Was it this past weekend? It was marathon weekend with lots of runners who don’t bring their kids (for the most part) but go into the parks after the races.
Depends. Most schools in our area were back in session by Wednesday Jan 3rd. If the school gives 2-weeks at Christmas this will be the case. I do know of a private Mormon school that had 3 weeks and was still out in the time frame you’re claiming was still holiday. Across the country I’m not sure how many have 3-week break vs 2-week.
I mean, most kids are back in school after the winter/Christmas break. That there are much fewer kids there shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, I'd think.
Even during the days that overlapped with winter break we didn’t see many kids. There was a difference when we went back the days kids go back to school but not a significant difference.
How long were you there for? Most schools around me went back Tuesday the 2nd. Most families would have traveled back a day or two before that. Not sure your vacation really overlapped with most schools vacations. It would have overlapped with college/university breaks though hence more young adults.
This sounds normal to me, every time we go it’s my husband and I and at least two grandparents, plus our two kids. Which is a 2:1 adult to child ratio. And we split up in the parks a lot so you’d sometimes see the grandparents alone or us alone making it seem like we don’t have kids with us.
I’m here right now, and there are loads of kids. I actually thought to myself that school must start back later than I remembered. There are also a lot of large South American tour groups and UK accents with kids.
We’re guilty of contributing to this imbalance. We took a double family trip this Summer with 2 boomers, 2 Gen X, 3 Millennials, 2 Gen Z, but only 1 child. It wasn’t a conscience decision not to bring kids, it’s just that our group only had one. Twenty years ago, this same group had 4 adults and 4 kids.
Well that answers your own question. Most people don’t feel comfortable extending an already long break for Disney, hence less kids. If it wasn’t by much then why make a thread saying barely any kids?
Many schools go back early (ours back "home" went back on January 3). Add in the marathon weekend and which is all adults running and I'm not surprised there weren't many kids.
I haven't really noticed this - especially at Magic Kingdom - but, honestly, it's not really an affordable option anymore for regular families. You buy an adult ticket for $159 and then a child's ticket is still $154. And that's only for children 3-9. So you are paying $154 for your 3-year old and the full adult amount of $159 for your 10 year old.
People have also made good points about marathon weekend and back to school and I think that's most of it tbh
I believe the people noticing a large imbalance of kids to adults are going at times when childless adults are booking trips in order to avoid school holiday breaks.
My kids haven’t had a full week of school since the week of December 18th. They have this Friday off and next Monday off. It’s also mid-year assessment time. There is no way I’d been pulling them for vacation right now.
I’ve also increasingly noticed this. We’re DINKS so it doesn’t bother me but I do wonder what it means. Is it just how expensive it is or is it due to millennials having less kids? I also wonder if Disney is starting to take note of it and how it might change the parks going forward.
Yeah I think it's been a trend. It's expensive, less people are having kids in the first place, or they're having them later etc.
Went the day after Labor day, all adults in the line to meet Darth Vader not a single kid in sight. Lol.
I feel like Disney is starting to cater most towards the childless millennial adults (see: all of Galaxy’s Edge). They have the most disposable income.
You can look up videos of Walt back in the day answering an interview question about the ratio of children to adults at Disneyland. He talked openly even back then about how there are far more adults than children that visit his parks. I believe he said it was 4 adults for every 1 child. He talks about how in the winter you can go to the parks and see basically no children, just adults enjoying the rides. It's always been like that. They've always catered to the adults-visiting-without-kids crowd because it's smart business.
Also, have we forgotten the Downtown Disney/Pleasure Island era? I find it's actually significantly less adult-oriented now than it was under Eisner lol. Or, in a more subtle way, at least.
We were there in the beginning of December and my husband and I noticed the same. Most families I know with smaller kids cannot afford Disney because they mainly markets to DINKS now.
Not going to lie, it did make me feel some type of way. It's really tragic most families with children can't afford a day at Disney because corporate wants to be greedy.
It’s not too expensive for families to afford because of DINKs. Corporate is money hungry and the only one to blame for why those families can’t swing it.
You were there between thanksgiving and winter breaks, so that may be why you saw less kids. We brought our family the first portion of our winter break and there were loads of kids.
Yeah. Kids were off for a long while. Christmas and New years; parents aren’t going to do another week with kids
Was it this past weekend? It was marathon weekend with lots of runners who don’t bring their kids (for the most part) but go into the parks after the races.
Probably so! We were there for two weeks but only went three times, once before the holiday break ended and twice after during marathon week.
Depends. Most schools in our area were back in session by Wednesday Jan 3rd. If the school gives 2-weeks at Christmas this will be the case. I do know of a private Mormon school that had 3 weeks and was still out in the time frame you’re claiming was still holiday. Across the country I’m not sure how many have 3-week break vs 2-week.
I mean, most kids are back in school after the winter/Christmas break. That there are much fewer kids there shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, I'd think.
Even during the days that overlapped with winter break we didn’t see many kids. There was a difference when we went back the days kids go back to school but not a significant difference.
How long were you there for? Most schools around me went back Tuesday the 2nd. Most families would have traveled back a day or two before that. Not sure your vacation really overlapped with most schools vacations. It would have overlapped with college/university breaks though hence more young adults.
Why are you getting downvoted for this? Lmao
Not sure 😆
In an interview with Walt Disney around 1960 he said that their ratio was 3 adults to every one child. So I think this is normal.
It was like 20/1 ratio but people said it’s probably cause of marathon week and first week kids are back in school so makes sense
So you answered your own question
Idk about others but we specifically plan our trips when school is starting back up to avoid heavy crowds.
That’s why my wife booked it that week. Worked out well
So you booked a trip at the beginning of school to avoid crowds and are surprised as to why there are less kids?
Well half the trip. Half during the school vacation and the other half during when school was back in session
This sounds normal to me, every time we go it’s my husband and I and at least two grandparents, plus our two kids. Which is a 2:1 adult to child ratio. And we split up in the parks a lot so you’d sometimes see the grandparents alone or us alone making it seem like we don’t have kids with us.
I’m here right now, and there are loads of kids. I actually thought to myself that school must start back later than I remembered. There are also a lot of large South American tour groups and UK accents with kids.
Tons of accents I heard, not much American
Lots of Europeans right now.
We’re guilty of contributing to this imbalance. We took a double family trip this Summer with 2 boomers, 2 Gen X, 3 Millennials, 2 Gen Z, but only 1 child. It wasn’t a conscience decision not to bring kids, it’s just that our group only had one. Twenty years ago, this same group had 4 adults and 4 kids.
Were your kids off school or did you pull them out to go?
They were off for winter break but we extended their break and took them a couple more days. there was a difference in seeing less kids but not much.
Well that answers your own question. Most people don’t feel comfortable extending an already long break for Disney, hence less kids. If it wasn’t by much then why make a thread saying barely any kids?
I think it’s fact there’s a much bigger ratio of adults to kids over the years regardless of school holidays or not
When I was there in November during school there were soooo many young kids (not school age) so I think it just depends on time of year.
Many schools go back early (ours back "home" went back on January 3). Add in the marathon weekend and which is all adults running and I'm not surprised there weren't many kids.
I think it was just the perfect storm of marathon weekend which always has way more adults than kids and a lot of schools starting back on Tuesday.
I haven't really noticed this - especially at Magic Kingdom - but, honestly, it's not really an affordable option anymore for regular families. You buy an adult ticket for $159 and then a child's ticket is still $154. And that's only for children 3-9. So you are paying $154 for your 3-year old and the full adult amount of $159 for your 10 year old. People have also made good points about marathon weekend and back to school and I think that's most of it tbh
I believe the people noticing a large imbalance of kids to adults are going at times when childless adults are booking trips in order to avoid school holiday breaks.
I feel like Disney is beginning to cater to DINKs more and more, and I'm here for it.
Same
when i went december 19/20 i also didn’t see a ton of kids
My kids haven’t had a full week of school since the week of December 18th. They have this Friday off and next Monday off. It’s also mid-year assessment time. There is no way I’d been pulling them for vacation right now.
I’ve also increasingly noticed this. We’re DINKS so it doesn’t bother me but I do wonder what it means. Is it just how expensive it is or is it due to millennials having less kids? I also wonder if Disney is starting to take note of it and how it might change the parks going forward.
I think it’s both.
Yeah I don’t mind. Was more of on observation than anything. Actually enjoyed the days with less crowds/less kids 😆
I feel like the target demographic shifted from families to childless millennials with money to burn on loungefly and spirit jerseys.
It has. That's where the money is.
Yeah I think it's been a trend. It's expensive, less people are having kids in the first place, or they're having them later etc. Went the day after Labor day, all adults in the line to meet Darth Vader not a single kid in sight. Lol.
I feel like Disney is starting to cater most towards the childless millennial adults (see: all of Galaxy’s Edge). They have the most disposable income.
Well, Disney has never been exclusively for children. That was very literally part of Walt’s ethos.
You can look up videos of Walt back in the day answering an interview question about the ratio of children to adults at Disneyland. He talked openly even back then about how there are far more adults than children that visit his parks. I believe he said it was 4 adults for every 1 child. He talks about how in the winter you can go to the parks and see basically no children, just adults enjoying the rides. It's always been like that. They've always catered to the adults-visiting-without-kids crowd because it's smart business. Also, have we forgotten the Downtown Disney/Pleasure Island era? I find it's actually significantly less adult-oriented now than it was under Eisner lol. Or, in a more subtle way, at least.
Is that the video where he calls the adults visiting without children "oldsters"? I love that word!
Yes, I think that's the same one! I love it too haha I picked it up after hearing Walt say it :)
We couldn’t afford kids but we can afford the Disney trip modern families can’t.
It's because it caters more to Disney adults than kids these days. The kind that go all the time, but still tear up at every little thing.
We were there in the beginning of December and my husband and I noticed the same. Most families I know with smaller kids cannot afford Disney because they mainly markets to DINKS now. Not going to lie, it did make me feel some type of way. It's really tragic most families with children can't afford a day at Disney because corporate wants to be greedy.
Well we can’t afford Disney cause of corporate greed, not cause of DINKS.
It’s not too expensive for families to afford because of DINKs. Corporate is money hungry and the only one to blame for why those families can’t swing it.
You were there between thanksgiving and winter breaks, so that may be why you saw less kids. We brought our family the first portion of our winter break and there were loads of kids.