If you’ve been considering a Disney World trip for 2025, heads up: You may want to keep your calendar open for late this year.
Cinderella Castle
According to a report in the Orlando Business Journal, several Central Florida counties are expecting visitor levels and tourism to “level off” as the year goes on.
According to the outlet, “Osceola County’s updated tourist development tax monthly projection collection numbers for April to September for fiscal-year 2025 are expected to be down by 5.06%-6.21% over the year. For example, collections for the tax on hotels and short-term rentals for the county in March reached $8.8 million, down 5% compared to the year-ago period.”
Even given these projected numbers, Osceola’s total hotel tax collections are expected to be down only slightly for the year, projected to be $81.24 million for fiscal 2025 compared to $81.35 million in 2024. This is attributable to 2025 starting comparatively strong.
Welcome to Disney World!
In addition, Experience Kissimmee’s advance vacation bookings for June-September show a 15% increase for vacation homes, while hotel demand is down by about 1% from last year, and in Orlando, advance hotel bookings from May-July are pacing 1% behind the same time period last year, while short-term rentals in the same timeframe are ahead 15% year-over-year.
According to travel forecast firm Tourism Economics, these numbers are symptoms of larger issues, including inflation, political strife, and travel restrictions that have several impacted international travel, leading the firm to downgrade growth projections for their 2025-26 U.S. hotel forecast at the start of June.
Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel
In a news release, Aran Ryan — the director of industry studies at Tourism Economics — said, “We’re looking ahead to a second half of the year with consumers facing higher prices and a weaker labor market, businesses tapping the brakes on investment and soft international visitor volumes. While recession risks have eased, the economy — and the travel sector — will walk on a tight rope through this period.”
Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings seconded the thought that political issues could lead to negative effects on tourism, saying, “We believe, however, that our tourism numbers will continue to be strong, based on hotel booking numbers. As we move closer to next year, we will have to see if those numbers continue to remain strong.”
Is Orlando about to see less tourists?
If these numbers and projections prove accurate, there maybe be more hotel room availability than normal at Disney World later this year and into 2026, despite the company saying “bookings are up in the summer right now, and we’re certainly feeling positive. The outlook is good in that regard” during an an earnings call earlier this year. This may be why the company has offered unprecedented (in post-COVID times) discounts over the last several months.
Slinky Dog Dash in Hollywood Studios
If you’re considering a Disney World trip, the second half of 2025 may be a good time to jump on it, as projections indicate that political and economic issues could lead to a slowdown at the resort and the surrounding area. Stay tuned to DFB for more on the travel industry.
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Use to go to Disney World all the time. Prices have gone up so much which is way over my budget and also for others who use to go. Most that go these days have saved for a few years to enjoy only one park, then there are others who use plastic to pay for everything and file bankruptcy later. This is another reason prices go up. So many crowds and more rude people that have a not so nice attitudes and also a chip on their shoulder’s that are coming into the parks. Last time I was there a family really got out of hand arguing and swearing and pushing each other and on top of that then others tried to help and should have left the mess for Disney security. Left and never went back. Need more security to control the crowds or cut the crowds in half so the ones who do go will enjoy their time at Disney World.
It’s been two years since we were last there, and I’m looking forward to a mid-November visit, the last 2 weeks of Food & Wine. I’ve never found the Disney crowds to get out of control, and if they do we can just head off in another direction. But I’m hoping the crowds are down a little in November, so we can do everything we want.
Agree with Patty. Disney is too expensive. We also used to go every other year and are due for another visit this year, but opted for an Alaskan cruise instead. Considering going in 2026, but not if prices continue to go up.
Coming from abroad it’s getting too expensive. Last year stayed for four weeks including a Disney cruise. This year 16 nights and next year 13 nights. Nothing planned after that.
Not so good interaction with CM’s plus feel excluded from certain things due to where we live. The magic is sadly fading.
Funny how we die hard Disney Park fans get excited when there are few hundred less people at a park on any given day makes us feel and think the park is “empty”. It dosen’t matter to us, we are still going anyway.
Get a laugh when people blame Disney for high prices. ALL theme parks are expensive. Also, main reason tourism is down is because of your president, with his comments to annex Canada, discontinue relations with EU countries and his erratic behaviour. We, however ARE coming down from Toronto as he won’t let a tyrant ruin our favourite home.
Nothing lasts forever, not even “Magic”
It cost at least $600 for me to take my family of 4 to just 1 day in the parks. This isn’t including parking (which is now outrageous in price), food, souvenirs and anything else….which could easily add up to $1000 for 1 day. Each year when we go to the beach only an hour away, we want to go to Orlando for just a day in the parks, but that can cost us almost as much as our 1 week at the beach costs. Wish they would make Disney affordable again.