Last week of August....?

[daretodream]

I'm a little concerned about crowds due to free dining. We ususally go in Sept. I made a change to ADR today and could only get 9:50 at Concourse. Anyone have any idea what crowds will be like?

 

[ntsammy5]

Should be a little more crowded than early September, but most schools are already open by then. Free DDP really impacts the people staying on site. It encourages people to stay at Disney resorts in order to get the DDP. IMO I think that off site hotels/condos feel the pinch and the impact on overall crowds is negligible.

 

[yogi]

We're going the last week of August too, so I've read with much interest over the last few months what to expect.

The strong feeling is that the restaurants will be a zoo, but the parks will be fine.

 

[sonia828]

thats when we're going... the parks are not supposed to be that crowded

never know till you get there...just keep hoping and wishing

 

[Cookie Princess]

We went the last week of August last year and are doing the same this year. The parks weren't super busy, but the restaurants were due to the free DDP.

 

[Tink6666]

We are there the last week of August also... 26th thru the 1st. We booked prior to the free ddp, but had already booked the premium plan. There was another post that showed where you can get info on the crowds at a certain time of the year at Disney...Since it is an "unofficial guide" website, I can't post a link to it, but it showed the levels at 5 & 6 during that week. 1 being about a 10 minute wait on the major rides and 10 being a 75 + minute wait on major rides. 5 or 6 was about a 45 minute standby wait. I hope this helps... if you want to find the web site, just goggle the words above that are in quotes.

 

[NYDisGuy]

I was there last year for free dining the last week of August and the only park that was "bad" was Animal Kingdom because of the gigantic crowds and the rides kept shutting down and the only restaurant that we waited past our adr time was Le Cellier. Magic Kingdom became busy around 1 p.m. I wouldn't worry, as long as you have your adr's and you plan on hitting the parks early then you will be fine.

 

[Nickmom522]

We're going the last week of August too, so I've read with much interest over the last few months what to expect.

The strong feeling is that the restaurants will be a zoo, but the parks will be fine.

I've posted about this too. Most people agree that it is the restaurants that are impacted the most. The only thing that makes me wonder is that this year the last week of August is the first week of free dining as compared to other years when it started in mid-August. I wonder if that will change the crowds that last week. Although, lots of kids are still just starting school at that time so maybe that would still keep crowds down.