Planning a Fall 2016 trip and have several questions

The free dining for fall is usually offered during April or May.

The last 2-3 yrs they've excluded POR from the free dining offer.

As noted above it's been in April or May when that plan has been announced in the past. Generally under the 180 day window. It's often best to book with Magical Journeys now so that you can get your ADRs and FP done and then whatever discount is released, "free" dining or otherwise, they can update your reservation at no cost or hassle to you.

As for your other questions - crowds will be lowest in September. That's before the F&WF starts so crowds are generally not bad. October has become insanely crowded. November is still fairly crowded, especially since Veteran's Day and "Jersey Week" will fall into that timeframe but it's better than October. If "free" dining is the most important thing for you (and it's not always the best discount) then go with September.

Advantage of October - Halloween party and Food and Wine Festival. Disadvantage - big crowds. Advantage of September - Lower crowds (though no time is empty any more), and you might get the Halloween party during that time frame. Disadvantage - Weather and missing the other fun stuff
Advantage of November - Better weather, slightly lower crowds than Oct, Christmas party Disadvantage - still good sized crowds, no F&WF

With your fourth question you've hit my specialty. :-) September weather - hot and humid as all get out with highs in the 90s. Especially with someone like you not used to the Deep South heat and humidity it could be pretty brutal. But there are strategies to deal with it. Peak hurricane season. Rain isn't a big deal but pop up thunderstorms do tend to form with the sea breeze each afternoon. They don't generally last more than an hour or so.

Late October - Still hurricane season, though the peak has passed. Still warm but not as horrible as September and earlier. Generally by late October you're looking at low 80s. Maybe even occasionally in the 70s. October tends to be pretty dry unless the occasional front moves through.

November - Hurricane season is not really an issue (though not impossible). Cooler temps with highs in the 60s or 70s (though even in November you can get mid 80s). You don't get the afternoon pop up storms but fronts are more common, usually pushing through every 3-4 days on average.

I have a sneaking suspicion that there will not be a free dining offer this year.

My DH and I went last September and the weather was in the 90's but it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Granted we didn't go to any of the parks that trip, mostly hung out at the resort (CBR) and Disney Springs, restaurants, etc. The pool was a welcome break from the heat.

As far as crowds go it wasn't as bad as October crowds (it seems over the last several years October has become the most popular month and can get very crowded).

We did not have the free dining when we went in September because it was kind of a last minute trip and all the offers for that were taken. We did however book the bounce back offer before we left there for this October. I was thrilled to see that it was free dining but you had to check in by I believe it was October 1 so we booked for check in on October 1 through the 7th and were able to book 3 rooms. I am sure there won't be free dining much anymore now that attendance is much higher.

I am hoping that there will be another free dining bounce back when we go in October so I can book again for 2017. Keeping my fingers crossed as being a family of 6 it really saves us a lot of money when we can get free dining.

We also went the week before Thanksgiving November 2014 with free dining offer. It was pretty rainy and some days were cool. Attendance was average but not as bad as October.

I hope you can get in on a good offer, sometimes the room discount is a great deal to. Good luck and enjoy your trip!!

Strmchsr;2478782 wrote: As noted above it's been in April or May when that plan has been announced in the past. Generally under the 180 day window. It's often best to book with Magical Journeys now so that you can get your ADRs and FP done and then whatever discount is released, "free" dining or otherwise, they can update your reservation at no cost or hassle to you.

As for your other questions - crowds will be lowest in September. That's before the F&WF starts so crowds are generally not bad. October has become insanely crowded. November is still fairly crowded, especially since Veteran's Day and "Jersey Week" will fall into that timeframe but it's better than October. If "free" dining is the most important thing for you (and it's not always the best discount) then go with September.

Advantage of October - Halloween party and Food and Wine Festival. Disadvantage - big crowds. Advantage of September - Lower crowds (though no time is empty any more), and you might get the Halloween party during that time frame. Disadvantage - Weather and missing the other fun stuff
Advantage of November - Better weather, slightly lower crowds than Oct, Christmas party Disadvantage - still good sized crowds, no F&WF

With your fourth question you've hit my specialty. September weather - hot and humid as all get out with highs in the 90s. Especially with someone like you not used to the Deep South heat and humidity it could be pretty brutal. But there are strategies to deal with it. Peak hurricane season. Rain isn't a big deal but pop up thunderstorms do tend to form with the sea breeze each afternoon. They don't generally last more than an hour or so.

Late October - Still hurricane season, though the peak has passed. Still warm but not as horrible as September and earlier. Generally by late October you're looking at low 80s. Maybe even occasionally in the 70s. October tends to be pretty dry unless the occasional front moves through.

November - Hurricane season is not really an issue (though not impossible). Cooler temps with highs in the 60s or 70s (though even in November you can get mid 80s). You don't get the afternoon pop up storms but fronts are more common, usually pushing through every 3-4 days on average.

Agree with everything Chris says except you do get Food and Wine if you go the first half of the month. We are going down November 2-8 this year and F&WF will still be going on. Another bonus is NJ Teacher convention is November 10-11 this year, so we will miss most of our Jersey brethren ;) !

BrerGnat;2478785 wrote: I have a sneaking suspicion that there will not be a free dining offer this year.

I think that is a distinct possibility as well.

Hammer;2478798 wrote: Agree with everything Chris says except you do get Food and Wine if you go the first half of the month. We are going down November 2-8 this year and F&WF will still be going on. Another bonus is NJ Teacher convention is November 10-11 this year, so we will miss most of our Jersey brethren ;) !

Thanks for the correction on that! I couldn't remember when the F&WF ended. I knew it was sometime early in Nov but not exactly when.