September Free Dining and Crowds

[aimeeg]

I know it is going to be hot but . . . how awful are the crowds. We are planning on going on the 11th. I already have all of our ADR's. I did that at the 180 day mark and the updated my ressie to included free dining.

Are the preschool age activities/rides super crowded? Since school just started are there tons of school agers? My DD is 4 and I just want to mentally prepare for what is to come.

Also, how are the weekends in September?

 

[Bob P]

Hi,

Here's a thread from earlier today:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1787537

September is NOT CROWDED at the parks. Sure, free dining will draw more people than no free dining, but September is always among the least crowded months at WDW. Weekends will be more crowded than weekdays.

 

[sunny_stace]

I agree. There were almost NO crowds, except in the restaurants! And EE of course over at AK. And Peter Pan's Flight until sunset! There weren't too many school age kids toward the end of the promo (when we usually go, not this year though..., have to wait till December!), but there were definatley a fair share of strollers! Not like the summer time though, and only really at MK

 

[traci]

We travel with young kids. They are not in school yet. So do a lot of other families who want to save money with free dining. It seems September is a popular time for those with young children to go. I read so many threads and used the crowd calendar that it seemed the parks would be dead (walk-on for rides). It's just not the case. Get there early to avoid the crowds. Enjoy the free dining! Just don't expect it to be empty all day long with 5 minute waits. Have a wonderful trip!!! It's obviously not going to be as busy as July or Christmas! Remember that Disney marketing uses free dining to draw in visitors. It is working and there has ben a steady increase each year.

 

[aimeeg]

I assumed the restaurants will be mobbed so I was really careful about picking my times. I called at 7:00 am at the 180 day mark. My DD is four so she is really interested in the Fantasyland rides, character meetings and Toontown. She also really like Splash Mt. We went in June last year and it was super crowded but we managed just fine.

Thanks for the input! I am mostly concerned with under Kindergarten crowd.

 

[PrincessTiffany]

I know it is going to be hot but . . . how awful are the crowds. We are planning on going on the 11th. I already have all of our ADR's. I did that at the 180 day mark and the updated my ressie to included free dining.

Are the preschool age activities/rides super crowded? Since school just started are there tons of school agers? My DD is 4 and I just want to mentally prepare for what is to come.

Also, how are the weekends in September?

We took all 4 of our kids out for a week last year for Free Dining and so did apparently about 50,000 other families while we were there! lol. There were school-age children everywhere. Free Dining has been a brilliant plan on the part of Disney to fill the crowds during what was previously their slowest season, and hurrican season to boot. And then having the bounceback for free food while the free diners are there in the parks, on their Disney high, well I would call that pure marketing genius. We were there for Free Dining last year, and yes we did have fun, but we went for low crowds and there was definetly NOT low crowds during the week of Sept. 14 - 22. Was it like Christmas, Easter or Spring Break? Of course not, but I don't want people to go thinking that the parks will be "dead," "empty" and you will "walk on" all of the rides because they will be disappointed. We did have great fun on our trip in September, but I would be more apt to call the crowds medium-ish, not low.

 

[traci]

Aimeeg,
I thought Toontown was busy (again not like Christmas). But we would get there at rope drop and get in line early for the character meet & greet. The lines did get long. And seemed to stay that way. Again, there are so many young children who are not in school and they are the ones excited to see their favorite characters.

It's not crazy though! I just don't want to leave you with the impression that everything is walk on all day with 5 minute waits

We found that if we got to the parks early we could do everything and then backtrack later.

Have a great trip!

 

[BabyPiglet]

Barely any crowds. It's the best time to go, IMO.

 

[stopher1]

We went during this promo 3 years in a row (not going this year). Each time our week was slightly different (dates), with the first one closer to Labor Day and the last one closer to the 30th. Even with pushing it out towards the end of the month, while the parks weren't crowded like they would be in the summer, Easter or Christmas times - they were larger than expected during the very traditionally slow time of year. The restaurants and busses were especially crowded. The attraciton wait times were not bad at all though. The promo is working, getting more people to visit. I'd say it's changed an extremely slow period into an almost slow period.

 

[aimeeg]

Thanks so much for everyone's advice. I guess I should expect the worst and then be pleasently surprised. I am a firm believer in rope drop! Thanks so much!!!

 

[Neelloc]

We've gone in September during 3 different years....and here's how the crowds stacked up:

September 2004. 9/9-9/14 Hurricane Frances was on the outs and Ivan was looming. NO CROWDS. I mean, we could walk onto anything without a wait....Splash Mountain in the middle of the day, etc. Towards the end of our stay, it picked up a little, but the most we waited was 10 minutes for anything.

September 2006: 9/16-9/20. Free dining, so a bit more crowded. Certain rides were walk on, and certain rides had maybe a 20 minute wait during the middle of the day.

September 2007: 9/12-9/18. Free dining. Crowds were much bigger this time. Unless you got to a park at rope drop, you would wait for the headliners.....like Soarin (up to 1 hour wait) EE (up to 1 hour wait) Splash (up to 45 minute wait) etc. Fast passes for rides like Soarin' would be gone by 5pm. By mid afternoon, all of the rides had some sort of wait. In the early mornings and late evenings, not so much. DH wanted to ride BTMRR during nighttime EMH....we waited 50 minutes for it. Definately more people in the parks, and the restarants were jammed. After reading a bunch of threads about people's experiences last year, I've found the people who report "no crowds" are the people who arrived at rope drop, toured, and then left to go back to their hotel in the afternoon. DH and I tend to get to the parks at around 9:30am or so, and then stay til close. So, I see the crowd fluctuations throughout the whole day.

As always, anytime you go, have a good touring plan and ADR's made. It should be fine. I said to DH, "I always came as a child during Easter week and waited for 2 hours for some rides....so anything less is cake!"

 

[Neelloc]

Thanks so much for everyone's advice. I guess I should expect the worst and then be pleasently surprised. I am a firm believer in rope drop! Thanks so much!!!

If you are a rope drop person, leave after lunch, come back at night person, you'll be happy with the crowds. I'd do all your "must do's" in the morning and then do the others at night. It was by far the busiest in the afternoon.

 

[JuneCleaver]

Been there last two years and had very light crowds in all of the parks.

We found that by eating very late or very early especially, the parks were deserted during typical dinner times of 5 to 7 pm.

We walked on Buzz last year around 5 pm! And the pool at the BC was pretty much deserted quite a few afternoons!

We stick to the less well known or posted about restaurants and have done fine with dining..also, eating at weird times helps!

June