Last two weeks of August or Labor Day?

[Usandthe4kids]

So, I swore to myself that I would never ask one of these questions but here I am asking. We always go to Disney in September. Last year my husband and I upgraded our tickets to annual passes to cover our anniversary trip. We weren't planning on going again this year but it seems silly not to. Our passes expire September 4th. Our potential trip dates are either Aug14th-28th or Aug21st-Sept.4. I'm basing my trip on crowds. So, when are crowds going to be less? I'm worried because I know that mid august is still going to have summer crowds but I'm also not sure how labor day weekend crowds are going to be. We have 6 kids (the screen name was several years ago. Haha) and two of them have autism. I know it's going to be a shock to them either way since mid September crowds are like non-existent but I want to make it as smooth as I can. Any input anyone has will be appreciated. Thanks

 

[Usandthe4kids]

Nobody?

 

[mm1971]

We have never been over Labor Day and I would suspect that it would be a little busier due to local guests on those days. I do know that overall, the later August times are slower than middle of the month. We have been there end of August twice and both times, it was busier upon arrival then it was at the end meaning that the crowds dropped over the last couple of weeks.

Based on your two dates, I would say it depends on if you want higher crowd levels for the first few days to a week or prefer to have lower crowds at the start with a couple of weekend days being busy(Labor Day). I would probably do the later dates if crowds were my only concern and just be prepared for that holiday weekend with non park plans just in case.

 

[donnaf516]

We're going 8/20-9/3. We do those same days every year and it does got a bit more crowded over Labor Day Weekend but still very manageable.

 

[2Pirates2Princesses]

I think that the later in August you go, the better. We went to WDW the third week of August a few years back (when two big discount promotions were going on) and the crowd levels were between 5-6 that week and definitely seemed manageable. I've read that Labor Day is the least busiest holiday weekend of the year. I am sure it will be more busy than the normal weekdays in September, but based on what I've heard it should be more than manageable. Easy WDW has Labor Day weekend's crowd level as 4 out of 10 for that Sat, Sun, and Mon, and crowd levels ranging from 1-3 on the weekdays of that week. We are now considering a Labor Day week trip for next year

http://www.easywdw.com/category/calendar/09-september-2014-crowd-calendar/

 

[Disneylover99]

We go to DW the last two weeks of August every year, but we usually fly home on Saturday of Labour day so I'm not exactly sure about those weekend crowds. I do know that the last week of August is less crowded then the third week, but I don't feel as if it's a huge difference.

 

[Usandthe4kids]

Thank you all so much for the info. I'm thinking the later dates are probably the way to go. I know it will still be more crowded than we are used to but I hate the idea of not getting in one more trip with our season passes! I told my kids last year that now that some of them are Disney adults we will probably have to space our trips out more. They are going to be super shocked if I surprise them with another trip so soon!