What to expect in September?

[karpy111]

We have gone to disney mostly in June and once during Easter. So i am used to high crowd levels. Even with these high crowd levels we have a great time. This time I wanted to try something different. I looked at crowd calenders and researched the boards and hear that September is the least crowded time.
I just booked a trip for mid September and people are telling im going to love it. The wait times are minimal for all rides. Someone even told me they didnt use fastpasses. Is this all true?
Please tell me what I can expect as far as wait times for some major rides such as soarin, toy story mania, rockin roller coaster, peter pan,etc...

 

[kittykitty87]

I went on 21 Sept 2012 for 2 weeks and we've booked out honeymoon for the same time this year. When we went in 2012 it was VERY minimal crowds. The longest we waited was for Soarin which was about 30 mins but everything else was pretty much walk on. There were BIG waits for Toy Story however we had a bit of Pixie Dust sprinkled on us by a CM who gave us a FP Even Universal and Sea World were quiet.

Hope you have a fab time!

 

[Eliza32]

Totally agree. We always go middle 2 weeks in September. Nice and quiet. Cast member told us last time that POP was only at 49% capacity...pools were nice and quiet.
We used fastpass for a few rides including TSM, but got ourselves to the parks early to go straight on too. Other than that everything was great. No problem getting sun loungers at the waterparks.
I would still suggest that you book any dining that you want though as restaurants were rammed. Only walk-up we managed in the whole stay for a sit down meal was BierGarten.

 

[erinmarie2224]

We went the 3rd week of Sept which had FD, 2 MNSSHP nights and F&W start on our last day. Crowds were manageable and we didn't wait long for most but I still planned like we were going at peak and made dining at 180 and FP at 60. I think this helped get the most out of our trip. We did need FPs for most of the major rides (Sorin, TSM, 7DMT, A&E) but the FP+s were there 60 days out.

We did need dinner reservations but probably because of the FD. I was able to book BOG at 180+10 days but when our party size grew at about 100 days out there was no availability. We were at YC and had no problem with chairs at the pool.

 

[greentea]

We have gone to disney mostly in June and once during Easter. So i am used to high crowd levels. Even with these high crowd levels we have a great time. This time I wanted to try something different. I looked at crowd calenders and researched the boards and hear that September is the least crowded time.
I just booked a trip for mid September and people are telling im going to love it. The wait times are minimal for all rides. Someone even told me they didnt use fastpasses. Is this all true?
Please tell me what I can expect as far as wait times for some major rides such as soarin, toy story mania, rockin roller coaster, peter pan,etc...

We went the second week of September last year and it was great. We did use fast passes for a lot of the big rides, but sometimes we'd get there and the line was very short and there was hardly a point to use the fast pass. We didn't make any fast passes for Peter Pan because I didn't really care to do it. On a whim, we got in line for it, and it was a fairly big line. We waited a bit and it was probably 4pm, so I checked my phone, was able to get a fast pass for 4:30 by changing one we probably wouldn't need at all. We got out of line and went to do something else, then came back. But yes, many rides were walk-ons or extremely short waits! It was a very nice time to go. There was rain, but it didn't really bother us. With such low crowds, it's not a problem to take a break and come back later.

As far as dining, when we were there Free Dining was going on, so there were definitely a lot of people booking restaurants. But there were still ADRs available. We were at Animal Kingdom and wanted to try Tusker House for a late breakfast. We saw people at the host stand trying to get in without a reservation and waiting, but when I checked my phone there was one available right then, so I made it, walked up, and we were seated. We also made a few others the day of or night before. Not anything super hard to get, but we got what we wanted!

 

[Saimaeve]

We went last September mid month. We didn't use FP much, we had them but it wasn't necessary. However, we didn't do SDMT or A&E

Soarin was walk-on, We rode it twice early morning with 5-10 minute waits. When we got out the last time it was up to 30 minutes. Didn't do TSM because we didn't make it to HS until late in the day. RnR we waited maybe 15? ToT we had about a 20 minute wait the first time, and 15 the 2nd (Most of it was just walking the queue) HM was a bit of a wait but I think they were only using one stretching room for some reason? It wasn't more than 20 - 25 minutes.

Oddly one of our longest waits was The Great Movie Ride, that was close to 30 for some reason. ( I think because it was raining)
Lines at MNSSHP were longer than we encountered during the day at the parks

I think we might have been there during FD? I don't remember. I imagine we were. But we were able to book BOG, CRT, CP, Le Cellier, Ohana and others without major issue. I did work to get CRT and BOG

Transportation to the parks was fine. We ran into a few snags but nothing major.

We're going back this September as well.

 

[trivial]

I was considering an early September trip, but I'm hesitant after listening to a recent podcast. Apparently the weather is extremely hot and humid. However, the crowds are minimal and the rates low. Decisions, decisions...

 

[mindygirl5238]

I'm just going to echo everyone else's sentiments. We went the first week of September, & yes it was still very hot. But we basically walked on everything. Toy Story was the longest wait time we saw on anything (we had FPs), but the wait was 45 minutes. Which as you know, for Toy Story is pretty good. 7DMT was 20-30 minutes every day we were at MK. Everything else was 5-10 minutes. Truly walked on everything. I can handle the heat for wait times like that.

 

[mm1971]

If your used to June and vacation times, September will be like you died and went to Heaven. You'll still have the heat and can plan for afternoon thunderstorms, but the crowds are much lower and depending on the dates of your trip you can attend MNSSHP as well. Our one September trip and most attractions were walk on to 10 minute waits. The only exceptions were the attractions that are always busy like PP, TSMM and now 7DMT I'm sure. The standard busy attractions were typically 30-50 minute waited depending on when you were there.

 

[amandals2007]

you are going to LOVE september. i used to be just like you and go in june/july/august because i was in high school and college but now my family and I go in september and will NEVER go at another time. we only use our FP+ for the major rides, and we use up our three FP+ just so we can get a FP+ for a major ride again. sometimes we dont even need a FP+ for things you need them for in june/july. its still hot which i like, but there are hardly ANY people there. i dont like how early the parks close at that time but we just go enjoy disney quest, the pools and nightlife. YOU ARE GOING TO LOVE SEPTEMBER!!!!

 

[P00H1010]

Yes, crowds are a lot lower than summer.

We have done all July trips and 1 September trip. Our Sept trip was the first week of the month.

We found that crowd levels were a world of difference from July.
We did not use any FPs that trip. Most rides had minimal waits. Even high demend rides were still around 30 or less for the most part.
Weather-wise we both felt that it was certainly hot like July but didn't seems as humid (to us atleast...and DH is not a fan of the heat).
The only draw back that we noticed is park hours. We are night owls on vacation. We normally get to the parks late morning/early afternoon and are out until closing. We are used to heading back to the resort at 12am or even later. We loved 3am EMH when they had them. So for the way we tour we were not a fan of the parks closing earlier in the evening.

The low crowds and low wait times in Sept are certainly nice....enjoy your trip!

 

[Goofy'sPal]

Planning on going Late Sept or early Oct and cant wait. Will be second solo trip to WDW. Looking forward to MNSSHP.

 

[Megsmachine]

For you September experts, if we rope drop and take break in the afternoon, what is a good time to break so we miss any rainstorms? Just lloking for a ballpark figure on when afternoon thunderstorms hit then go away. Thanks

 

[kastoney]

For you September experts, if we rope drop and take break in the afternoon, what is a good time to break so we miss any rainstorms? Just lloking for a ballpark figure on when afternoon thunderstorms hit then go away. Thanks

We do Disney in September every year. Of course the rain has a mind of its oen, but we usually take a break around 2 for my daughters nap and venture back out around 5 and missed the rain most Days

 

[Megsmachine]

We do Disney in September every year. Of course the rain has a mind of its oen, but we usually take a break around 2 for my daughters nap and venture back out around 5 and missed the rain most Days

Awesome, thank you!

 

[BethR9]

How do early September crowds (Labor Day weekend and week after) compare to early February crowds?

 

[Anne5555]

You will definitely still need fastpasses, but you might want to save them for after the first hour. We went mid september 2014, and just missed several days of heavy rain after our short trip. We still had some rain every day, but not the storms I read about the following week here on the Disboards. Many of the less popular rides (like teacups and Barnstormer) had 10-20 minute wait times, but the most popular ones could still build up long waits, like for the 7DMT and A&E. I think Peter Pan even had a wait of 50 minutes or an hour posted one afternoon. We were surprised that the Great Movie Ride in HS had a posted wait of 20 or 30 minutes on a fairly low crowd day. TSM had a huge posted wait. We didn't do the Tower of Terror or the RnR coaster, so I didn't notice those wait times. You will definitely need a FP for Soarin or ride at ropedrop.

 

[jkc0325]

DH and I did a trip without the kids last Sept 12-16th. We experienced very little waiting for rides. We used FP for rides like 7DMT & TSM. We rode Peter Pan with a 10 minute wait. TOT and RNR had 15 minute waits. We almost got tired of riding so much stuff if that's possible. It was very hot but we were okay as long as we drank plenty of water. We hit MSNNHP and those crowds were lower than when we had gone in Oct the previous year. Basically, I would do September again in a heartbeat!!!!!!!

 

[anniemae]

It is one of the slowest, if not the slowest time of the year to go. Right after Labor Day the parks empty out. Yes, it is hot, but thats small price to pay for low crowds IMO.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Most of September still have light crowds...which is a situation that's starting to become scarce.

If I could pick any time to go - spent, may, and late jan- early feb.

Early December is great too of your a Christmas nut...but usually people are busy at home and that's often the coldest time of the year in orlando