Recently, I've been running into a couple of issues regarding chapter length in one of my stories, some of them stretching on towards the mid 25k's. And with one of my chapters reaching 25k, forcing me to make a disclaimer about said length, I've come to ask the populous about it to get a second opinion. At what point does a chapter eventually have too many words? On one hand, I want to pair down my chapters to make sure my readers don't get overwhelmed and have to spend days at a time reading a single chapter (As brought to my attention by a few reviews I've gotten in said story). But on the other, my story packs some dense lore and detail. And I want to make sure I get it all there so it's worthy of some credit. So, I ask again. At what point does a chapter have so many words that it's eventually too much?

You can always find a point in the narrative (typically a scene/location change) where you can break for a new chapter. I start getting nervous if a chapter goes past 5K words. I'll typically write the entire story, then go back and find the natural breaks for inserting chapters, adjusting if any are too short or too long.

At the end, writing a story is your free labor. Do what made you happiest is the ideal… with that being said.

This is my personal experience only but I hope it help!

1.5k - perfection. I will read every words. Every little retcon, and inconsistency will be used again you.

2k - okay. I might have skimped a few paragraphs out.

3k - I could felt the headache coming… but at least I get your main plot in one session.

5k - I’ll cut your story into a few chunks and take a day or two to read. Don’t bothered thinking I will remembered teensy little important details that only mentioned single time and we are good.

10k - 💀 At least I finished your story. That’s something, right? I know things happened, yay

20k - 💀 💀 💀 I started reading today… and hopefully finish it within this week. Please don’t asked me anything.

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A chapter should be as long as it needs to be, so there's no single "enough".

Depending on how the story is paced, as well as on the quality of the writing, the readers may breeze through such a large chapter in a single sitting. Similarly, sometimes you may slog through a 2k word chapter for a week. Word count alone isn't a problem, albeit it's good that you note that it may be off-putting for some readers.

With that out of the way, are your chapters long because there's a lot happening in them, or is it because of the very detailed descriptions and lore you need to include? It's actually more likely that it's a mix of both, but for the sake of argument, let's stick to the two extremes. If it's the former, then you may try to see if there are some spots where you can split the chapter.There are usually multiple points that allow you to do this, though I admit I've also seen stories where there were none. If it's the latter, then it may be easier to lower the word count by omitting some non-essential tidbits or trying to get rid of too much purple prose, if you're prone to overdoing it.

In reality, you may need to try both approaches if you want to shorten your chapters. You may also ask a few people to read through the chapter and identify possible splitting spots or potential filler for you.

And with one of my chapters reaching 25k, forcing me to make a disclaimer about said length

Also, I don't think you need to make a disclaimer. Everybody can see the length for themselves.

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I understand that the word count is on plain display, I just felt it necessary as that was the first time I've gone over 20k. And to answer your question, My story (To Equestria An Beyond), is packed with a dense lore that took a year and a half of proofreading, grammar checks, linking, and consistency checks to make sure it all stuck together.

25,000 words isn't a chapter. That's a novella.