Where has our beloved Fall Value Season (cheap + low crowds) gone?

[SugarSpice]

I'm loving some input here. We like to visit in September & October. Low crowds & cheapest prices! Our last trip was September 15-22, 2013. easywdw crowd calendar showed 1s and 2s for that week. However, its was SO CROWDED! I don't know, maybe I picked the wrong park each day. It was crazy though. Lines were at 90+ minutes for all headliners. "A ticket" rides were at 45+. South American tour groups everywhere! There were just so many people on the walkways that it was really hard to walk. Now, this is all relative, it's obviously nothing compared to July. But, compared to usual fall crowds we were just so amazed at how busy it was. We have been spoiled by previous fall visits. Labor Day week in 2009 was DEAD, totally empty streets. Last week of October in 2010, EVERYTHING was a walk on, even headliners. I've also noticed that pricing at some resorts, value season stops Sept 12. So, looking at our upcoming fall vacation, we are trying to pick the best week to go. What was everyone else's experience last fall? Totally open to suggestions. Thanks!

 

[JimS4210]

It's getting to the point where there are no good times to go and avoid the crowds. We used to go the first week of December, but that has become busy too. We were just down last week and it wasn't bad at all, but that will probably change...

Disney does too good a job of marketing. Free dining, 30% off rooms, etc. lures people during the slower times.

I remember when Oct./Nov. and May/June were slow times, but Food and Wine, and to a lesser extent, Flower & Garden, ended that.

Jim

 

[mom2rtk]

It is indeed harder and harder to find a low crowd time.

There is one sure bet left....the week immediately following Labor Day. School is back in session even for the late-start districts, and most parents are hesitant to take a child out that early in the year. They usually want them to have a couple weeks to get settled.

If I could stand the heat, I would absolutely be there that week.

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

It is indeed harder and harder to find a low crowd time.

There is one sure bet left....the week immediately following Labor Day. School is back in session even for the late-start districts, and most parents are hesitant to take a child out that early in the year. They usually want them to have a couple weeks to get settled.

If I could stand the heat, I would absolutely be there that week.

We can stand the heat - we love that week - now QUIT TELLING PEOPLE!!

 

[wdw4rfam]

We can stand the heat - we love that week - now QUIT TELLING PEOPLE!!

Yup, and this is why there is no good times. Unfortunately the internet and all of these disney travel sites keep giving away all the secrets of those of us who learned the hard way. We always went in September and walked on everything, not anymore, but its still cheaper. We went in April last year and lost our usual FD to avoid heat, we missed the spring break craziness, but the heat was still bad, we had 90 all week. So back to September for us when we go again, at least the prices are lower.

 

[MomofKatie]

We had great luck in November- the week before Thanksgiving week (11/17- 11-23) was very slow. Now, I am not saying it was like the "old days" where you could walk down Main Street and not be within 25 feet of another person- those days are gone. But, we didn't see any standby lines longer than 20 minutes the whole week (with the exception of Soaring and TSMM). We had our 3 fp+ each day, but really didn't need most of them.

In my experience, the parks look crowded almost all the time now, but lines are still quite short during the off-season.

 

[Love Tink]

Yup, and this is why there is no good times. Unfortunately the internet and all of these disney travel sites keep giving away all the secrets of those of us who learned the hard way.

Honestly, are there people who need the internet or a book to tell them that the best times to visit Disney World are times when kids aren't out of school or people won't want to take their kids out of school?

It's like all the people who say, "If more people know how good rope drop is, soon rope drop will be crowded." Is it a super secret to anyone that places are their emptiest when they first open in the morning?

 

[ArwenMarie]

October is gone unfortunately.

The week before Thanksgiving was excellent last year.

We also like the crowds and prices of the week before Labor Day. We can't go the week after Labor Day as school starts for us then, but that is another good one.

 

[glocon]

I think with MNSSHP at MK and HHN at UO it is just a high draw time. People just really enjoy those things so the Orlando parks are crowded then.

 

[Nohal]

We have been going in September for the last 11 years. Before free dining you could walk on any ride, ever since it is getting more and more crowded. There seem to be a lot more people from the UK there and more people are taking their kids out of school. It is still less crowded than other times and the free dining keeps us (and others) going back.

 

[magicbob]

We have been going in September for the last 11 years. Before free dining you could walk on any ride, ever since it is getting more and more crowded. There seem to be a lot more people from the UK there and more people are taking their kids out of school. It is still less crowded than other times and the free dining keeps us (and others) going back.

From Disney's perspective, this just means that promotions like Free Dining have been a success.

 

[AliceandAriel]

I'm loving some input here. We like to visit in September & October. Low crowds & cheapest prices! Our last trip was September 15-22, 2013. easywdw crowd calendar showed 1s and 2s for that week. However, its was SO CROWDED! I don't know, maybe I picked the wrong park each day. It was crazy though. Lines were at 90+ minutes for all headliners. "A ticket" rides were at 45+. South American tour groups everywhere! There were just so many people on the walkways that it was really hard to walk. Now, this is all relative, it's obviously nothing compared to July. But, compared to usual fall crowds we were just so amazed at how busy it was. We have been spoiled by previous fall visits. Labor Day week in 2009 was DEAD, totally empty streets. Last week of October in 2010, EVERYTHING was a walk on, even headliners. I've also noticed that pricing at some resorts, value season stops Sept 12. So, looking at our upcoming fall vacation, we are trying to pick the best week to go. What was everyone else's experience last fall? Totally open to suggestions. Thanks!

We were there October 27-Nov 1. I actually have pictures mid afternoon in MK where Main Street was nearly VACANT. It struck me so odd compared to our trips in May when we'd be shoving into people left and right, that I had to snap a few shots, saying, "This is unreal."

Pricing at values continues to go up. It's a pain, but it just means instead of booking through Disney, I check travel sites first. Until I get my AP, that is.

 

[Raenstoirm]

We have been visiting in September since 1996. The 90s were AWESOME! Things were literally walk on. It has gotten more and more crowded, but it is still not bad. We were there the exact same time as you OP (sept 13-21) and didn't experience what you did. One day the line for Pirates was queued all the way out to the walkway. I had to snap a pic it was so disturbing! But other than that, we didn't wait more than 20 minutes for anything. We always get hopper though and use them every day if our first park is too crowded.

 

[summerlady]

Weird, but we were there last September 15-21 and had the opposite experience, crowds were very manageable. I wouldn't say a 1-2, more a 3-4, but better than we experienced going in October. I was really nervous about the heat and rain, but we had no rain (just a slight drizzle one late afternoon as we were waiting on the bridge to go to dinner at BOG) and the temps weren't all that bad, I really hate heat and humidity, we just made sure to swim and take a short resort break every afternoon. I'd go back in mid-September in a heartbeat. I swear, we didn't see one single tour group the entire time we were there.

 

[carmiedog]

We arrived the week after you and didn't find it busy at all. Maybe it is perspective - we're usually June travelers. It was even very nice towards the end of our trip with F&W starting. We were able to pick up Soarin fastpasses between 7:00-7:30 (not sure of exact time, but we were shocked that is was so late). (Couldn't do that with test track due to it being down a good portion of the morning.) Oddly, with a touring plan, the longest line we experienced in all the parks was Maelstrom, our usual go-to for multiple walk-ons.

 

[StuckInKS]

We always went in September and walked on everything, not anymore, but its still cheaper.

Let's hope it stays that way. As "value season" gets more crowded, the lower regular prices for that time period may rise too.

 

[mom2rtk]

We can stand the heat - we love that week - now QUIT TELLING PEOPLE!!

Seriously though..... I think that week in particular is bullet proof. No deal is good enough to get parents to pull kids out the first full week of the school year.

We had great luck in November- the week before Thanksgiving week (11/17- 11-23) was very slow. Now, I am not saying it was like the "old days" where you could walk down Main Street and not be within 25 feet of another person- those days are gone. But, we didn't see any standby lines longer than 20 minutes the whole week (with the exception of Soaring and TSMM). We had our 3 fp+ each day, but really didn't need most of them.

In my experience, the parks look crowded almost all the time now, but lines are still quite short during the off-season.

October is gone unfortunately.

The week before Thanksgiving was excellent last year.

We also like the crowds and prices of the week before Labor Day. We can't go the week after Labor Day as school starts for us then, but that is another good one.

The week before Thanksgiving is my one best shot at a low crowd week in cool-ish weather. I'm considering a shift to that week myself.

Now would YOU GUYS quit spreading that word?

 

[LarryNabisco]

I have it on pretty good authority that AP holder discounts are going to be reduced in the near future possibly before the summer ends.

Disney is doing so well year round they are going to offer even fewer concessions to AP holders than they already do.

The idea is to push passholders into coming just once or twice a year spending more money on those visits by staying on site etc...

A significant AP price increase is also a possibility.

 

[StuckInKS]

We had great luck in November- the week before Thanksgiving week (11/17- 11-23) was very slow. Now, I am not saying it was like the "old days" where you could walk down Main Street and not be within 25 feet of another person- those days are gone. But, we didn't see any standby lines longer than 20 minutes the whole week (with the exception of Soaring and TSMM). We had our 3 fp+ each day, but really didn't need most of them.

In my experience, the parks look crowded almost all the time now, but lines are still quite short during the off-season.

We were there during that week too and we have a completely difference experience, including 70 min line for LM (I even took a pic of the wait time board because I was shocked ), 45 minutes for Small World and 20 minutes for CoP!! Granted this was in the middle of the day and late nights and EMH were still near walk-ons for many rides (except PP since it has just reopened) but we had only been during May, June and July before so I was expecting lower crowds. At times it even seemed more crowded than early summer. I didn't see it personally, but the MDE app claimed that ToT was a 144 minute wait on our last day IMO it was slower Nov 2-11, but not as slow as I expected.

 

[Wanna be Ariel]

So weird. We were there 9/21 thru 9/27 and thought that it was not bad at all. I would not say 1 or 2's more like 2-4's. We had more problems with the heat. I like the end of October the first week of November the best though. We are trying the first week of December again this time since I need my Disney Christmas fix