A phone CM just confirmed my fears about September :-/

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

So has the new fall break added to so many Georgia schools. We started getting week long fall breaks in 2013 and so many people we know go straight to Disney during that week.

More evidence of heavy September crowds is the fact that, for the first time of which I am aware, no bounce back free dining offer is being offered for mid-to-late September of 2017. Dates after 9-10 are excluded from the free dining offer. That is a pretty big clue that this September will be pretty crowded.

(Which could be good news for those who like to go in September but don't think free dining is a good deal for them- could be lower crowds at end of September next year.)

 

[anneboleyn]

This is no issue a pint will not fix.

LOL I will drink to that!

 

[DrunkJam]

We went in October, and at Christmas, and we both times had a great time, you just make different plans and plan more (I mean, work out what you MUST do, and don't sweat the rest, enjoy the atmosphere, and the people there all experiencing it too...

 

[DieHardJoe]

While this is certainly not the main reason for what might be increased attendance in Sept over other years, the Food & Wine Festival at Epcot is opening earlier than usual this year (well, at least since 2010 which is when I started looking at dates). In 2010, F&W kicked off on Oct 1st. It then moved to 9/30, 9/28, 9/27, 9/19, and then 9/25 last year. This year it is opening on Sept 14th. My wife and I booked dates of 9/21-9/26 simply to be able to do F&W again. Though we have gone to Disney for almost 40 years now, F&W is about 20 years old, yet we only went for the first time 2 years ago. We loved it, and will probably book future trips around the dates. This year it ends on Nov 14th, and since 2010 (maybe earlier as well) it ended somewhere between Nov 10th-14th, so no real change to the end date. But starting it mid-Sept might be having at least some small impact on bookings and attendance. Enjoy your trip! I know we will.

 

[DieHardJoe]

While this is certainly not the main reason for what might be increased attendance in Sept over other years, the Food & Wine Festival at Epcot is opening earlier than usual this year (well, at least since 2010 which is when I started looking at dates). In 2010, F&W kicked off on Oct 1st. It then moved to 9/30, 9/28, 9/27, 9/19, and then 9/25 last year. This year it is opening on Sept 14th. My wife and I booked dates of 9/21-9/26 simply to be able to do F&W again. Though we have gone to Disney for almost 40 years now, F&W is about 20 years old, yet we only went for the first time 2 years ago. We loved it, and will probably book future trips around the dates. This year it ends on Nov 14th, and since 2010 (maybe earlier as well) it ended somewhere between Nov 10th-14th, so no real change to the end date. But starting it mid-Sept might be having at least some small impact on bookings and attendance. Enjoy your trip! I know we will.

 

[anniemae]

Are the Halloween parties starting early too?

 

[HopperFan]

So has the new fall break added to so many Georgia schools. We started getting week long fall breaks in 2013 and so many people we know go straight to Disney during that week.

More evidence of heavy September crowds is the fact that, for the first time of which I am aware, no bounce back free dining offer is being offered for mid-to-late September of 2017. Dates after 9-10 are excluded from the free dining offer. That is a pretty big clue that this September will be pretty crowded.

(Which could be good news for those who like to go in September but don't think free dining is a good deal for them- could be lower crowds at end of September next year.)

Exactly what I was going to post. We used to do the FD but stopped a few years ago - 2017 dates are a plus for me!

Ten years of big September trip and this year isn't booked .... I keep bouncing between Sept and Oct and now even thinking of just skipping it altogether ........ so torn.

 

[GeneralTso]

It is a waste of time to try and schedule a WDW trip and think it won't be crowded. Of course fall is crowded, the weather lets up a bit. It folds right in to F&W, which is always a scene.
Worrying doesn't change a thing, just count on crowds and adjust your attitude to "we're going to have an awesome time!" and you'll be just fine.

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

Exactly what I was going to post. We used to do the FD but stopped a few years ago - 2017 dates are a plus for me!

Ten years of big September trip and this year isn't booked .... I keep bouncing between Sept and Oct and now even thinking of just skipping it altogether ........ so torn.

I completely understand. This September's trip is a bounceback from last year and I am not even sure I would go if we had not booked the bounceback and my husband had not already planned on going with us. He only goes on one trip a year to The World and he has vacation time scheduled for our September trip.

I am also torn about next fall of 2017. We have gotten used to our fall Disney trips. Should we just book a discounted room for 2017 and eat OOP? Should we book a free dining bounceback for summer 2017 instead? Should we book a discounted room only for summer and forget about free dining? Should we just skip Disney and get Universal annual passes for 2017? Or should we just book a cruise?

So many things to consider!

Good luck in making up your mind! Disney is awesome in October. If I could, I would probably travel in October, in spite of the crowds. The weather tends to be so perfect, and I love the fall decorations and atmosphere. It is not an option for us because I teach and the kids are in school.

 

[TigerlilyAJ]

OP, I know your concern. We are going in the first half of Dec, with free dining. So despite reading a million websites promising low crowds then, and many schools holding kids until Dec 23, I expect bigger-than-usual crowds for our trip. Touring Plans already updated us from 3 to 5 on the first half, and took it up to 9 for the second half of our trip. I figure a million people will be Just Like Me and find the combination of Full Holiday Season at the parks plus free dining to be irresistible.
WRT parents being willing to yank their kids, I gave my 11yo some options for times we could go before the FD dates came out, and he said he was concerned about missing so much school. Then the dates came out and I said he might lose the last week before Christmas. His response: "Oh, that's fine! Nothing gets done that week anyway."

 

[HopperFan]

I completely understand. This September's trip is a bounceback from last year and I am not even sure I would go if we had not booked the bounceback and my husband had not already planned on going with us. He only goes on one trip a year to The World and he has vacation time scheduled for our September trip.

I am also torn about next fall of 2017. We have gotten used to our fall Disney trips. Should we just book a discounted room for 2017 and eat OOP? Should we book a free dining bounceback for summer 2017 instead? Should we book a discounted room only for summer and forget about free dining? Should we just skip Disney and get Universal annual passes for 2017? Or should we just book a cruise?

So many things to consider!

Good luck in making up your mind! Disney is awesome in October. If I could, I would probably travel in October, in spite of the crowds. The weather tends to be so perfect, and I love the fall decorations and atmosphere. It is not an option for us because I teach and the kids are in school.

We used to go every October and pull the kids out of school ... long ago. No MNSSHP, no F&W ... the only event was a pro golf tournament. It was awesome weather, low crowds, just loved it. Upper grades meant no more pulling from school and then everything changed at Disney with events. When DS (disabled) graduated high school we were free of the calendar so we did many years of Free Dining in September. We went through the loss of gratuities, then appetizers and decided the eating style wasn't for us. We have APs so we found the discounted room, eating our own way (and less) with TiW was a much better deal. The MNSSHP was so much fun we did 2 each trip, but now I don't even want to go. The new show is great and love the parade but the crowds are now sellouts.... We are even backing off our 10 day trips and moving towards more often 4-5 day trips combined with days at the beach to relax.

I hear you, we will still spend lots of time at Disney because he loves it, as does my other kids but they are in college and getting harder to go. We're also doing more beach time now. We've had Universal APs before and I think in a few years that will be a must as they finish more things there ... and if they build that third park - game changer for many. We cruise every 3 years, so next up 2018. Good luck in deciding! But hey, how nice we get to decide.

 

[DisneyFive]

So she's never seen it this high? That doesn't surprise me but that doesn't mean it is going to be very busy. It is the slowest month of the year. It's all relative.

Dan

 

[disneymom0104]

We will be there around the same time- early Sept. I'm expecting higher crowds than we have seen in prior trips, but I am not *worried*. It is what it is. But as far as TP and its new predictions, since they switched their plan- their numbers have been way off. Now I know a 4 right now is more crowded than a 4 was in July and earlier, but today they predicted an overall 7 and a 7 for MK- both were 4's. Yesterday they predicted 8's overall and 8 at MK- both were 4's. Friday they predicted 9's, actual was 5's. Thursday they predicted a 10 at MK- actual was a 4. Wednesday they predicted at 10 at MK, actual was a 6. I could go on. They have a lot to work out with their predictions and their new formula. I know people love knowing that a park that was predicted a 10 was a 4 a lot more than the other way around. This just proves to me that you really cannot predict. Disney just changes the formula too frequently to keep up with. My gut tells me the lower summer will mean a higher than average fall, that doesn't mean it will actually be 9's and 10's. But maybe it will be. Won't know until after it's over

 

[bryanb]

There are definitely more people going every year in the so-called "off-season." I suppose this is a good thing, as it appears that the crowds really are spreading out more. Definitely, my trip this summer during the supposed "heavy season" was actually tolerable.

F&W Festival used to be a way to attract people during a historically dead time of year. Turns out that even was so successful, that there's a spring version of it too, and the event only seems to be growing in popularity.

In any case, September is a fantastic time to go to WDW. I would not mind booking a trip this next September either!

 

[BookGirl305]

q

 

[jhoannam]

I think another big factor is the shorter park hours and all the party nights. I really hope they look at the recent history and extend the hours past 7pm at the other parks.

 

[Princesca]

I'm a little bummed about the crowd updates for November, but there's nothing I can do about it, so que sera sera. I have always carefully planned, though, to give myself the best chance of mitigating crowds, so I do think that if there is truly no slow season at Disney anymore, I probably won't be back after this trip until/unless I have kids to take. I love it, but I reaaaaaaaaally dislike crowds. I don't even go to our state fair because I don't like the cattle call that the exhibition halls become.

 

[lawboysam]

We went last September and it was just dead, dead, dead, except for (as expected) Monday's in Magic Kingdom. The longest we ever waited for ANYTHING was 30 minutes. Don't stress. Even if it's "busy for September", I can't imagine they've somehow like, tripled the amount of folks coming in September.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

first of all, even if every single WDW resort was completely full with the total capacity of each room, if those were the only persons in the parks they would seem pretty empty. Resort bookings don't translate to huge park crowds...guests coming from offsite do.

Also, that is the season for a few big conventions which will book up hotels but won't necessarily result in larger park crowds.

It won't be empty but it won't be like Christmas or anything.

 

[lynch34]

1. You got this info from a phone CM. One step up from a bus driver on the reliability scale.
2. September has both free dining and a decent room discount offered, so of course the resorts will be filled. Off site resorts? Probably not. So that skews any park crowd projections. Full Disney resorts don't necessarily equal full parks.
3. Easywdw's crowd calendar looks pretty darn good. Take that FWIW.

Pretty much this.
CM knows nothing.
Crowds will be great.