October Half Term How Busy ?

[jillrobinson]

Well specifically the weekend before. I'm sure a few DISers vsited during half term last year.

Tentatively looking at arriving on the evening of Thursday 22nd and leaving on the evening of Monday 26th.
All French schools break up on the Saturday and I assume all UK schools are off then too :scared1:

But I can get flights from local airport for £98 return :thumbsup2
An extra day & night free from DLP :thumbsup2
MNSSHP on Friday 23rd :thumbsup2
We might get to meet Maleficent :thumbsup2
Have previous experience of weekends, so know what to expect :headache: but also have lots of old park passes for additional FP's if necessary. :thumbsup2

I've been looking at Hildasmuriel's trippie and it doesn't look too crowded, but I can't seem to find a date for the trip :confused3

Also I've told my niece she can have her hair and makeup done in a spooky style. On our last Halloween trip 2004, the boys had theirs done several times during our stay FOC, so I'm hoping it's still available during the season.

Any help, advice appreciated as always. :goodvibes

[A Small World]

sorry Jill Ive never been at Oct half term so cant really help you but wanted to say that HMs TR would definitely have been from half term as I know she can only go during school hols

[FiFi Rose]

Two years ago we had hair and facepainting FOC in Woody's round up. Last year there was only face painting in frontierland beside the shooting gallery and you had to pay. I cant remember how much though (12 euros ish)

[jillrobinson]

Thanks both, I was thinking that was the case with Hildasmuriel :thumbsup2

No hair salon then? that's a shame. I thought I'd read that there was a charge now, fingers crossed if we get there it'll be available. :goodvibes

[hollymattbenmilo]

any joy finding out just how busy it is?

[davewasbaloo]

Warning, it will be scary busy :scared1: Almost every country in Europe has that week off. We have done it once before and will never do it again if we can help it. Worse than our experience of Summer, Christmas and Easter. Good luck, just plan your time very carefully. This is when something like the Castle Club or Empire State Club makes a lot of sense.

[davewasbaloo]

This was a few years ago, but I remember one day was sooooo bad, the waits for the mountains were at 3 hours, PotC was at an hour, and there was a 30 min wait for the Labrynth and Tree house. In the end we simply enjoyed a shave and a haircut, a nice meal at the Silver Spur, went christmas shopping and enjoyed the hotel.

To be fair though, this was before WDSP opened.

[mollies_mum]

We did this school holiday in 2007 and there and then I promised never again so we've booked October during school time for this year.
It's bad enough that it is so busy but add onto that all the schoolkids pushing in lines and their parents barging your kids out of the way was just too much for us.
Maybe if you're used to xmas and easter holiday crowds it wont be so bad but my personal advice would be not to if you had the choice, I'd rather not go at all than go then :sad2:

[davewasbaloo]

Maybe if you're used to xmas and easter holiday crowds it wont be so bad but my personal advice would be not to if you had the choice, I'd rather not go at all than go then :sad2:

I would agree with that, it was bad enough as two adults when we went, I don't think I could cope with taking my little ones.

[Carpgirl]

I think Hildasmuriel is going during October half term again this year, so it can't have been that bad:goodvibes.

Links to previous discussions.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2047144&highlight=October+half+term

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2077071&highlight=October+half+term

[manxtatt2]

ok quick question

when is half termin october , most schools that ive looked up are closing friday 23rd october?

[Carpgirl]

For the UK it's 26th to 30th.:)

[A Small World]

ok quick question

when is half termin october , most schools that ive looked up are closing friday 23rd october?

Yes thats right most schools are off that following week

[manxtatt2]

thought that this was the case , woooo

as we go to disney 18th till 23rd , i do expect the sunday and the friday to be busier tho

:cool1::cool1:

[Roon]

We are lucky in the Midlands, we break up the week before. This must be why we had such a great trip last year. We had broken up before most other schools.

You will be arriving Jill as we depart.

[jillrobinson]

I would agree with that, it was bad enough as two adults when we went, I don't think I could cope with taking my little ones.

We did a late November weekend in 2007, just me and the boys, my sister and niece and I will admit I got very very annoyed at the amount of times the kids got bashed and purposely pushed out of the way by adults.

Looks like it might be a no-go then, kindof what I was expecting, but I'll pass on all your comments to my sis and let her decide.

Thanks for the input folks !

[MinnieMouse73]

We went in October half term 2006 and it was fine - but then we only ever go in the school holidays so I guess we're used to it. We've been July/August, Easter and Christmas week and I don't recall the halloween half term being as busy as any of them.

DD and I are off in October half term this year :)

[Rachie B]

we will be in France for oct half term this year :)

will do 2 days @ Disney
maybe the tues and thurs ? with Parc Asterix on the wed

and travel back on Fri :)

[lisalisalisa]

We went last October half term and it was very busy. We had a great time though and the only thing we didn't get on was Crush. I love Disney at Halloween :)

[mummybear]

My daughters school broke up on the Thursday last year, not the Friday, so we took advantage of this and went then. The Thursday & Friday were surprisingly quiet (maybe compared to what we were expecting:confused3) but the weekend was really busy. We also found the Monday to be busy. Tues & Wed were not as bad.

Having said that, we are going the 1st week of Oct this year, as with having a 3yr old that loves Disney Halloween, half term was just TOO much for us:)

[HolidayLover]

Im going the week after half term this year, just hope it quietens down!

[Tracyvp]

Yikes! All this talk of half-terms is scaring me a bit. We are coming to Europe from the U.S. in October. This is a first trip to Europe for my then-18yos and 15yod, and the first time in 18 years for DH and me. We'll be in London from Oct. 18-25, then in Paris from Oct. 26-Nov. 2. (Flying home that day).

I'm a little concerned about all the crowds! This will be our first visit to DLP, but we are annual passholders to DLR in California and we go a LOT (especially my son, who's obsessed!) and we've been twice for long visits to WDW.

I don't know about half-term holidays because we don't have anything at that time of year here in California. We are only planning one day at DLP (as there's so much for my two teens to see in Paris!). What would you "experts" suggest would be the best one day to visit.

We will be renting an apartment in Paris and taking a bus or train out to the park that day, if that makes a difference.

Any other tips as far as purchasing tickets, transportation to and from, meals, etc would be GREATLY appreciated!

Merci!

~Tracy

[hildasmuriel]

Hi and welcome. :wave:

The queues are not unbearable - I'm going back for the 3rd year during this period and have mangaed to enjoy myself each time before.

Tuesday may be busy because there is a MNSSHP in the evening - so unless you are willing to pay extra for that, you will find the Park closing early and you have less of the day to explore.

Wednesday may be your best bet. The Park will be open unitl 10 pm.

This photo was taken about half an hour before Park closing on the Wednesday last year - hardly another person in sight!

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee59/hildasmuriel/October%202008/100_0447.jpg

This was taken in the day during that week - you can see it is not manic. If you plan to avoid the worst crushes, you can still get to see evrything IMO. :thumbsup2

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee59/hildasmuriel/October%202008/100_0272.jpg

[Rachie B]

ah ! maybe we will make one of our Disney days the wed then instead of Tues :)

[britchic4]

ah ! maybe we will make one of our Disney days the wed then instead of Tues :)

Might be an idea unless you want to do the MNSSHP? I'm thinking we probably don't as DD(4) will be a total utter grouch if she stays up that late. And she's pretty grouchy at the best of times.....

[daisybeetlebug]

:)I thought MNSSHP were on the Fridays ? Hilda's Muriel has mentioned that the park may be busier on the Tuesday because of the party?
Can anyone clarify -thanks for your help x

[daisybeetlebug]

I think I have found out-There is an extra MNSSHP on Tues 27/10 x

[Boo-Boo]

We are thinking about pricing up October half term next year, if we have survived summer and Christmas do you think we will be ok!!??

[Rachie B]

We were in France this past half term week,and went to DLRP for the day on Wed :lovestruc

LOVED the halloween theming,plus the park looks so pretty in the autumn,all the leaves turning colour etc

it helped that the weather was great! most of the day we didn't even need a jacket,let alone the gloves / handwarmers etc I had brought ! lol

It was also much much quieter than we had expected! ( we have been at xmas and summer hols and this was much milder!) longest we queued was 30mins :thumbsup2

did see queue times of 80 mins later in the day ! ( star tours) but we just FPed as much as we could
and then in the evening,after a meal at the village a lot of the rides eg POTC,IASW etc were walk ons and could keep going on !

A fabulous trip all round & would definitely recommend Halloween

planning to go same time next yr,and hoping the weather is as good ,as this definitely helps IMO :goodvibes

[hildasmuriel]

The weather was unbelievable wasn't it?

I agree that planning has a lot to do with it. On that Wednesday we managed Buzz (three times), Space Mountain, Crush, Tower of Terror, Rock n Roller Coaster, Stitch Live, POTC, Indiana Jones, Phantom Manor, Snow White, Pinocchio, IASW, BTM and Peter Pan. We also had a swim, a two hour rest in our room, a take away from Annette's and a sit down meal at Cape Cod. (When I write it like that I know why I am so tired now!)
The longest queue was for Crush and that was about 40 minutes (and only that long because they didn't open until 10.10 - otherwise it would have been less than 30 minutes). However, by the time we left Studios the queue time was showing at 120 minutes.