Crowd levels the week prior to F&W Fest?

[BigRedDad]

I am trying to find a good week to go to WDW in 2010. I know most times of the year are now busy. However, I am trying to find a time that is less busy. My options for next year are Easter Week (not doing that), Summer (have to deal with heat, but could go for almost two weeks), or Sept. If I go in Sept, it will be the weekend following Labor Day weekend or the last week of Sept/first week of Oct.

Any thoughts?

Reasoning: The last trip I went on was over Thanksgiving. The crowds were insane. I did not like having to be in a marathon to hit everything as fast as possible for the first two hours. Then, getting to the next thing and waiting 45 minutes to an hour. There were definitely other reasons I did not want to have that idle time, but I would like to avoid it as much as possible my next trip.

[BMan62]

We just returned on the Friday that the F&WF began (Sept. 25) and I can tell you that the crowds slowly increased from Monday until Friday, but were never bad. The wait times for things like Soarin' stayed under 60 minutes the entire time. TSM went to 60 once.

We are booked for the same time frame for next year already (Sept. 13 - 23) This has become our favorite time to visit.

[BigRedDad]

Thanks for the info. That is kind of what I am looking at as well. It won't be too bad to be there for the F&W start the last weekend. My mother, if she goes, would enjoy that and give her something she enjoys to do and have her friend come up to join her.

[Going2HeavenRU]

We were there Sept 25 - Oct 3rd this year. The walkways were crowded but manageable. We only used one fast pass the entire week and that was so we could ride TSM twice.

There were a couple of mornings at MK where we walked on BTMRR and Splash Mountain.

EPCOT was definitely crowded at night with the F&WF but mostly around the food/wine/beer booths and not so much in the attractions. Maelstrom was busy but the line went pretty fast. There were a couple of nights when we were the only people in the American Adventure, Canada, France and China shows.

The only thing that I didn't like was the temperature. It was in the 90's all week and very humid. We were dripping with sweat walking from our room to the bus stop each morning.

[BigRedDad]

Thank you for the replies. I am only guessing at the week we will be going. MY gut is telling me to go the weekend after Labor Day. My other thought is the time you went Last part of Sept/first part of Oct. That way my wife can get 5 days and not just 4 there. I will be going down for 9 day with my DD and possibly mother.

[GrumpyFan]

Having been several times in September in the past, I can say that it's a great time to go. The crowds are light, and the weather is nice. However, I would avoid Labor Day weekend if possible. Anytime after that should be fine.

We just returned from our first ever October trip and the Food and Wine Festival. The crowds were small at most parks, but a little heavier at Epcot, but still not too bad. The longest waits we saw all week were for Peter Pan (30-45), Dumbo (30), Toy Story Mania (60), Soarin (45), Everest (45). The times we've been in September we saw comparable if not slightly smaller wait times.