Week Before Labor Day vs. Mid. Sept.

[jhaig]

We usually go during the second or third week of Sept, but with my daughter getting older (11) I would like to avoid pulling her out of school again. I'm considering going during the last week of August and was wondering how the crowds were at that time and is it much different from the couple of weeks after Labor Day. Also, is the last week of August still considered 'value season' for room rates?

 

[Howellsy]

I've been mid September and the two weeks before Labor Day. Mid September is definitely quieter, but I've found the crowds just before Labor Day were very manageable. I was at the parks this year on Labor Day, and it wasn't even particularly busy then. Expect long lines for the headliners, like you normally would, but most lines were under 20-30 minutes in 2008 and 2006. I think the longest we saw was KRR in AK, which had a posted wait of 40 minutes at about 12pm.

Although you have to bear in mind that a few people cancelled last year because of Tropical Storm Fay and the few others forecast to hit Florida. In fact, I think some days mid-September this year were busier than pre-Labor Day last year because of the storms. Also, some people report that crowds have been getting larger every August/September because of Free Dining, but I haven't seen a huge effect on the lines for attractions because of this.

I'm fairly sure that week is Value but someone more familiar with US Disney rates would be better off telling you, as UK travel agents charge differently.

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

Value season varies every year (by a few days)but this year at the values & mods it started August 9th, the deluxes started Jul 19th.

We usually visit labor day weekend and week but this year we went down the Wednesday before Labor Day. The parks were pretty much dead. At MK on wed before Labor Day we did about 10 rides in under 2 hours, including Splash and BTMRR. No waits anywhere, FP's were a waste. I've only been in the parks one other time when it was like that and there was hurricaine blowing into town that day. Epcot & AK had simliar waits that week, but DHS was packed everyday we went. I think alot of this has to do with F! being scheduled only a few nights a week. One F! night it was unbearable and we left, we went another day Non EMH, non F! and it was much better but still more crowded than the other parks.