Disney World In September (2024)

In this post, we discuss visiting Disney World in September. We cover weather, crowds, holidays, events, refurbishments, and anything else you’d like to know if you were planning a visit to Walt Disney World Resort now that school is back in session. Read on to learn all about visiting Walt Disney World in September!

Quick Thoughts on September 2024

We’ll start with quick thoughts on September 2024 before we dive into details like pricing, holidays, events, weather, and so on.

Below average crowds, below average prices, above average heat. September is a hot, wet month taking place mostly after kids in the US are back in school. This makes it typically the slowest month of the year at the parks.
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure will probably be open. The new ride, taking the place of old Splash Mountain at Magic Kingdom, is now set to open in summer 2024. In the US, Memorial Day weekend (May 27) is the kickoff of the unofficial “summer” season. This puts all of June and July in play for an opening, but “summer” could also mean as late as the end of September. That said, it’s hard to imagine Disney advertising a “summer” opening and then missing out on the entire summer travel season. I expect a debut by the end of July.

2024 September NOTABLE DATES IN DISNEY WORLD

We’ll talk more specifically about crowds and events below, but we like to start with some dates to flag. If you’re thinking about these dates for your visit, keep in mind that normal rules might not apply.

August 30 - September 3. This is Labor Day weekend, with Labor Day itself being Monday, September 2. Labor Day typically marks the end of summer in the United States and the start of the school year. Because of its timing in relation to the school year, Labor Day isn’t a huge draw for crowds. It’s more or less comparable to August, but busier than the rest of September.

Disney World Crowds In September

Our position on Walt Disney World crowd calendars is that people often put too much weight into them, but that’s it’s still good to know general trends as well as specific events that impact crowds. Outside a slight Labor Day bump, we estimate September to be the least busy month at Walt Disney World.

With summer wrapping up around Labor Day, few families want to take their kids out of school so early in the school year. As a result, September sees lessened demand from family travelers.

The weather in September is relatively unappealing, too. It isn’t much cooler than August or July. October and November bring much more tolerable temperatures. Moreover, September is the peak of Atlantic Hurricane season, and Disney World has closed for hurricanes recently in September 2017, September 2019, and September 2022.

These factors combine to keep September crowds low at Walt Disney World. If you must see a crowd calendar, the one we trust most is over at WDW Prep School.

Disney World Events In September

Labor Day—the first monday of September—and its surrounding days (Friday through Tuesday) is the most notable part of September. Because it occurs just as school is starting, Labor Day doesn’t see the huge crowds of other holidays. If you can avoid Labor Day in favor of the rest of September, go ahead, but it’s typically a fine weekend to visit.

The ESPN Wide World of Sports hosts the Disney Labor Day Soccer Tournament over Labor Day Weekend. These events typically bring increased child and teenage crowds to the value resorts, particularly All Star Sports.

At Epcot, September is in the middle of Epcot International Food & Wine Festival. You can see the Epcot Festival Calendar here.

Food and Wine is a popular festival…and some of the rumors you’ve heard are true. We personally try to avoid Epcot on weekends during Food and Wine because the crowds and their behavior just aren’t our style. These increased crowds are mostly locals, though, and won’t bring much of a bump to the other parks.

At Magic Kingdom, September will have several Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party dates, that party having kicked off in August.

Disney World Prices In September

Disney World’s hotel and ticket prices vary throughout the year. For a more comprehensive look for pricing throughout the year, check out our post on the cheapest time of the calendar year to visit Walt Disney World. You can also visit the 2024 hotel rate table at MouseSavers. Here’s a table showing how hotel prices at All Star Movies, Port Orleans Riverside, Wilderness Lodge, and Yacht Club fluctuate throughout the year:

September prices are generally around or below the yearly average, but it’s also a transitional month. Low prices can still be found at the beginning of the month, as kids return to school and summer heat lingers.

Peak hurricane and heat season passes with the middle of the month, and crowds (and prices) increase as we head into the start of fall. Here’s a graph of pricing within the month at All Star Movies, Port Orleans Riverside, Wilderness Lodge, and Yacht Club:

Disney World September Deals and Discounts (Free Dining!)

September is typically part of the core of Free Dining at Disney World. Free dining is Disney’s most aggressive offer and tends to be paired with a fairly aggressive room-only discount as well. In 2024, July is a part of the Free Dining for Disney+ Subscribers offer, along with a room-only discount offer.

Discounts will vary by hotel, room type, and availability. You can see current Disney World offers here. If nothing is available yet, you might also want to check out historical Disney World discount information here.

Refurbishments & New Constructions

As crowds drop, refurbishments tend to ramp up. It’s rare that the number of refurbishments really makes or break your trip, but you will want to check our Walt Disney World construction / refurbishment calendar for the latest.

Splash Mountain closed permanently beginning January 23, 2023. The ride is slated to reopen as Tiana’s Bayou Adventure in summer 2024, which could reasonably be anytime between late May and late September.
Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster (Hollywood Studios) will close for refurbishment beginning January 8, 2024. It’s expected to be closed until “summer” 2024. Presumably it will reopen by September.
Test Track (Epcot) will close for a large refurbishment / reimagining beginning June 17. A reopening date has not yet been yet. The last major reimagining of Test Track took 8 months.

Water Park Operations

Disney World has two water parks, Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach, neither of which is open the entire year. After some years of uncertainty, the schedule has seemingly settled down so that each year we have:

Typhoon Lagoon opens / Blizzard Beach closes mid-March
Blizzard Beach opens / Typhoon Lagoon closes early November

This schedule is subject to change (and Disney only announces specific dates about a month in advance, in any case). Most recently, Disney confirmed that Typhoon Lagoon will reopen on March 17, 2024. Blizzard Beach will begin its annual refurbishment closure on that same day. This means we expect Typhoon Lagoon will be the only water park open for the entirety of September.

Disney World Weather In September

September has not yet escaped the summer heat. There’s an average high of 90F (32C) and an average low of 72F (22C). September is also one of the wettest months, with an average of 14 rainy days (one less than August). We have a post that talks more broadly about weather at Walt Disney World.

Hurricanes

September is the core of hurricane season in Florida. Whenever you’re planning an September trip, you need to accept there’s a risk of the parks closing.

Since 1985, the Walt Disney World parks have had to close nine times due to Hurricanes. Two closures were in August, six were in September, and one was in October. The closures ranged from 0.5 days to 2.5 days.

Six September closures in over 20 years isn’t huge, but we’ve seen September closures in 2017, 2019, 2022, and an October closure in 2016.

Typically the hurricane won’t be a safety issue for you, and it shouldn’t have significant financial implications. Here’s why…

On the safety front, hurricanes are predicted in advance, and Orlando is relatively inland on Florida. The weather might not be safe enough for theme parks to operate, but the structures at Walt Disney World will rarely be significantly threatened.

But there are several reasons you still don’t want to be in Walt Disney World during a hurricane. First of all, it probably isn’t as safe as, say, your home not during a hurricane. There is also very little to do if parks and restaurants are closed—you’ll be eating very simple meals for a few days and maybe enjoying some lobby activities.

You don’t get refunded if you don’t leave the resorts. Our last September trip was cut short by a hurricane and it was an easy decision for us to leave because we had been planning to stay at Wilderness Lodge. We didn’t want to pay $500 / night to sit in a room and eat boxed lunches.

The other big reason to leave Walt Disney World is that inland Florida is an escape for coastal floridians during the hurricane. Generally, they need the room (and the boxed lunches) more than you do.

On the financial front, Disney and airlines tend to do a good job of making sure people aren’t financially ruined escaping a hurricane. Airlines tend to be worse—when our trip was cut short by the hurricane, but our flight was too far in the future to be covered by the airline’s change policies. You might look into some form of travel insurance for this, but read the terms carefully.

When our trip was cut short, we had booked (as we almost always do) through our travel agent, Lauren Quirk. Lauren handled all our cancellations and refunds, which allowed us to focus on our (reduced) time on vacation.

Heat

Heat is another challenge to September trips. September in Florida is slightly better than August, the difference is not significant. The heat and humidity make mid afternoons unbearable. There are two aspects of this to consider. First, take note of the health risks and be prepared for them. Read up on heatstroke and dehydration.

You can stay hydrated at Disney World easily. There are plenty of drinking fountains, and any quick service restaurant will happily provide you a free cup of water. There are also water bottle refilling stations in all four parks.

The second part of this analysis is how heat will impact your touring strategy. There are a few things to keep in mind.

Rope drop (the start of your day) and Lightning Lanes are more important in the heat because you really don’t want to find yourself standing in an outdoor queue at 2PM. At that hour, you want to either be inside or seated in the shade at an outdoor show.

If you have to wait in line, you prefer to do it at an attraction with a mostly inside queue. Space Mountain, Toy Story Mania, Soarin’, and DINOSAUR are probably the best options in each park.

If you’re staying hydrated (you should be), don’t get into line for a ride with a two-hour wait without confirming with a Cast Member that there’s a restroom in the queue.

Our places to escape the Disney World crowds post might be of interest, because many of those places are also shaded and indoors.

All About Rain

We don’t let rain forecasts bother us at Disney World anymore. We prepare for rain—bringing the right shoes and maybe a poncho—but we don’t plan trips around it.

The chief reason for this is that rain in Florida usually comes in short bursts. Anything substantial for longer than 30 minutes is pretty surprising.

The other big thing is that forecasts change constantly. We’ve had trips with forecasted five days of rain that amounted to a total of rain on two days that didn’t at all interrupt our trip.

Rain definitely can impact your trip though. We were at Fort Wilderness during a severe thunderstorm that kept us inside all day (though people who braved the parks got tremendously short waits).

We also were on hand for the first Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party of 2019, which had almost every show rained out. The fireworks (the debut of a brand new show) went off as planned but were completely unwatchable because the rain / humidity held down the smoke.

That Christmas party was in November. The Fort Wilderness day was in February. Both those months average only six days of rain, tied for driest months of the year.

You will face less risk of rain in drier months, but the bottom line is that most rain in Florida—whenever it occurs—will be short-lived and won’t significantly impact your trip. The odds of weather that seriously impacts your trip—outside peak hurricane season—is small and more or less consistent across months.

August / September / October

As a closing note, let’s compare September to its neighboring months.

Should I visit Disney World in August or September?

If you have kids, they’re probably back in school by the end of August or early September. In that case, the choice is probably made for you—visit in August. (We don’t recommend Labor Day or any holiday weekends.)

If you have a choice in the matter, September is typically the better month to visit Walt Disney World. But that’s a big if. If it’s a hassle to take the kids out of school in September, August is a fine alternative.

The biggest downside to September is that there’s a slightly increased hurricane risk. September saw hurricane closures in both 2017 and 2019. But August has some risk of hurricane closures, too, so you’re not completely avoiding it by going in August.

Other than that, September has lower crowds than August (among the lowest of the year, actually), more Halloween party dates, and cooler temperatures (still 90F/72F). You’ll also be more likely to catch Food & Wine Festival in September.

Should I Visit Disney World In September or October?

Except for Columbus Day weekend, October is a better time to visit than September. Crowds are comparable, though October is slightly busier as parents are a little more willing to squeeze in a long weekend in October than in September.

October weather in Florida is markedly better than September, with summer heat abating and hurricane risk dropping greatly (still some risk, though).

Should I visit Walt Disney World In September?

Lower crowds are a good reason to plan a September trip vs. an August trip, all things being equal…but even the low September crowds aren’t the end of the discussion.

September is the peak of hurricane season, making August and October better months to visit. September weather is otherwise pretty similar to August, again giving the advantage to October (and August at least a tie).

Altogether these three months are all fine for visiting, but if you’re thinking you’ll hit a bullseye of low crowds pulling the kids out of school in September, it’s probably not going to be worth it if visiting in August or October would at all make better sense.

Have you visiting Walt Disney World in September? What did you think?

All Your Other Disney World Planning Questions Answered

Don't be overwhelmed by Disney World planning! Take a second to check out our most important content and you'll not only be an expert, but you'll save big $$$ along the way.

Just starting out? Check out our Walt Disney World planning guide! If you're still picking dates, we've got everything you need to know about Disney World crowd calendars. For picking your hotel, check out our Walt Disney World hotels guide.

When it comes time to book we’ll help you find discount Disney World tickets. Decide whether you need a dining plan in our Complete Guide to Disney World Dining Plans! And don't forget to book those Disney World Advance Dining Reservations!

Don't forget to master your Disney World Genie+ and Lightning Lane strategy a few months in advance. We'll keep you out of long lines so you can maximize the magical time in the parks! We've got park-specific guides as well: Magic Kingdom Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, Epcot Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, Animal Kingdom Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, and Hollywood Studios Genie+ and Lightning Lanes.

Know what to ride with our guides to: Magic Kingdom rides, Hollywood Studios rides, Epcot rides, and Animal Kingdom rides! Plus learn about the water parks with our guide to Blizzard Beach and our guide to Typhoon Lagoon! And for some some fun prep, check out our Ranking of Every Ride at Walt Disney World.

Finally, before you head out, be sure to check out our to-the-point packing list, 10 essentials you forget to pack for every Disney trip. And if you're interested in saving, there's no better list than our 53 Ways to Save on your Disney trip from start to finish.

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