Disney World's crowds are thinning. Growing competition — and cost — may be to blame.

Disney World's crowds are getting smaller, signaling that the high entry costs to the theme park as well as competition from other destinations may be taking a toll on attendance, Wall Street Journal reporter Jacob Passy told CBS News. 

"We specifically looked at July 4, which over history has always been a fairly peak day for the parks," Passy said, noting that he looked at data from a company called Touring Plans, which tracks wait times at top amusement parks. "The wait times were significantly lower this year than in previous years."

Touring Plans' data showed that July 4 was the third-slowest day in the past year at Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park in Florida. Meanwhile, wait times at Disney's Magic Kingdom in the state were an average of 27 minutes on July 4, down from 47 minutes in 2019, according to the Wall Street Journal.