Last Week of August Thoughts

[FlyingElephant]

We are going the last week of August (25-31), and the early crowd calendars (particularly the one from EasyWDW) predicted that this week will have higher crowd levels than in past years. However, since it was announced that free dining would not be offered the last week of August, it would see to me that this would give people more of an incentive to push their trips into September, and thus that week would see even lower crowds. Any thoughts?

 

[mom2AidanAndEli]

We are going the last week of August (25-31), and the early crowd calendars (particularly the one from EasyWDW) predicted that this week will have higher crowd levels than in past years. However, since it was announced that free dining would not be offered the last week of August, it would see to me that this would give people more of an incentive to push their trips into September, and thus that week would see even lower crowds. Any thoughts?

We're going the exact same dates! We've been that last August week three different years and loved it each time. Very HOT but reasonable crowds and free dining! We're hoping the crowds are similar to what they've been in the past but who knows? We were lucky and got the PIN for free dining so that week still worked for us.

I'm actually more concerned about what impact the testing of FP+ will have on wait times than the crowds themselves. We're not eligible for the bands or FP+. I'm afraid all those people using FP+ will make lines longer and deplete available FPs earlier in the days.

Guess we'll see.....

 

[RMulieri]

They offer free dining as incentive to bring in crowds.Since it is blacked out that week, they obviously had the bookings they wanted and didn't need to offer any.I wouldn't say that would mean lower crowds the week of the 25th-31st

 

[mom2AidanAndEli]

They offer free dining as incentive to bring in crowds.Since it is blacked out that week, they obviously had the bookings they wanted and didn't need to offer any.I wouldn't say that would mean lower crowds the week of the 25th-31st

But....I think a lot of people had booked that week, planning on the FD dining being offered. I know that's what I did, based on history! So could it be that they were booked pretty well that week, in anticipation of FD, and when it didn't happen that a lot of people cancelled or rescheduled? Or is that just wishful thinking?

 

[FlyingElephant]

They also extended the summer room offer to encompass that week. It seems to me that, as you suggested, people who booked that week in anticipation of a FD offer to the general public were disappointed and canceled, thus prompting Disney to give an incentive to go that week. Of course, I could be dead wrong, but those are my thoughts.

 

[scrappinginontario]

There is free dining that week for some. That week was offered in 2012 as a bounce back offer and also some received PINs offering Free Dining that week.

I've been the last week of August the past 2 years and found the crowds very reasonable and I'm sure they will be for you too. The one thing to note is that in both of our cases the crowds did get noticeably larger beginning the Friday of the Labor Day weekend and continued throughout the weekend.

Have fun! I'm going one week earlier in order to utilize the end of our Annual Passes but wish I was going the week you're going to be there!

 

[mcd2745]

That's our usual vacation week. For us, it's the week after the kids' summer camp ends and before they go back to school - so it's the week that makes the most sense for us. We did WDW in 2010 & 2011 (Disney Dream cruise last year, DIS cruise on RCCL this year, and booked for Disney Fantasy next year) for the last week of August. When in WDW in 2010 & 2011, overall crowd levels were very managable. Very few waits more than 15 minutes, if any, outside of TSMM. Now...while crowd leves overall were not bad, since they were freee dining weeks, (good) ADRs were extremely difficult to get. However, that was before the credit card guarantees that have helped greatly and it doesn't appear that this year is a free dining week as a genreal public offer so it shouldn't be as bad this year as it was those years.

 

[Jazzerfan]

We've gone the last week a few times and love it. Crowds are manageable and don't remember ever really waiting in any lines. Stay hydrated and find places to cool off and ENJOY!!!!

 

[epcotty]

I think it should still be low crowds, August typically isn't bad with crowds

 

[jennyerin]

I am curious too. Last year we were there the last two weeks of August and the crowds noticeably increased for the second week when public free dining started. I hope they do a bounceback for free-dining again next year at this time but I wouldn't be surprised if they don't...

 

[mkoerner]

We're going Aug.22-28 simply because in past years crowds have been fairly low. Normally that's free dining and restaurants are crowded, but that may not be the case this year. I'm a little uncertain about the crowds this year because we were unable to get the room category we wanted at POR AP rate and had to settle for POFQ. Makes me think crowds will be a bit heavier than normal. Still nothing like holidays or spring break though. Late August is hot and humid, but we still love it!

 

[Glennie5]

We went that week in 2011 and loved it. I

 

[laughinplace199]

Touring Plans crowd numbers are looking good for the last week of August.

 

[loislane]

We'll be there the 18th through the 29th and I'm really hoping for low crowds without the free dining promotion for everyone. We're camping this time, so we weren't worried about free dining when we booked.

Last trip in August 2011, when we got free dining, was pretty manageable.

 

[eeyoregon]

They also extended the summer room offer to encompass that week. It seems to me that, as you suggested, people who booked that week in anticipation of a FD offer to the general public were disappointed and canceled, thus prompting Disney to give an incentive to go that week. Of course, I could be dead wrong, but those are my thoughts.

Except that the discounted room rates were offered long before the lack of free dining was announced for that week. I booked the 30% off room rates back in March but the Free dining dates didn't come out until months later, so Disney wouldn't have known about about any cancellations due to no free dining.

I'm still so bummed that they pulled the plug this year! We have gone the last week of August for the past 7+ years for 1.) free dining and 2.) School starts the day after Labor day. And this was the one year that we really could have used the free dining to help our budget. Sigh. Thankful we can still go but sad to not enjoy table service meals this time around.

Gina

 

[scrappinginontario]

Except that the discounted room rates were offered long before the lack of free dining was announced for that week. I booked the 30% off room rates back in March but the Free dining dates didn't come out until months later, so Disney wouldn't have known about about any cancellations due to no free dining.

I'm still so bummed that they pulled the plug this year! We have gone the last week of August for the past 7+ years for 1.) free dining and 2.) School starts the day after Labor day. And this was the one year that we really could have used the free dining to help our budget. Sigh. Thankful we can still go but sad to not enjoy table service meals this time around.

Gina

If you're there the same week this year, be sure to call x8844 during your stay to check for the BB offer. We were there the last wee of Aug last year and have FD this year beginning Aug 18th because it was a BB offer.

 

[FlyingElephant]

Touring Plans crowd numbers are looking good for the last week of August.

Thanks for the info...I don't have an account for Touring Plans, so I can only go off EasyWDW and Dad'sGuidetoDisney, which both say that crowds will thin out that week.

 

[FlyingElephant]

We're going Aug.22-28 simply because in past years crowds have been fairly low. Normally that's free dining and restaurants are crowded, but that may not be the case this year. I'm a little uncertain about the crowds this year because we were unable to get the room category we wanted at POR AP rate and had to settle for POFQ. Makes me think crowds will be a bit heavier than normal. Still nothing like holidays or spring break though. Late August is hot and humid, but we still love it!

I wouldn't be too worried....other Disney fans online have taught me that resort bookings are not a good indicator of crowd sizes. Remember, those people have 4 parks to choose from, could hang out at the resort or water parks all day, or they could even visit another theme park in Orlando. I think most rooms fill up anyway, the closer you get to the date (though I don't know when you booked).