Any crowd difference from end of Sept through Oct?

[IBLarsen]

Looking at trying to plan a trip end of Sept, and looking for insight as to whether you all think there is any crowd difference between the last week of Sept vs anytime throughout Oct? We are flexible, just wanting to do the halloween time. We have been the beginning of Oct a couple years, and one year was dead, the next was crazy. So I do realize that the fall has become increasingly popular, which makes me wonder if there seems to be much of a difference during that season? Like does it get busier closer to Halloween or does it seem to matter?

Thanks for any insight offered!

 

[taaren]

We've done end of Sept into beginning of October, mid-October, and late October into early November trips.

The least busy was the days immediately after Halloween, we arrived Halloween night which was busy, then the parks emptied out.

End Sept-beginning of October was pretty low to moderate crowds, Gay Days weekend seemed to be slightly busier.

Mid October was great for crowds on the weekdays, but Columbus day weekend was very busy for being off-season.

I think if you stick to weekdays anywhere in that time period you'll be okay.

 

[Nonsuch]

Looking at trying to plan a trip end of Sept, and looking for insight as to whether you all think there is any crowd difference between the last week of Sept vs anytime throughout Oct?

First weekend in October is Gay Days, which has little impact on crowds
If you plan to visit between Sept 29 and Oct 12, check out their website

 

[disneyfaninaz]

In mid October you are starting to see Fall Break crowds. A lot of Arizona schools have fall break the 2nd and 3rd weeks of October and families tend to head to Disneyland for the Halloween Party.

 

[planningjollyholiday]

after doing a ton of research we picked the last week of september to go since historically it seemed like the least busy time. But now im a little worried that a lot of other people are thinking the same thing because a lot of the hotels across the street are booked up and the prices have gone up as well. Maybe there is something going on that i dont know about?

 

[Piglet99645]

I'm looking at October 20-27. Wondering if you have found out anything else about October crowds. Will keep searching.

 

[disneegrl4eva]

I'm looking at October 20-27. Wondering if you have found out anything else about October crowds. Will keep searching.

October in general in very busy...especially during the time you are going...ever since they started the halloween parties, the crowds have increased year after year...Ive gone to every one except the first one and up until last year I always went to the party during the week you are going. most of the hotels will be pretty much filled up (if they arent already)..its not going to be like summer crowds and you wont have to worry about reaching capacity but it will be packed..Ive found that if possible, the best thing to do is go early in the am up till lunch...then leave until the sun goes down like 4:30 because in between those times it feels like its the most packed...remember that if you arent going to a party, that tuesday and fri of any given week in oct., DL will close really early and then everyone ele will head over to DCA so it will have an impact on that park as well...and especially this year being the newly reopened DCA and CL, we are going to see an increase in crowds for that alone....plus you have to remember that except on weekends, none of the so cal AP's are blocked out ( SO CAL only on Sat. and so cal select sat and sun)...

 

[IBLarsen]

I think we are going to try to go Oct 10-14th.
In 2008 we went the first weekend of October and it was dead until Friday, when you get weekend crowds, plus it was gay days. So all in all we felt the crowds weren't bad, very do-able in on the weekend.

The following year (2009) we went the last couple days of September with Oct 1st being our last day in the parks. The entire week was SO busy! We couldn't believe the difference from the year before, where a few dates overlapped from year to year. They had limited fast pass options, as it was explained to me by a CM that if they don't expect the crowds they limit the fastpass use. So lines were very long. They ended up extending park hours almost every night we were there, which they did on a day by day basis and didn't announce until about 5pm.

So we have seen two very different views of this time frame. I was wondering if it got more crowded the closer to Halloween, but from all I've looked at, it seems to be fairly even, though Halloween day does seem to be very busy.

This is just my intrepretation after reading through other past threads and trip reports. I figured it can't really be any worse than the 2009 crowds we had, which were more like summer crowds (Pre cars-land summer! )

Fall is our favorite time of year to go after trying every season, and at least there is always that chance for light crowds...