Don't read if you are leaving this week. :)

[kribit]

Just back from a wonderful trip...although a BIT more busy than anticipated. MK on Sunday night was a MADHOUSE (felt like crowd level in the middle of July). I'll post pics when I download. I give a lot of credit to the folks who venture down in the summer....YIKES. I honestly think the free dining had a lot to do with it. We'll probably skip that next year. Umm...we'll definately skip that next year. We stayed at POR in the Magnolia Bend Acadian House. Next year we'll stay at Boardwalk or Yacht Club. DH and I stayed at POR several times before my little twins came along, but I found it to be a little less convenient with little ones. "Little Ones," that reminds me...there were not so little ones at the Magical Beginnings the morning we went. I found the only difference was the characters rode the rides with the kids (cute). Other than that, it was just another early morning hours. Didn't really affect lines and we didn't really care...there were lots of "honeymooners" there.

Epcot and MGM on mornings were great...no lines and we were able to walk into every restaurant without reservations (Chef Mickey, SciFi, Little Einsteins, Biergarten, and Mexico). The parks really got busy in the latter part of the week last week. We had to leave Animal Kingdom on Wednesday because it was shoulder to shoulder people, humid and LOVE BUGS...lots of them. These little creatures were certainly a pain.

Sadly, the stereotypical rude people lists I've read on this board were pretty evident.

1) Being rude to cast members
2) Smoking in non-smoking areas
3) Pretending not to understand English and not moving to the end of the row
etc, etc, etc...you get the idea.

We didn't let it ruin out time and had the best vacation ever. Our dtwins can't stop talking about all the characters they met and how much of a blast they had.

If anyone has any questions, please feel free.

 

[katebeth]

Was MK Sunday night MNNSHP or just a regular night that was really busy?

 

[Mickey1122]

Was MK Sunday night MNNSHP or just a regular night that was really busy?

Definitely tell us. We just got tickets for Friday-I hope the crowds are light!

 

[Nbtstatic]

Everyone has a different idea of what "busy" means apparently.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1234878

 

[ILuvWDWorld]

We felt the same from our trip 9/14-9/22. We actually left Animal Kingdom on that Monday for the same reasons - people EVERYWHERE, very hot, and we were having to wave the love bugs out of our faces. We always go at this time of year, and it seemed much busier to us. We used fast passes several times this year and had never done that before.

 

[MyZoeJane]

Hmmm, my good friend just got back and she said that everything was great! Not over packed, no long lines!

 

[DisneyDad in PA]

We were there 9/16-9/23 I thought some ride waits were a little longer than I had expected. There were still many times we walked right on some rides.

What I noticed was that they were not running rides at full capacity. For instance, BTMRR only loading on one side early in the day and then both sides lat afternoon. Still I haven't been there in the june or july so I can only imagine what the crowds were like.

 

[kribit]

MK was Sunday evening on a non-MNSSHP, but I "believe" there was some kind of decathalon that day...could be the reason for it, and it was extra evening hours (til 11 or 12). The lines weren't THAT bad...Winnie the Pooh was 30 minute wait (but we were used to 10 minutes or walking on) in the beginning of the week. Main Street was JAMMED with people waiting for the parade that wasn't taking place. I think some people were mad when they found out it was cancelled that night. We weren't there for the parade, but we ended up leaving and missed the fireworks. Epcot and MGM were much more manageable. We rode Test Track without getting off one morning because the crowds were so light. My presumption is that October crowds will be better because Free Dining is over.

From what I hear 30 minutes isn't that long though for peak crowds. DH and I both said Disney has a BRILLIANT marketing team...they really know how to bring in the crowds and make a profit at a not so busy time of year. We still had a BLAST though.

Going back next December (first week - not Christmas YIKES).

Have a wonderful trip everyone.

 

[kribit]

Still trying to get this posted...arghh..

 

[kribit]

http://www1.snapfish.com/slideshow/...ID=2452103786/a=74169918_74169918/t_=74169918

 

[DonaldTDuck]

I was there 9/11 to 9/16. We used one fast pass all week, for Donald's errr Mickey's Philharmagic, just to make sure we met reservations. That was on Saturday. Monday we rode R&R and ToT twice in 30 minutes. Friday we did AK and did everything (EE twice) and left before four. The only big crowd we saw was for Fantasmic, which ws completely full Monday night (EMH). Our longest wait was in single digit minutes.

 

[KingdomHeartsFan]

Sunday night was an Extra Magic Hour, so we expected it to be pretty busy and were not surprised when it was... actually the line for the bus back to Pop was far longer than any ride lines we encountered.

 

[Mimi Q]

Sunday night was an Extra Magic Hour, so we expected it to be pretty busy and were not surprised when it was... actually the line for the bus back to Pop was far longer than any ride lines we encountered.

I totally agree with you about the lines for the buses. The line for the bus back to All Star Movies was horrible as well.

 

[kribit]

we waited a bit too for the bus to POR, but still had the best vacation (lines or not). I guess we "thought" the parks were going to be really slow and were surprised there were such an abundance of people. It wasn't THAT bad...

 

[cats04]

We were there from 9/16-9/23 too. We only used fasspass once. We didn't mind the lines because we enjoyed the air conditioning! We did notice that at several attractions they were only loading one side (space mountain was one). We must have bad timing. It seemed liked we would get in a line for an attraction, wait 20 minutes and come out to find the ride was now a walk on! It really was a great week. The smoking was a big issue for me. At AK a woman was walking around in the crowd smoking. We said something to a CM and he said "I could say something but it won't do any good".

 

[Dina]

We also went during free dining/value season at end of August- never again. The lines for the rides weren't bad at all, but the resort was a madhouse (ASMO)-- the food court was a madhouse, many people were so rude in the food court-- one woman was washing and wiping down 7 mugs (seven-- she'd wash one, then wipe, then wash another then wipe). I just wanted to give mine a quick rinse and go-- I thought maybe while she was slowly wiping down one I could just get a quick rinse-- she cursed me out-- it was her turn and she had 7 and i'd have to wait (what 's the harm of me rinsing really quickly while she dries her one mug to the side of the sink)-- literally she and her friend cursed me out. Noone cared about smoking rules (this was at the resort not the parks)-- the lines for the busses were terrible. I totally hear what you are saying. We actually bought DVC while we are there because I don't want to have to deal with food courts anymore with my little ones. Little Ones magic hour was kind of cool when we were there. Mickey Mouse played Duck Duck Goose with my kids-- that's something we'll never forget. I've never been there when it was so jam packed before, and never encountered so many unhappy, miserable people. We're going in January from now on.

 

[pamrob]

We had originally planned to go the third week of September but due to things around home and looking at anticipated crowd levels changed to the second week in September. Boy, am I glad we changed. Our crowd levels were amazing low and the only day that felt a bit crowded was Sat. the 16th at MK. Still we only used fastpass twice that day.

 

[TammyBell]

We were one of the honeymooners there. We were at WDW from 9/9 to 9/25. We noticed that on the weekends things picked up dramatically. I am assuming this is because of locals visiting on weekends and people arriving on Friday evenings and Saturdays and not checking out until Sunday. This past weekend even more so since there was a triathlon and a softball tournament in town. DH played in the softball tournie which had over 250 teams in it. I know that the games ended on Sunday and some of the players were planning on going to the parks afterwards (MK being the logical choice with EMH). We never waited more than 15 minutes for a ride and only used FP once at Test Track. On Tuesday (9/19) we rode RNR 3 times in less than 30 minutes and on ToT we were the only ones watching in the TV room and only ones in the elevator. The longest wait that we experienced was Peter Pan, but I just love that ride so I didn't mind. We rode Splash Mountain once and were the only ones in the boat with an empty one in front and behind us. We will definitely do free dining again this time of year if it is offered, we will just be careful of what gets planned on the weekends.
We actually played miniature golf the weekend of the 16'th and went to other resorts checking them out for future visits, so we missed most of the crowds that weekend as well.

 

[hulagirl87]

I was there 9/18-9/26 (just got back yesterday ) I went last year at the same time and the crowds this year were definitely more than last. The heat was at times intollerable and the lovebugs were not my friends. I agree with the smoking in non designated areas. That was a little frustrating as well. Along with rude people in general. Not thanking you when you let them go ahead of you, not saying excuse me when they bump into you, stopping right in front of you with no warning..... but of course it's Disney, so it was a great trip nonetheless!

 

[wtpntigger2]

Just back from a wonderful trip...although a BIT more busy than anticipated. MK on Sunday night was a MADHOUSE (felt like crowd level in the middle of July).

We stayed at POR in the Magnolia Bend Acadian House.

We were there at the same time in the same building rm 8246.

Sun night at MK EMH was pretty crowded compared to how the rest of the week was, but it was still tolerable. It was the 35 min wait for the bus back to POR at the end of a long day that was horrible. We almost hopped on POFQ's bus, as their line diminshed very quickly, and then walk to POR.

If I could, I would go back this time of year, free dining or not.