Just got home from week long trip! *Info inside for those leaving very soon*

[DJ Disney Kid]

It was HOT! And I usually dont mind the heat, but it was HOT! And as everyone says about this time of year, it rained everyday like clockwork, from 4-5:30ish.

ALOT of construction going on. CBR was getting repaved and our busses had to wait for like 10 minutes before the machine would move out of the way. Repainting at POR. Crane by the castle. Plus just lots of refurbishments going on at every park.

Also, alot of technical issues with the rides. Philharmagic's audio cut out at the end one time we were on it, as well as the audio cutting out on the Great Movie Ride.

Parks were desolate! Went to EMH evenings for AK and rode E:E three times in a row in apprx. 15 minutes.

All rides were either labeled as 20 minute waits or 5 minute waits.

TONS of characters were out and for VERY long periods of time. I've never seen so many characters!

Any questions feel free to ask.

 

[sweetinmaine]

We were there last September 11 and it was HOT then too! I mean like someone turned the ovens on at about 2pm (96F). We knew to leave for the parks early in the morning and leave the parks for the resort early afternoon! We're going to try October this year and see what the difference will be...I must say though that last year during our visit, the parks were not crowded at all and many times it was just my family on the buses...That will probably never happen again>

 

[Iluvthemouse]

Thanks for the weather info. Last year we went in Sept and I remember it being very hot. We are arriving in 6 days and I was going to start packing today and just thinking about what to bring. Now I know it will most likely be the same heat again.

 

[TigerLaw]

DJ, did you go to any of the other EMH nights - I am particularly interested in how MK was if you went in terms of lines/crowds (we're set to go on the 24th) also, we are planning to do the AK EMH night as well, so if it wouldn't be too much to ask, could you give us a mini trip report on your EMH nights?

thanks so much!

 

[yankeepenny]

we just returned from CBR thursday night, and have no problems with the buses or the paving going on.

 

[DJ Disney Kid]

DJ, did you go to any of the other EMH nights - I am particularly interested in how MK was if you went in terms of lines/crowds (we're set to go on the 24th) also, we are planning to do the AK EMH night as well, so if it wouldn't be too much to ask, could you give us a mini trip report on your EMH nights?

thanks so much!

All of the EMH nights were great! The weather was cooler and more bearable, including MK. The one park that seemed to have average attendance during the EMH nights was EPCOT last night. But the best was AK on Wednesday from 5-8pm. Had the best Safari ride ever due to the animals were probably out around feeding time and also alot less traffic on the safari means the animals aren't as scared to come out. So many of the animals were right next to our vehicle, it was unbelievable! Even the castmember driving was super shocked to see the cheetah out. I think she even said "Holy Crap", LOL!

 

[TigerLaw]

DJ, sorry to beat a dead horse, but could you tell us more about the MK night, like how long the wait times were at the beginning of the extra time and at the end?

thanks again!

 

[DJ Disney Kid]

DJ, sorry to beat a dead horse, but could you tell us more about the MK night, like how long the wait times were at the beginning of the extra time and at the end?

thanks again!

Well the park closed at 10pm. They had the parade at 9:30pm and then Wishes at 10pm. So once 9:30pm hit, the rides were all empty. I'd say from 9:30 on, the longest we might have waited for any ride was 10 minutes. We rode everything from SM, Jungle Cruise, Splash, Pirates, etc. Obviously as it got closer to 1pm, the less people there were, so we ended up not waiting at all. We walked right on Jungle Cruise ( there was an empty boat waiting ).

 

[tinawv]

Hope the crowds stay down. My sister and I arrive on the 20th of September for 5 wonderful days.

 

[S.Poppins]

Yankees! You guys just can't stand the heat! You should have been down here after Katrina last year. No electricity for 12 days and we were lucky to have it back that soon! Seriously, I moved to Mississippi from Upper Michigan over 15 years ago and I have never adjusted to the heat. That is why we are going to WDW in Jan. I hope we have low crowds and great weather.

 

[praisehim5]

We leave on 21st for 7 nights and was concerned about the crowds. We have 2 EMH nights planned. MK and Epcot. Im not concered about Epcot and it seems MK will be wonderful. Thank you for the good news.

 

[shelleyr25]

We just got back on the 5th and I also had no problems with waits for the MK rides in the evenings especially at parade time. We were going back and forth from Buzz to Space Mountian for about a half hour straight and walking right on both!!!! The kids thought this was great!! If you dont mind missing the parade it was just great!!

 

[vs0204]

did you following any touring plans on which days the parks are less crowded. I know on touringplans.com they tell you which parks to avoid and which to attend each day regarding crowd levels.

I am asking because i wonder if i should follow this.

 

[GoofyTraci]

oh man can't wait to get into the heat. Just joking really i'm so excited about our trip I don't think i will even mind. We leave in a couple of days. So excited.

 

[jwfla422]

September is typically the slowest month in WDW. I predict it will be this slow at least for another 2-3 weeks. Crowds start picking up around the kick-off of F&W. I don't think free dining will have that much of an impact because people just don't know about it unless they actually plan trips for this time (or they check out the DIS)--this perk alone will not "pack" up the parks.

As long as no hurricanes threaten FL between now and late Sept.(I say this because Orlando becomes an evacuation area if storms threaten other areas of FL)... expect minimal crowds, it might be hot but the lack of crowds is worth dealing with the heat!

We'll be there then end of the month, just as crowds start to pick up.

 

[Micca]

How did you feel after riding EE 3 times in 15 minutes?

 

[shelleyr25]

did you following any touring plans on which days the parks are less crowded. I know on touringplans.com they tell you which parks to avoid and which to attend each day regarding crowd levels.

I am asking because i wonder if i should follow this.

I had touring plans all set up for all the parks for the length of our stay (8/31-9/5) and for the most part it was a waste of time. Our first day we arrived at MK at 2pm and basically did the whole park by 10pm, parade, fireworks and all!! This totally threw our plans out the window because I had planned for that half day plus a whole other full day and we didnt need that much time at all.

The only part we did follow was getting to the parks early in the morning and getting fast passes for the big rides such as Soarin' and Everest. With that said we were still able to ride Soarin' 3 times in one day and Everest twice (could have done more but that was all that I could handle).

For the most part we never saw a stand by line more than 20 minutes except for the Saturday of Labor Day weekend and even then the big attractions were still under an hour and we used fast pass anyway so we never waited more than 10 minutes for ANY ride on ANY day of our 5 days at WDW.

 

[lustergirl]

Yankees! You guys just can't stand the heat! You should have been down here after Katrina last year. No electricity for 12 days and we were lucky to have it back that soon! Seriously, I moved to Mississippi from Upper Michigan over 15 years ago and I have never adjusted to the heat. That is why we are going to WDW in Jan. I hope we have low crowds and great weather.

Hey I am a yankee and snow perfectionist, being from Buffalo. We sometimes get 6 feet of snow on a bad storm day only to dig out the next morning and go about our business, you want to talk about some first rate survivors, lol. We enjoyed the "world' last september and I gotta say it was very hot. We are going back in 10 days to that hot place once again. I love september and this has become our official disney travel month.

 

[MagicMe]

We were there for a week starting on 9/11 last year and it was definitely HOT!!!

The parks were great (little to no crowds - didn't even need fastpass) but when we started planning our trip this year, both boys said they wanted to go later when it was cooler. So we're heading down on 10/29 for MNSSHP and I can only hope that it won't be too crowded. Well, at least if it's cooler we won't mind the lines too much. I'd actually prefer to go the first week in December but my youngest DS can't take vacation after Thanksgiving!

 

[LBelle]

We were there last Sept. 2nd - 12th!!! Man o man, was it EVER HOT!!!! We ALWAYS follow this kind of schedule and find it works beautifully!!!

Example:

Theme park (9am-12pm)
Resort for swim, rest, shower, etc. (1-4pm)
Dinner/Theme Park (5-???)

Plan on doing it again in 3 more days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!