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(NerdWallet) – Disney World has long been a popular summer destination for families with kids on school break. With low ticket prices and new discounts rolling out this month, summer 2025 is poised to be the cheapest time to visit the parks, too, shattering the long-standing Disney myth that budget-conscious travelers should avoid the summer months.
Disney World deals for summer 2025
Starting March 27, Disney will launch a collection of offers aimed at making the summer season more affordable, particularly for families with kids. These include:
- 50% off kids tickets: Tickets for kids between ages three and nine are 50% off for stays of three days or longer, beginning May 27 through September 20, 2025.
- Free food: If you purchase a non-discounted 4-night, 4-day (or longer) package at select Disney Resort hotels with a Park Hopper ticket option, you’ll get a Disney Dining Plan at no additional charge. The offer applies to visits on select dates from June 29 through Dec. 22, 2025. Normally, Disney Dining Plans cost about $100 per adult and $30 per child per day.
- 30% off select Walt Disney World hotels: Certain Disney Resort hotel rooms for visits beginning Aug. 1 through Oct. 11, 2025 will be 30% off.
Other ongoing Disney ticket deals include free admission to a Disney water park for Disney Resort hotel guests on their check-in day, good through the end of 2025.
Summer is a surprising sweet spot for Disney deals
It’s not just the new deals that make summer a value season. Walt Disney World base ticket prices are already among the lowest of the year during summer months.
NerdWallet analyzed Walt Disney World ticket prices for every day between March 26 through the end of 2025. Ticket prices also vary by park, but using the cheapest park of the day (which is typically Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park), NerdWallet found that the average one-day Walt Disney World adult ticket price was $153.55.
But during two summer months, average tickets are far lower. August is the second cheapest month for Walt Disney World tickets, with average starting adult tickets at just $133. September, which is mostly considered summer (fall begins on Sept. 22, 2025) is the cheapest month to go, with ticket prices averaging just $125.
Of the remaining months in 2025, here are the five cheapest months to go (and their accompanying average base, one-day adult ticket price):
- September ($125.47).
- August ($133.03).
- June ($153.50).
- May ($154).
- July ($157.22).
Notably absent is December, which is popular not just for cooler weather but for Christmas festivities. Spring break and October (when you can experience Halloween at Disney) are also relatively expensive times to visit.
What about crowds?
Chelsea Filley, vice president of customer experience and commercial strategy at Disney, says many people planning Disney vacations tend to assume it’ll be the most crowded in the summer.
“But when we talk to guests that actually visit us in the summer, the perceptions of crowding are some of the lowest of any other season,” she said. “The ability to get things that they want to get done is actually higher.”
It’s a paradox, she notes, that Disney has spent considerable time analyzing.
“We’re always pricing to the demand that we’re seeing,” says Filley.
In other words, when ticket prices are lower — as they tend to be in summer months — you can expect smaller crowds.
Changing travel habits, especially post-pandemic
Ever since Disney introduced its three-tiered pricing system back in 2016 — which made low seasons far cheaper than peak seasons — Disney vacationers began adjusting their schedules.
Rather than pack in during the notoriously busy post-Christmas week or during summer vacation, many have shifted their Disney trips to, say, a rainy Tuesday in mid-January when it would be far cheaper.
The shift in travel patterns became even more pronounced since the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We have more parents that are willing to take kids out of school, especially for those longer vacations,” Filley says. “And we also have more parents that are willing to look at taking more, shorter vacations throughout the year.”
While it’s true that no ticket to Disney is exactly cheap, this summer’s offers may provide the best chance for budget-conscious families to finally book that long-awaited trip.
Just keep in mind one burden about a summer 2025 Walt Disney World trip that even Disney admits is a painful fact.
“There’s one myth you can’t bust about summer,” Filley says. “It’s hot.”
What’s new at Walt Disney World for summer 2025
In addition to lower prices and new discounts, families heading to Walt Disney World in summer 2025 will find a wave of new entertainment, attractions and special kid-focused activities — many available for a limited time only.
From May 27 through Sept. 1, 2025, Disney will roll out “kid zones” across multiple parks, featuring games, music, dancing and surprise character appearances. Consider it a way to spend time with few to no lines. For example, over at the Magic Kingdom theme park, kids zones will be located in both Storybook Circus and Tomorrowland. EPCOT will debut a new play space in CommuniCore Hall starring Goofy, transforming the area into a splash-friendly game party.
Staying at a Disney Resort hotel? Families will get even more perks. Guests at select hotels — including Disney’s Art of Animation Resort, Pop Century Resort, Caribbean Beach Resort and Wilderness Lodge — can expect scheduled character appearances and an expanded lineup of themed activities, such as games and movie nights.
Three major entertainment additions are also set to premiere this summer:
- The Little Mermaid – A Musical Adventure at Disney’s Hollywood Studios brings Ariel’s story to life with new sets and special effects, which debuts on May 27, 2025.
- Disney Villains: Unfairly Ever After, also at Hollywood Studios, lets the audience decide which villain got the rawest deal in this delightfully dark stage show. Again, it debuts on May 27, 2025.
- Disney Starlight, a brand-new nighttime parade, will debut at Magic Kingdom. Featuring characters from “Peter Pan,” “Encanto,” “Frozen” and more, it marks Disney World’s first new nighttime parade in nearly a decade.
And if you haven’t visited in a while, check out newer attractions like Tron Lightcycle / Run at Magic Kingdom and Journey of Water, Inspired by Moana at EPCOT — both of which have opened in the last few years.
With all this fresh entertainment — paired with lower prices — summer 2025 is shaping up to be one of the most exciting (and cost-effective) times to visit Walt Disney World in recent memory.
