September 29-October 8 Is this a good time to go?

Lil ole moi

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Hi everyone! :wave2:

I would really like to see lots of opinions on this one, if possible.

My boyfriend and I will be booking based on your opinions

We are thinking about this time slot because we would like to take advantage of the free dining package during this time, so here are my questions:

For the period of September 29 - October 8:

1. What are the crowds like during this time? (I've only been in early November before)

2. Will it be terribly hot and humid?

3. Will we experience lots of rain and thunder/lightning?

4. Is this smack-dab in the middle of hurricane season?

I really appreciate any and all opinions (good, bad or the ugly), especially those who have traveled there at this time. But of course, I happily welcome opinions of anyone!

Thank you so much! :cloud9:
 
It's going to be EXTREMELY crowded:
- In order to qualify for free dining, Guests need to check in by September 30 and can stay for up to ten nights.
- The Food & Wine Festival at Epcot start September 29 and runs through November 12
- The Happiest Celebration on Earth may end September 30, and some new celebration (Magic Kingdom's 35th anniversary? Animal Kingdom's 5th?) may start October 1 or October 5... or may not, we don't know for sure.

It will be hot and humid. Terribly? I guess it depends what you're used to, but remember summer has JUST ended a week earlier - and really, the weather doesn't necessarily behave in line with the season. Dress cool, drink lots of water, don't overdo.

It will probably rain at least some part of every day in Central Florida... but not necessarily where you are. Or it might. It depends. Walt Disney World is 47 square miles, the weather isn't necessarily the same across the entire property at once.

It is absolutely smack-dab in the middle of hurricane season... at least, the understood season. Who knows any more? There were still hurricanes, or at least tropical storms, forming in the south Atlantic after the so-called hurricane season ended.

Should you go? Why not - lots of the rest of us are!
 
I hope so, we will be there at that exact time. We've been there this time before, in fact last year and year before and love it.

1. Crowds not bad but it this period is growing in popularity due to MNSSHP and W&F festival. With fast pass, we get on plenty of rides.

2. When I was a kid we always went July or Aug., last Oct. was very warm but nothing like summer.

3. For 2 years straight we experienced only one rain shower of 5-10 minutes then it was gone and nothing but sunshine. But it is the weather, anything is possible.

4. It run's from June to November, it's all pretty much a crap shoot. We've been lucky the past two years and have had no problems at all. We love this time of year and are willing to take the gamble.

If you do go, be sure to make your ADR's well in advance.
 
well, I haven't been during that particular week, but you never know with Florida weather ;)

When we went down for MNSSHP (10/28 or so last year) it was hot and humid, but not unbearably so.

As for crowds, the weekends might be bad, if the weather is clear. However, the days that it rains it's pretty sparse. We went to the F&WF at that time and I think it was a Sunday afternoon. Pretty much every booth was empty and no lines, and we just wore ponchos and ate under umbrellas that were set up at patio tables all around the world showcase. I think we usually avoid the Magic Kingdom on a Saturday, period. We plan for the weekend to be MGM and Epcot days, ourselves. We've also done a "beach day" on a Saturday - since you can avoid some of the rush hour traffic. Even when it stormed while we were there, it wasn't a lot of lightening or thunder. It was more just RAIN - like the kind that gets your shorts wet by splashing up from the ground - where you're soaked to the bone? That kind of rain. :) Nothing scary and nothing that prevented us from doing our park events.

As far as it being hurricane season, remember that you're WAAAAAY inland. It's not like vacationing in the gulf coast. :) Disney was hit by some residual rain and winds - what - two years ago? last year? But they handled it beautifully and just evacuated a few places (like Fort Wilderness), and I think Epcot remained open the entire time and only a few rides were closed the next day at Magic Kingdom, for safety reasons. It's amazing how Disney can handle even "disaster" situations with grace and magic.

With it being free dining, I strongly suggest ADRs for your table service meals. We plan our entire trip around our dinners now. :) It's never a bad thing to have an ADR - and you can always cancel it and do something else, if the mood strikes you.

We just bought ponchos when it did start raining - because sometimes they'll call for rain in the forecast and it will be sunny and clear all day - and sometimes they'll totally miss the rain that's coming. And sometimes it's clear and sunny in the morning and rainy later in the afternoon, and it clears back up by evening just in time for fireworks. So, I don't like bringing ponchos and things around with me - and just get them at the stands when we're there (everyone has them - they know when to bring them out). But, you can buy cheap-o travel ponchos at the dollar store if you want to be prepared.

Another thing is - if it's Food and Wine Festival time, avoid Epcot on the weekends. A TON of locals head over there for food and drinks all day on the weekends. We went on a rainy sunday, but I'd probably pick a week day if I had to do it over again. It was a good time with pretty good food and we got to try a lot of different things (but my husband got very sick from the skewered shrimp on the barbie at the Australia stand - it was fishy-smelling and not hot when he brought it back. I threw mine away, but he eats sushi, so he figured he'd be okay - needless to say the next day he was quite sick).

And finally, just go slow and take it easy - no need to see every ride or attraction, you can always come back next year or next month or whenever. Make a list of your top rides and attractions that you want to see and start with those. If it gets hot, go back to the hotel and swim or hit the water parks. If it rains, go to MGM where a lot of the attractions are inside and/or covered theaters. Just go with the flow :)
 

Good evening all,

I'll throw my advice in here, for what it's worth :goodvibes

Time: we are going again this year, same time frame: Oct 1 to Oct 6. Last year, we were there from Oct 3 to Oct 13. We had a great time.

Rain & Weather: It is hot & humid... woah! It was a bit more humid than in 2003 (we were there from Oct 2 to Oct 9 I think). It rained almost everyday here & there. Let's say that we always had our ponchos in our backpack....just in case! There's only one day that it rained throughout the whole day. Not bad considering we were there for 11 days! In the 2 years we were there...no hurricanes, so let's hope it'll be the same for this year!

Crowd Level: Not bad. Last year was a bit more crowded - probably caused by the free dining which we enjoyed! But...you manage! It's not that bad...we got on the rides we wanted. I would HIGHLY recommend doing ADRS.

Overall, we love this time of year. We've never been to MNSSHP... the Food & Wine Festival is nice too. Try it once... you'll probably come back anyways :teeth: We all do :rotfl2:

PM me anytime with any questions.
 
It's F&W time, go and have a great vacation.
 
EXTREMELY crowded???? I've read in a Disney travel book that it is considered "low attendance". Uh-oh! If this is the case, I am certainly flexible to changing my dates around to take advantage of lower crowds...as long as it takes in the "free dining" special. Any suggestions on dates? Thanks!!!!! I'm not so worried about the Food and Wine Festival (been there, done that). Suggest away!! :goodvibes
 
It won't be extremely crowded because the kids are back in school - the weekends might be more busy, but the week days are totally fine. Don't sweat it!

I usually try to plan my trips from Sunday to Friday - because Saturdays are just not much fun to me - with all the people.
 
We went for the first week of October last year, and plan to do the same this year. The crowds weren't unreasonable at all -- probably higher than they were in early September, due to people coming especially for the Food and Wine festival and MNSSHP, but very manageable. We never had to wait very long for anything except Soarin', and that wasn't simply because of long lines, but because it was having mechanical problems that day. (My daughter and I ended up stuck strapped into the ride for about an hour!)

It rained every single day while we were there, sometimes for most of the day, but I watched the weather leading up to the trip and after the trip -- we definitely got the worst of it! Even the CMs kept commenting on how unusually rainy it was. You should expect brief afternoon showers, but I wouldn't worry about hurricane season immensely beyond that. Disney is quite far inland, and if guests do end up stranded because of weather conditions, they do a great job of taking care of them.

My recommendations would be to go, but just take a few precautions, most of which I'd recommend any time of year: make your table service ADRs before you go, plan to get to the parks at opening each day and ride the heavy-line attractions before the crowds catch up with you, take ponchos and bottled water with you to the parks each day, and if you have an easy way to carry them (backpack, stroller, etc) take along a spare pair of shoes and socks in a gallon ziplock, just in case you get soaked in the rain or on a ride, so you don't have to wear wet socks and shoes all day. (A spare ziplock can be good for protecting your camera in a downpour or on a wet ride, too!)

Go and have fun, and don't worry too much -- you'll have a great time regardless :)
 
Your only concern should be hurricanes. We had our trip during that period two years ago cancelled. We just rescheduled two weeks later.
Other than that, the weather is perfect, the crowds are nonexistent.
Now that my kids are in school, I miss going in the fall.
When else can you sit on the snow white ride and ride it three times without getting off, then do the same at Peter Pan.
It's a great time
 
we'll be there the 27th-7th. last year it wasn't crowed, and we had great weather. go, have fun and make your adr's in advance!!
 
Hi!
We were there last year Sept 29 to Oct 4. The weather was great, a little hot, and it rained only twice, one afternoon for about an hour and one night for about an hour. It wasn't really crowded, except for EMH at night at the MK. It was so crowded, that we left. We went to Epcot and started to go to the countries around 11:00am and it was so empty, it's as though we had the whole place to ourselves. It started to get a lot more crowded by about 1:00. The food and wine festival is a lot of fun! Some of the food was really good, but I would stay away from seafood. Like the previous poster said, here husband got sick from it. Have a great time!
 


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