Our information to September 2024 at Walt Disney World provides a free crowd calendar, when to go to, pink flag dates to keep away from, new attraction openings & closures, plus Halloween occasions & early fall climate. We additionally cowl what’s occurring at Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios. (Up to date August 22, 2024.)
Relative to summer season, September is an effective month to go to Walt Disney World as a consequence of low season crowds for a lot of the month and seasonal occasions like Halloween. College is again in session, and wait instances are low from Labor Day till crowds arrive in direction of the top of the month for the beginning of conference and group occasions seasons, plus early fall breaks. The September 2024 crowd calendar beneath makes this month a extremely enticing time to go to.
Whereas each park isn’t going to be “lifeless” on daily basis of the week, in case you plan properly, you may actually keep away from crowds throughout a September Walt Disney World go to. That additionally means shorter September park hours, however you may’t actually argue with conducting extra in much less time. There’s solely actually one draw back to September at Walt Disney World, and it’s a fairly large one.
That one draw back is the climate, which is dangerous for 2 distinct causes that we’ll cowl within the subsequent part. On steadiness, mid to late September can nonetheless be an excellent time to go to Walt Disney World, nevertheless it’s not for everybody. You may have to have the ability to tolerate (or gamble on) the climate with a view to be rewarded with extraordinarily low crowds.
Let’s check out what you may anticipate in September at WDW…
September Climate at Disney World
The draw back comes when it comes to climate. By way of temperatures, September is best than June by means of August, nevertheless it’s nonetheless a chance. It’s lots like Could on this regard: it may be temperate and nice, or insanely sizzling. Particularly early within the month, it may be fairly sizzling and humid.
At first of September, common excessive temperatures are 90°, with common lows of 75°. In the direction of the top of the month, the climate improves barely, with historic highs of “solely” 87° and lows of 72°. Add oppressive humidity that’ll fog your glasses the second you step out of your resort room, and September remains to be a reasonably undesirable month when it comes to climate.
Suffice to say, in case you’re visiting Walt Disney World in September, keep in mind to pack accordingly, bringing the Frogg Toggs for the humidity…and ponchos for the rain so that you don’t spend $179 on them at Walt Disney World. You may view day-by-day temperature and climate forecasts plus historic averages for Walt Disney World climate in September right here.
September can be the peak of hurricane and storm season. For every of the final three years, hurricanes have impacted operations at Walt Disney World on the very finish of August or starting of September. (Add final yr to that checklist, as Hurricane Idalia supplied a scare, however didn’t materially affect operations at Walt Disney World!) Lately, Hurricanes Ian, Dorian and Irma have brought on the parks to shut.
It’s possible you’ll wish to seek the advice of our Visiting Walt Disney World Throughout Storm Season article to navigate the afternoon showers (or worse) with out them placing an excessive amount of of a damper in your journey. Issues get higher in direction of the top of the month each when it comes to humidity and storms, so your greatest guess is unquestionably to carry off on visiting till later within the month in case you can.
WDW Seasonal Occasions in September
To reply a typical query: sure, you will note Halloween decorations in case you go to Walt Disney World in September. Any day in September. Nevertheless, the one park that will get decked out for Halloween is Magic Kingdom, and that’s true in any yr, not simply 2024.
The large occasion for September is Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Social gathering. In September, Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Social gathering begins occurring with growing frequency. By mid-month, Magic Kingdom is closing early for MNSSHP just a few nights per week. As mentioned beneath, this actually throws a monkey wrench into attendance dynamics.
One other occasion that’ll happen all through September 2024 is the EPCOT Worldwide Meals & Wine Competition. This can be a nice solution to graze and pattern totally different cuisines, or attend instructive seminars, or different foodie particular occasions. It’s additionally a good way to lighten your pockets, as it is rather straightforward to spend some huge cash at Meals & Wine Competition on these small samples.
Particularly in case you purchase booze: not solely are you able to spend lots on the drinks, however the drinks would possibly trigger you to loosen up your bank card swiping hand and use it extra freely on snacks. Not that we all know from expertise or something. Try our Information to the EPCOT Worldwide Meals & Wine Competition for extra suggestions and methods for this occasion.
The large change for 2024 is that the EPCOT Meals & Wine Competition as soon as once more begins on the finish of August, which means it’ll nonetheless be contemporary by the point September rolls round. This implies weekends at EPCOT can be busier, as Floridians and Annual Passholders head to the park to eat and drink their means all over the world.
SEPTEMBER REFURBISHMENTS & NEW ATTRACTIONS
For an concept of what’s going to be closed in September 2024, verify the Walt Disney World Refurbishment Schedule. Simply be warned that this doesn’t totally cowl the development throughout Walt Disney World—simply trip and leisure closures.
The largest trip that’s presently closed is Check Observe, which is being reimagined. A reopening date has not but been introduced, nevertheless it’s already confirmed to be closed for the rest of this yr. We’re anticipating it to reopen for Spring Break 2025 on the absolute earliest.
Along with that, Jungle Cruise is closed at some point of September 2024. On a few optimistic notes, Nation Bear Musical Jamboree and Rock ‘n’ Curler Coaster have each reopened after prolonged downtime. Furthermore, not one of the massive initiatives introduced at D23 will begin till someday in 2025. So regardless of it being low season, there usually are not that many refurbishments in September 2024!
Each of the latest main sights at Walt Disney World are in Magic Kingdom, with Tiana’s Bayou Journey now open as of late final month! That is the reimagining of Splash Mountain, and tells the story of “The Princess and the Frog” after the occasions of the film. As mentioned in Tiana’s Bayou Journey Journey Assessment: Failure, Flawed or Incredible?, the attraction is a combined bag.
In case you’re visiting in August 2024, there are two different issues you must find out about Tiana’s Bayou Journey. The primary is that it makes use of a digital queue…for now. See Easy methods to Journey Tiana’s Bayou Journey for all the pieces you should find out about its (lack of) standby line, Lightning Lane, and digital queue.
The large obstacle to ditching the digital queue and switching to standby is downtime and reliability points. As mentioned in You May Have Issues Using Tiana’s Bayou Journey at Magic Kingdom, the reimagined trip is having troubles proper now and incessantly has a number of hours of downtime per day. It most likely gained’t drop the digital queue till it’s working extra persistently, with out frequent breakdowns. It appears unlikely that’ll occur by September, however who is aware of.
Then there’s TRON Lightcycle Run, which is the latest brand-new (not reimagined) main attraction at Walt Disney World. See our Digital Queue Technique Information for TRON Lightcycle Run for particulars, suggestions & methods for fulfillment, and extra. Sadly, you can’t be a part of each the digital queue for Tiana’s Bayou Journey and TRON Lightcycle Run on the similar time, so that you’ll have to strategize with a view to expertise each in the identical day.
Bouncing again to EPCOT, there’s a bunch of different new stuff there. This consists of World Celebration, CommuniCore Corridor, Moana’s Journey of Water, and Luminous: Symphony of Us–all of which debuted throughout the final yr. That’s nonetheless fairly new within the grand scheme of issues! There’s additionally Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, Area 220 Restaurant, Remy’s Ratatouille Journey, and a bunch of different stuff.
For an summary of what else is on the horizon, see What’s New & Subsequent at Walt Disney World in 2024 & 2025.
SEPTEMBER 2024 DISNEY WORLD CROWD CALENDAR
There’s no color-coded September 2024 crowd calendar for Walt Disney World on the prime of this part as a result of that’s reductionist and doesn’t provide the full image of Walt Disney World attendance tendencies. WDW crowd calendars are much less dependable as a consequence of how Disney manipulates attendance patterns, staffing, closures, and trip capability. It’s higher to supply a proof of what to anticipate crowd-wise this fall at Walt Disney World.
Since Disney doesn’t launch official attendance numbers, crowd calendars use issues like faculty schedules, airport visitors statistics, resort pricing & occupancy, and so forth., as proxies for crowds. For years, this strategy labored and made crowd calendars dependable. Walt Disney World attendance adopted an identifiable sample that tracked with the aforementioned proxies.
Sadly, wait instances not mirror precise crowds due to the aforementioned manipulation. We are able to nonetheless forecast attendance, however not the ensuing wait instances. That is just like the distinction between the precise temperature and the “seems like” temperature, however with crowds. The latter are what most of you possible care about (the “seems like” crowds), nevertheless it’s harder to foretell wait instances by way of Walt Disney World crowd calendars. Hopefully that is smart!
That’s the dangerous information. The excellent information is that September 2024 is the perfect month of the yr to go to Walt Disney World from an goal perspective. (From a subjective perspective is a wholly totally different story as a result of climate forecast!) Actually all the month sees beneath common crowds. Even Labor Day weekend (September 1-2, 2024) attracts far smaller crowds than most different holidays.
Final yr, Labor Day was downright lifeless at Walt Disney World. Labor Day was a repeat of the Fourth of July vacation weekend, which was one of many slowest stretches of all the yr at Walt Disney World. Historical past won’t repeat itself to just about the identical diploma, however as we clarify within the following submit, Labor Day Weekend Isn’t Busy at Disney.
There’s actually no horrible time to go to so far as the September 2024 crowd calendar goes. The start of the month can be busier than August because of the vacation weekend, and the top of the month will see one other spike as a consequence of ticket offers and seasonal attendance tendencies (getting nearer to fall break; climate beginning to enhance from summer season).
The time in between, will characteristic a number of the lowest crowds of the yr at Walt Disney World. By way of the group calendar, this is without doubt one of the final bastions of the low season at Walt Disney World. Common weekly crowd ranges can be 1/10 to three/10 throughout this date vary.
In case you’re purely involved about crowds, we’d advocate going from September 3-13, 2024. Observe that at one time, we proactively really useful visiting over Labor Day weekend. That was as a consequence of aggressive blockouts on Annual Passes and (anticipated) exclusions on discounted tickets, in addition to the premium pricing for the vacation weekend, all of which is able to push individuals away.
Nevertheless, Walt Disney World wisened up and didn’t exclude Labor Day from ticket offers this yr. Whereas all the different components from final yr will nonetheless be in play, the discounted tickets being eligible is a possible gamechanger. It’s not that we’d advocate avoiding Labor Day, it ought to nonetheless be high-quality; it simply isn’t a prime choose.
Talking of the ticket offers, there are two of them and they’re going to have a huge impact on crowds in September. The primary of those is the Florida Resident Uncover Disney Ticket, which is legitimate by means of September 28, 2024 with an advance park reservation. Second is the 4-Park, 4-Day Walt Disney World Magic Ticket, which is legitimate by means of September 22, 2024 and does not require reservations.
In combing by means of the wait instances information, final yr’s variations of those offers (with totally different finish dates) brought on crowds to peak of their ultimate weekend. These are “use it or lose it” tickets, so there’s at all times a last-minute rush like that–particularly on Fridays by means of Sundays (weekdays aren’t impacted practically as badly).
Throughout that ultimate weekend of validity final yr, crowd ranges have been 8/10 with a mean wait time of 44 minutes. Earlier that very same week and within the weeks earlier than, crowd ranges have been 1/10 with a mean of 27 minutes. That’s an enormous distinction.
Accordingly, we now anticipate September 20-22, 2024 and September 27-29, 2024 each being very busy (crowd ranges 7/10 or above). The weekend earlier than that would likewise be reasonably busy, as may the times main as much as the ticket offers ending. When you’ve got the choice to go to within the first half of September or the second half, you must undoubtedly select the primary.
The distinction between these dates in direction of the top of the ticket offers expiring and the remainder of September–in any other case one of many slowest months of the yr–can be very stark. Crowds will really feel even worse in consequence. Whereas these wouldn’t essentially be ‘pink flag’ dates to keep away from throughout peak season timeframes like Spring Break or round Christmas, they’ll be about as dangerous because it will get throughout what’s in any other case the low season.
Talking of issues to which we should always name consideration, Rosh Hashanah will not be till October 3, 2024. This implies it’s most likely barely much less possible that the final week of September will see a pronounced spike as a consequence of early fall breaks. September 20-28, 2024 remains to be more likely to be the busiest stretch of the month, however the final couple days of the month–and even the very starting of October–shouldn’t be too dangerous.
The truth is, we’d be extra inclined to go to from September 29 to October 4, 2024 than we’d the week earlier than that. It’s not often the case that crowds get higher over the course of early fall, however that week specifically seems to be like one to focus on. At the very least, as contrasted with the one earlier than it. Once more, the expiration of these ticket offers are massive drivers of attendance and crowds that catch loads of followers unexpectedly.
Along with the aforementioned weekends (which usually wouldn’t be busy, however for the ticket offers), we’d advocate avoiding Mondays at Magic Kingdom all through September. They’re more likely to be the busiest days of the month, particularly September 16, 23, and 30 in Magic Kingdom. Two extra pink flag dates for Magic Kingdom are September 25 and 28. Though these aren’t Mondays, they’re the dates which are nestled amongst a number of MNSSHP dates.
Nonetheless, crowds do choose up the nearer you get to October. That is largely as a consequence of conventions and different group occasions, plus fall breaks for varied faculty districts across the nation. Some faculties additionally do fall breaks across the final weekend of the month (roughly September 27-30, 2024), so anticipate increased crowd ranges then, too.
Nonetheless, busier is a relative time period. The final full week of September 2024 can be worse than the remainder of the month. Nevertheless, if crowd ranges hit 6/10, that’s technically true as the primary three weeks could have crowd ranges means beneath that. That’s precisely what we’re predicting–crowd ranges averaging out at 6/10 or probably 7/10 within the final week of the month, however with a wider vary for Magic Kingdom (see beneath).
The excellent news is that the primary half of the month ought to largely have 1/10 to three/10 crowd ranges. Particularly, September 3-13 must be blissfully uncrowded–probably the greatest stretches of all the yr. (Objectively talking–subjectively, the climate would possibly depart one thing to be desired!)
For Magic Kingdom, there’s an added wrinkle to the group calendar: Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Social gathering (MNSSHP). On nights this occasion is held, the park closes to common ticket holders at 6 pm. Consequently, Magic Kingdom is much less busy through the day time hours on dates when MNSSHP is held, and extra busy on days the Halloween occasion will not be occurring.
We’d strongly advocate visiting Magic Kingdom through the day on Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Social gathering nights, after which bouncing to a different park at round 4 pm. Animal Kingdom will at all times be your only option for lower-crowd evenings through the fall.
This may appear counter-intuitive, nevertheless it’s as a result of the get together is separately-ticketed. Sometimes, the largest affect is felt nearer to Halloween, so the phenomenon isn’t dangerous in any respect in September. We’ve reported on this phenomenon at size, seeing this play out each single day of Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Social gathering season, as mentioned in Greatest & Worst Days to Do Magic Kingdom in 2024. (In case you’re questioning why a number of the dates above are pink flags for Magic Kingdom, that submit explains it.)
You too can anticipate EPCOT to have worse “seems like” crowds on weekends. That is significantly true when native Florida faculties like UCF have away soccer video games. Nevertheless, this doesn’t present up on crowd calendars, which measure wait instances. (These locals trigger congestion however sometimes don’t affect wait instances.)
EPCOT’s attendance can be lightest on weekdays through the day, with heavier crowds after work as locals prove to graze on the Meals & Wine cubicles. (That is one thing that’s robust to convey by way of a conventional numerical crowd calendar for Walt Disney World.)
SEPTEMBER PRICING & DISCOUNTS
Since it’s the low season, September can be a terrific month to go to when it comes to each pricing and potential reductions. You may verify accessible reductions by way of Disney right here. Disney isn’t the one place the place September is the low season, so anticipate cheaper airfare when touring in September–be sure to go to ITA Software program to seek for the perfect costs.
So far as pricing goes, early to mid-September is taken into account “worth” season and late September is “common” or “fall” season for resort room charges and park tickets (learn our Suggestions for Saving Cash on Walt Disney World Tickets submit for ticket suggestions to keep away from having to cope with seasonal pricing).
Total, September is a one of many prime months of the yr to go to Walt Disney World, and we’d encourage you to go to in case you can deal with the warmth and humidity. If you should persuade a partner to make a spontaneous getaway, there’s actually no higher argument that I can consider than “that one dude on the web mentioned we should always!”
The truth is, mid-September is one among our favourite instances of the yr for our private visits to Walt Disney World. For some time, we took journeys to Walt Disney World throughout this time for 4 consecutive years, as these low crowds have been an excessive amount of to withstand. Like a high-quality wine, September will get higher because it “ages” with the perfect instances to go to being in direction of the top of the month–primarily as a consequence of higher climate whilst crowds improve barely.
Planning a Walt Disney World journey? Find out about motels on our Walt Disney World Accommodations Opinions web page. For the place to eat, learn our Walt Disney World Restaurant Opinions. To save cash on tickets or decide which kind to purchase, learn our Suggestions for Saving Cash on Walt Disney World Tickets submit. Our What to Pack for Disney Journeys submit takes a novel have a look at intelligent gadgets to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Journey Guides will assist. For complete recommendation, the perfect place to start out is our Walt Disney World Journey Planning Information for all the pieces you should know!
Your Ideas
Are you a fan of visiting Walt Disney World in September? Have you ever discovered the crowds to be mild? Is the climate this month bearable to you? Are you planning on visiting in September 2024 or is the potential for a hurricane an excessive amount of of a chance for you? If September will not be your most popular month to go to Walt Disney World, which month do you want? Listening to your suggestions about your experiences is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas or questions beneath within the feedback!
