10/7-10/8. That was crowded!

[srwarden1928]

until Friday most people were reporting that the week was great crowd-wise

We had MK Sun, Epcot Mon, HS Tue, AK Wed, MK & MNSSHP Thu, came home Fri. Crowds were very reasonable. Our party was difficult to move efficiently through the parks--not Disney's problem, but with well-placed FP+ and ADRs we had a wonderful time.

 

[Darbie]

Learn something new! Not in MI, or at least near us.

Nothing here, either. Only place closed is the post office, otherwise life as normal for everyone else.

 

[ShadeDK]

Learn something new! Not in MI, or at least near us.

Part of me wants to believe that Michigan's lack of celebration is related to the longstanding rivalry with Ohio State (which, of course, is in Columbus and has its big Columbus Day celebration). Having worked with plenty of folks from both, that's plausible.

I was looking at wait times Saturday morning out of curiosity - I was floored (4 hours for FoP, 3 hours for 7DMT, Navi, and Space Mountain, 2 hours for POTC, ToT, EE, BTMRR, Soarin, TT, about 45 - 60 min for most anything else). Not unheard of - but more typical of major holiday and summer numbers. Some of the earlier threads on the difficulty of getting FPs and ADRs weren't off the mark. Good luck to everyone there now!

 

[SDSorority]

Part of me wants to believe that Michigan's lack of celebration is related to the longstanding rivalry with Ohio State (which, of course, is in Columbus and has its big Columbus Day celebration). Having worked with plenty of folks from both, that's plausible.

I was looking at wait times Saturday morning out of curiosity - I was floored (4 hours for FoP, 3 hours for 7DMT, Navi, and Space Mountain, 2 hours for POTC, ToT, EE, BTMRR, Soarin, TT, about 45 - 60 min for most anything else). Not unheard of - but more typical of major holiday and summer numbers. Some of the earlier threads on the difficulty of getting FPs and ADRs weren't off the mark. Good luck to everyone there now!

I have lived in Columbus for 33 years, and haven't heard of a Columbus Day celebration here- is that a thing?? Maybe I should drive around downtown tomorrow and see what party I've been missing out on!

Cheered on MSU today for beating the Wolverines! Normally I'm not a Spartan fan, but today I was!

((GO BUCKS))

Ok, back to our regularly scheduled thread...

 

[ShadeDK]

I have lived in Columbus for 33 years, and haven't heard of a Columbus Day celebration here- is that a thing?? Maybe I should drive around downtown tomorrow and see what party I've been missing out on!

Now I'm starting to think that my Ohio colleagues were punking me. Probably for making the unforgivable mistake of once referring to them as being from the Midwest. That never happened again. Columbus is a great town though - always enjoyed my visits. *scratches Columbus Day party in Ohio off calendar for tomorrow*

 

[Shanti]

That makes a difference? Most schools here don't even mention it, let alone take a day off for it

Every school in my area has students taking Columbus Day off.

 

[Dumbo777]

Every school in my area has students taking Columbus Day off.

We are also off of school tomorrow and the banks are closed.

 

[Snyders22000]

It was pretty crazy at AK Saturday am. We got to AK at around 7:40 for an 8:00 EMH. They let people in early and we went straight in the park. Luckily we had FP for FOP later in the day. We went to check out the line for FOP at 7:50ish and the cast member at the back of the line told us it was around a 4 hr wait already. Crazy!

 

[MC0810]

Wow was magic kingdom busy today. We come every October for my son's birthday and I have NEVER seen it so crowded..even the people mover had a long wait! We were there 9am to midnight and still didn't get to everything. I was in shock... I wasnt expecting these crowds. I'm hoping animal kingdom won't be so bad on Tuesday when we go.

On a side note my son did receive some great extra magic from cast members for his bday.

 

[Minniekins]

Here in Illinois, school's always closed on Columbus Day. The library I work at and those in the surrounding towns and in northern Illinois are all closed, as well as most, if not all, banks.
Googled the Columbus Day holiday and here are a couple things I found:
"Columbus Day is one of ten federal holidays recognized nationwide by the United States Government. All non-essential federal government offices are closed ..."
and
"Is Columbus Day a state and federal holiday? Monday, Oct. 9, 2017, is Columbus Day, which is a state and federal holiday. ... The financial and stock markets will be open Monday."

Just thought I'd share.

 

[CarrieR]

Now I'm starting to think that my Ohio colleagues were punking me. Probably for making the unforgivable mistake of once referring to them as being from the Midwest. That never happened again. Columbus is a great town though - always enjoyed my visits. *scratches Columbus Day party in Ohio off calendar for tomorrow*

Here in Columbus, schools are closed today, but everyone I know has to work. No big festival that I know of. It's possible there was in the past and it's been scrapped as the outcry against Columbus (the historical figure) has grown, though!

Also, on topic, that sounds crazy crowded for October! I associate those crowds with Christmas week!

 

[dlavender]

Here in Columbus, schools are closed today, but everyone I know has to work. No big festival that I know of. It's possible there was in the past and it's been scrapped as the outcry against Columbus (the historical figure) has grown, though!

Also, on topic, that sounds crazy crowded for October! I associate those crowds with Christmas week!

Here in north Florida some counties have it off, but some are using it as a hurricane make up day. I know banks are out (but they take everything). In Nashville they are out for fall break. Even so, I never would have imagined that a weekend in October could hit these crowd levels. I mean, 105 mins at 930 for jungle cruise, 50 min it's a small world around noon, 180 min space mountain, lines just to stand in line at quick service...crazy!

 

[fla4fun]

Don't forget that you could be dealing with some delayed trips due to Irma as well. Since there were other systems out in the Atlantic at the time Irma was coming through, it would have made sense for people to wait 2-3 weeks minimum before trying to visit instead of just pushing it back a few days. At that point, Maria and Jose were still considered a possible threat to Florida.

 

[robndani]

We Will be there Friday through Monday. Where we are in Florida the kids have off of school next Monday. Let's hope the crowds aren't quite as crazy!

 

[robndani]

Don't forget that you could be dealing with some delayed trips due to Irma as well. Since there were other systems out in the Atlantic at the time Irma was coming through, it would have made sense for people to wait 2-3 weeks minimum before trying to visit instead of just pushing it back a few days. At that point, Maria and Jose were still considered a possible threat to Florida.

I totally agree with you!

 

[SDSorority]

Don't forget that you could be dealing with some delayed trips due to Irma as well. Since there were other systems out in the Atlantic at the time Irma was coming through, it would have made sense for people to wait 2-3 weeks minimum before trying to visit instead of just pushing it back a few days. At that point, Maria and Jose were still considered a possible threat to Florida.

Absolutely- we were one of them! We wouldn't normally do October but it was the first week we could get rescheduled to from Irma.

 

[lugnut33]

Wait a minute. You now need a FP+ to poo! What tier is THAT? First we had rope drop, and now we have pant drop.

Of course it's tier 2!

 

[SaintsManiac]

It's fall break in Louisiana. I know several families who took advantage and went to Disney.

 

[mesaboy2]

Of course it's tier 2!

I was gonna go with bottom tier.

 

[tlmadden73]

I know that year round schools around here had last week off (as well as the week before and this week). So other year-round schools may have similar breaks.

Columbus Day seems hit or miss across the country. I never used to get the day off, but my company has decided to start giving its employees that day off starting next year.

Either way, from last 4 trips in the last few years, I found when we went in 2014 during the first week of October (because the families we were going with had kids in year-round school) to be the busiest of all times at MK. (Other times being January 2010, late August 2015 and late March 2017).

Early October just seems the perfect storm of:
1) Fall breaks for schools OR long enough from the beginning of school that parents are willing to take kids out of school for their own fall break
3) Columbus Day
4) Cooler weather beginning
5) MOST people considering it the start of fall/Halloween (not August or September like Disney and retailers want you to believe).
6) People wanting to go to the Halloween parties (see #5).