**September 2019**

[Superchikk]

1s, 2s and 3s for every day except the 14th, when MK is a 5 and Epcot is a 4! Other two parks are 3s.

Thanks! That's so good to hear, especially since Kenny upgraded his overall crowd levels to yellow. Last year at the same time, weekdays were blue/green, and only weekends were yellow.

 

[SRUAlmn]

Thanks! That's so good to hear, especially since Kenny upgraded his overall crowd levels to yellow. Last year at the same time, weekdays were blue/green, and only weekends were yellow.

Well, dang! I wonder why that would be?

 

[Christi0909]

I don’t follow him much, but I just looked at his crowd calendar and he said non-party MK days are equivalent to spring break crowds. That is definitely not what I have experienced in the past, so I think maybe he’s a little dramatic!

 

[Superchikk]

I don’t follow him much, but I just looked at his crowd calendar and he said non-party MK days are equivalent to spring break crowds. That is definitely not what I have experienced in the past, so I think maybe he’s a little dramatic!

*EDIT to correct my mistake - Non-party days were more crowded than party days.*

Yeah, it seemed a little much. We were there last year in September and *party days at MK weren't that bad. We were there during the afternoon on a *non-party day though, and it was brutal - the heat was insane and it was super crowded. So I'm avoiding MK like the plague on *non-party days.

 

[Superchikk]

Well, dang! I wonder why that would be?

I don't know! It's like the whole month flip-flopped. He's got the whole first two weeks in yellow, the last two weeks in blue & green. They were basically opposite of that last year. He didn't write any justification for the change. I'm wondering if he'll give an explanation on the FB page. I'll report back if I find out what his reasoning is.

 

[TinkBink]

Updated our trip dates to add another night! We'll be at Polynesian from Sep 7-14! Would love to be added to the roll call please

 

[KMenu]

Are you dressing up?

My 10 year old is absolutely out of the dress up stage (she would be mortified if I tried to dress up) so I will buy us a few t shirts/tanks for the trip and I ordered low key Halloween skins for our Magic Bands.

 

[evlaina]

I don’t follow him much, but I just looked at his crowd calendar and he said non-party MK days are equivalent to spring break crowds. That is definitely not what I have experienced in the past, so I think maybe he’s a little dramatic!

I believe him...we went to Magic Kingdom on a red non-MVMCP party day in November that he listed as "AVOID" and he was spot on. We went in the evening for dinner at BOG and to see Happily Ever After and we were shoulder to shoulder. Every other day we went to MK on party days then hopped elsewhere and crowds were nonexistent.

We're going 9/28-10/4 so I still have to wait for the October calendar to be released but I was pleasantly surprised he has the 28th-30th as green overall when he had them as yellow in 2018.

I'm no expert on crowd predictions, but my guess is the switch in his weeks has to do with more people travelling the week of Labor Day and the week after because for years they've been "slow weeks." More people are following crowd calendars so those super slow weeks aren't as slow anymore. I still think the whole month of September will continue to be less-busy than other months because 1, school just started, and 2, fear of hurricanes cancelling vacation plans.

 

[Superchikk]

I believe him...we went to Magic Kingdom on a red non-MVMCP party day in November that he listed as "AVOID" and he was spot on. We went in the evening for dinner at BOG and to see Happily Ever After and we were shoulder to shoulder. Every other day we went to MK on party days then hopped elsewhere and crowds were nonexistent.

We're going 9/28-10/4 so I still have to wait for the October calendar to be released but I was pleasantly surprised he has the 28th-30th as green overall when he had them as yellow in 2018.

I'm no expert on crowd predictions, but my guess is the switch in his weeks has to do with more people travelling the week of Labor Day and the week after because for years they've been "slow weeks." More people are following crowd calendars so those super slow weeks aren't as slow anymore. I still think the whole month of September will continue to be less-busy than other months because 1, school just started, and 2, fear of hurricanes cancelling vacation plans.

I think we're going to rope-drop green parks, but we'll have to hop over to MK on a yellow day for HEA fireworks. Strongly considering doing a dessert party that night. It will be our next to last night there, and it will be our only day to see HEA, in all likelihood. I don't want to miss it this year (we only watched from Contemporary last year). Neither DH or I are fans of the shoulder-to-shoulder crowds and I think we'd both lose our collective minds if we had to camp out for fireworks in a yellow park on a yellow day.

Our dates last year were all yellows - We were there Sept 15-21. They weren't bad. But we booked earlier in the month this year based on the past year's green/blues the first two weeks. If I had known that predictions would shift so much, we could've booked later in the month. But with the FD window closed, that ship has sailed. We'll be fine in yellow parks, I was just hoping for blue/green!

 

[SRUAlmn]

Yeah, it seemed a little much. We were there last year in September and non-party days at MK weren't that bad. We were there during the afternoon on a party day though, and it was brutal - the heat was insane and it was super crowded. So I'm avoiding MK like the plague on party days.

Interesting, because Touring Plans has the three party days occurring during our trip listed as crowd level 1s for MK and all the other days are 2, 3, or 4 ? I thought this sounded right because I’d heard party days are traditionally less crowded because the park closes early to day guests, but it sounds like your experience was the opposite of that?

 

[evlaina]

I think we're going to rope-drop green parks, but we'll have to hop over to MK on a yellow day for HEA fireworks. Strongly considering doing a dessert party that night. It will be our next to last night there, and it will be our only day to see HEA, in all likelihood. I don't want to miss it this year (we only watched from Contemporary last year). Neither DH or I are fans of the shoulder-to-shoulder crowds and I think we'd both lose our collective minds if we had to camp out for fireworks in a yellow park on a yellow day.

Our dates last year were all yellows - We were there Sept 15-21. They weren't bad. But we booked earlier in the month this year based on the past year's green/blues the first two weeks. If I had known that predictions would shift so much, we could've booked later in the month. But with the FD window closed, that ship has sailed. We'll be fine in yellow parks, I was just hoping for blue/green!

Yeah shoulder to shoulder is no fun for anyone! We're only doing a red MK night again this trip because my in-laws have never seen HEA. We've done the after-fireworks garden party before but I don't think my in-laws would spring for a party. I say go for it!

 

[Momma_Lanier]

With kids I would probably minimize signatures. I went to a lot of signatures on my last trip (just my best friend and I) and I think I would spend so much time trying to make sure my youngest was quiet and respectful of other diners that I would not enjoy it as much. I think the ones in the park would be the ones I would do since they seemed overall less fancy to me but we loved the food (Le Cellier and Tiffins were the two in park ones we went to)

Personally, I would just keep the regular DDP. Between signatures with little ones and a lot of food in the heat I would wait to try DxDDP another time.

What restaurants are you looking to book?

I think I will keep the regular DDP. We do mostly all character meals and Ohana dinner. My husband wants to go to Coral Reef, too. We usually splurge for CRT every trip but with my youngest turning 3 and not being free anymore, it’s hard to justify that price especially since he hardly even eats.
We will do:
Akershus dinner
1900 Park Fare dinner
Garden Grill breakfast
Storybook Dining dinner
Bon voyage breakfast
Minnie’s Halloween Dine dinner (May do Fantasmic package since we’ve never seen it!)
Chef Mickey’s brunch before MNSSHP
Tusker House breakfast and maybe a couple more.
Also, going to BOG breakfast and lunch.

I like doing character meals for the characters but since the restaurants are so loud, my kids can blend in. Haha!!!

 

[b2k1121]

Interesting, because Touring Plans has the three party days occurring during our trip listed as crowd level 1s for MK and all the other days are 2, 3, or 4 ? I thought this sounded right because I’d heard party days are traditionally less crowded because the park closes early to day guests, but it sounds like your experience was the opposite of that?

In my experience going in September-December, the party days are much less crowded than non-party days. Most families, especially first timers are going to want to go to the Magic Kingdom on a non party day for the longer hours and Happily Ever After. Happily Ever After on those days, in my experience, is absolute madness because those on trips during party weeks only have a couple days to pick from to see the show.

 

[Superchikk]

Interesting, because Touring Plans has the three party days occurring during our trip listed as crowd level 1s for MK and all the other days are 2, 3, or 4 ? I thought this sounded right because I’d heard party days are traditionally less crowded because the park closes early to day guests, but it sounds like your experience was the opposite of that?

I got it backwards... clearly my brain was foggy. I meant we were super crowded on a non-party day. (I'll see if I can edit that & fix my mistake.) Party days were fine, but started to get really crowded around 4pm - when they start letting party ticket holders in the gate. IMO it wasn't worth staying those last two hours because of how much more congested it got pretty quickly.

 

[Superchikk]

In my experience going in September-December, the party days are much less crowded than non-party days. Most families, especially first timers are going to want to go to the Magic Kingdom on a non party day for the longer hours and Happily Ever After. Happily Ever After on those days, in my experience, is absolute madness because those on trips during party weeks only have a couple days to pick from to see the show.

You're right - my brain was thinking the right thing, and I typed it backwards. I corrected my original post that led to the confusion.

Also, we're going to be in that boat - and have to do HEA on a non-party day. But we're likely going to pay the price (literally) and do a dessert party. I'm not about camping out for a hot and crowded fireworks show.

 

[Kbosch]

I got it backwards... clearly my brain was foggy. I meant we were super crowded on a non-party day. (I'll see if I can edit that & fix my mistake.) Party days were fine, but started to get really crowded around 4pm - when they start letting party ticket holders in the gate. IMO it wasn't worth staying those last two hours because of how much more congested it got pretty quickly.

Oh good bc I had planned my itinerary on making sure we do MK on party days and was second guessing myself! lol

 

[Kbosch]

I believe him...we went to Magic Kingdom on a red non-MVMCP party day in November that he listed as "AVOID" and he was spot on. We went in the evening for dinner at BOG and to see Happily Ever After and we were shoulder to shoulder. Every other day we went to MK on party days then hopped elsewhere and crowds were nonexistent.

We're going 9/28-10/4 so I still have to wait for the October calendar to be released but I was pleasantly surprised he has the 28th-30th as green overall when he had them as yellow in 2018.

I'm no expert on crowd predictions, but my guess is the switch in his weeks has to do with more people travelling the week of Labor Day and the week after because for years they've been "slow weeks." More people are following crowd calendars so those super slow weeks aren't as slow anymore. I still think the whole month of September will continue to be less-busy than other months because 1, school just started, and 2, fear of hurricanes cancelling vacation plans.

We will be there the same dates! Looking at KTP for our arrival day (9/28) though and he has 3 out of 4 parks as red? I had planned on AK that day - I was avoiding MK bc it was a Saturday, avoiding EPCOT on a weekend bc of Food and Wine – I guess bc AK has EMH hours that day so it’s red too?

 

[Superchikk]

Oh good bc I had planned my itinerary on making sure we do MK on party days and was second guessing myself! lol

That's what we're doing, except for the day we're going to hop over to MK for HEA. We'll likely do a dessert party though, so we don't have to fight the crowds too much.

 

[DiaryofaDisneyKid]

My kids are now EXPERTS at eating in the car. Ha! I bought some cheap cookie sheets at Walmart (for like $1 each) and we keep those in the car. They serve so many purposes. They use them as a lunch tray when we eat, though. DS11 will put a napkin down before he sets out his food, DD8 just dumps her food on the tray. I leave a bag back there for them to put their trash in, then gather it all up after they're done. Then, I have them take a baby wipe to the tray (I'll never be without those in the car!), and it's clean enough for the next use. They use them to contain things with small pieces when they want to do an activity, too. Best $2 I ever spent for the car.

I tried that when my oldest was little and it kept sliding of his lap and he made such a mess, LOL! I think I might give it another shot now that he is older. Maybe I should just velcro it to his lap.

 

[evlaina]

We will be there the same dates! Looking at KTP for our arrival day (9/28) though and he has 3 out of 4 parks as red? I had planned on AK that day - I was avoiding MK bc it was a Saturday, avoiding EPCOT on a weekend bc of Food and Wine – I guess bc AK has EMH hours that day so it’s red too?

Yes, MK is red just because it’s busy and AK because of EMH. Epcot is usually yellow but I’m sure it’ll be red during all of Food & Wine. Saturday the 28th is my daughter’s birthday and we arrive early, around 9:30am. We’re doing Disney Springs then heading to HS in the evening. We didn’t get to see Fantasmic when we were at Disney in December so we’re looking forward to that!