Crowd Update

[JustHolly]

If anyone is unsure of when to plan a vacation, I'd say early September is the perfect time.

The parks are empty!!! Picture this- today- Saturday afternoon at the Magic Kingdom. We walked on to EVERY ride! It was great. We WALKED onto Splash Mountain. I couldn't believe it. We did the entire Magic Kingdom in about 3 hours. EVERYTHING!

We have always gone to WDW at school vacation times. Now that we live here, I'm psyched that we can just walk onto rides. I rode many things I have never bothered with today- Snow White, Dumbo, the teacups. The lines were always too long to "bother"with these rides. What a treat!

It didn't hurt that a tropical storm was passing through. The weather was drizzly on and off, so that may have kept the crowds down. But, we were at Disney MGM studios on Wed night and walked right on to TOT and RNRC.

Pull your kids out of school and vacation in September. The weather is great and you can't beat the crowds!!!!

 

[jmommy]

JustHolly: Any thoughts on the crowds in the middle of October? Thanks.

 

[BabyMo]

We leave on Saturday for our FTP trip (me, DH, FIL, and MIL). We got nervous when they extended the hours (longer hours=bigger crowds) but that doesn't sound so bad at all. Thanks for the update!

 

[JustHolly]

jmommy- I've never been here in mid-October, but I'll be sure to let you know!

 

[EpcotBill]

I was wondering how the crowds would be in September since Disney didn't offer any AP rates this month. Labor Day week 2002 the parks were empty too. But I thought the FTP was supposed to fill the parks, hmmm.

I hope other people going this month will report how the crowds are on this thread.

 

[DaveH]

September if I recall right is the slowest month of the year at WDW. I believe Jan was number 2. They have other events now in Jan that it may not be as slow as Sep.

 

[jwfla422]

From our experience September has always been one of the best times to go as far as the crowds are concerned.

However, the weather is such a gamble. When we went in 2001-it rained everyday from 2:00 on through to the night, poured. If it was just DH and I well we could trot around in it in our ponchos but when you have a 2 yr old it makes it quite uncomfortable even with a stroller cover.

It also can make for an unpleasant 3 hr car trip to WDW (which turns out to be much longer) when driving through this weather (blinding rain not be able to see past the front of your car)...

so it may be the perfect time crowd wise and you could get lucky with the weather but just keep in mind it is peak hurricane season. We were very lucky with this past tropical system but we're not always that lucky. Sometimes just a small tropical wave can move through and keep it wet for days.

September and October are big convention months in WDW. That could be why there weren't a lot of special room rates going on..

 

[phamton]

We went today (Sunday, Sept. 7) and almost everything was a walkon. We didn't wait longer than 10 minutes for anything including the more popular rides at Fantasyland (like Peter Pan, Snow White, etc.) and Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain, and Splashmountain were less than 5 minutes waits. Buzz Lightyear was 5 minutes. Most of the major rides, we rode 2 and 3 times.

The weather was great, not too hot and overcast but no rain. I was worried about the crowds because it was an Early Entry morning for Magic Kingdom (8:00 AM) but we didn't get there until around 9:30.

 

[JustHolly]

Just an update: We walked onto Mission Space and Test Track at Epcot around 2:30 Sunday afternoon as well.... but The Living Seas was packed...

I'm wondering if they haven't had any annual pass specials because WDW's other packages are so cheap... like the Deluxe resorts for $109. Even with an annual pass, you can't beat that!

 

[discraz]

I just got off the phone with disney travel company and was warned that Oct. was booked up and to make sure arrangements for special events; ie. character meals, PS, were done.
Prepare for crowds in Oct.