We've been twice already this summer--once for vacation in late June and once on business the first week of August. Both times we commented on the attendance being down. We walked onto Soarin' the first day it opened again with a 20 minute wait time. Many others had low wait times also. Magic Kingdom had evening extra hours and it was eerie with very little crowd. Overall it is down. I never experienced anything but magic from the cast members. Everyone was very pleasant and "Disney-like" Even the weather was slightly cooler and less humid than normal. We are lucky enough to go every year and hope to continue to do so.

You forgot that thousands of pass holders that stop in regularly downgraded to silver passes that have summer
Blacked out.

I'm an annual pass holder. The price increase didn't bother me as much. Basically the same price I paid last year without the $150 down and that added to my monthly payments. I know that will go down next year when I renew again. The reason Disney did those price increases was for new additions to the park. Star Wars, toy story and avatar land, and updates to some older rides coming soon like Everest and Dinosaur. I'm a bit more understanding about that than most people I've read comments from. But I also work as management for demand items where prices fluctuate so much it's easier for me to understand.
My only issue is the food price increase. We just eat off property now. It's easier, cheaper, and I can get something that pertains to my whole group.

I also go anywhere from 1-4 times a month, so this thing has paid for MANY MANY years that I wouldn't have killed myself saving for.

All in all, the staff is just as normal retail. I've only had one negative experience this year and that was with someone I couldn't understand due to fireworks. Otherwise, it's hot as balls out there, and they're probably just tired because of the heat. Give them a little slack people. They're human too and probably don't mean to come off as rude. Give them the extra mile as a great customer and I'm sure you could change their whole day. I know I get cranky as a guest at Disney due to heat or hunger, imagine how they feel.

The lines are the same except for soarin and toy story. They are down thanks to the third que. but everything else, same as last summer. I dislike going during summer. I'm just going for the new versions of rides :)

Don't complain so much people. Just enjoy what you have, family, and the ability to actually do these fun things. Sadly, most can't.

Oh, by the way. I'm a teenager who works retail as an ASM who can afford to take me and my BF there all the time. And I pay all my own bills with no help from the government. If I can afford to do that so can average families. It's all in managing your funds.

I didn't renew my family's Florida Residet Annual Passes when they expired this May because Disney's greed really annoyed me this year. All the annual pass prices went up along with everything else. I used to go 5 to 6 times a year with my family of four, stay on property any where from 3 to 5 days and spend thousands. I'm just so fed up with their price increases that I said enough. Not going back for a long time. Let's also mention the rude cast members all over. Last time we went we were at AK... one of the cast members made my 5 year old cry from her rudeness. All guest services did was offer us a fast pass. WTF was that? Disney doesn't deserve my hard earned money anymore.

We just got back on the 24th. It was the first time I had been in several years. I noticed that the wait times for the lines were not bad at all. It was kind of mysterious to me.

As for the customer service aspect, I noticed that it was lacking in several areas as well. The server we had at Be Our Guest was downright rude and whiny. I was very disappointed as this is one of the things I was most excited about seeing. The cashier at the Tower of Terror gift shop made a snide comment toward us when we didn't bring an alternate form of payment at a time when the Magic Band system wasn't working. The bus drivers used to entertain enroute from one place to another. Now the ride is just full of pre-recorded messages about the next stop. That being said, I still had many more customer service experiences that were extremely positive, especially at Jiko and California Grill. We'll go back again soon... Especially now that we're DVC members. I still love Disney.

We were just at DW June 6 through June 11. We were able to get on some rides more quickly like Everest and Toy Story, the wait for both was only about 30 minutes during the day. We took advantage of the extended magic hours the Disney offers for resort guests and went back to MK and HS at night. This helped so much as there were hardly any wait times at all. We walked right in most rides, and even ride some rides twice in a row because the wait time was so short. The Rock-n-Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror were much easier to get on at night. The new Fastpass + system helped out tremendously once we figured it out. My husband was scheduling the fast passes from his phone as we stood the que lines for other rides. He was even scheduling the next fast passes for the parks we were going to. Every ride we rode still had he second touch point in the Fastpass lane. We saw line jumpers turned away more than once because of that. Most of the cast members were very friendly and helpful as usual but I would have to say that we did see more rudeness and shortness from employees than we've seen in our past trips and my husband even commented on this while we were there. Overall, though, they added to the magic and even gave my daughter a few of the little extras that help make Disney magical for kids.

I disagree. I'm a Disney travel agent, and I have a lot more clients this summer than I ever have before. Actually my clients have almost doubled for this year over last year. I was also there the first week of June (this is one of the weeks we always go) and it was a lot more crowded than usual, and most rides had a 60 minute wait, which is longer than usual. Even the kids in our group made mention that the waits were so much longer.

We are Florida residents with off peak annual passes. Our last visit was the week before our black-out - June 1-5 - and the parks were overwhelmed. That is our usual week to go to the parks because it's usually not crowded for summer yet, but this year the wait times were outrageous. FP+ for major rides were all gone. We moved in a sea of people. Perhaps, the surge pricing has changed people's behavior and vacation scheduling. Also, I second the "rude" staff matter. Minnie Mouse actually pushed our party out of a photo time and was mean to our 18 month old. Not cool.

Several attractions still have the 2nd touch points still active, mostly where it is fairly easy to jump the line.

I arrived at WDW on June 11. We are here until June 25. I have noticed that it isn't as crowded as I had expected. I have not had to wait more than 15 minutes for any ride. I planned out my fastpasses for the extremely popular rides. Then my family and I pretty much walked into the other attractions. It has been great! In fact we have other day at the Magic Kingdom tomorrow but we have already been on every ride at least twice.

I have to disagree. We were just there June 4-11 and the crowds were unbelievable. We missed out on many rides because the wait times were over an hour. I reserved FPs in advance, but if we tried to get them in the parks, they were unavailable by 10am for the more popular rides. Hollywood Studios was the worst. Due to all the construction there were only a few rides open and lines were insane. Even the usual "walk on" rides like Small World, Spaceship Earth, Nemo, had 45-60 min wait times while we were there. It was better in the evenings and during parades, but mid-morning/afternoon was just too busy. BTW...we flew home hours before the tragic nightclub attack. I don't think I would visit again during the summer months. I used to prefer Fall, but now even that has become a busy time.

I have to agree that cost has been the biggest factor. They have raised prices five times as much as they should have. Just compare dollar to dollar from 10 years ago and look at the astronomical jumps they made. Also the customer service and condition of the parks and resorts is not what it used to be. We have been going there since 1986 and used to go every other year then every third year now its about every 4 to 5 years because of cost. We were just there in January and were so disappointed with the service and the increased cost. They have priced the average family out of the market and apparently only interested in the big money families. A bad strategy if you ask me, they are excluding their primary customers.

Money is the biggest issue with Disney attendance.

Everything about a Disney visit has skyrocketed to ridiculous amounts of cash and normal people just simply can't afford it any more.

Every time I read any kind of news about Disney, it has something to do with entry cost going up or dining plan cost going up or resort prices going up, etc....

They have nickeled and dimed the average vacationer out of the ability to visit.

Soon, the only place you will see anything about Disney will be on lifestyles of the rich and famous.

Definitely less crowded than last year. We were haven't spent more than 30-40 minutes in line. We were able to do Soarin' Around the World, Toy Story Mania, and other popular rides several times with wait times around 20 minutes sometimes. The longest we've had to wait has been today for Frozen Ever After, which broke down several times to the point they closed the standby line and were just letting in FastPass people. It was definitely underwhelming and in my opinion, not worth the wait (45 minutes to two hours).

I believe that people are staying away from the parks because of the construction, if I had enough money for only one WDW visit, I would wait until Star Wars land was open

Went to Magic Kingdom on June 11th. I was very surprised by the reasonable wait times. We also were able to secure a Fast Pass for 7 Dwarves Mine Train the night before, which I was stunned that we were able to do. Lines were manageable and we did a lot in our day, we were there the same weekend in 2015 (a Star Wars Weekend) and it was noticeably more crowded and we did a lot less.

I was there the first week of June and I can tell you crowds levels are certainly not down, quite the opposite. Extremely busy everywhere , the worst I can remember in years.

Yes we noticed shorter wait times throughout the parks.
Here are our ideas why:

1. Cost
2. The new rides are not as good as the ones they replaced. Loved soarin california, like soarin over the world. The new ride seems to jump to fast, didn't like the cgi and the smells were not as noticeable ( except the grass smell in Africa) we saw the show once and really didn't need to see it again this trip.

3. The recent attacks and upgraded security. We prepaid everything so we're locked into going, but it made you think when you see the increased security.

4. Rising consumer dissatisfaction with Disneys upkeep and staffing of the parks (perceived or real)