I know, I know. I am a slacker. I am late on this post. All that Top Ten Tuesday research took a lot out of me. I’ll try to make up for it.
Usually, on the first posting day of each month, (it’s only the 3rd day now), I like to tell you a little about the seasonal goings on at Disney World. No, I am not going to tell you about what is going on this month at Disney, you are too late for that. Besides, 400 other sites will be publishing articles on that information this month. No, I will be telling you about what is going to be happening in Disney 7 months from now, giving you time to plan your trip and book your ADRs like a good Disney planner should do.
You may be sitting in the frigid cold weather of February (or where I am experiencing an unseasonal mildness) thinking about warm weather, but if you are planning to go to Disney you better jump right over spring and summer and start your mind thinking about this fall. Psst….if you are going to Disney World in September, you are extending that warm summer weather a bit longer.
As usual, I will start with the weather. It will still be very hot in Florida this time of the year, especially in early September. Please employ all of your strategies for dealing with the heat because it can drain you. Drink plenty of water (not soda, water). Go early in the morning and take an afternoon break at the pool or in air conditioning, and skip that likely afternoon shower (hopefully not a hurricane). Unfortunately, the hours in September are drastically reduced from those of the summer season so you will not have as much flexibility in your schedule, but I would still recommend that afternoon break.
Fortunately, the crowds in September will more than make up for the shorter hours. September has some of the lowest crowds of the year do to kids just getting back into school. This is the reason I haven’t gone with my kids at that time of the year. It is very difficult to pull them out of school when they first start so the number of people in the park is drastically lower. If you can swing it, this is one of the best if not the best time of the year to go for low crowds other than the slightly higher Labor Day weekend crowds, which are not nearly as high as other holidays.
September is normally the time of year when Night of Joy takes place. This is a Christian music festival, which is a hard ticket event (meaning the park closes and you need a separate ticket for this event). They bring in some of the biggest names in Christen music for the weekend for this big event.
Disney starts up Halloween big time in September. Sometimes it feels like they start it right after 4th of July because it starts so early, but it does give you some additional excitement for your September vacation. You can check out all of the amazing décor changes as well as the new fall flavors to show up around your favorite restaurants and bakeries around the park.
Another hard ticket event that takes place in September and runs through October is Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween party which is a great place to meet some rare characters like all 7 Dwarfs, see some villains, get some tasty Halloween candy, and watch a special version of the Wishes nighttime spectacular called Hallowishes.
The very last weekend in September kicks off the Food & Wine festival and I can think of no better combination than food and Disney being celebrated together. The crowds in Epcot will be high that weekend, but seriously it’s the food and wine festival! We will cover Food and Wine more in our October and November planning when they will be in full swing.
There are a few other smaller events that happen throughout the month like Raglan Road’s halfway to Patty Day (a celebration of the point where St. Patricks Day is exactly 6 months away), and the sort of new Twilight Zone Tower of Terror themed 10 mile run which pushes back the Wine and Dine half marathon which had taken place that weekend the previous year. The Wine and Dine was moved to early November.
As you can see, the combination of low crowds and a large number of events make September a fantastic time of year to go to Disney World.