Just back yesterday- could not believe the crowds

[hakepb]

I just went back over the touring plans "What we predicted and What we actually saw" and the numbers for the past week are all low. In fact, many..many are 'we saw a 1' A ONE! May I ask if you have been to WDW recently since the backdoor got left open and all the world has come in? Low crowds of past years don't hardly exist anymore and maybe the '1' of today was a '3' of yesteryear. Just trying to figure out why it seemed crowded.

I'm not sure how all crowd calanders operate, but Josh @ EasyWDW was explaining his crowd calander numbers are a rolling 12 month attendance, so his 1 would be the lowest predicted attendance .... So yes, a 1 this year might have been a 3 in past years.

 

[jsal318]

Kind of funny how schools are having a "fall break" when it is still summer!

 

[tim123]

The whole month of September is not empty, but the first week, right after Labor Day is... the parks are practically EMPTY! I checked wait times all week on my phone just because I was curious and yes, Soarin was a 10 minute wait in the afternoon when the parks are at their most crowded and Test Track was a whopping 20 minute wait! The longest wait time I saw was 40 minutes for 7DMT and that was it! Everything else was 5-10 minutes. If it wasn't for the heat and rain, I'd go the 1st week every year! But I love November weather too much!

We went the last week of September in 2012 and it was more crowded than we thought.

This was in fact my experience..being at the beautiful Polynesian for 10 whole days..I was in and out of the MK morning, afternoon and night…never ever needed my fast passes…never ever waited more than the time it took to walk from the entrance to the ride…Yes there certainly are more vacationeers at WDW in September than 10, 20 and 30 years ago…but my visit was pure fun, not the searing heat I kept reading about, clean parks, amazing CMs, good food, etc…I had a few little gripes about lack of resort specific merchandise, missing Walts name being replaced with the stupid generic "Disney parks' everywhere…and the hacking of the Polynesian and bulldozing of beautiful historic Sunset Point..but other than that you wouldn't catch me dead at WDW during crowded season (just about the rest of the year)…I like it calm and September 2 to 11 was exactly that..look at the photos and film for yourself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCDjdbRcEHU&feature=em-upload_owner

 

[TheLittleKatie]

I was at WDW September 2nd - 16th, and it was SO quiet, we walked on 95% of things.

Until around Monday 15th.. We went to MK in the evening and it was reeeaaallly crowded.

I thought it might be due to MNSSHP being on Sunday and Tuesday nights, so people without a ticket would be likely to visit MK on Mondays.

But I got talking to two families on the monorail who said their kids went back to school late July / Early August, so they had a fall break this week. Hopefully that means the parks might quiet down a little after this week... But then again, Food and Wine has just started.

 

[ArwenMarie]

Is it free dining right now?

I think eventually there will be very few, truly low-crowd weeks.

 

[Disney Freak Numero Uno]

We have been coming to wdw for the past 27 years. We used to take an annual trip during the last week in August and crowds were really low. In the past few years, I've been going during food and wine and marathon week so I expected crowds. Based on what I've read here, I thought that the couple of weeks after Labor Day and before food and wine would be a quiet time to visit. I'm going to book Labor Day week for next year and hope for lower crowds. The older I get, the less tolerant I am of crowds!

 

[cruisingmom1977]

I was at WDW September 2nd - 16th, and it was SO quiet, we walked on 95% of things.

Until around Monday 15th.. We went to MK in the evening and it was reeeaaallly crowded.

We were there from the 9th to the 16th and noticed a HUGE increase in crowds on the 15th and 16th. Everything was practically a walk on prior to that (especially since the DIS hooked me up with awesome tips on what to FP+...my husband thought I was a rock star...LOL)

 

[Karebear]

We were there from 9/1 to 9/8 and the parks were not crowded. Walked on Soarin in the afternoon and also ToT. I followed Josh's recommendations for the parks.

 

[DebbieB]

During party season (MNSSHP and MVMCP), MK is usually crowded on non-party days. Party days are the days to go.

 

[akayek31]

There are a few that are out for a week in Ga. My DD doesn't have a fall break until October 13 and 14th. Two whole days. Good thing she has those college days so we can go to Disney the week before

 

[Indio]

We're in NE Georgia - all the schools around here have Fall Break in October - week before or week after Columbus Day. We're going the week before. Sadly my college boys don't get fall break, so it's just me and the youngest on this trip!!

 

[Mambo Junkie]

I think free dining and discounted rooms are a game changer. For years we have gone the 3rd week of September and it has always been a wonderful week. I noticed after the introduction of free dining it was a lot more crowded (relative to what I've been used to).

 

[RustManFan]

My kids would be mortified to have been in a stroller at the age I see some of the kids at WDW and DL. I didn't even bother with Fantasyland on last trip as it was impossible to walk around there.

And I have also noticed that some families seem to place a higher priority on vacation then they do on attending school! Our school district doesn't allow kids to be out for such a reason!

 

[Quicklabs]

Things were very quiet until Sunday, 14 September. Even with that, I was glad to have had the fast passes for TSMM and 7DMT. I would imagine that people have already started to come to the EPCOT area for EPCOT Food and Wine later in the week.
It was hot as could be, so I was glad that it generally wasn't compounded by crowds.
We went to MNNSHP on the 14th and the MK was very empty. GREAT!

 

[kevdad]

My kids would be mortified to have been in a stroller at the age I see some of the kids at WDW and DL. I didn't even bother with Fantasyland on last trip as it was impossible to walk around there.

And I have also noticed that some families seem to place a higher priority on vacation then they do on attending school! Our school district doesn't allow kids to be out for such a reason!

Not going to touch the stroller issue, but wondering if home schooling has had an impact on slow times at the parks. 1.7 million kids are now home schooled. Their parents can be flexible and vacation during slow times just about anywhere.

 

[Tarheel girl 1975]

My kids would be mortified to have been in a stroller at the age I see some of the kids at WDW and DL. I didn't even bother with Fantasyland on last trip as it was impossible to walk around there.

And I have also noticed that some families seem to place a higher priority on vacation then they do on attending school! Our school district doesn't allow kids to be out for such a reason!

Our school district is quite large (18th in the nation) and least half of the elementary schools and quite a few middle schools in our district run on year round calendars. I'm sure that is also making a difference.

 

[flortlebap]

I was quite surprised by how busy BC was. We were at YC 9-18 Sept and BC seemed to be full of kids - YC not so much.

It felt crowded, but waits were low for everything. We didn't wait more than 10 minutes for anything all week and most rides were a walk on (in fact, we had ride cars to ourselves on many occasions).

 

[staceyrhood]

I have lived right next door to the mouse for 13 years, we were at the MK last Saturday and is was dead...or at least as dead as i've seen it in a long time (since May). 10 minutes for most rides...except: elsa and anna 60 min, 75 for mine train, and 60 for peter pan.

 

[FidFam]

We were there Sept 10-16 and I didn't find it to be very crowded at all.

The only day I would have quantified being "crowded" was on Monday the 15th when we were at the MK but talking with a CM during a show that day he mentioned Monday is always the busiest day at the MK regardless of the time of the year.

For those that asked which days you were at which parks, we were at HS/EP on the 10th, MK the 11th, MNSSHP on the 12th, AK/EP on the 14th and the MK on the 15th. We love coming in early/mid September - aside from the heat - it's a great time to visit.

 

[hakepb]

My kids would be mortified to have been in a stroller at the age I see some of the kids at WDW and DL. I didn't even bother with Fantasyland on last trip as it was impossible to walk around there.

And I have also noticed that some families seem to place a higher priority on vacation then they do on attending school! Our school district doesn't allow kids to be out for such a reason!

Our (private) school places a high enough priority on families that they fully support family vacations during the school year. (parental involvement is often a key indicator of academic performance)

But once you get into higher grades, the amount of needed makeup homework starts being more trouble than it is worth . So I'm now back to vacationing during busy school breaks.