What is "low crowd" season these days?

[Zippa D Doodah]

Over the last year or so, I continue to read reports of people encountering surprisingly high crowd levels at what used to be considered "low attendance" season. Even on our own last two vacations (May 2005 and January 2006) we saw crowds higher than I would have expected. I guess this was more than antectdotal.

It seems that "low" season must be a pretty narrow window of time these days. It used to be that the conventional wisdom was that WDW was much less crowded for a longer chunks of time. Now that is not the case.


Oh what the hey.... PAGING LEN TESTA

 

[mef78]

Bump for Len's benefit!!

Just to throw my two cents in, I agree. May has been crowded lately, as has October. Our trips in early December and late January (2005, 2006 respectively) weren't nearly as crowded as May and October, but crowds are definitely up. People are travelling again, I guess. Good for Disney, bad for us.

 

[BlindTyldak]

It's sounding like the slowest time is around the second and third week of September now. but you have to ballance out hurricane season and possibly not going at all with very low wait times.

 

[Sandcass]

We were there Oct 28 - Nov 4 and I didn't think it was bad. Of course I have nothing to compare it to, it was our first trip! But we never waited more than 25 minutes for a ride.

I guess I'm just comparing to my friends & neighbors who go in summer and tell me horror stories.

Plus our weather was P E R F E C T . We plan on going at the same time again someday.

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

25 minutes to get on a ride? Guess we're spoiled by going in September. Walk on just about everything for us. We were there the last week in September. We're going the same week this year. Hoping for good weather!

 

[bicker]

I think it's getting to the point where crowds at WDW are like eggs: Medium, Large, Extra Large and Jumbo... there are no "Small" eggs.

 

[smsnorthup]

We've been in Jan, March, Sept and Oct...and hands down Sept is the least crowded by far...but avoid Labor Day..

 

[bicker]

And avoid the hurricanes. (Oh wait -- you can't know when they'll be! )

 

[Palendat]

I guess we'll all have to wait for the next recession before there are any more slow times at Disney. Then there will be fewer crowds during the traditional slow times. But even this "solution" probably won't last long.

 

[bicker]

Yeah, I wouldn't "wish" for that -- we're as likely as not to have insufficient income to afford to go to WDW in that situation, and if it is really bad, Disney itself may be driven to significant service cuts, so visiting won't be as great of a deal as it is today.

 

[k5thbeatle]

I think the Sept. is probably the slowest, save for labor day week-end. A close second may still be that first week in Jan. right after the holidays.

I'm with you though, the crowds are definitely bigger even at these times.

 

[AllNamesTaken]

How about Nov before Thanksgiving? I heard that was 2nd least crowded time after mid Sept. Was anyone there early Nov last year? How was it?

 

[Toadi]

We went the last week in January this year and were pleasantly surprised by the lack of crowds and beautiful weather. Rarely waited more than 5 minutes for buses and usually they were there waiting for us. Walked right into the parks with the exception of a 5-7 minute wait once or twice; walked onto most rides/attractions. Even Soarin' at 11 am said 40 minutes standby and it took us 20 from start to finish. It was great!

 

[bicker]

We've done the first week in November, the first week in December, and the second week of January. I still think January wins (with the least crowds).

 

[GalDisney]

'Low crowd"season rarely exists anymore.. Think about it, with over 40 million people from all over the world visitng WDW every year, and WDW being the number 1 travel destination in the ENTIRE WORLD, low season doesnt exist anymore, couple that with people like me in Florida who have annual passes and you get constant crowds

 

[JulielovesDisney]

The end of August into Sept is pretty much empty. It's really hot and humid, but empty. Just avoid Labor Day weekend and you'll be fine.

I think the family of 4 for $1500 ad has gotten a lot more people down there, plus the Happiest Celebration on Earth is pulling a lot of people into the parks. Hopefully once that celebration is all done, they'll go back to the normal crowds levels. *crosses fingers*

 

[bicker]

Hmm.... I speculated a few weeks ago that Disney has learned its lesson about celebrations: That they must have them one-after-another now, because they always experience a big drop-off in reservations in non-celebration years. Perhaps that's not going to be the case -- perhaps folks will come to understand that celebration years mean more crowds, and will deliberately avoid them, thereby bringing the situation to a new (higher) balance point!

 

[Sandcass]

25 minutes to get on a ride? Guess we're spoiled by going in September. Walk on just about everything for us. We were there the last week in September. We're going the same week this year. Hoping for good weather!

We walked on most rides. We waited for the biggies.... Soarin, TOT, Rockin Rollercoaster. Soarin was RIGHT when the park opened. We followed the herd and got in line. After we rode the line was long, and fast passes were going quick.

We rode several rides over & over w/o getting off.

How is the weather in Sept? We did MNSSHP and don't want to do it again. We haven't experienced MK on a regualar day yet!

 

[TDC Nala]

I'm not a pro, but I'd say the only really "slow" times left would be mid-January and mid-September.

 

[1of6]

We were there Feb.1-7 and walked on most rides. We did use FP for Soarin, TOT, RnRRC, JC, SM and BTMR. The wait time was usually between 20-40 minutes stand-by for these rides.

I couldn't believe the lack of wait time for everything.