Week or Two Before Labor Day?

[missgoto1221]

First Timer needs some advice. We are planning a trip to Universal to stay onsite at Hard Rock. We want to go before Labor Day. It would be either be Sunday Aug. 23rd - Thursday Aug. 27th. Or Sunday Aug. 30th - Thurs. Sept 3rd. Doing a 3 day park to park passes, going to parks Mon, Tue, and Wed. Labor Day is Monday Sept. 7th. I know Florida kids go back to school, so just wondering if anyone went one of those weeks and can tell me how the crowds are weekdays. Thanks

 

[RMulieri]

It isn't insanely crowded, but not dead either..Average crowds is what we experienced

 

[missgoto1221]

Did you go one or two weeks before Labor Day and was it on a weekday?

 

[keishashadow]

First Timer needs some advice. We are planning a trip to Universal to stay onsite at Hard Rock. We want to go before Labor Day. It would be either be Sunday Aug. 23rd - Thursday Aug. 27th. Or Sunday Aug. 30th - Thurs. Sept 3rd. Doing a 3 day park to park passes, going to parks Mon, Tue, and Wed. Labor Day is Monday Sept. 7th. I know Florida kids go back to school, so just wondering if anyone went one of those weeks and can tell me how the crowds are weekdays. Thanks

did you check the crowd calendars? planning last week in August and I'm thrilled to see the low predictions.

https://www.undercovertourist.com/orlando/crowd-calendar/august-2015/

 

[missgoto1221]

Yes I did check out the crowd calendar and the two weeks before labor does look promising. Im just looking for some comments of people that were there at that time.

 

[livingthedream]

We are heading to Orlando from Aug 27 - Sept 5

When I was originally trying to figure out when we should visit US/IOA, I was debating between when we first arrive, or wait until the following weekdays (as opposed to going on the weekend).

I have been a long-time subscriber of TouringPlans and I have generally had really good luck with the crowd calendars . However, I am a bit more sceptical of the TouringPlans crowd predictions for that particular timeframe because of when Labor Day is this year. The long weekend is quite far into September. I also understand TouringPlan predictions are based on historical data, so I think a person has to take into account that its only about once every 7 years or so when Labor Day is that late in the month. So this year will be a bit a statistical anomaly with an extra week before the holiday weekend. . ..... All of this leads me to believe the week prior to Labor Day may be a bit more crowded than the crowd calendars currently predict.

Don't get me wrong! I don't think their predictions will be THAT far off, but I do believe that lots of people will be there a week later than *usual*, so I wouldn't be surprised if there are average (as opposed to below average) crowds right through until Labor Day Monday.

Does that make sense? I'm probably over-thinking it...those who know me best would likely agree!

Anyhoo, to answer your original question, I think we have settled on going on week days as opposed to the weekend, and at that time of year I don't expect it will be wall-to-wall like it is over New Years, so no matter what we'll be having a good time!

Happy planning!

 

[livingthedream]

I was *thinking out loud* too much in my answer above!

Basically, I don't think the crowds on the week before Labor Day will be any lighter than the crowds two weeks before.....Lots of schools will delay going back, I suspect, so there will still be crowds Aug 30 - Sept 3.

But your guess is as good as mine! I wish I had a crystal ball!!!!

 

[missgoto1221]

@ livingthedream A guy I work with goes to Disney annually if not bi-annually. He has been there the week before labor day and he said the crowds were not bad at all. I'm leaning towards two weeks before the 23rd thru the 27th. The crowd predictor looks about the same for those two weeks. My cousin lives in Celebration and i know his kids go back to school that week on the 24th. OMG now you got me thinking, because of Labor day being late, I'm wondering if I should do the week before. Awe Boy! Do you stay on site, if so what hotel do you prefer. I was gonna go in the middle and do Hardrock.

 

[RMulieri]

We went the 18th-25th in 2013..It was busier than I expected since schools went back in Florida on the 19th, and busier than the crowd calendars predicted

 

[pixeegrl]

We've been 2 weeks before labor day...back in 2012 I think it was and it wasn't too bad. more so over the weekend. We stayed onsite though and used EP Be prepared for shelter when those dark clouds roll in each day. We had a heavy downpour nearly every day and used that time to grab a snack or shop

 

[missgoto1221]

@RMulieri did you have Express passes?
@ prixeegrl yea we went to Disney in 2010 early September and I do remember daily down pours.

 

[livingthedream]

Like RMulieri said, she experienced ok crowds, but they were definitely higher than the crowd calendars predicted, and I'm guessing what was expected. So if the week of Aug 30 says 3s and 4s, I'll be expecting 4s and 5s. The Aug 23 week I think is predicted to be a bit busier - 4s, 5s, 6s, something like that - so I figure it will be a bit higher > like 5s, 6s, and 7s.

Don't forget you have to take into account school schedules from all over the place, not just the Florida school schedules - and there are going to be differing *back to school* dates. I'm counting on some regions (somewhere!) still being on a break so I'm expecting steady crowds, but certainly not height of the summer crowds....

Just my 2 cents

 

[RMulieri]

@RMulieri did you have Express passes?
@ prixeegrl yea we went to Disney in 2010 early September and I do remember daily down pours.

Yes we had express.We stayed onsite at PBH...It wasn't horrible,we will do it again, but it was a lot busier than we thought ( especially since resort rates had dropped down to value pricing that week) and I remember reading touringplans, UCT and another crowd calendar update that week and they all admitted they were off. With express, we waited very little, the most wait being for Despicable Me ( and we had a wait this past week too).Yes, Florida schools are back and that does help, but MOST of the East is not..NY/NJ/PA/CT do not go back till right before or after labor day .