September Surprise! Need some reassurance...

DisneyGirl3820

DisneyGirl3820

Well-Known Member
I wanted to go to WDW at a time of year when there are fewer crowds, since every other time we've gone, it's been crazy. I'm even taking the youngsters out of school. I went to make dining reservations and airline reservations and to my shock, many places/attractions were booked for the middle of September! PLEASE someone out there tell me that this is not going to be a nightmare going at this time??
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
DisneyFreak

DisneyFreak

Well-Known Member
Tuvalu said:
Free Dining is offered in September which is why you are seeing limited dining availability. Many southern school systems have a fall break in September which may impact room availability and flights. September is no longer a slow month anymore, but it will still have fewer crowds than holidays and summer season.
Click to expand...

Actually it seems these days there are no slow times like there used to be.
 
Upvote 0
DisneyGirl3820

DisneyGirl3820

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Oh boy. I thought I was finally going to get some lower crowd levels. Can someone out there let me know when the Southern school fall break is scheduled? Didn't the kids just go back to school at that point??!!
 
Upvote 0
crxbrett

crxbrett

Well-Known Member
I think you will have a wonderful time and definitely notice way less crowds once you get there. When did you visit the other times you went in the past? I actually went in September for the first time ever last year and was blown away by how less crowded the parks were. It was a lot of fun!

If you go early morning and evenings and take advantage of EMH mornings and FP+ you will probably not have very many long waits. When I went last year the longest wait I had was 40 min for Haunted Mansion on my very last day (which was Labor Day Sunday). The rest of the trip was walk-ons or 25 minute or less waits.
 
Upvote 0
crxbrett

crxbrett

Well-Known Member
DisneyGirl3820 said:
Oh boy. I thought I was finally going to get some lower crowd levels. Can someone out there let me know when the Southern school fall break is scheduled? Didn't the kids just go back to school at that point??!!
Click to expand...

I scoured through a bunch of calendars for Georgia and Mississippi schools and found most only take a couple days off in October and the ones that do take a whole week are off are almost all the 2nd week of October near Columbus Day for fall break. I did find one school district that was taking off the very last week of Sep. But that was like 1 out of the 30 or 40 I looked at.

I hope that gives you some sort of piece of mind.

Also, the crowds this summer at DW have been down a lot compared to the last 2 or 3 summers, other than when the APs were unblocked the last few weeks of June. So that may also be a sign that the parks will be less crowded this Sep than they were the last few years. I think people are also holding off taking their DW trips now until next year or even the following summer after Galaxy's Edge opens.
 
Upvote 0
Clamman73

Clamman73

Well-Known Member
DisneyGirl3820 said:
I wanted to go to WDW at a time of year when there are fewer crowds, since every other time we've gone, it's been crazy. I'm even taking the youngsters out of school. I went to make dining reservations and airline reservations and to my shock, many places/attractions were booked for the middle of September! PLEASE someone out there tell me that this is not going to be a nightmare going at this time??
Click to expand...
Which dates exactly? Rosh Hashanah will have schools in the northeast off on Monday the 10th and Tuesday the 11th so that’s a four day weekend for many there.
 
Upvote 0
DisneyGirl3820

DisneyGirl3820

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
crxbrett said:
I scoured through a bunch of calendars for Georgia and Mississippi schools and found most only take a couple days off in October and the ones that do take a whole week are off are almost all the 2nd week of October near Columbus Day for fall break. I did find one school district that was taking off the very last week of Sep. But that was like 1 out of the 30 or 40 I looked at.

I hope that gives you some sort of piece of mind.

Also, the crowds this summer at DW have been down a lot compared to the last 2 or 3 summers, other than when the APs were unblocked the last few weeks of June. So that may also be a sign that the parks will be less crowded this Sep than they were the last few years. I think people are also holding off taking their DW trips now until next year or even the following summer after Galaxy's Edge opens.
Click to expand...

I can't thank you enough for the info. Now I can breathe better while staring at my non-refundable plane tickets! Thank you!
 
Upvote 0
JIMINYCR

JIMINYCR

Well-Known Member
Mid Sept is a great time, still manageable, sometimes weather can be iffy. Disney is seeing a lot of people that normally would be booking trips then, holding off on making reservations in order to wait for the new Star Wars land to open. By offering the free dining packages and discounts, they hope people think they are getting enough of a great deal that they will still vacation then. You arent looking at encountering a nightmare but you will have more crowds than years ago. Lots more parents have been pulling kids out of school for what they think will be a less crowded WDW month. Gone are the "walk on or 15 minute or less lines". Gone are the "walk into any restaurant and get a table". You will still enjoy the trip but be flexible with what you find. Be wise to selectively book those FP & ADR's.
 
Upvote 0
crxbrett

crxbrett

Well-Known Member
Here's a rundown of how crowded past 3rd week of Septembers were and what is predicted for this coming 3rd week of September. (Number in parenthesis is the crowd level for that park)

2013
WEEK 3 - MK (3), EC (2), DS (2), AK (2)

2014
WEEK 3 - MK (2), EC (2), DS (3), AK (3)

2015
WEEK 3 - MK (3), EC (4), DS (5), AK (4)

2016
WEEK 3 - MK (4), EC (5), DS (3), AK (4)

2017
WEEK 3 - MK (5), EC (5), DS (5), AK (5)

2018 (PREDICTED)
WEEK 3 - MK (4), EC (4), DS (4), AK (3)


Hope this info helps you!
Just curious, when did you visit WDW in the past? Just wondering what type of crowds you saw before compared to what you will probably see this trip.
 
Upvote 0
HwdStudio

HwdStudio

Well-Known Member
I just can’t agree with low crowds in September. Last September was just as busy as the summer months while we were there. The days of really low crowds are over. Plan for the worst and if you do find the parks to be less crowded then be thankful and enjoy it.
 
Upvote 0
DisneyGirl3820

DisneyGirl3820

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We usually go the 2nd week in October (4 times) - progressively higher crowd levels every year (I'm assuming with the popularity MNSSHP and the W&FF) I can't tell you the amount of times I was either hit by a stroller or a scooter the last time we went then.

End of August (2 times) - Not too bad but second time was more crowded and we were really surprised how many people were at the MNSSHP in August! We thought we were the only crazy ones.

First week of May (1 time) - PERFECT! That was the first year we went to Disney and it was a dream

Week right after Thanksgiving (2 times) - Not bad the first year but we went back 2 years later and crowd levels definitely increased. MVMCP crowd levels were both about the same at both--not too bad.

Easter week (2 times) - Beginning of the week was ok but then it went down hill from there towards Easter Sunday.
 
Upvote 0
MomofPrincessGrace

MomofPrincessGrace

Well-Known Member
In Alabama we are only out for Labor day, but we start school the first week of August, so many families are still going on last minute summer vacations in September. We went September 12th-18th back in 2015 and the crowds were very manageable compared to when we went the first week of May last year. Even if its crowded it won't be Thanksgiving week or Christmas Day crowded.
 
Upvote 0
crxbrett

crxbrett

Well-Known Member
DisneyGirl3820 said:
We usually go the 2nd week in October (4 times) - progressively higher crowd levels every year (I'm assuming with the popularity MNSSHP and the W&FF) I can't tell you the amount of times I was either hit by a stroller or a scooter the last time we went then.

End of August (2 times) - Not too bad but second time was more crowded and we were really surprised how many people were at the MNSSHP in August! We thought we were the only crazy ones.

First week of May (1 time) - PERFECT! That was the first year we went to Disney and it was a dream

Week right after Thanksgiving (2 times) - Not bad the first year but we went back 2 years later and crowd levels definitely increased. MVMCP crowd levels were both about the same at both--not too bad.

Easter week (2 times) - Beginning of the week was ok but then it went down hill from there towards Easter Sunday.
Click to expand...


Yeah, October is now worse than summer over here at DL. Lots of schools take fall breaks now for a full week, plus with the Halloween celebrations October has now become a very busy month at the Disney parks.

I went to DW at the end of August into early Sep last year and the parks were downright empty on some days. Doing rope drop every day, taking advantage of EMHs and being diligent with FP+ really paid off as I never waited more than 25 minutes for anything other than my last day of the trip. It was not busy or crowded at all for 90% of my trip.

Looking at the Sep crowds from the previous 5 years, the first 2 weeks of Sep are definitely the least crowded of the entire year at WDW with levels of 1-3. The 2nd half of September is still really good, but slightly more crowded (levels of 3-5). I think that is because it is closer to Halloween and the F&W is in full swing.

Anyways, I think you will still have a ton of fun! And mid-late Sep crowds are still waaaaay less than any Thanksgiving or Easter crowds. I know this year, especially May and early June, attendance/crowds were way below what they had been the previous 3 years. So if that was an indicator, this September may very well be extremely light in crowds. I think crowds will probably continue to stagger or slow down or be less than the previous 2-3 years (when attendance was through the roof) from now until probably Galaxy's Edge opening next fall.
 
Upvote 0
MomofPrincessGrace

MomofPrincessGrace

Well-Known Member
DisneyGirl3820 said:
Guess the "good old days" are gone of going on a ride, getting off and running through the queue to ride it again :confused:
Click to expand...
Depends, if you rope drop and are wanting to do a less popular ride, or if you are staying for extra magic hours you can still do that for some rides. One day on our last trip we were able to ride dumbo 3 times in a row without waiting. We were also able to go on the People Mover 3 times without getting off during fireworks one night. We had the same experience with little to no wait with Nemo, 3 Caballeros, Star Tours, and a few others. It just depends on what you want to ride and when you want to ride it.
 
Upvote 0

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom