selling points for the season, and July 2026 is going to have one week that’s especially attractive.
The good news is that crowds is not one of the reasons that we aren’t overly enthusiastic about summer. Attendance has been trending down from May through August, as we discuss at length in Why Summer is the New Low Crowds Season at Disney World. That offers our theories for the summer slowdown, as well as why it’s not really all that surprising and is a trend first observed in 2016-2018, then again the last few years.
Summer has never been as bad as Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, or any other more consolidated school breaks. Having multiple months off always meant that crowds were more spread out. Even the ‘twin peaks’ of summer that we’ve cautioned readers to avoid are not even remotely bad as compared to any of those briefer breaks.
During a panel we attended this year, Walt Disney World executives corroborated this and indicated that the shift has been more pronounced in the last few years. As with so much else, the post-COVID period has changed travel patterns. More parents are willing to pull their kids out of school throughout the academic year, or are willing to take shorter trips throughout year. The result has been a hollowing out of summer.
Conversely, winter has seen an increase in demand (a trend that predates “revenge travel”), and Walt Disney World reportedly recorded its highest resort occupancy levels over a 10-week stretch that ended in March. This is another trend we’ve observed over the last several years–see Winter (Still) Is Not Off-Season at Walt Disney World. The first three months of the year are among the only dates to see crowd increases each of the last few years, and it’s safe to expect a repeat of that in early 2026.
Despite all of this, there is still the misconception that winter is off-season and summer is peak season. Even though the trendline has been changing for almost a decade at this point, vacation planners still base travel decisions on outdated information. It takes a while for ‘conventional wisdom’ to change.
Walt Disney World leadership essentially confirmed as much, revealing that their pre-visit surveys show that the belief among prospective guests is that crowds are highest in summer. Among actual Walt Disney World guests, surveys reveal that the perception of crowds in summer are the lowest.
In other words, there’s a massive ‘expectations vs. reality’ chasm. Guests went in expecting much worse crowds than what they actually experienced, and had their expectations exceeded. (Nothing shared on how the weather performed on this ‘expectations vs. reality’ measure. Odd.)
Suffice to say, summer can be an expectations-exceeding time to visit (although perhaps not with DTB readers since we’ve been hammering this point for years), and 2026 has its own selling points. There’s also the reality that many families can only visit during school breaks. Here’s a rundown of why you may want to visit in summer, pros & cons, and why one window is getting more compelling…
Summer Wait Times
Monthly crowd levels were on a steady decline between this March and September. Which is to say that every single completed month since then has been less busy than the one before it. This is completely consistent with last year, and comparable to most other years, too.
The biggest change we’ve seen emerge is that May has been busier than June or July, when it used to be the shoulder season slowdown. That still happens relative to spring break, but then crowds just keep dropping for summer. To put that into perspective, here are the monthly averages across Walt Disney World:
- September: 26 minutes
- August: 28 minutes
- July: 30 minutes
- June: 31 minutes
- May: 32 minutes
- April: 34 minutes
October bucked that downward trend, and was the busiest month since May. If past precedent is any indication, November will end up being busier than October, and December will end up being the busiest month of the entire year. January through March 2026 won’t be that busy, but they won’t be slow.
Of course, this is ‘smoothing out’ crowds over the course of entire months. There are certain weeks that are far better and far worse. Even quiet months can have pockets of heavy crowds, and vice-versa. Summer typically has twin peaks that are worse than other dates, as well as two valleys that are best.
The dates around Independence Day have been even slower. That long weekend used to have 10/10 crowds and be among the busiest holidays of the year. It has become below-average.
Independence Day 2023 was downright dead at Walt Disney World. It was such a hot topic that it drew an explanation from CEO Bob Iger, who attributed the slowness to an exhaustion of pent-up demand in Florida as a whole and unseasonably bad weather. He wasn’t wrong…but he also wasn’t completely correct. Pricing and aggressive ticket blockouts were the bigger culprit.
Independence Day 2024 crowds were again low, even minus blockouts. Walt Disney World as a whole had an average wait time of 26 minutes on July 4, 2024. That was down as compared to the last two weeks of June, which had average wait times of 35 minutes (second to last week) and 31 minutes (last week).
Fourth of July 2025 crowds were similarly slow. The first week of July had a 26 minute average and crowd level of 1/10. Sunday, July 6th was the slowest day of summer (and the entire year up to that point). This was a sharp contrast to the last week of June, which was tied for the busiest week of summer.
It’s a near-certainty that the first week or so of July 2026 won’t be as bad as many past years. There’s a bit less certainty around when the peaks will occur in June and July, but probably in the second half of both months.
Even if Walt Disney World is aggressive in attempting to reverse the Fourth of July decline, it simply will not compare to 2019 or earlier, back when the parks were truly busy. They were already aggressive last year with discounts and it didn’t move the needle at all.
We’d nevertheless expect higher crowd levels than the last two years, by virtue of the holiday falling on a Saturday and Walt Disney World doing more to promote the Fourth of July for the 250th Anniversary of the United States.
There’s a scenario where Disney pulls out all the stops for the Semiquincentennial, this ends up being a big event, and Walt Disney World is deemed a must-visit summer destination for many Americans. But if that’s going to happen, we’ll know well in advance. What they’ve announced thus far isn’t enough to make it so.
At this point, it’s safe to expect lower crowd levels over the holiday weekend. That shouldn’t be a surprising or bold prediction to anyone who has paid attention to crowd patterns over the last several years. If Independence Day 2026 ends up being busier, that is what will be the surprise at this point.
Best Week of Summer 2026
As discussed in our list of the 10 Best and 10 Worst Weeks to Visit Walt Disney World in 2026 & 2027, one of these weeks is actually around Independence Day: June 30 to July 5, 2026. The above wait times data speaks for itself, as the dates around Independence Day have become one of the absolute best weeks of the year over the last 3 years, and it still catches a ton of fans by surprise.
We have a love-hate relationship with this week, but recently added it to the list as a “bonus” entry, recognizing the practical reality that many families only have a few options for travel, and summer vacation season–roughly between early June and early August–is far and away the biggest window. It felt like an oversight to gloss over that completely, especially since one of the best and arguably most fun long weekends of the entire year is here.
That’s right, the Fourth of July is one of the best weeks to visit, not one of the worst. Due to aggressive Annual Pass blockouts, higher travel costs, and erroneous assumptions about crowds, this week has been the slowest of summer for the last 3 consecutive years. Note that the week immediately before this makes the ‘worst’ list, so if you arrive earlier, you’re likely to experience elevated wait times. But once the calendar rolls over to July, crowds should drop sharply.
Biggest Downside of Summer
All of this should sound great…so what’s the hate part of the love-hate relationship? Weather. Oppressively hot and humid temperatures are the reason that only one week during the summer makes our ‘best’ list. Walt Disney World has a special surface-of-the-sun ‘themed’ atmosphere this time of year.
Subjectively, we’re not super jazzed on early July because it’s one of the hottest times of the year to visit Central Florida. We tend to prefer early to mid-May or late September to early October, but those aren’t exactly summer and most families with school aged kids won’t have those dates off.
Many families visit the Sunshine State for, you know, the sunshine. Warmer weather is pro as opposed to a con. And that’s one reason to avoid December through February, but not necessarily target the height of summer season instead. That is, unless triple-digit feels like temperatures and heat radiating off the pavement well into the evening (with nighttime park hours limited in the first place due to later sunset times) sound alluring.
Heat, humidity, and hurricanes are a gamble anytime from April through November. Weather is a hot topic on this blog, so we don’t want to belabor the point. If you’re on the fence about this tradeoff, see Is It Still Worth Visiting During the Offseason at Walt Disney World? for a greater discussion of weather vs. crowds.
However, there are two new reasons to consider visiting for Fourth of July 2026…
Summer 2026 Discounts
Walt Disney World has gotten more aggressive resort discounts as “revenge travel” has fizzled out, resulting in most resort rates effectively decreasing as compared to the last two years.
Disney has NOT yet released its full slate of Summer 2026 discounts–only the Save Up to $250 Per Night at Walt Disney World in Winter to Summer 2026 discount. So officially, we don’t know if the discounts will be better or worse than other travel dates.
However, past precedent is usually the best predictor of future special offers, and this summer was incredibly aggressive. In fact, this summer offered the best discounts we’ve seen in a long time. As discussed in How to Get the Cheapest Walt Disney World Trip Since 2019, we saw the biggest savings in at least the last 6 years.
Notable summer discounts included the 50% Off Kids Ticket Offer and the 3-Day, 3-Park Magic Ticket Deal for adults. There was also the ‘Stay Longer & Save More’ Room Discount and the Summer Rooms Starting at $99/Night at WDW for Disney+ Subscribers. These discounts were in addition to the normal special offers, including but not limited to conventional Free Dining and room-only percentage savings for the general public, Annual Passholders, Florida residents, etc.
Several readers have already asked when those discounts–especially the general public ticket deals–are likely to return. Summer 2026 is the most obvious answer.
I would not necessarily bank on the $99/night room deal, which was more novel and last minute (something will be released, but it could very well be a Georgia resident deal, which wouldn’t help any of you residing in 48 other states).
By contrast, I fully expect summer ticket deals for the general public to make a comeback. There’s already the New Walt Disney World 2026 Ticket Deal for Disney+ Subscribers, which runs until May 22, 2026. That would normally be the timeframe for a Florida resident discount (one’s probably still coming) and not a quasi-general public deal.
In all likelihood, ticket deals will run for multiple months from June through September, too. But if what we saw this year was any indication, the biggest and best savings will be available from late June through July 2026.
If you’re just browsing best-available resort rack rates and ticket prices, Summer 2026 being cheaper might look unlikely. After all, it’s more expensive than a variety of dates as of right now. Counterintuitive as it might sound, that’s precisely why there will be discounts.
Walt Disney World studied at the Kohl’s School of Business and, on top of that, overshot the mark with pricing on the summer months. Rather than doing the logical thing and lowering prices to meet the market, they use discounts to accomplish that. And by and large, those discounts won’t be released until next winter and spring.
Summer 2026 Special Event
The other big selling point for Summer 2026 is the celebration of our nation’s 250th anniversary with a new initiative called “Disney Celebrates America.” That technically already started on Veterans Day, and continues through the July 4, 2026, weekend. What, exactly, this celebration entails is unknown. Disney has said it’ll “honor America’s past, celebrate the present, and inspire its future.”
Walt Disney World and Disneyland will celebrate coast-to-coast, anchored by the Summer 2026 opening of Soarin’ Across America, an immersive flight experience aboard the beloved Soarin’ attractions at Disney California Adventure park and EPCOT. Soarin’ Across America will take guests on a breathtaking journey, highlighting some of the country’s natural beauty and iconic cityscapes.
The celebration will culminate on the July 4th weekend with a 24-hour, multi-platform broadcast, “Disney Celebrates America,” highlighting America’s 250th anniversary events nationwide across Disney’s linear networks and streaming platforms, ending with a special evening fireworks broadcast from Walt Disney World and Disneyland.
Prior to that, the fireworks show “Disney’s Celebrate America! — A Fourth of July Concert in the Sky,” will play across all three nights of the holiday weekend, July 3-5, 2026, at Magic Kingdom (and also at Disneyland).
This fireworks show normally preempts Happily Ever After on July 3-4, so it’s really just one bonus night for 2026. But honestly, given the lower crowds over the last few years, if I had to guess whether Walt Disney World will scale up or down its Independence Day offerings, I absolutely would’ve bet on a cutback. It would’ve been the logical move in light of demand. Instead, they’re doing the opposite and doubling down on the Fourth of July.
Honestly, I don’t expect this “Disney Celebrates America” event to amount to much of anything prior to July 2026. After all, it’s already technically underway yet there are zero signs of this in the parks. But I do expect more at Walt Disney World throughout the Independence Day weekend that has yet to be announced.
There’s going to be a 24-hour, multi-platform broadcast on pretty much every Disney network and streaming platform. These productions are herculean undertakings, and they’ll already have a crew in Florida for the fireworks. It would make sense to capture more footage throughout the weekend, and in order to do that, they’ll want to have more “activations” and special entertainment.
I wouldn’t be surprised if July 4, 2026 marked the return of the 24-hour party at Magic Kingdom. It’s probably still unlikely to happen, but if ever there were a shot at it, that date would be it. While a 24-hour Patriotic Party called “A Salute to All Nations, But Only Really America” would be a glorious finale to the 250th Anniversary celebration, I’d bet on something a bit smaller.
Maybe more patriotic character appearances, entertainment, military bands flown out–that type of thing. It should be a really fun weekend in the parks, regardless. A chance to be part of a once-in-a-lifetime event. Like filming of the ABC holiday specials over Veterans Day, we expect this to be fun for guests who are there, but probably not enough of a draw to cause out of state fans to book trips to experience. At least, that’s my hope.
Ultimately, the biggest endorsement I can give for these dates at Walt Disney World in late June and early July 2026 is that I’ll be “voting with my feet” and tentatively planning a visit then. I strongly suspect there’s more that has yet to be revealed; that plus the low crowds and high likelihood of discounts more than offsets the weather for me. (Famous last words.)
The only reason I’m a little reluctant with this recommendation for everyone else is because Disneyland also exists. We’ve done the last three Independence Day weekends at Disneyland, and had an absolute blast. All of the same selling points to do Walt Disney World this week also exist with Disneyland, but with one big bonus: better weather.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
If you’ve done Walt Disney World over the last few Independence Day holidays, what was your experience? Was it worth hitting the lower crowds, or was the weather too hot and humid? Expectations for the Disney Celebrates America event? Thoughts about anything else covered here? If you’re a frequent visitor during this timeframe, what’s your take on crowds, wait times, seasonal offerings, weather, etc? Agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!