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

[teffy]

oh man i love that week after labor day. i know where i live we start school in the middle of august. i work at a school. so it's about 3 weeks into school for us so i don't mind being off then.

 

[Kristine316]

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.





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?

I am not saying you are wrong about the first part of September and parents taking their kids out of school.. I am sure you are correct but, I noticed on our September WDW vacation that the parks were filled with senior citizens and tons of foreign tourists.
We went late September 2012 and even though the place wasn't jammed packed, there were times it sure felt like it was. I think Disney has mastered keeping their parks busy year round.. even when US families head back to school, there seems to be other groups who are ready to take their place. Of course our experience is with late September and not early.. so... I am totally willing to give that first week a try.

I do have a question... are we talking about the week of Labor Day.. like the days immediately following the holiday.. or the week after.. this year that week would be starting the 8th?

We had to cancel our February trip because of a health scare for me and I never considered any other month but, September for a reschedule but, I am unsure about the week of Labor Day or the week right after. I already know the end of September is busier than the rest of the month so, those first two weeks are what I am looking at.

 

[mom2rtk]

I am not saying you are wrong about the first part of September and parents taking their kids out of school.. I am sure you are correct but, I noticed on our September WDW vacation that the parks were filled with senior citizens and tons of foreign tourists.
We went late September 2012 and even though the place wasn't jammed packed, there were times it sure felt like it was. I think Disney has mastered keeping their parks busy year round.. even when US families head back to school, there seems to be other groups who are ready to take their place. Of course our experience is with late September and not early.. so... I am totally willing to give that first week a try.

I do have a question... are we talking about the week of Labor Day.. like the days immediately following the holiday.. or the week after.. this year that week would be starting the 8th?

We had to cancel our February trip because of a health scare for me and I never considered any other month but, September for a reschedule but, I am unsure about the week of Labor Day or the week right after. I already know the end of September is busier than the rest of the month so, those first two weeks are what I am looking at.

I'm talking about the days immediately following Labor Day. Some schools are not allowed to start until after Labor Day, including a lot up in the Northeast.

The parks won't be empty, but it's still your best bet for low crowds.

Mid-September isn't bad either. We went the last week of September once, and while we had a couple days of lowish crowds, we also had some very busy park days. (And it was still brutally hot).

Things to keep in mind:

1) the regular fall free dining offer generally only runs through the end of September. My theory is that many schedule as late into that promo as they can, hoping to get their kids settled into school before taking them out.

2) MNSSHP starts md-September. Many push off their dates until mid to late in the month so they can attend.

3) F/W starts the last weekend of September. MANY delay until then to catch the beginning of that.

 

[Sleepy425]

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?

I had a patient tell me I should start doing Disney in the summer because nobody goes in the heat. He was serious. I told him I'd stick with the first weeks of Sept and Dec.

 

[mom2rtk]

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?

No, but they might not realize that many schools now have a fall break in mid-October. Or that Food and Wine Festival adds a ton of traffic to what would typically be a very slow time. Or that Disney schedules marathons to bring in crowds in otherwise slow times. Or when they are most likely to find overseas tour groups at their peak.

 

[NC Disney Fan]

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.

Can you tell me what days you actually went to the park? I looked on a crowd calendar and it showed the Friday before Thanksgiving as hugely busy all the way up to Thanksgiving. We are wanting to come in on the Thursday before and actually leave on Thanksgiving. What are your thoughts on crowds at that time?

 

[Hopefully]

We have gone nearly every year for the past 100 years in October. Each year is more crowded than the year before. Even resort categories changed from Value to Regular Season. It is no longer quiet in October.

 

[ArwenMarie]

Can you tell me what days you actually went to the park? I looked on a crowd calendar and it showed the Friday before Thanksgiving as hugely busy all the way up to Thanksgiving. We are wanting to come in on the Thursday before and actually leave on Thanksgiving. What are your thoughts on crowds at that time?

We were there that week this year.

We went from Tuesday to Sunday prior to Thanksgiving though. Saturday the crowds started pouring in. It was good before that. You also have the Christmas parties that week, so the non-party days at MK are very crowded.

 

[SleepDoctor]

I had a patient tell me I should start doing Disney in the summer because nobody goes in the heat. He was serious. I told him I'd stick with the first weeks of Sept and Dec.

Well there is a benefit to going during the hotter days of summer. Take advantage of EMH in the morning, or late at night, and stick to hanging out at the pool during the mid-day. You can actually see and do a lot in the evening EMH hours....

 

[MomofKatie]

Can you tell me what days you actually went to the park? I looked on a crowd calendar and it showed the Friday before Thanksgiving as hugely busy all the way up to Thanksgiving. We are wanting to come in on the Thursday before and actually leave on Thanksgiving. What are your thoughts on crowds at that time?

We were in the parks from Tuesday the 19th through Friday the 22nd, with Thanksgiving falling on Thursday the 28th. Your dates will start out slower, but get more and more crowded up until Thanksgiving. I would not say these days are optimal for visiting if you want low wait times. The week prior would be preferable.

 

[MomofKatie]

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.

It is funny how people can be at the parks at the same time and have such differing experiences!

We are real planners, and I know most of the "tricks of the trade" for touring, so that might account for the difference. It was just DH and I, so no kids to schedule around, either. We used hoppers and avoided MK during midday for the most part. Our schedule:

Tuesday- MK 3pm until close. LM was a total walk on. Only wait over 10 mins we saw all evening was PP, but we didn't have plans to ride so it didn't bother us (I think the wait time was 30 mins?). We had fp+ for LM that weren't necessary. BTMRR had a 15 min wait, so we used our fp+ there. Didn't need our Space Man fp+ either- 10min wait posted, but it was all just the walk through the queue.

Wed- Epcot until 3pm then DHS until close. We didn't do any of Future World so didn't note wait times. We arrived around 10:30 and went right to World Showcase. All fp+ were for DHS in the afternoon- evening. Needed them for TSMM and RnRC but not for Star Tours.

Thurs- MK until 3, then Epcot. Did all the stuff we missed Tuesday with no waits longer than a few minutes. Midday was spent eating, doing shows and things like People Mover- we avoided Fantasyland and the big headliners. Did Future World in the afternoon/evening with fp+. TT was down when our fp+ time came up because it was raining. We waited around for a few minutes and were able to walk on once it opened up again. Used fp+ at Soaring, but ended up waiting almost an hour. Standby time was posted at 30 mins when we entered fp line- there must have been some malfunction because it was reported the wait time jumped to 90 mins while we were in line. Everything else was a walk on all evening. We left before our dinner ADR because of the rain and I didn't feel well.

Fri- AK open to 2pm. We had fp+ for Dinosaur, Everest, and Safari. Didn't really need to use any of them- nothing in the park had posted waits of more than 10 mins the whole time we were there. We only used it at Everest- rode standby, then used our fps for a second ride.

Overall, a great time to go (in our experience). Would definitely do that week again.

 

[KNovacovschi]

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 the exact same week and stayed at POP as well. I found that we pretty much walked onto everything. We even did Space Mountain multiple times in a row and the longest we waited was 5 mins. That being said though TSM did still have a very long line. We had a FP+ for it and was thankful. We went in across the way to meet Woody and Buzz, when we got in line the wait for TSM was at 20 mins and when I looked at the board 5 mins later it was up to 40 mins and when we were done it was up to 70 mins. Hoping when we go in Sept it will be the same.

 

[DarkPaw]

We were there from Sept. 7 to 21, and found it to be low crowds...

But, choosing the right park does make a difference. We went the year before, about the same dates, but I had not checked wich park would be best. This year I checked, and I really saw the difference.

 

[JennyDrake]

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...

DITTO!

Also as more and more schools go to year round programs, families are free to go to WDW "whenever." Our county also has a ridiculous TWO WEEK fall break in October.

 

[dsneygirl]

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!

I always find it interesting the different experiences of people there at the same time. We were there the 8-18th and in 10 days only used FP+ 3 or 4 times. Other than Soarin', TT and TSM everything was a 10min or walk on.

Buses were never crowded and we went into Pizzafari at noon one day and the CMs were standing in front of their terminals waiting for someone to come in and order.

The only insanity was Friday the 13th at DHS which was a well documented Gong show. And most of those were of duty CMs and local AP holders.

 

[pskelly]

The only insanity was Friday the 13th at DHS which was a well documented Gong show. And most of those were of duty CMs and local AP holders.

This was our first night last year........I still have nightmares......the horror........the horror.........

 

[dsneygirl]

This was our first night last year........I still have nightmares......the horror........the horror.........

We went back to DHS on Friday the 13th in DECEMBER and that helped eliminate some of the terror we had experienced earlier.

 

[catra121]

I was there September 15-22 and thought the crowds were pretty good...but not GREAT like in the past. They did match what I was expecting though based on what I saw the crowd levels predicted at on touring plans....which was mostly 3s and 4s I think. Other than TSM, Soarin, and TT I didn't see any ridiculous wait times. I actually took my cousin and it was his first time. He was so spoiled that by day 3 he would look at a wait time of 15 mins and be all "that seems long...let's try it again later." I still made him get in those lines. The worst wait we had was for Pirates and that's because it broke down a couple of times.

I sort of anticipated bigger crowd levels last year based on the fact that so many people put off trips for a year to wait for New Fantasyland to be opened (no idea if this really caused it or not...but it's what I thought would happen). This year...it seems that September is predicted to have lower crowd levels again...and I will be making another trip this year during that time.

And the prices are still great during that time...so I may upgrade to a moderate this year.

 

[NC Disney Fan]

We were there that week this year.

We went from Tuesday to Sunday prior to Thanksgiving though. Saturday the crowds started pouring in. It was good before that. You also have the Christmas parties that week, so the non-party days at MK are very crowded.

Wow, thanks for this insight. I am a bit petrified at going now during that time. We have always traveled in Sept except for the year I broke my back but that time, we traveled the whole week prior to Thanksgiving and it is relatively low crowds. Is it even worth going if the crowds are horrendous? I really don't want to spend the kind of money we put out to have a miserable time and listen to my husband and kids complain. How badly crowded was it as crowd's poured in?

 

[kdnmom]

We did a long weekend trip September 12-15, 2013 and the crowds were very light! Went to MK on Friday 9/13 and rode Splash 3 times in a row WITHOUT GETTING OFF!! There was nobody waiting to get on so the CMs just let us loop around again. One of our best Disney memories ever!