September or October

[Wily Wily]

Planning the first WDW trip for my two boys, 7yrs in June '04 and 5yrs in Sept. '04. I have heard that September and October are good months to go. Does anyone have any recommendations or preferences?

 

[disneymama73]

Love love LOVE October! We've been going every October for a few years now, and it's one of our favorite times to be at WDW. Sept. is generally more rainy, and in October you can attend MNSSHP which is just wonderful!!! The weather is moderate, the crowds are moderate. We're going back this October!

Did I mention I like October at WDW?!

 

[Jo-Anne]

We have gone 6 times during Sept and just love it due to the lack of crowds. However, it is HOT/Humid and usually rains once per day for 15 minutes, but we haven't been affected by this. Our strategy is to go out to parks early, back to on-site hotel early afternoon to nap or swim and then head back out to parks or dinner around 4-5pm (kids are now 8 & 5, so they're not really into napping, but love to swim!). This really works for us, but we make sure we take extra T-shirts as we usually change them twice a day and take hats and lots of sunscreen! I think crowds pick up a bit in Oct due to a lot of conferences that take place that month, but its generally a lot less crowded than other times of year. Just avoid the holiday timing in Oct.

 

[disneymama73]

Forgot something! The PGA Golf Tour comes to WDW every October. Avoid that week because it gets BUSY!

 

[frannn]

Great weather, medium sized crowds. Both times, we did MNSSHP. The weather is still in the upper 80's, but it definetly cools down at night. We had to be very careful with DD1 because the heat definetly affected her. I have heard that the crowd level in Oct has increased over the past few years, as more people figure out that it is a great time to go! I can't compare, but we will be going in Sept this year to take advantage of our APs, which we activated last Oct. I wish we had gone later in Oct in 2003 so we could stick to early Oct this year but I've heard decent things about Sept as well. I heard that Sept has significantly lower crowds, plus it's value season at the resorts. Hopefully we will get an AP discount (or at worst, pay value season prices) and find crowds so low, we can take breaks at the height of the daytime heat. We have been several times, and don't want to overdo it with DD, so even if it rains, we can deal with it!

 

[nigel-bigel]

Forgot something! The PGA Golf Tour comes to WDW every October. Avoid that week because it gets BUSY!

Oh boy. We are planning on going in October. Does anyone know when the PGA thing is?

Nicole

 

[disneymama73]

Originally posted by nigel-bigel
Oh boy. We are planning on going in October. Does anyone know when the PGA thing is?

Nicole

I believe it is the week of the 17th. (Call to be sure - my poor preggo brain is barely functioning today!) We were planning on traveling that week or the following and changed our plans to the week of the 10th. Even the week following the tour can be busy. A couple of different CMs on the phone told me a lot of people from the tour stay the following week to enjoy the parks.

 

[nigel-bigel]

Well, it figures. We are planning on gong on the 20th, just on time for PGA crowds.

I originally thought of going the week earlier, but the 11th, a Monday, is Columbus Day, and the next day is is Veteran's Day.

Aren't a lot of schools closed on both of those days? I'm assuming that week will be crowded.

Does anyone know more about this?

Nicole

 

[Gillian]

Originally posted by nigel-bigel
I originally thought of going the week earlier, but the 11th, a Monday, is Columbus Day, and the next day is is Veteran's Day.

Aren't a lot of schools closed on both of those days? I'm assuming that week will be crowded.

I don't know about the crowds that week, but I do know that Veteran's day is in November, not October. It's always november 11th.

 

[disneyatl]

October is our favorite. The weather is perfect. It might rain but when doesn't it rain in Florida! The showers are over fast. Just keep in mind, the parks aren't open as long as the sumemr months.

 

[frannn]

I know whenever we go to WDW, whichever season, the pretrip forecast usually shows rain for most days. When we get there, its usually gorgeous! For people who have gone in Sept, have you found the rain to be more than Oct, etc.?

 

[normmo]

Hi - I was at Disney in September of this year and it was tooo hot. It did not rain alot although the forecast called for it but I have a wonderful ability to bring great weather to Disney. If anyone wants to take me along on their next trip just say the word and pay for the flight, etc. and I'm there lol. Anyway, I would go for October for all the reasons listed, not as hot and not as much rain.
Mo

 

[JillL.]

we were there in late sept. and it was HOT
we are from NW: ohio in sept. is chilly, sweater and heavy jacket weather ! We were not prepared for the heat!and when it did rain I thought oh good it will cool things off ( like it does here ) NOPE! RAIN=SAUNA! we did manage to have a blast anyway we were in WDW after all!

Mid day break very imporatant for little ones...we tried to push it just past midday and regreated it ! just remember to get out there as early as possible!

we are going in may this time and hopeing for slightly milder weather but are better prepared for the HOT this time around

 

[debbiedana]

I like the heat...it's September for me. Plus, it's value season, as opposed to regular season, so you'll save $$$$$ if you're staying on site. I found the crowds to be very light. The rain cleared out the parks and didn't slow us down one bit. If you get wet, who cares? It's 90 degrees out...it feels good! Fewer people pull their kids out of school the first month, so you'll see lots of the toddler and pre-school set, plus a lot of foreign visitors.

I really like September.

 

[Karalea]

We love September! We went last year during the 3rd week of September and are scheduling our vacation for that time again this year. It was almost like having the parks to ourselves.

No Crowds! No Lines!!!!!! Walked out to every ride including Test Track & Mission Space. We spent more time waiting for pasty in the France pavilion than we did for any ride!!!!! We only had one 15 minute rain shower one evening and that was it. The heat wasn't that bad for us but we do live in the south so we are used to it.

We went in May before and I would never go back at that time of year again.

 

[sillysully]

Why not have the best of both worlds, like us? We are going 9/26-10/4 - Mon. to Mon. We have value season rates, expect more mild weather than at the beg. of Sept. and will get to do MNSSHP most likely.