Sept not low crowds anymore?

[anniemae]

We were there Aug 30-Sep 7 and have never walked on so many rides. The 30th was still a bit crowded, but after that, the longest wait we ever did was 25 minutes. We did A&E one night with a 10 minute wait. Mine Train was the ONLY ride that still had a significant wait. We went on all the other mountains multiple times because the wait was so low. Same with everest.

I think one reason was the hurricane scared people away. We heard there were a ton of cancellations due to hurricane Erika. One forecast had the storm heading straight for Orlando and a state of emergency was issued. Apparently many folks cancelled.

 

[TeamSy]

I think one reason was the hurricane scared people away. We heard there were a ton of cancellations due to hurricane Erika. One forecast had the storm heading straight for Orlando and a state of emergency was issued. Apparently many folks cancelled.

Yes I definitely think that had a lot to do with it! All I have to say is I hope they have a hurricane scare next time we go because it was one of our best trips in YEARS!

 

[MmmSuite]

So I have been reading all these posts about this week being so crowded and the halloween party being ridiculous. This week was marked as literally the lowest week all year long. With 1 and 2 crowd levels on numerous sites. Now I understand that a 1 does not mean the park is empty that its still crowded. BUT it should be a big difference from a 10, otherwise whats the point in even rating crowd levels. I was planning my next trip for Sept 2016 we wanted to go this same week as it shows the lowest crowds and that is whats important to us and for my DH who hates crowds and only goes because me and the kids so I want to make it more enjoyable for him. Our last Dec trip was good the second week, it was manageable and we did everything we wanted. Some days at certain times got a bit crowded but nothing was too bad except AK on our last day (Saturday) and the Christmas party. But planning this second week in Sept I thought it would be much better now I am really worried. Will Kenny the pirate, touring plans, easywdw adjust next Sept crowd levels based on this year? Someone really needs to put what the crowds really were compared to what was predicted. Do you all think this Jewish holiday made a huge difference this as its a different time every year? I really want to go and have a good time. I wanted to go in Sept when the weather was hot so we could use the pools for once. But we cannot do wall to wall people and ridiculous waits for every ride. I had posted my doubts on going in Sept because its so hot but so many people assured me on this sites its a great time to go especially with low crowds. Now I have no clue if Sept is a good time to go anymore. They really should put a smaller limit on how many people can go into parks, they are going to get to a point where its not enjoyable for anything. Hope this made since I kinda rambled

I was there the 3rd-12th. It was definitely more crowded than my trip last year the 19th-26th. But it was not wall to wall people and everything except 7DMT, Peter Pan, at times Winnie the Pooh and the Mountains, TSMM, Test Track and Soarin' was walk on. All day. Every day. The only exception was 4-7 on the 11th when the NOJ people came in. I'm going again next year. I love Sept.

 

[anniemae]

Yes I definitely think that had a lot to do with it! All I have to say is I hope they have a hurricane scare next time we go because it was one of our best trips in YEARS!

HA! We were sitting in the hotel one morning watching the weather and all the computer models had Erica going straight up FL right at Orlando. After they issued the state of emergency, panic ensued and they showed shelves at stores that were empty of bottled water and food and lines at gas stations. I turned to DH and said, " should we try to leave Orlando?" We stayed and thankfully Erika was nothing but a bit of rain for us.

 

[GaryDis]

Between the discussion here and the reports on the MNSSHP, I'm giving serious consideration to moving our trip next year to the last week in August instead of mid-Sep.

 

[Dentam]

Between the discussion here and the reports on the MNSSHP, I'm giving serious consideration to moving our trip next year to the last week in August instead of mid-Sep.

I wouldn't count on another hurricane in late August next year - that's apparently what contributed to the unusually low crowds during that week this year.

 

[married2mm]

I've just returned yesterday from a 2 week vacation ...
We were also there in July.

There was a considerable difference in attendance levels ( predominantly the tour groups ) however; we did still see a few around the parks.
I would have to say crowd levels were definitely higher this week than last week.

We were with a newbie who is not a fan of big crowds and he thought the parks were crazy busy!!
Everyone clearly has their own interpretation of crowd levels; as well as the predicted levels posted.

 

[anniemae]

I still think the best week is the week after labor day for crowds.

 

[MermaidMommy]

Josh has a very detailed, in-depth look at wait times during the past week (it's after the MNSSHP info):

http://www.easywdw.com/uncategorize...what-the-lowest-crowds-of-the-year-look-like/

 

[kandb]

This is what I think. I posted earlier that we were there end of Aug/beg Sept and it was busy. It seems like there was always one REALLY busy park and we always were in it. I think everyone is following sites like easywdw so everyone is going to the same park. We were at HS and it was totally packed, We were like, "THIS was the recommended park?"

We went 8/28 to 9/5. We went to HS on Sunday, 8/30 and it was packed and was the first recommended park.

 

[kandb]

We were there last week aug/first week in Sept. I don't remember rides being walk ons. TT was over 60 mins, peter pan over 60 minutes, Winnie the pooh, every time I wanted to go on it was over 30 minutes. I have been checking wait times this past week and it seems comparable or a little better then when we were there.

 

[GraceLuvsWDW]

Here now and crowds are definitely higher than expected. Test track yesterday was 110 min standby. Today 7dmt hovered at 60-70. The mtns stayed over 30 all day. One thing I will say is less than 50% of the guests are U.S. Guests. Many from Brazil. I think Disney is running specials for low times in other countries. Yesterday morning we had a line waiting for mk bus at least 100+ people long at pop. They were sending one double bus after another trucking people to parks. Food court is mobbed like June crowds in am and pm. I think last week was better week for crowds.

 

[Mom2Kids2003]

We were there from September 9 to September 15 and I didn't think the crowds were very bad at all. We didn't wait longer than 30 minutes for anything and that wait was for Test Track and some of the more popular rides. We went on tons of rides multiple times in a row and loved how empty it was. I have to admit that the heat and humidity got to us a bit (and we are from Texas - LOL) but it was the perfect time to head to Disney. We always go either the end of February or middle of September and this year the September crowds were less than February.

 

[Tashak]

In my opinion, no, first of Oct will not be better. Almost all Southern school systems have the first week in Oct off as their fall break. Every year more and more schools take the week off. Sept is much better for the crowd aspect.

Odd, I'm in the south and we don't get a fall break. Back to the drawing board.

 

[andiraye]

I wouldn't count on another hurricane in late August next year - that's apparently what contributed to the unusually low crowds during that week this year.

I agree. I also think what contributed to the crazy low crowds we experienced from 9/1 to 9/5 was that Labor Day was super late this year. So though technically it was the week before Labor Day (which is usually the last week of August) even lots of northeast schools were back in session.

I should also clarify about our walk on experience. We had FP's for SDMT, Peter Pan, TSMM, and Test Track. We did Winnie the Poo and the mountains in the first hour or so after RD and did Soarin at RD. We skipped A&E entirely, having done it last year. So our approach to the headliners/super headliners was either FP, RD or pass.

That being said, I did find that wait times were lower than what Touring Plans predicted across the board. And that Space Mountain was walk on when it was predicted to be a 20 min wait.

 

[anniemae]

We were there last week aug/first week in Sept. I don't remember rides being walk ons. TT was over 60 mins, peter pan over 60 minutes, Winnie the pooh, every time I wanted to go on it was over 30 minutes. I have been checking wait times this past week and it seems comparable or a little better then when we were there.

This was our experience during that week as well.

 

[feezle]

Arrived yesterday. MK was not the recommended parks but we had been able to snag a FP for 7 Dwarfs so we went. We were staying one day at Sports before we check into our condo. Decided to take the bus from the resort and there was a crazy long wait for it.

MK was packed. We got there around 7. We used our three FPs and left. EasyWDW had yesterday as a 4. We are following recommendations for the rest of our trip for the most part so hopefully that helps. Ia am dreading the 6 and 7 at the end of the week though.

 

[nluvwithdisney]

Just wrapped up our trip for Sept 13-19. I wouldn't say the parks were empty but they were quite manageable for us. We never managed to get fastpasses for Toy Story Mania but we road it twice during the emh on Monday evening. The posted time was 45 minutes but we made it through in about 35 minutes each time.

Temperatures were in the upper 80's all week so that also wasn't so bad. It was still hot but you find ways to stay cool by mixing up indoor ac attractions in. We actually saw Tiki Room, Monsters Inc, and the Philharmagic for our first time this trip. As horrible as Tiki was it was a great way to escape heat and/or rain for a break.

 

[Dentam]

As horrible as Tiki was it was a great way to escape heat and/or rain for a break.

Aww, poor Tiki room gets so little love... my dad really likes this one but my mom doesn't. I don't mind it and think it's a classic. We didn't get to it this trip but we did climb up into the Swiss Family Treehouse which I hadn't done in years!

 

[siskaren]

Arrived yesterday. MK was not the recommended parks but we had been able to snag a FP for 7 Dwarfs so we went. We were staying one day at Sports before we check into our condo. Decided to take the bus from the resort and there was a crazy long wait for it.

MK was packed. We got there around 7. We used our three FPs and left. EasyWDW had yesterday as a 4. We are following recommendations for the rest of our trip for the most part so hopefully that helps. Ia am dreading the 6 and 7 at the end of the week though.

Saturdays are always the busiest day for MK, and yesterday had evening EMH, which I'm sure made it worse. Also, when Josh rates a day as a 4 (or any other number, for that matter), he means for the resort as a whole, with the most recommended park being lower and the non-recommended park(s) being higher. I'm guessing that the 6 and 7 at the end of the week are because of the start of the Food and Wine Festival, so I would think that as long as you avoid Epcot those 2 days, you should be fine.