Disney World Shopping Resort Hits Max Capacity During Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day weekend is traditionally a busy weekend as many people utilize the holiday to enjoy a last vacation or outing of the summer before the year begins to wind down and cooler weather moves in and despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic this Labor Day weekend seems to be no exception — especially when it comes to theme parks. According to The DIS, Walt Disney World‘s Disney Springs in Florida reached capacity on Saturday night.

On Twitter, The DIS shared a photo of the highway leading into Disney World that showed not only were parking garages closed due to capacity, but Disney Springs was also listed as being “At Capacity”. Check it out below.

Walt Disney World — including the Disney Springs, the shopping, dining, and entertainment complex located there — closed on March 15th due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Disney Springs reopened on May 20th with safety protocols and restrictions in place including the use of face coverings, increased cleaning procedures, and social distancing measures in addition to limitations on capacity, parking, and operating hours. Walt Disney World itself later reopened on July 15th.

While Disney Springs has been popular since its reopening — lines were reported at the district’s reopening — this appears to be the first time since the pandemic that the district has been at capacity. The parking garages were also listed as being closed for capacity, an indicator that Walt Disney World overall was busy as well, something that could be a shift from what attendance at the resort has been in recent months.

A memo from Deutsche Bank last month indicated that Disney World attendance was down nearly 80-percent as compared to 2019. The financial firm attributed that decline in attendance solely to consumer worries over the further spread of COVID-19.

“While Disney World appears to be lagging the COVID case reduction, we would expect the data to relieve some of the admissions pressure in the near future,” the memo read. “At present, Epcot and Animal Kingdom are outperforming Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios.”

Even with this weekend’s apparent surge of attendance, Walt Disney World will be continuing to make adjustments as it weathers the pandemic including implementing a roll back of hours. Beginning on Tuesday, September 8th and lasting through October, three of Disney World’s four amusement parks — Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studio, and Animal Kingdom — will close early while the fourth park, EPCOT, will close two hours early.

Are you surprised that Disney Springs was at capacity over the Labor Day weekend? Let us know in the comments.

Header photo: Octavio Jones/Getty Images