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The Walt Disney World Resort is known to be one of the best places in the world for a Disney vacation. From rides and attractions like Haunted Mansion and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Magic Kingdom Park to lands like Pandora at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park, there is a lot to enjoy and experience while at the Disney Parks. However, fans have recently noted that crowds at the theme parks are starting to dwindle, leading many to question if Disney World’s heyday is officially over.
Mickey Mouse and Friends at Magic Kingdom Park, Walt Disney World Resort / Credit: Disney
Prior to COVID-19, the Disney Parks were the undisputed #1 theme park experience in the United States, as all Disney fans would agree. Even their numbers showed their rising popularity and clearly indicated how much people enjoyed frequenting them. The pandemic saw all businesses, including the Walt Disney Company and the Disney Parks, take a hit, and it’s not entirely clear if the parks have recovered since.
To be clear, there have been enough instances of the parks being very crowded since we began moving on from the pandemic, but at the same time, it’s a no-brainer that the Disney Parks are not what they once were.
Tusker House, Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park / Credit: Disney
Related: Disney Parks “Absolutely Dead” on Typically Crowded Holiday Weekend
Per the latest reports, Walt Disney World was practically empty during the Fourth of July weekend. Many even went so far as to call the park “absolutely dead” compared to what folks were expecting. As Cinema Blend reported,
…the 2023 Independence Day celebration was the worst day for attendance on the holiday in a decade – which is wild considering in 2021 and 2022 a lot of businesses were still recovering from the economic impacts of the pandemic.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios Theme Park, Walt Disney World Resort / Credit: Disney
While it might seem surprising to learn of this, the writing has been on the wall for some time now. The decrease in Disney Park attendance isn’t always apparent when seeing how crowded the parks are, but the instances of the parks being empty have gone up tremendously. The Parks being “dead” during a holiday weekend, a historically busy time of the year, is a more obvious sign of a long-standing problem.
Disney needs to make sure it fixes its parks problem by allowing the parks to become financially accessible to more Guests again while also maintaining the quality of the Guest experience that fans have become accustomed to. It’s unlikely that this hiccup will be anything more than just a tiny bump in the road for the Walt Disney Company, but here’s hoping the Mouse House is paying attention to the warning signs.
