Realistic wait time Sep/Oct?

[pkelly6]

Touringplans has crowd levels late Sep/early Oct as 3s and 4s. Even on 4 days the wait times on most attractions (sans 7 dwarfs and Anna/Elsa) don't seem horrible - 30 mins max and most much less.

For those that have used touringplans and been in the parks on a 3/4 day, did you find the wait times realistic?

Thanks!

 

[sailored]

Following! I'll be going September 2015 and still debating if I should sign up for touring plans.

 

[Faceoff445566]

Wondering about this too. I'm debating on going in early October.

 

[RacetoSpaceMountain]

I can contribute a little to this thread because this is the time of year in which we usually go on our Disney vacation.

2012 - We went around early September while nothing much was going on. F&W was a week or two away and the MNSSHP were just starting. It was a 10 day trip and the wait times were great. In MK we considered anything a "high wait time" if stand by time was listed at 20 (which only happened a couple of times for attractions like Space, Splash, etc). We would still get in the lines that said 20 minutes of stand by time but it was actually more like 5-10 minutes. Considering I'm not much of a crowd person this was fantastic and a big reason why we are going back at the same time this year.

2013 - We went around early October in the middle or end of F&W. It was a 9 day trip and the wait times were surprising. We expected them to be like the year prior and they were at first, but towards the end of our trip wait times did rise. We experienced longer wait times with Space and Splash sometimes reaching 50+. Granted, this was during the time of the government shutdown so maybe that had something to do with it and caused a lot of families to take last minute vacations, I don't know. The crowds weren't horrible or anything and probably 10x better than they would be during July or August but they weren't what we expected.

Hope this helps!

 

[rdearth]

We have had the same experience as RacetoSpaceMountain.

Before the kids were school aged, we always went in late September. Other than a few love bugs and the humidity, this was an ideal time for us to go because I hate standing in line for anything for more than 20 minutes. At least at that time, about 4-5 years ago, no line was that long except for maybe Soarin'...I think it was a long wait all day so we did that right at the end of the night and had to wait 10 minutes or so. I believe Toy Story Mania had just opened as well, so the lines for it were crazy, but only about 15 minutes during EMH.

Since the kids are older we go in early October which was very similar in wait times....right up until about 3 years ago. I personally don't think the crowd calendars have been properly adjusted. The first two weeks in October have been brutal the last two times we've gone (I think 2011 and 2012). But keep in mind this is coming from someone who enjoys the light crowds and can barely stand the thought of being in Disney in the summer with all those people, so a summer Disney goer might still find October crowds to be "light."

What has been happening is that more schools across the country are going to a "balanced" schedule...not quite year round, but close. The idea is that you have four equal grading periods and a week or two break between each one.

School schedules differ, obviously, but most go about 180 days a year. Our school wants to end before Memorial Day, so backing out of that always puts our Fall Break at the first two full weeks of October. You throw in Columbus Day and suddenly you have large crowds and I would bet the first full week is always worse than the second.

I think the other big issue with crowd levels in the first two weeks of October is the weather. On the two years where it was jam packed full of people, the weather forecast leading up to that week was extremely favorable (no chance of rain, high heat, etc.). I think that a lot locals and near locals saw that the weather was going to be nice, the kids were out of school, so why not head over to the Magic Kingdom for the day? There's nothing you can do about the weather though, but if you have the option of going when most kids are in school, do it.

Oh, and I should add this unexpected abundance of people was generally seen more at Magic Kingdom than the other parks.

 

[shyjade]

I agree with PP's. When we went in September the lines were the lowest we've ever seen at Disney. Last year we went Oct 19th and the crowds were definitely higher than September.

 

[Bbodie83]

We've went in September the last 2 years and other than Soarin and TSMM we have not had to wait more than 15-20 minutes to ride anything.

 

[abeille]

Last year we were there the week of Sept 18, and overall the waits were very little. I planned my FP+ for the attractions with longer waits, but a lot of the time I wouldn`t even have needed it (it was still effective though). I did look up the crowd calendars and make decisions accordingly, and hit rope drop. The only times we really did wait were if we got to a `show` type attraction and had just missed the doors (for example Monsters Inc or Philarmagic), and maybe 4-5 other times during the entire week, we might have waited 20 minutes. It was really fun to catch the halloween party and the food & wine festival, I absolutely would go back at that time of year. I planned the whole thing with touring plans and it worked out very, very well. I think if you are an experienced guest you might not need touring plans as much but in my case, it was my first time going in a really long time and it was extremely helpful (and accurate).

Sometimes there were waits at some attractions (Soaring, Test track etc) but with proper planning, rope drop and FP+ it was very easy to avoid any such wait.

 

[Frozen2014]

We've went in September the last 2 years and other than Soarin and TSMM we have not had to wait more than 15-20 minutes to ride anything.

Do you mean for rope drop?

 

[nkereina]

We've been the last week of September. I recall wait times being 20-30 minutes or less, with the exception of the headliners in each park. Those would get up to 40-60 sometimes. Except TSM and Soarin, which would go beyond 60 minutes.

 

[texasroni75]

On our trip last September, we found the crowd predictors online to be fairly accurate. Anything that was not a Tier 1 attraction was usually under 25 minutes standby. Occasionally an attraction would get a little backed up, but we did a lot of walk-ons. Hence, our return trip this September - it was awesome! Of course, Toy Story Mania was like 1 hr 50 min wait every time we passed that way LOL, so FP+ is always needed there.

 

[Bbodie83]

Do you mean for rope drop?

No, we don't do rope drop. We usually get to the parks around 10. When we were planning our trip, we thought we would use the legacy fast pass, because they still had it at the time. I think we only pulled 2 extra fast passes the whole trip.

 

[jess1662]

I think with F&W starting earlier this year, it may be a little more crowded than prior years

 

[GotLabradors]

I'll be interested in hearing your trip report after you get back. We're planning a trip for the last week of September in 2015.

 

[thart99]

Going in September this year and hoping for lower crowd levels. We planned this trip for September specifically because of the crowd levels and the opportunity to do MNSSHP and the Food and Wine Festival. Fingers crossed that it all works out like we hope for!

 

[luvmylatte]

We have gone the week of September 22 the last 3 years and it is heavenly. Low crowds, some walk right on rides, some 10 minute waits but nothing crazy. The interesting thing is that many parents with very small children are there, thus making the lines for "small children rides" the longest. Thrill rides are much shorter. We waited 30 minutes for Pooh and 10 for Space Mt. Last year....crazy. Other than some rain, September is the best time to go! Enjoy!