Everything you need to know about using a 2022 Disney World crowd calendar, and which are the most reliable.
If you’ve never used a Disneyland or Walt Disney World crowd calendar before, here is what you should look for in a reliable source and what those calendars just can’t predict. (Updated 01-08-2022)
What is a 2022 Disney World Crowd Calendar?
Crowd calendars offer an estimate of how crowded the Disney Parks will be on a specific day.
Disney World crowd calendars can include weather, crowd levels, ticket prices, hours, and seasonal event information. They typically are created a year in advance, so most information is estimated.
2022 WDW Crowd Calendar Inclusions
🧑🏻🤝🧑🏿Crowd Levels: Usually indicated by attention-grabbing green, yellow, or red symbols. This information is at the heart of the crowd calendar, so it is usually the most prominent and accessible element.
☀️Weather: Crowd calendar weather is typically derived from historic weather in Anaheim and Orlando… sunny, rainy, cloudy? These are put in simple terms, sometimes with an average temperature.
🎃Seasonal Events: Some crowd calendars will also list seasonal events, like EPCOT Festivals, runDisney events, or Magic Kingdom after-hours parties. This information can help you to determine why the crowds are so high in a day or week.
🎟️Ticket Prices: The cost to enter a Disney Park can vary depending on the time of year. Demand and capacity dictate which days are more expensive. Crowd calendars follow official posted Disney prices, so this tends to be one of the most accurate stats in a crowd calendar.
⏰Hours: Some crowd calendars list operating hours for all of the Disneyland or Disney World parks. This information could have changed since the calendar was posted.
📝Excess Info: Some crowd calendars track a lot of information you’ll never need. Like when SeaWorld is open, for instance. Make sure you’re using a simple crowd calendar that helps, not one that hides what you need among a lot of other info that doesn’t apply to your vacation.
How Do Crowd Calendars Help Plan Your Trip?
Different crowd calendars use various colors, numbers, and rating systems to give you the info on Disney World crowds.
Make sure you’re familiar with their system before you go making reservations! Crowd calendars can be confusing, especially if you are consulting a few with different tracking systems.
NOTE: ALL crowd calendars are an estimate of what will come to pass, based on previous years. While crowd calendars can offer some basic advice, make sure you are double-checking the information.
Disney World crowds during 2022 will look different than in past years, as events and park capacity have changed.
Looking for a calendar to count down to your trip “home” or just mark special occasions? Our 16-month 2022 Disney World wall calendar is available now, but get your orders in; we’ve sold out the last two years in a row!
Top 2022 Disney Crowd Calendars
Not sure which calendar to go with? Here is a quick rundown of what each of the most popular crowd calendars has to offer:
1. Dad’s Guide to WDW Crowd Calendars
- ✔️Crowd Levels, Weather, Events
- ✔️Easily shareable calendar images
- ✔️Simple symbols and information
- ✔️Dedicated full pages to explain crowd levels each month
We have a soft spot for Dad’s Guide Crowd Calendars (as part of our parent company), but our team really does prefer Dad’s crowd control.
The easy-to-read crowd level indicators, weather, and special event notes are all we need. The best part is that the calendar images are easy to screenshot or share so that you have the info at your fingertips without sifting through a lot of extra text.
But you need more crowd details? Well, there’s a whole page dedicated to every calendar month in case you want to read a bit more.
2. Touring Plans Crowd Calendar
- ✔️Crowd levels, park hours, ticket prices, events
- ✔️Extra price and hourly information
- ❌Number system and extra info can be confusing
- ❌Redundant with MDE app info
- ❌Hard to look at on mobile
- ❌No shareable calendar images
The Touring Plans crowd calendars include crowd levels, park hours, ticket prices, and events. However, they are not easily shareable images and can be difficult to read. Much is info that My Disney Experience already has, like attraction wait times.
3. Undercover Tourist Crowd Calendar
- ✔️All the info you ever wanted
- ✔️Park-specific crowd levels
- ❌TOO MUCH info you never ever wanted
- ❌Hard to see the month on mobile
The Undercover Tourist crowd calendar has information for SeaWorld, Universal, etc. That can be a good thing but can make you go cross-eyed trying to look at it all. If you want something easy to read and share, avoid this beast of a mega-planner.
4. WDW Prep School Crowd Calendar
- ✔️All on one page
- ❌Per week, not per-day estimates
- ❌Only crowd levels and holidays
- ❌Not a true calendar; it is a list
- ❌Monthly information is not easily shareable
The WDW Prep School info is not a crowd calendar so much as a one-page list of which weeks are more crowded and the holidays that accompany them.
So, maybe you need some of what these calendars are offering, but Dad’s Guide is the one we stick with for our WDW-specific needs! The info is just what we need for at-a-glance planning, and the images are easy to share on mobile.
2022 Disney World Crowd Calendars
What is the best day to go to Walt Disney World? Photo by Rain Blanken
Are crowds down at Disney World? These monthly crowd calendars from Dad’s Guide give us a quick at-a-glance for each month alongside in-depth articles on what is happening each month (and how to make the most of the events and weather each month!)
January 2022 Crowd Calendar
- January Events: New Years Day, marathons, and Festival of the Arts. Which weeks will these events impact?
- View the January 2022 Crowd Calendar…
February 2022 Crowd Calendar
- February Events: Valentine’s Day and chillier weather can mean thin crowds:
- View the February 2022 Crowd Calendar…
March 2022 Crowd Calendar
- March Events: Most of March seems moderate… but wait till Spring Break hits:
- View the March 2022 Crowd Calendar…
April 2022 Crowd Calendar
- April Events: Easter, Spring Break, and the Flower & Garden Festival all build the crowd:
- View the April 2022 Crowd Calendar…
May 2022 Crowd Calendar
- May Events: Flower and Garden Continues, and May the 4th festivities may appear…
- View the May 2022 Crowd Calendar…
June 2022 Crowd Calendar
- June Events: Summertime is here, and Dad’s has tips on how the rain could actually save your park day…
- View the June 2022 Crowd Calendar…
July 2022 Crowd Calendar
- July Events: Fourth of July brings in lots of guests, but part of July is sparse…
- View the July 2022 Crowd Calendar…
August 2022 Crowd Calendar
- August Events: August is… HOT in Florida. But these crowd levels may convince you…
- View the August 2022 Crowd Calendar…
September 2022 Crowd Calendar
- September Events: The holiday season starts early at WDW, and Food and Wine is well underway…
- View the September 2022 Crowd Calendar…
October 2022 Crowd Calendar
- October Events: Time to howl at the moon, it’s Halloween at WDW!
- View the October 2022 Crowd Calendar…
November 2022 Crowd Calendar
- November Events: Next month may sound cozy, but Festival of the Holidays in November could be the perfect jolly getaway…
- View the November 2022 Crowd Calendar…
December 2022 Crowd Calendar
- December Events: It’s the most, crowded time… of the year! But who can resist the holidays with Mickey?
- View the December 2022 Crowd Calendar…
A crowd calendar above will tell you all the details, but in case you’re just looking for the least-crowded and most-crowded months, here is your briefing.
When is Disney World Least Crowded?
Use a crowd calendar to avoid the crowds. Photo by Cliff Wang
For the least-crowded months at Disney World, keep your eyes on these two chunks of the year:
- The last half of January—February
- The last half of August—September
- The last week of November—first full week of December
Kids are freshly back in school at these times, so not many families will have vacations planned. Spring break ramps up after February, and before that, marathons are happening in the first half of January.
Summer is busy, then in October, the Halloween crowds come in. That will immediately transition into Thanksgiving crowds. The last week of November/first week of December seems to be the eye of the holiday storm with a good lull in crowds.
When is Disney World Most Crowded?
The holidays are the most crowded time to visit at Disney World and tend to be more expensive too, as the resort rates and ticket prices fluctuate for demand.
Summer months also tend to be very crowded, and any other minor holiday when kids are out of school. Spring break (March—April) could also be avoided.
Disney World is most crowded during these chunks of the year:
- The last half of December
- Spring break months: March—Early May
- Summer months: May—the first half of August
Even in the low-crowd months, you’ll get more out of your park ticket if you visit on a weekday instead of a weekend when local Annual Passholder families are roaming the parks.
To see the Christmas decorations without the crowds, hit up Disney World in the first week of December, or immediately after Thanksgiving weekend.
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