Is it just me, or is it more crowded than usual?

[Mr Poohbrain]

We haven't been down here in Sept in the last four years (finally got over the guilt of taking the kids out of school) , but it seems more crowded than usual for this time of year.

In fact, we were here in April and it was less crowded than right now. What am I missing??

 

[ericamcl]

we're here now and I also thought it was very crowded for this time of year - not sure why though

 

[Tamar]

I think the "less crowded" times have seemed crowded for the past few years. Could be we're just less patient than we used to be....

 

[MiaSRN62]

I was there Aug 20-25 this year. In the past, late Aug used to be better than early/mid Aug. Fast Passes for many attractions were gone by 11 am. Guess free dining has something to do with this

 

[disneygrandma]

We were at WDW 9/6 thru 9/9, but had decided beforehand not to go to the parks. We chose to just relax at the resorts, ride the boat launches, monorail, etc. Over & over we kept hearing stories of how UNcrowded the parks were. So many were telling us how things were just walk-ins....even Soarin' & TSM. Then we talked to a family that goes to WDW the same week every year and they said the crowds were bigger than any of the other years.

We come home & I read post after post about the low crowds & the walk-ons. I will have to say that every where we went there were low crowds, but this was in the pool, the restaurants, transportation, etc. We were early for our ME & the valet CM's asked us if we would like to go on an earlier bus. Another person walked up with a party of 5 & asked about the possibility of taking an earlier bus. We were told that the crowds had been so low that there was a good chance of taking the earlier bus. The ME bus driver had no problems with that, and echoed what the CM's had told us.

We wondered why the other family had experienced larger crowds when all the others told us the parks were so empty. We heard many stories of riding a 2nd time without getting off the ride. I just finished reading many posts telling of the low crowds, and then you post about the larger crowds. I don't know if it has to do with going to certain parks on certain days, or what. What kind of a plan did you follow? Extra hour parks or not? Just wondering. That's a question I wished I would have asked many of the families we talked to at WDW.

 

[tjkraz]

Hard to make any comments based upon subjective interpretations.

It's entirely possible that either trip being compared--or both--was not representative of overall conditions during the trip. Parks do not draw crowds evenly on all days. Even resources like Touring Plans or TGM do not necessarily predict the trends accurately.

If you happen to visit a park on a day when it draws a disproportionately larger number of guests than the others, things can easily seem busy.

If you happen to visit a park on a day when it draws a small crowd, things can seem slow.

Were overall WDW park crowds higher in September than April? Without having access to actual admission data, there's no meaningful way to comment on personal experiences.

 

[MiaSRN62]

disneygrandma : We wondered why the other family had experienced larger crowds when all the others told us the parks were so empty. We heard many stories of riding a 2nd time without getting off the ride. I just finished reading many posts telling of the low crowds, and then you post about the larger crowds.

Friends of ours were just down Sept 7-12 for Night of Joy concerts and said LOW crowds. I had just been there 11-12 days earlier than they were and it was very busy. Had ADR's for 50s Prime Time on Aug 23 and had to wait 90+ min to get a seat ! TSM, Soarin etc FP's gone by 11 am. One day, TSM FP's were gone by 10:30 am or earlier. We got there 10:30 am and the bags were already covering the FP turnstiles. I thought for sure, with all the southern schools back in session that late Aug would be better than that. I'm heading back down Sept 28 and hoping and praying for better conditions.

 

[Gabe1]

My DS arrived Sept. 6th late. Hit Epcot at 6pm, was able to get a FP for
Soar'n within the hour. Meanwhile road Nemo, Figment, Test Track, SE, back to Soar'n waited 13 minutes in Soar'n FP lane, his longest wait, got on bus in front to DHS, Walked onto Toy Story, didn't even get to see the queue then rode RRC and TTT. He did more his first evening then most do in a long day.

On Friday he said they road Splash twice in a row, had to get off but walked right around and climbed on. Said the only place that isn't just a moment wait is Soar'n. Grab a FP.

 

[Ansky]

We were also there from Aug. 22-Sept 3 and thought the crowds were a little heavier than the previous 5 years we went at that time. We also had reservations for 50's on Aug. 23 but didn't have to wait 90 minutes to be seated. It was more like 10 minutes. The crowd levels certainly weren't terrible, but they did seem a bit worse than we were used to at that time.

 

[genmasjoy]

We were at Epcot Friday, September 9, and thought the crowds were very low. As the day went on, there were more people, but we were able to see and do everything we wanted with very little wait. We had about a ten minute wait for Soarin at 10:30 a.m., about ten minutes for Nemo, walked right on to Spaceship Earth, and only waited a few minutes for Captain EO. We took an afternoon break and returned at 6 for our dinner reservations at Canada. They were fully booked and not accepting walk ins, but that is a relatively small restaurant. We decided that the weekend after Labor Day seems to be good for us and we will probably go back at that time again.

 

[LauraLea]

We too were there 9/7-9/10 and were amazed at the low crowds. We were at VB 9/4-7 and it was slow too despite it being Labor day weekend. Our anniversary is 9/6, and we have spent the last 8 of them at WDW. Crowds are usually low then, but this year they seemed extremely low.

Laura

 

[bobbiwoz]

Was there from the 10th to the 16th. Tried to go to Fantasmic on the 15th, 45 minutes before and the announcement went over that it would be standing room only, so we went to Toy Story where it said a 70 minute wait. The wait was only 25 minutes or so, and we went on twice and left before Fantasmic got out.

Wishes was very crowded on Wednesday, but we hadn't experienced long wait lines, it was as if people just showed up for the parade and fireworks.

We were at the first MNSSHP, which didn't seem particularly crowded, except for the wait to see the 7 dwarfs.

Had a great gals vacation! Next year at that time our school will already be in session, I was glad toget in this last low crowds September visit in!

Bobbi

 

[KatieRach]

We were there 9/10-9/17 and I found it to have modest crowds. We struck up a conversation with a guest services CM who said that European schools were on a break and there did seem to be more people from Europe than what we had encountered in the past.
We were also at the parade/Wishes on 9/12 and getting out of the park was a DISASTER...I have never had such a time getting from the park to the bus queue! We did have great luck with many of the rides (20 minute wait for TSM on a Wednesday evening and walking right on to Nemo and several MK attractions). While I did expect it to be less crowded than it was, I didn't find it to be too bad at all.