Sept not low crowds anymore?

[Micca]

Nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded

 

[jaysmom4285]

So I have been reading all these posts about this week being so crowded and the halloween party being ridiculous. This week was marked as literally the lowest week all year long. With 1 and 2 crowd levels on numerous sites. Now I understand that a 1 does not mean the park is empty that its still crowded. BUT it should be a big difference from a 10, otherwise whats the point in even rating crowd levels. I was planning my next trip for Sept 2016 we wanted to go this same week as it shows the lowest crowds and that is whats important to us and for my DH who hates crowds and only goes because me and the kids so I want to make it more enjoyable for him. Our last Dec trip was good the second week, it was manageable and we did everything we wanted. Some days at certain times got a bit crowded but nothing was too bad except AK on our last day (Saturday) and the Christmas party. But planning this second week in Sept I thought it would be much better now I am really worried. Will Kenny the pirate, touring plans, easywdw adjust next Sept crowd levels based on this year? Someone really needs to put what the crowds really were compared to what was predicted. Do you all think this Jewish holiday made a huge difference this as its a different time every year? I really want to go and have a good time. I wanted to go in Sept when the weather was hot so we could use the pools for once. But we cannot do wall to wall people and ridiculous waits for every ride. I had posted my doubts on going in Sept because its so hot but so many people assured me on this sites its a great time to go especially with low crowds. Now I have no clue if Sept is a good time to go anymore. They really should put a smaller limit on how many people can go into parks, they are going to get to a point where its not enjoyable for anything. Hope this made since I kinda rambled

Touring plans does this for every day that they rate. If you are a subscriber, you can go to the site and check their predictions for wait times for a previous day (which is what they base everything on) against actual wait times. I'm not sure that any of the other crowd prediction sites do this, so it's hard to tell if their predictions turned out to be anywhere near accurate or not.

 

[GaryDis]

Touring plans does this for every day that they rate. If you are a subscriber, you can go to the site and check their predictions for wait times for a previous day (which is what they base everything on) against actual wait times. I'm not sure that any of the other crowd prediction sites do this, so it's hard to tell if their predictions turned out to be anywhere near accurate or not.

Yet many people here say that easywdw is more reliable than touringplans. I have no way of judging who's right, but touringplans seems to have a good methodology.

 

[anniemae]

I really don't believe there is a slow time anymore. I still the the slowest time to go is right after labor day. That is when all schools are back in session.

 

[keepswimming76]

We went in Sept 2010, 2011, and then 2014 and each year it seemed more crowded. But nothing compared to Spring Break or summer.

 

[Dentam]

Back to magic kingdom all day Friday 9/11 and while not empty, I wouldn't have called it busy. We walked right on most rides.

It's always interesting to see how different people describe the same days. We were in the MK on the 11th as well and thought it was pretty crowded. The wait for SDMT was 70 minutes when we walked out of our lunch at BOG.

 

[Magical JenK]

We were there last week and honestly it was significantly more crowded that the second week of Sept last year. Was it summer crowds? Probably not but there were some lines. I think I saw A&E at 100 minutes at one point. On a Saturday at Animal Kingdom (most recommended/least crowded park), I saw It's Tough to Be a Bug have a 30 minute wait. We headed for the pool at that point! I would still go in Sept but it wasn't as empty as it was last year for sure.

I agree with this. We have been regular September attenders for several years, and we were there last week also. We definitely found crowds to be higher, and wait times to be longer. I won't say it was like peak season or anything but it was nothing like how September used to be.

We were there the Sunday before Labor Day through yesterday (6th-16th). We have done this same 10-day trip at least 6 times...we love this time of year, low crowds, still summery weather & just a nice relaxing time (aka walk on to nearly everything)...but that's not at all what we experienced. At first I chalked up the crowds to the Labor Day holiday...when we arrived, the pool at the Grand Floridian reminded me of a Spring Break trip to Mexico. Super crowded, loud music blaring, games being played poolside, etc. Not what I was expecting at all. Tuesday came & the hotel seemed to quiet down, but the parks did not....not for the full 10-days.

I did notice a lot of Spanish speaking guests, so not sure if this year there was a school break or something, but in past years we have never seen waits like this. Even with a Jewish Holiday being the last 2 full days of my trip, doesn't make sense for the week prior crowds.

I need to look through the trip reports to see what others are saying...sounds like I wasn't alone in my surprise of the crowds tho.

 

[Dentam]

Can't remember if I already said this on this thread but we were there the 5th-12th and were looking forward to low crowds. We were surprised at the crowd levels and at first kept thinking it was due to the holiday weekend and it would die down after that. It never really did and we were disappointed about that. On the plus side, we did get to do most of what we wanted to and we didn't get rained on except for a light rain while we were waiting for Fantasmic one evening.

 

[wendow]

It's always interesting to see how different people describe the same days. We were in the MK on the 11th as well and thought it was pretty crowded. The wait for SDMT was 70 minutes when we walked out of our lunch at BOG.

I agree. It is interesting, and I never know quite how to reply to that. Either on this thread or another, someone said they were in MK and walked on 'x' number of rides from 8-9pm, implying it wasn't that busy. Well, I was in MK that same night. That 8-9pm was during the MSEP so yeah, I'm sure many rides had less of a wait. But they said they did SDMT 2x and several others during that one hour. I never saw SDMT less than 40 mins our entire trip, and we were checking the app pretty regularly or just walking by. I thought the park was just nuts that night. I guess there are just pockets of time where people can catch the rides at just the perfect time.

 

[To the honeypots]

I agree. It is interesting, and I never know quite how to reply to that. Either on this thread or another, someone said they were in MK and walked on 'x' number of rides from 8-9pm, implying it wasn't that busy. Well, I was in MK that same night. That 8-9pm was during the MSEP so yeah, I'm sure many rides had less of a wait. But they said they did SDMT 2x and several others during that one hour. I never saw SDMT less than 40 mins our entire trip, and we were checking the app pretty regularly or just walking by. I thought the park was just nuts that night. I guess there are just pockets of time where people can catch the rides at just the perfect time.

That was me and I am totally legit in our ride list. We did have fp+ for 7DMT for the first go round during that hour, but the second was standby. Posted wait was 20 minutes and we were on within 10 minutes. Poohs honeypots were so empty that the CMs didn't even make us exit the ride. We stayed on for three complete rotations. Tomorrow land speedway and Dumbo were bot walk ons and we were the only ones in the tent on both the goofy and Donald side.

I too find it very interesting how two people in the same park at the same time can have such different crowd perspectives.

 

[wendow]

That was me and I am totally legit in our ride list. We did have fp+ for 7DMT for the first go round during that hour, but the second was standby. Posted wait was 20 minutes and we were on within 10 minutes. Poohs honeypots were so empty that the CMs didn't even make us exit the ride. We stayed on for three complete rotations. Tomorrow land speedway was a walk on and we were the only ones in the tent on both the goofy and Donald side.

Oh I did not mean to imply at all that you were not legit in your rides!! I'm sorry if I came across that way. It's just so different than the night we experienced. That is all I was saying. I don't know how to respond to posts like that cause it's like we were at different parks. I believe you did what you said you did ;-)

 

[To the honeypots]

Oh I did not mean to imply at all that you were not legit in your rides!! I'm sorry if I came across that way. It's just so different than the night we experienced. That is all I was saying. I don't know how to respond to posts like that cause it's like we were at different parks. I believe you did what you said you did ;-)

I completely agree with you. It truly amazes me how timing can make all the difference. On a different day, we waited in a sizeable line for pooh. As we were getting off, suddenly very short line. It was like someone subliminally told everyone to move on. Lol

 

[palmtreegirl]

This was the line at Toy Story Mania this afternoon-

 

[nluvwithdisney]

This morning we did Soarin with a wait of 20 minutes and that was getting into the park around 9:20 through the International Gateway. We managed TSM with a Fastpass and also did standby twice with 30-35 minutes waits this week. TOT was a 20 min wait. Now as for the chaos that fastpass has created with Fantasmic is a whole different monster. It is still one of my favorites but Monday night was standing room only. Managed to see it this evening but the auditorium was completely packed!

 

[Disneyalea]

I'm here now, have been since Sept 8. We usually go a little later in the year, but wanted to see what it was like at this time. It's more crowded than we thought it would be, but not as crowded as it is when we usually go. We have had rain almost every day, but nothing too bad. Just be prepared and carry a backpack with ponchos and hats with a brim. My husband hates to carry a bag to the park, but this is a necessity at this time of the year. My family says it is too hot, I'm happy not to be cold. I like that we can use the pools because it's too cold for me to swim when we come in November. I have had to take naps 3 times during this visit, very rare for me! So maybe the heat is a bit much. We used to go the first 2 weeks in December, but it started to get crazy crowded, and we had some really cold years, which made for uncomfortable days and sick kids. Bad combination! My favorite time to go is May, (avoiding Memorial Day of course) People don't like to take their kids out so close to the end of the school year, and the weather is great! Plus Epcot is in bloom!

 

[Disneyalea]

This morning we did Soarin with a wait of 20 minutes and that was getting into the park around 9:20 through the International Gateway. We managed TSM with a Fastpass and also did standby twice with 30-35 minutes waits this week. TOT was a 20 min wait. Now as for the chaos that fastpass has created with Fantasmic is a whole different monster. It is still one of my favorites but Monday night was standing room only. Managed to see it this evening but the auditorium was completely packed!

That's cuz everyone was waiting in line for Test Track. We were all packed in there until 9:30 when they sent us all on our merry way because a car was stuck with the brakes locked at the very first gate and they couldn't remove it. You were smart to go to Soarin first!

 

[Tashak]

We're planning a trip next fall for MNSSHP, we've never been and would love to have that experience before our son starts Kindergarten. I'm wondering if the first of October would be better than September at this point.

 

[andiraye]

We were there from August 31 to September 6. First park day was September 1. We found the crowds to be low - most of the rides were walk on or very minimal waits. We had FP's for SDMT, TSMM, and Test Track, did the other headliners at rope drop and skipped A&E, so we didn't have to deal with the lines for those attractions. There was a very small crowd waiting for the festival of fantasy parade and we had no issue with fantasmic (we arrived about 45 min before it started). We had good touring plans, which I'm sure helped. We actually felt ridiculous using our FP's at certain times.

It sounds like a big difference between the first and third weeks of the month. I'm sure Rosh Hashanah had an impact and I'm guessing that because it fell on a Monday/Tuesday it was a bigger impact than usual because it created a four day weekend. Some years it falls all or partially on the weekend, or it falls on Tuesday/Wednesday or Wednesday/Thursday, so people would have to pull their kids out of school for a 4 day trip.

 

[Twice_as_Nice]

School started late this year, at least here, so maybe that had something to do with it also.

 

[NicholeB630]

I like hearing everyones opinions. But still makes it really hard to decide when to go. I guess you just have to have a plan and hope for the best. We are early risers so we are always there at rope drop. We found the second week of December very manageable so I can't imagine Sept would be more crowded then that time of year? Im curious to see what sites predict for next year. I am a subscriber to touring plans but I am not sure if I know where you can see the actual day compared to what they predicted.