End of September... Crowd Calendar

[kandb]

Touring Plans jacked our Sunday, 4th of Sept up to a 9 for AK! I'm REALLY hoping they are wrong about that!!!

Maybe because of labor day weekend? Is there extra magic hours?

 

[ArmyVet80]

I mentioned this in another post not too long ago..

A 5/6 in September isn't like a 5/6 in June, July, Nov. Dec. I know it sounds weird but I have been to WDW during all of those times and a 5/6 in Sep. was more like a 3/4 in June, July, and Dec.

While yes it will be more crowded it still won't be as bad as the other months. This is what I have noticed on our trips and it is the reason we continue to go towards the end of Sept (2nd to last week or last week) for a majority of our trips.

*Not all of our trips are posted in my signature. Only the trips since my DW and I got married.*

 

[crazymomof4]

Maybe because of labor day weekend? Is there extra magic hours?

No EMH. Before booking for the week that includes Labor Day weekend I did fairly extensive research (DIS and other sites) and by far most who've had visits (I focused on recent visitors experience) over Labor Day have said that it's not much more crowded than the rest of Sept. easyWDW has AK as "Most Recommended" based on "Animal Kingdom is the most recommended Park. We’re coming off a popular morning Extra Magic Hour yesterday and have another tomorrow....." True, the page hasn't been recently updated but still......Josh says "Most Recommended" and touringplans says crowd level "9"..... Someone's gonna be wrong.

 

[Laura's Dad]

We were also surprised at the increase in predicted crowd levels, but it's not going to change our plans. We have been during just about every time of the year except lat January and we really like late September. Of course we like doing the Halloween party (less crowded than October) and the Food and Wine Festival. WE are not going to F&W on a weekend, though.

 

[kandb]

No EMH. Before booking for the week that includes Labor Day weekend I did fairly extensive research (DIS and other sites) and by far most who've had visits (I focused on recent visitors experience) over Labor Day have said that it's not much more crowded than the rest of Sept. easyWDW has AK as "Most Recommended" based on "Animal Kingdom is the most recommended Park. We’re coming off a popular morning Extra Magic Hour yesterday and have another tomorrow....." True, the page hasn't been recently updated but still......Josh says "Most Recommended" and touringplans says crowd level "9"..... Someone's gonna be wrong.

When I looked back at our schedule for our trip 8/24 thru 9/3, we were going to go to AK on sunday, 8/28 but then I looked at Touring plans and it had a 7 or and 8, I forget but Easywdw had it as most recommended. I wound of changing our resort day and am now going to AK on Friday 8/26. We always go around this time and a few years back they had HS listed as best park on a Saturday and it was packed. I think the weekends just tend to be more crowded.

 

[nicolemb]

I'm nervous because my kids are little and I went out of my way to try to mitigate any line waiting. I know it was not a guarantee, etc, I'm not angry, just a little nervous.

But DH and I used to go over summer/Christmas, so chances are that my crowd expectations are seeing that and I won't notice any September crowd increase because it will still be lower! Here's hoping anyway.

 

[crazymomof4]

When I looked back at our schedule for our trip 8/24 thru 9/3, we were going to go to AK on sunday, 8/28 but then I looked at Touring plans and it had a 7 or and 8, I forget but Easywdw had it as most recommended. I wound of changing our resort day and am now going to AK on Friday 8/26. We always go around this time and a few years back they had HS listed as best park on a Saturday and it was packed. I think the weekends just tend to be more crowded.

We have a "Plan B"- If AK is terribly crowded on Sun 4th we will add another day to our hoppers and use our scheduled "Non-Park Day" to revisit AK. So, at this point we have enough wiggle room to play it by ear. Will be interesting to see how AK is on that day where the predictions are so different... I will know which forecast was correct.

ETA: Touringplans originally had 9/4 as a "3". So the "9" can't only be based on this being Labor Day weekend, because it was Labor Day weekend when they made it a 3. I'm just really curious what made them jump from 3 to 9.
Undercover Tourist has this day at a 6. Kenny the Pirate has it as "green" (recommended)

 

[SarahSnow]

We're going the last week of September as well...we've all been at MK on Christmas day. I'm not worried at all about the crowds.

 

[BattyKoda]

When I looked back at our schedule for our trip 8/24 thru 9/3, we were going to go to AK on sunday, 8/28 but then I looked at Touring plans and it had a 7 or and 8, I forget but Easywdw had it as most recommended. I wound of changing our resort day and am now going to AK on Friday 8/26. We always go around this time and a few years back they had HS listed as best park on a Saturday and it was packed. I think the weekends just tend to be more crowded.

Does Touring Plans still have AK as a 7 or 8 for you on 8/28? I just looked and it has AK listed as a 2 for me on that day.

 

[BrownHP800]

We were just there this past weekend and it was projected to be an 8. I have to say crowds were very manageable. Outside of the major headliners, wait times were generally less than 20-30 minutes. Getting a 4th (and 5th) FP+ wasn't a big deal. So if it was truly an 8, 5-6 should be great. But then again sometimes they don't operate the rides at full capacity making a 5 feel like an 8.

 

[crazymomof4]

Does Touring Plans still have AK as a 7 or 8 for you on 8/28? I just looked and it has AK listed as a 2 for me on that day.

Showing a 2 for me as well.

 

[BattyKoda]

Showing a 2 for me as well.

Thanks... I was wondering if they were showing different numbers for the same dates.

 

[crazymomof4]

Something is doesn't jive with TouringPlans. For 9/4 they say AK crowd level "9" yet I evaluated my itinerary and the longest wait time that shows is 15mins (Kali at 3pm). The rest of my wait times are between 1 and 6mins.... on a 9 day???

 

[kandb]

Does Touring Plans still have AK as a 7 or 8 for you on 8/28? I just looked and it has AK listed as a 2 for me on that day.

A few weeks back they had it listed very high and that was the reason I changed our date. I even had a thread about it because Josh had it as most recommended. Most posters said not to pay attention to Touringplans crowd calendars. I can't see it anymore because I am not a subscriber.

 

[disneymom0104]

Since TP has adjusted their crowd levels Aug. 1, they have been way off every day. It makes no sense to me. Most days have been 4-6 less than what they predicted (they predict a 9- actual is a 5, etc). I have no idea what to make of it, but I would be shocked if AK on the 4th actually turns out to be a 9.