Help Needed from Sept/Oct. travelers!!

[nicolemarie]

We enjoyed a wonderful post-Thankgiving trip to Disney this year - 11/26-11/29. Great crowd levels, good weather (except one huge storm) and a fun time of year with the Christmas decorations, etc. We attended the first MVMCP and stayed the whole time, enjoying the parade, fireworks and walking onto all of our favorite rides. I'm afraid we will have a hard time topping this past vist.

However, the time has come to plan our 2006 trip! We are considering going in late Sept/early Oct. but I can't really find tons of posts about crowds, the MNNSHP, etc. I really want to go again right after Thanksgiving, but not sure it will be a good time for DH. Can I have some advice? Is late Sep/early Oct a good time to go? Is is still really hot (we are from GA - I can take a certain amount of heat, but not heat AND crowds). What is the Food and Wine Festival? Does that affect crowd levels very much? Any advice would be appreciated. These boards were a big reason our last trip was such a success - thanks!!

 

[LeesyUD]

Two years ago I went mid October and this past fall I went Sept 29th-Oct 4th. We did not find too much difference in the crowd levels between the two different times. The longest we waited for anything was 20 minutes for only a very few rides on both trips. Some attractions like Test Track and Soarin will be an hour wait the entire day, unless you go right when the park opens or sometimes closer to closing. So we got there early or got fast pass and went back. I believe that the crowds did not differ much because I went during the Free dining offer this fall, which may have added some extra people. I do not find that the F&W festival affected crowds overall. From what I understand the F&W festival and MNSSHP are most crowded the first and last weekends. I have not done MNSSHP, but have done F&W fes several times. Basically you can sample different food items and wines from different countries. During the festival they set up special tents around the World Showcase where you can purchase the individual items. The food and wine is usually between 2.00 and 5.00 per sample, you can get an idea here: http://www.allearsnet.com/tp/ep/fw05/fw05c.htm Also there are special wine tasting events, you can find info on that site as well. I believe we went, Mon Oct 3rd and we really did not wait in any long lines. We also went in the afternoon though. Nightime seems to get more crowded. I would recommend trying to go there on an afternoon that won't be to hot if you are able to check the weather before you go...and I believe it opens at 11:00 or 11:30 and get there right at that time, that way you can get ahead of alot people, and not worry as much about lines.​

As far as weather goes, middle of October I have found to be much better. We may just have been lucky but we had great weather on that trip. It rained once in the afternoon for 15 mins, and maybe a few times overnight, but that was it. Also it was warm enough to go swimming, but not blistering heat which allowed us to enjoy the parks more, and not get tired so easily. It was probably low to mid 80's and not much humidity. Our late Sept/early Oct trip was much hotter. Most of the time it was in the upper 80's but the humidty was really high which really got to us. Also one more tip in case you were not aware: If you are planning on staying on site, if you get the dining plan the "snack" credit can be used for almost all the food items at the F&W festival. We happened to have about 6 or 7 snack credits left over at that point, and it saved us alot of money! Some of the items were 2 or 3 dollars each!​

From now on I myself will probably opt to go in mid-late Oct rather than earlier just for the heat issue. But sometimes it is just a matter of luck with the weather. I have been there in November and it can be very nice. However at that point sometimes it is a roll of the dice. I worked in Disney the entire Fall of 2001 and between late Oct and end of Nov the weather flip flopped. It was cold the end of Oct to mid Nov (I was wearing a heavy coat)and then it got hot enough to got swimming! I am not sure if that is normal or not. If you go to the Unofficial Guide web page it will give you best days to go to what park and the crowd levels on those days. Hope this info helps ​

 

[nicolemarie]

Wow - that was a lot of great information! Thanks so much for taking the time!

 

[muguet27]

We've gone twice in September, once mid-Sept, once late-Sept. We loved the crowds (as in there weren't really any). It was still hotter & more humid than we would have liked (but we're from Michigan where we only have to deal with that kind of weather for about 3 weeks out of the year). I guess it's supposed to be pretty rainy that time of year too, but we have been very fortunate and have missed all rain showers (and hurricanes!). I wouldn't hesitate to go at that time again purely because of the low crowds, but I prefer the weather a little cooler (heck...even 85 would have been OK).

 

[hockeybabe]

Yes, it is hot and humid, or at least it was last Sept/Oct. We were there Sept 28 - Oct 4. The crowds were great at the beginning of the vacation, but once it hit the Sunday and Monday, well, Sunday was bearable but noticably heavy at AK, but Monday at MK was crazy comparitively, so we left and spent a couple of hours at the resort before we had to leave. Apparently, some states have a fall break the first week of Oct., and we noticed a huge difference. Mind you, the only other WDW trip we had was in Jan, MLK weekend, so we are used to very low crowd levels. But with the temps nearing 100 and the humidity, the crowds that Monday seemed intolerable. I might try later in October, but with the heat factor, I don't think we will try earlier in Sept. again. In fact, we are probably going to go back to Jan But we had free dining, so took the earlier trip. I have to say, even with free dining again, we would probably opt out of a Sept trip because of the humidity, but that's me saying that now

Mind you, we live in TX now, before that, Toronto. TX has the heat, but no humidity, and Toronto had both, but for about a month of the year, and we didn't do theme parks during those months

 

[Densgirl]

I've gone in mid Sept(2003), late September(2005) and Late October(2004). Next year we are doing late October too. The heat is more bearable for us(but like the Michigan poster said here in MA we don't get as much of that kind of heat so we aren't used to it at all) I found Epcot to be the most crowded at night in the World Showcase when we went in October. Every other time of the day was very light. The F&WF brings everyone to Epcot after the other parks close. Still a very light time of year for crowds with a little less chance of hurricane worry too. Good luck deciding.

 

[nicolemarie]

Thanks for the responses - still sounds like end of November is the best bet - Thanks again!

 

[LeesyUD]

Wow - that was a lot of great information! Thanks so much for taking the time!

No problem BTW I realized I forgot to mention that even though I may prefer to go in mid-late October...this year when I went in Sept/Oct was still one of the best Disney trips I ever had!! So I am sure you will have a wonderful trip whenever you decide to go!!! After all it is DISNEY!!!!