Crowds in Sept??

[tiffsix]

How crowded do all of you think it will be this Sept with free dining plan???

low crowds- moderate, heavy????

 

[Fast Pass]

Its kinda hard to say because alot of people only purchased a one day base ticket with just the intention of doing the resort restaurants.

Last year I went at the end of September and the crowds were extremely light-then again with the parade of hurricanes the crowds were kinda scared off.

The crowds won't be like they are say in June,July or early August.
I know I really didn't answer your question but with them offering this free dining thing for the first time there is no historical reference that anybody can look to.

 

[Laugh O. Grams]

We used to go to WDW during Spetember every year for my birthday. It is typically a pretty slow season.

 

[Blueberry]

We have been many years in early September, including last year between hurricanes. Normally it is a slow season, last year everything was pretty much a walk on, however, this year maybe a bit differnt. The Dining Plan is made to draw folks back to Florida in September when a lot of people might have decided againest visiting Florida due to the threat of hurricanes and what happened last year. There maybe a few more people in the parks, and the values and moderate hotels may have more people than normal, but I do not think it will significantly impact the parks..many will still not come and not feel it is worth the risk of being there in a hurricane....I however do not mind taking my chances, we have had so many great trips in September before. It is hot, it rains a lot but the low crowds are worth it IMHO....see ya in September....

 

[stoudt6]

Shouldn't be too crowded. keep in mind September is by far the slowest for all smaller hotels outside of WDW as well as at WDW. They won't see an increse of people do the free dining. Also they only sell so many free dining packages so you may see a 10-20% increase in people; with the parks maybe 1/4 full in september that extra 10-20% will basically mean instead of walking on or a 5 minute wait for attractions will now be 10 minutes. if been to WDW 2 of last 3 septembers, if the crowds doubled it still would be easily manageable.

 

[tiggerlover77]

I always go in Sept/early Oct and the crowd levels are always wonderful, mostly because everyone is scared of the hurricanes coming through and wrecking their trip, I have been lucky so far to go and not get stuck with that problem. How smart is Disney to offer that deal at one of their slowest times of the year.......shoot I jumped all over that plan It is a limited plan though and from what I was just told today, the special isn't sold out yet and it ends on July 3.

Everyone keep your fingers crossed that the crowds are low and the hurricanes stay away

 

[undertheseas]

I hope there isn't long lines but if there's more people will the parks be open longer?

 

[MOMOFMNM]

speaking of Hurricanes does anyone know what they are predicting for the end of Sept/begin Oct as far as hurricanes?? Is that time for a hurricane?? Sorry, I am an Iowan so all I know in Oct is cold...and colder....anyone know???

 

[Blondie]

See this poll to get an idea of how many DISers are going so far.

The new free meal promo has me a tad concerned that the parks might be more crowded than usual for September.

I guess we'll have to wait and see for ourselves!

 

[stoudt6]

like I said above there will be more people staying in WDW resorts, BUT It will not increase the number of people staying outside WDW , thus it will still be slow. The CM I talked to said September crowds this year will be like usual early October crowds which is still slow.

 

[kathy8779]

How Do I Get The Free Dining Thing? I'm Booking Through The Disney World Website...is That Bad? Do You Guys Use Expedia Or Something? I'm A Newbie At This...........

 

[threeboysmom]

How Do I Get The Free Dining Thing? I'm Booking Through The Disney World Website...is That Bad? Do You Guys Use Expedia Or Something? I'm A Newbie At This...........

I don't think the free dining plan can be booked online. Call Disney directly 1-407-WDISNEY and ask for the magic your way package with free dining included. If they ask for a pin code, tell them it is YMP. This is only for a certain time period though - end of August through beginning of October - I don't know the exact dates. But there is still availability so call TODAY. Package promotion ends 7/3.

I really don't think the free dining is going to impact the crowd levels. The general public is still pretty much clueless when it comes to the free dining. Disney is NOT advertising it as free dining. Just the fact that they haven't sold out yet is testimony to the fact that not a lot of people have taken advantage of it (except us DIS'ers and we make up a tiny fraction of the people who visit WDW).

 

[javaj]

How Do I Get The Free Dining Thing? I'm Booking Through The Disney World Website...is That Bad? Do You Guys Use Expedia Or Something? I'm A Newbie At This...........

You can book it through the WDW site using this link:

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/special/offerDetail?id=AugSepMYWOfferPage

 

[dicdover]

I'm going in Sept. (Free Dining!) and I am also concerned about higher than usual crowds for that time of the year. A couple of months ago touringplan.com was projecting the crowd levels for the time I'm going (Sept. 12 - 21) at a 1 or 2. They recently updated their projections and are now predicting a crowd level of 4 to 5.

 

[cosmicdaisy]

I'm going in Sept. (Free Dining!) and I am also concerned about higher than usual crowds for that time of the year. A couple of months ago touringplan.com was projecting the crowd levels for the time I'm going (Sept. 12 - 21) at a 1 or 2. They recently updated their projections and are now predicting a crowd level of 4 to 5.

They didn't really go up on their projections...they changed their numbering system. From what I have read, a 4 or 5 is the same as what used to be a 1 or a 2. HTH


I am in agreeance with PP that I don't think its going to be super crowded. Personally, i haven't seen one single ad about the free dining and you could seriously overlook it from their homepage. I think the package has maybe brought some folks back that weren't intending on coming back during this particular season...and probably brought a percentage of folks in during this time that weren't really planning a trip or at least a trip during this time period. And otherwise, I think it brought outside resort guests inside WDW to stay onsite to take advantage of the free dining.

Now, I've only been a few times in July, more times in February and other times with school, so during the school year, and 7 years ago for my honeymoon in August...so I have no previous Sept/Oct crowd experience to compare with. This is just my own little theory.