It’s no secret that our absolute favorite week of the year to visit Walt Disney World is during the holiday season. It’s perfect in every regard, from manageable crowds to reliably comfortable weather to the parks decked out for Christmas. There are many other weeks we like a lot, but there’s another with which we have more of a love-hate relationship. (Updated June 1, 2025.)
Another one of our top 10 weeks of 2025 falls in the early fall. This one also has a lot going for it, which is why we visit frequently during this week. It’s the start of the EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival. The foodie fest has returned to its normal cadence this year, which means kicking off on Thursday, August 28, 2025. Although the opening weekend for any festival is busy, there should be a couple of days around Labor Day that aren’t too bad.
It’s also near the start of Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, but not at the very beginning. This means the lowest prices for event tickets ($129 to $139 this year), usually slightly better weather (although nothing even approaching costume-level comfortable for us), and sometimes parties that aren’t totally sold out (not relevant in the last few years, but it was once…and maybe again?).
Then there are crowd levels. We spend a lot of time covering the late summer and early fall off-season, so I don’t want to belabor the point. You probably already know that crowd levels drop considerably once school goes back in session, and they don’t really recover until fall breaks begin.
Last year, the end of August was the slowest at Walt Disney World since the last week of September 2021. Although the last week of August 2024 was the slowest week in a few years, it wasn’t even all that remarkable. The same week last year was barely busier, with a 25 minute average and 1/10 crowd level versus a 23 minute average and 1/10 crowd level. Two minutes can add up over the course of a day, but both weeks were incredibly slow–again, the two least busy weeks since Fall 2021!
Given the overall trajectory of crowd levels and the last week of August being reliably slow year-in and year-out, this shouldn’t be a huge shock. I’m fairly confident in predicting the last week of August 2025 will also be slow. Whether it’s more or less busy than this year probably depends on the broader economy, Epic Universe, and the Disney Starlight Night Parade.
For those who are wondering, crowd levels don’t really spike for Labor Day, either. This also shouldn’t be the least bit surprising for readers of this blog, as it’s a point that we harp on frequently–Labor Day is the least busy holiday weekend of the entire year, and is less busy than Jersey Week, Ski Week, and other random holidays you might think I’m making up. We explained the ‘why’ of that and offered historical stats back in Labor Day Weekend Isn’t Busy at Disney.
As discussed in our list of the 10 Best and 10 Worst Weeks to Visit Walt Disney World in 2025 & 2026, mid-August to late September is the best stretch of the entire year and if those lists were purely data-driven, over half of the ‘best’ side of the ledger would be weeks in August and September. With only a couple of exceptions, the entire two month stretch sees below average attendance.
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 that timeframe makes the list, and it’s not even the one with the objectively lowest crowds.
Instead, it’s a tad later than we’d like, with the idea of compromising on crowds to improve the odds of better weather. Of course, there are no guarantees–Florida has 42 weeks of summer and it is hurricane season!
The fact is that heat, humidity, and hurricanes are a gamble anytime from early August through late October. Again, we don’t want to belabor the point, so if you’re on the fence about this tradeoff, see Is It Still Worth Visiting During the Early Fall Offseason at Walt Disney World? for a greater discussion of weather vs. crowds.
The good news is that you can still have the upside of Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and the 2025 EPCOT Food & Wine Festival even if you opt to push past the objectively-best weeks of the year in late August and early September for something subjectively superior (possibly!) in mid-to-late September.
However, there are two new reasons to visit then that you’ll miss if you go later during Fall 2025…
The latest development is the intersection of Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and Disney Starlight Night Parade. As compared to last year, the first MNSSHP was “delayed” by one week this year, to August 15, 2025. This was almost certainly done because Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away’s debut was delayed to mid-to-late July 2025.
Basically, Walt Disney World wanted a longer runway between Starlight’s debut and Party Season to have as many weeks as possible with a full slate of performances before Party Season started and threw a monkey wrench into crowds. This happens every year with Happily Ever After on non-party nights from August through December, and we expect it to be much worse with a brand-new night parade.
Everyone wanting to see Starlight–which is many guests–will be consolidated into fewer opportunities per week. This is all doubly true given that MNSSHP has 3 dates per week in August once it gets started, as opposed to the normal 2 (that’s how they “made up” for the later start date).
There’s one exception to this: August 30 to September 6, 2025. There are only two parties during that stretch, as compared to 3 in the weeks before and after, due to no party on that Sunday. This may not seem like much, but it could have a hugely positive impact on Magic Kingdom crowds. Trying to cram 3 days worth of guests into 4 nights is much more difficult than 5 nights absorbing 2 nights’ worth of crowds. Again, Labor Day is not that busy, so the holiday weekend should not offset this.
Finally, Destination D23 is returning to Walt Disney World for the biggest fan event of 2025–now at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort, from August 29 – 31, 2025!
More than doubling in size in 2025, fans can look forward to a weekend filled with exclusive presentations from Walt Disney Archives and the Walt Disney Studios; spectacular entertainment; and peeks into all the worlds of Disney, along with a variety of unique interactive and shopping experiences.
Destination D23 is becoming the D23 Expo: Walt Disney World Edition. Well, except they don’t even call the Anaheim Edition the D23 Expo anymore, but pretty much every fan still does. It’s like Baby Yoda vs. Grogu or Magic Kingdom vs. Magic Kingdom Park. Destination D23 started out as a history-oriented event, but has really gone mainstream, being one of the year’s biggest news-y events for Disney Parks.
There’s no way on earth that the 2025 Destination D23 will have more big news than the last D23 Expo. That just isn’t possible. But we would expect a ton of project updates, new concept art, and mid-tier announcements (new restaurants, ride reimaginings, celebrations, resort expansion–that sort of thing).
The bottom line is that I love Destination D23 and plan on attending again in 2025. I’m really happy that it lines up with (what I assume will be) the start of EPCOT’s Food & Wine Festival and (probably) the second week of MNSSHP. I’ve been to almost all of the Destination D/23s, and have loved just about every panel I’ve attended–some even unexpectedly.
And for those worried that Destination D23 will cause worse crowds, it won’t. The few thousand attendees (at most) are a drop in the bucket, and that’s even if they were visiting the parks. They aren’t. This is a convention, so days are mostly spent at Coronado Springs. Unless you’re staying there or focused on the dorkiest rides at Walt Disney World, you probably won’t even notice there’s a D23 event happening.
Given all of the above, if I were able to visit once school goes back into session–and were willing to do so in light of the weather–I’d probably target August 27 to September 3, 2025 (plus or minus a day or two) for an early fall visit to Walt Disney World. That narrows the dates in our ‘Best & Worst Weeks’ guide a bit, but the original recommendation isn’t suddenly bad–I just prefer fewer MNSSHP, more Starlight, the start of Food & Wine, and Destination D23.
This isn’t really an “if,” as this is exactly what I’ll be doing. The only TBD is the exact dates I’ll be at Walt Disney World and whether I’ll dip into Universal Orlando for a couple days to (hopefully) catch a lull in Epic Universe crowds. But that last part will be more of a gametime decision given the roller coaster crowds that new park is already seeing.
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 in late August or early September, what was your experience? Was it worth hitting the cheaper MNSSHP dates and early-on during EPCOT Food & Wine Festival, or was the weather too hot and humid? If you’ve done Destination D23, would you recommend that event to other WDW diehards? 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!