Sept not low crowds anymore?

[SureAsLiz]

As far as wait times go, I'm not sure it's so much because of actual crowd levels but because of staffing levels.

On Saturday, Epcot was as empty as I had seen it in a while. Granted, I didn't hang around in Future World, but wait times weren't terrible when I did check them. TT was only an hour, Soarin 40 minutes, and Mission: Space was 15.

On Sunday, MK was nearly empty, especially for the parade (main street curb spots open up until the parade, and only two (sparse) rows deep) and characters (Aladdin/Jasmine and Peter Pan usually have their lines cut off before even showing up, and that was not the case)

Small World was consistently 15-20 minutes and I never saw those wait times consistently during the summer. I have also heard from several others that CMs are being sent home early pretty frequently. What is sounds like is that Disney scaled back for fall the same as in the past without accounting (correctly or otherwise) for the general growth in attendance.

 

[anniemae]

I read today is another Jewish holiday so they are expecting it to be a bit more crowded today.

 

[serenitynow]

We were there Sept. 13-19, felt crowded, lots of people in the parks, but most rides had low wait times of 10 minutes Or less. Except 7dmt, Soarin, Peter Pan, Toy Story Mania which had standby wait times of 30 minutes or less. Very manageable with FP+ for those rides.

 

[WDWLODGE]

We just returned from our 1st ever September trip(8th - 19th). In recent years we have been going in Oct/Nov. We went to the recommended parks(per easyWDW) almost every day. Of our 12 days I would say that at least 9-10 of them felt similar to Oct/Nov crowds. We were expecting the crowds to be a little less crowded. We were at rope drop every morning and almost everyday we left the parks by 2-3 PM to head to Stormalong for a couple hours before returning in the evening. Our biggest draw to trying September was lower crowd levels compared to Oct/Nov but we did not experience that.

 

[anniemae]

I think a few things are happening. First of all, as much as WE all love low crowds, Disney does not. They want everything at capacity all the time. I think Sept was slow with kids going back to school so they did things to entice people down. Things like free dining, starting the F&W, MNSSHP etc. Plus people who were sick of the summer crowds, and holiday crowds etc. decided to go in Sept since it was void of people. Now it is busy. Disney wants full parks, so they will get full parks. Year round.

Also, I think everyone is following sites like easy wdw, so everyone is heading to the same park. We always seemed to be in the busiest park this past trip, and it was always the recommended park. If everyone is following the same plan, it just does not work. I still believe Sept is the slowest month and the best week is the week after labor day. This particular Sept seems a bit busier than usual, I think the Jewish holidays are adding to the crowds this month.

 

[DisneyFive]

It's still the slowest time of the year. Crowds have just been steadily growing the last few years as the overall economy has improved.

Dan

 

[dkrauss]

It could just be as simple as WDW getting more crowded every year and as it gets more crowded, more and more people look for those traditionally "slow" weeks of the year, which in turn makes those weeks more crowded.
It has happened to times like early December which just 7 years ago was considered an ideal time to go as far as crowds.. Now it's more moderate in terms of crowds.


Most people I know who go to WDW are checking all the sites and listening to the crowd calendars and choosing their vacation time accordingly. I think these tools are actually creating more crowds in the traditionally slower times because they tell everyone to go during months like September to avoid crowds. Obviously as more people utilize these tools, more people will go during the suggested time periods and in turn increase the crowd levels.
People do not seem concerned about taking their kids out of school anymore either. I get it.. You pay 5k for a vacation you naturally want to get your money's worth so you look for a lower crowd level to get the most bang for your buck.. And that means going when school in in session. But, if some parents aren't concerned about taking their kids out of school then obviously going during the school year becomes less of a sure thing for lower crowds.
Also.. , I think some forget that a "1" from 2010 is not close to a "1" from 2015. And a "1" from 2015 will be slower than a"1" from 2018. Unless we have a economic downturn then obviously that would affect attendance.. But, then again you have so many international WDW guests now and Disney will just increase discounts if the economy takes a nose dive again so that's not even a definite.
I think we just need to accept if you go to WDW you will deal with crowds no matter what time of year you go. There is NO slow time anymore!

I love this post above, especially the part about a 1 in 2010 isn't a 1 in 2015! That's a excellent point.

The thing about crowd calanders is that their estimates for future dates are just that "estimates". That's information based on prior years and can be impacted by current events, discounts, theme park status (just wait until all the construction begins at HS). The historical data is just that history...........you can see trends but its still a guess.......an educated, statistical guess.........but still a guess. I'm pretty sure that Touringplans does update its estimates with "what we saw" values...........now some may disagree with thier findings.......but what are you gonna do after the fact.

The months that have been considered slower will be slow but it will be realitive......to the world today. The thing that you can see is people haven't stopped coming to WDW....even with the price increases.........lousy IT.....constant construction....and....FP+ (the bane of everyones existence ). WDW is still the place to go!

Doug

 

[wendow]

Also, I think everyone is following sites like easy wdw, so everyone is heading to the same park. We always seemed to be in the busiest park this past trip, and it was always the recommended park. If everyone is following the same plan, it just does not work. I still believe Sept is the slowest month and the best week is the week after labor day. This particular Sept seems a bit busier than usual, I think the Jewish holidays are adding to the crowds this month.

I agree with you.

We actually 'broke protocol' (lol!) this trip and went to a 'not recommended park' on one of our days. It was just my dh & I vs. us and 4 kids with two strollers so we thought it would be easier. And it was...So it was MK back to back days. One day was the most recommended and the next day was the least recommended. The first day we thought was really busy, and that was the most recommended park so we were super nervous about the next day. Turns out, the crowds actually seemed better the next day when it was the least recommended park. I truly believe many more people are following easywdw's recommendations, and that is throwing crowds off too.

 

[NicholeB630]

I love reading all these they really help! But let me ask another question. If I thought crowds were totally manageable and not overly crowded the second week of December this past year (with the exception of MVMCP and Sat at AK) will September be a perfect time for us to go? We are early risers so we have no problem being there at RD everyday and I plan way in advance for ADR and FP.

 

[kandb]

If the crowds for end of Aug/Sept are really slow, then it's worth it to bear the horrendous heat and frequent rain storms, however, if they are just a little less, the heat/storms are not worth going in Aug/Sept anymore. We are going to consider moving our trip to Oct/Nov. Standing in line when the heat index is over 100 degrees sucks!

 

[MattsPrincess]

We had a mixed experience this past weekend. Did HS on saturday night, from around 6 to 9. FP for Indy and got great seats, although the line LOOKED huge and was winding all out of the entrance, etc, we only waited maybe 15 minutes. But then the wait for TSMM was 105 minutes. RnR was broken down for a while, causing back-ups in both standby and FP lines, but that can happen any time of year. We spent maybe 20 minutes waiting for this, with FP. Right as the first Fantasmic was letting out I walked onto ToT and never stopped moving, except for the room with the video clip. The line for the 2nd fantasmic was already pretty long when I got off that though.

Sunday we got to Epcot right around opening and walked right onto Soarin without FP. We also used the single rider line on Test Track with about a five minute wait. Character lines fluctuated throughout the day. It never felt too crowded. Left there around 3:30 for MK, which was more crowded, but it was also a MNSSHP night, and it got more and more open thought the night. We walked onto BTMRR twice, once before and once during the party.

But then yesterday AK was PACKED all morning (and sweltering hot!) however lines seemed longest for food and characters. Walked onto Dinosaur around 11 with a posted 10 minute standby, i'd say it was a little less than that. Around 3 we got fed up with the mobs in the walkways and hopped to Epcot, which was much better. It was weird, as crowded as AK felt and looked, it was mostly like it was just a mass walking around but not actually doing anything, lol. Walking was the hardest part. We even easily found a place to sit for lunch.

 

[Dentam]

If the crowds for end of Aug/Sept are really slow, then it's worth it to bear the horrendous heat and frequent rain storms, however, if they are just a little less, the heat/storms are not worth going in Aug/Sept anymore. We are going to consider moving our trip to Oct/Nov. Standing in line when the heat index is over 100 degrees sucks!

We decided the same thing. I might do a solo trip for my next vacation and if I do it will be to catch the first few days of the EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival in early March.

 

[anniemae]

If the crowds for end of Aug/Sept are really slow, then it's worth it to bear the horrendous heat and frequent rain storms, however, if they are just a little less, the heat/storms are not worth going in Aug/Sept anymore. We are going to consider moving our trip to Oct/Nov. Standing in line when the heat index is over 100 degrees sucks!

It was not that much slower at end of Aug, busy but manageable. The thing was that this past Aug the hurricane made a ton of people cancel the last week of Aug. After the state of emergency was issued, many people canceled. I think they re-booked a week or two later which added to sept crowds. Plus with labor day being so late, many families were there the first week of sept. Nov is my favorite time to go. The summer is so unbelievable hot and humid. Being outside in that weather is hard.

 

[TexasTSL]

I think you are right. We were there from August 29th to September 6th this year. We almost cancelled our trip. We are from Texas, and a lot of people were telling us we were crazy to go with a possible hurricane coming in. I have never been in Disney World with crowds as low as we experienced, especially the first four or five days. I think a lot of people must have cancelled their trips, especially the first half of the trip. We went to MK on a day not recommended by Easy WDW, and we never had to wait in any lines after we used our FP+. I'm guess you are right, that the people who cancelled their trips for that week re-booked for the next week. It was seriously not crowded when we were there. We usually go in November during the lowest crowded week according to Easy WDW, and this trip was way, way, way less crowded than we are used to.

 

[dizprincess717]

People who say September is crowded don't know what they are talking about. Yes there are always lots of people walking around but that's because unlike when it's packed there are no lines for Rides so everyone is usually walking around


Yesterday I waited less than five minutes for splash Mountain and space Mountain in the middle of the afternoon. Today I walked on the Safari at 1:30. Try doing that in the summer.

As other posters have said, you are very lucky.

As I said in a previous post I have visited Disney World over Christmas/New Year's, 4th of July and Jersey Week. I've also vacationed there in the summer months. I also worked there from January thru May (and worked there over Easter at Splash Mountain, no less) and I would like to think that I have experienced the true "low crowds" that people have experienced before as well as being there over the busiest times of the year.

This was my first time going in September and I did look at crowd calendars before going. All I'm saying is that the crowds that I experienced while I was there (9/17-9/21) were very similar to crowds during Jersey Week when crowd calendars post 4/5/6 and even 7 on weekends because of F&W - the wait times were no different for my past trip than when I was there in November for Jersey Week. Being a former CM, I love talking to other CM's and while my husband and I were waiting for Wishes on 9/19 the CM said that the crowds are significantly higher than normal - and other people that that CM works with said the exact same thing. This is also the CM who informed me that there were several conventions going on last week and most of the deluxe hotels were at 100% capacity. So if several hotels were at 100% capacity (something I noticed, too, because I checked online about a week before we left to see if I could upgrade my room and everything a the GF was sold out - same with Yacht and Beach and Contemporary, etc.) then yes, crowds are higher than normal. It was crowded - bottom line.

I'm not sure if it's FP+, but a wait time of 45 minutes for Haunted Mansion on 9/17? That doesn't sound very "slow" to me.

Maybe crowds cleared out and now crowds for this week are back to "normal" for September.

I also understand that "Disney is always crowded because of XYZ promotion" but all I'm saying is that the crowd levels were a lot higher than I was expecting, just basing it off of past trips and times of the year that I was there on vacation/worked there. When you look at a crowd calendar and see 1/2/3 and 4 on a weekend vs. 5/6 and 7 on a weekend for November/Jersey Week, anyone would expect that the wait times would be less - and that just was not the case last week.

 

[Dentam]

Sounds like maybe Disney wasn't prepared for the crowds and didn't have the proper staffing in place.

 

[anniemae]

I think it was the perfect storm. First the hurricane make folks from Aug reschedule, the late labor day had many families there the first week of Sept, the free dining, MNSSHP, F&W, people hearing how slow Sept is, the Jewish Holidays ( I heard this really impacted crowds).

 

[Disnsyncey]

I was there 18-22.....went to mainly the recommended parks, but really, if you get the logic, they are common sense......MK on Friday and Tuesday were a DREAM......obviously for the people avoiding the short hours for the party......Epcot was a bit busier because of the PM EMH on Sunday, but Epcot really isn't "doing" much, so we ended up doing the WS like 2 full times.....and a great relaxing time in Canada and in the UK while the crowds left (we didn't feel like trying to ride anything after walking the WS twice haha).......we did want to see the fireworks and parade at MK, so Saturday night (after a dream of a day in AK with basically no lines) was kinda horrible (understandably) and Monday night was only a BIT better, but not much at all........we rode all the things without a wait, the riverboat, peoplemover, teacups, carousel, etc on Saturday....but even on the train we had to wait for the second one to show up there were so many people in line.....though the PM EMH at MK on Saturday night was great! HM did have a 20 min wait, but then we basically walked on BTMRR and Splash....like Splash was DESERTED.....I got a pretty good picture that is reminiscent of when Cory and Shawn from BMW slept in the boats in Splash during their WDW episode!

and I am a nosy person, I saw the "call" sheet for the all stars one day (over the desk, cuz I work in a hotel and I like to know how stuff works), and all of them were at 97%-100%.....

that is a lot of mess, but hopefully y'all get it....

 

[dawgsgirl]

I was there 9-18. I am a regular early Sept visitor. It just gets more crowded every year. The same goes for my Jan trips. Oh how I miss my early Sept trips of years gone by! I have always noticed that in Sept Disney has less staff than at other times of year. I thought the whole resort was very crowded for Sept. There is no low crowd anymore. There is just crowded and more crowded!

 

[PeasandCarrots]

I was there Labor Day weekend as well as the Friday and Tuesday after (5 days total). Sunday and Monday were more crowded than the other days (and we were at the most recommended parks), however, ALL 5 days were far less crowded than April (not near Easter but during the 5 crowd level days in April) or last November (again average 5 crowd level days). I think Disney World is just getting busier during all seasons now so even the "lower crowd" times are busier than they used to be.