Recent Reports Assert Disney World “Unusually Empty,” Losing its Main Audience

The Walt Disney World Resort and the Disneyland Resort are some of the best places in the world to enjoy a Disney vacation. For years now, Guests have all collectively agreed that going to any Disney Park gives them a chance to have the ultimate Disney experience; with rides and attractions like Haunted Mansion and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in Magic Kingdom Park and lands like Avengers Campus in Disney California Adventure and Pandora in Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park, it’s no question why.

Attendance at Walt Disney World

The Disney Parks, particularly Walt Disney World Resort, are known to be so intense, especially during the summer months, that crowds abound at the Disney Resort. Attractions have seen almost four-hour-long wait times on multiple counts. Fans have sometimes even taken to studying and analyzing Disney World crowds to help fellow Park visitors on their future trips.

However, despite this, attendance at Disney World is reportedly projected to dip, with the Park being “unusually empty.”

Reports State Disney World is “Unusually Empty”

In a recent podcast, the Disney History Institute shared that Park attendance is down at least 20% off of a usual summer. Citing inflation and a possible recession, the podcast explains that families are being more careful with their disposable income. The host elaborated that on a Saturday evening in May, despite a posted 35-minute wait time, he was “nearly able to walk onto Rise of the Resistance with no line at all,” an attraction that has posted unbelievable wait times in the past.

One of the primary reasons the host also explains is that Disney has now priced out its primary audience, middle-class families, out of a Disney vacation, which he posits might become an issue long-term for the Walt Disney Company. He explains that in the past, families would make multiple trips to the Disney Park after a successful first trip, but now families are unable to gather the funds for even that first trip—making follow-up trips unlikely.

While the podcast did acknowledge a lot of Disney CEO Bob Iger’s moves to rectify a lot of the trouble that the Walt Disney Company is seeing—noting how Disney’s stock is currently close to what it was at the start of the pandemic—the Mouse House is still not in the clear.

Disney has also unveiled whopping discounts for the summer, whether with hotels or Park prices, in an attempt to win back this audience, but only time will tell how successful this will turn out for the Mouse House.

You can listen to the full podcast here.