Any major differences between late sept/oct?

[ammag]

Debating last week of sept-first week of October (15day trip) which will include my actual 40th bday, Halloween party

Or

Mid October either the last two weeks or the middle two. (Also includes my husbands actual birthday)

Anything major that makes one timeframe better than the other? I've gone October 19-26 which was fantastic, and November which was good too but one day very cold.
I didn't care about being there on my actual birthday but last night my husband said we should try to be there on the day...so considering it. This is for 2015 so we have nothing set yet just dreaming and planning biggest priorities are the Halloween party and the AK animal tour both of which should be running at that time.

I think if we end uo celebrating both adult birthdays the kids will be green with jealousy lol!

 

[MiramarQE]

F&W starts 19 Sep - so both your periods will cover it

Weather - the peak day of the Summer hurricane season in Florida is Sep 10th - the further after that day the less likely you'll have a hurricane/TS problem!

We like mid-late Oct as the weather is about the best of the year - warm enough for the pool anytime, humidity usually in the bearable range, out of the daily thunderstorms of the Summer.

 

[Gottahavemorecowbell]

The major difference between late Sept. and mid to late Oct. imo is the weather. Our only late Sept. trip (will also be our last Sept. trip) was very hot and sticky. We love spending most of our time at the parks and we came back each day exhausted from the heat/humidity. We have gone twice in late Oct. and had near perfect weather. Temps were in the low 80's and the humidity was beginning to disappear. One advantage for Sept. is that it is slightly less crowded. Neither time frame is crazy busy though. Have a great time which ever you choose!

 

[jessicus]

We visited last year from October 16-20 (yay for birthday trips!) and I thought the weather would be in the 70s or so, perfectly comfortable for touring the parks. We lucked out with sunny weather every day, but it was in the 80s and VERY humid and warm. I was actually really surprised by that but that was really my own fault for not paying much attention to the temperature - I was more concerned about rain.

We were also there for Food & Wine and it was packed! Columbus Day had been the Monday of our trip so maybe people took the week off, but even my brother (who works at Team Disney) was surprised by the level of crowds we encountered. So much for October being an "off" month...

I've never been in September, but hear it's much less crowded, although the trade-off would be higher temperature and more humidity.

 

[DOOM1001]

Middle of October the weather starts to improve,basically from the middle of May through October 15th you have to consider yourself lucky if the temperature is less than 90 and you don't get rained on,and even if you don't the humidity will make you look like you did.Mid October you might get the cool fronts start to come through cooling things down,rainy season ends as well.With that said you could have highs in the mid to upper 80's even in December,so although its likely the weather improves mid October there's no guarantees.If you go late September you are guaranteed heat though.

 

[JennyDrake]

Yes mid October the weather improves but crowds thicken considerably w/ federal holiday and schools on fall break.

 

[ammag]

Ok I hate the heat so you have convinced me to pretend I turn 40 in October and stick to our original plans. I am not too worried about crowds especially since we will have two weeks and even with rest days and a universal side trip should do most of what we want! I'd like to fast forward time right now, I feel like every famiyl we know is at or going to disney right now!

 

[HeyIt'sMe]

We visited last year from October 16-20 (yay for birthday trips!) and I thought the weather would be in the 70s or so, perfectly comfortable for touring the parks. We lucked out with sunny weather every day, but it was in the 80s and VERY humid and warm. I was actually really surprised by that but that was really my own fault for not paying much attention to the temperature - I was more concerned about rain.

We were also there for Food & Wine and it was packed! Columbus Day had been the Monday of our trip so maybe people took the week off, but even my brother (who works at Team Disney) was surprised by the level of crowds we encountered. So much for October being an "off" month...

I've never been in September, but hear it's much less crowded, although the trade-off would be higher temperature and more humidity.

We've gone to WDW several times in October and have planned the trips to correspond with DD's Fall Break (she'll be a HS senior this year!) so the trips have always been roughly the same dates. Last year we were there Oct 19-26 and found it to be more crowded than previous years. When we left we were chatting with the towncar driver about the crowds and he said he had noticed it too -- he said many of his customers that are annual October visitors said the crowds were heavy. He didn't know why. Hope it's not as busy this year - we'll be there October 18-25.

We love October in WDW --- the weather, MNSSHP, F&WF, the fall decorations. We've been to WDW twice in September and the low crowd levels were great but we found the weather to be too hot & humid...and rainy - we had to deal with a hurricane in September 2000.