Columbus Day Weekend?

[MamaQuack]

Any thoughts on crowds for Columbus Day weekend? For those of you who have been previously, are the park hours extended?

Thanks!

 

[cmrules]

I'm curious to know about this as well. We will be winding up our trip on the 9th. I didn't even reailized it was C day when I booked it. Will the end of this week be busy?

 

[csgsu]

and would love to know how the crowds are.

 

[jtjarvis]

I've asked this about this weekend as well—we're going 10/7-10/11 (the holiday itself a travel day). From the various sources I consulted, it's a long weekend in a now-popular month and so it'd be more crowded naturally than the weekends around it, but it's still considered more moderate attendance as opposed to the "very high attendance times" like Christmas, Th-giving, July 4, Easter -- and quite better crowd-wise than so-called "high attendance" weekends like Presidents Day or MLK.

One DIS-er who really put me at ease pointed out that, yes, it'll be busy, but not nearly as busy as it'd be during the summer (and with much more tolerable weather too).

For me, there probably would be times so busy at WDW that I'd rather be home than slogging through crowds and being frustrated; but I have not gathered this would be one of them. I can handle a little crowd challenge. Plus I want to go to mnnshp and this is my only shot!

Hope this helps some? I'd like to hear more feedback myself! --

 

[MamaQuack]

jtjarvis: thanks so much - that does help - we usually visit later in October and are prepared for the crowd at MNSSHP but have not had significant other challenges like we did last month!!! It is nice to thinknwe will have manageable crowds during this long weekend. Now that ds is in middle school the breaks are short. Still, it is nice to breakaway to WDW even if only for a long weekend of fun!

 

[jtjarvis]

Yes Mamaquack (and fellow Georgian!) -- I'm definitely going prepared with a strategy for the parks but I'm planning on having fun and honing in on the things we want to do. I think it's a cool plus that the Epcot Food and Wine Ffest is going on too, besides mnsshp. It'll add to Epcot weekend crowds but for me it's a 2-fer.

We're going to mnnshp Oct. 8. Tickets should be on the way! DS's 5 and 7 are beside themselves with excitement.

 

[polkadotminnie]

We will be there that week Oct. 9-15. We are staying at RPR at Universal then either WL or POLY depends on discounts available for room only. We went a week earlier last year, so I hope it is not too crowded. We are doing MNNSHP on the 14th.

 

[jcemom]

There doesn't seem to be much info out there on this holiday. I'm really a bit surprised, though maybe that means it isn't a big deal? Last year the only park with extended hours was AK, open an extra hour on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and an extra two hours (until 7) on Monday. MK's hours are a little tough to juge as they really varied a lot last year during October. They closed at 8:00 on Sunday and Monday though, so they weren't open really late, if you can judge by that.

 

[forgetyourtroubles!]

While I've never been in October, I have been many times, once on Presidents Day and once the week of Memorial day and other times in September and May. This year we are going Oct 12-18 and we are expecting to encounter some crowds. However, we KNOW the parks will NOT reach capacity or anything close to it during this time. During moderate times, the lines are VERY manageable if you go early or if you use FastPass. My guess would be that its reasonable to expect 40-50 min standby waits for the biggies during the busy times of the day and 1-2 hr average fastpass returns. Even in "slow" times at WDW, there are still moments of feeling crowded, so keep in mind WDW is a busy and FUN place to be!!!! A secluded beach? A cabin in the woods? NO crowds, and not much fun IMHO- so WDW here we come! If you are a crowd-o-phobe, be glad you are missing the busiest times of year and TOUR EARLY!!