Columbus Week

[LuvinDisney83]

We typically go to the world early December and enjoy great temperatures and low/medium crowds. We went this last time during Memorial week and wow it was busier than I expected. Our next trip starts during Columbus weekend (trip October 8-15) what can we expect as far as crowds and weather goes?

Thanks in advance!

 

[heidijanesmith]

I have not been in Dec or Memorial weekend, we have been in Oct during Columbus weekend.

Food and Wine makes EPCOT very busy, even on weekdays. We thought that EPCOT was busier during Oct than it was just a few days ago.

We stay away from EPCOT and MK on the holiday weekend, just too busy. We like DTD, DS or AK during the holiday.

The later we stay in Oct the better the weather and crowds.

 

[spankswife]

I'm curious too. Crowd calendars seem to vary on this...

 

[JimmyV]

Columbus Day is very regional. As it is not a school holiday all across the country, crowd impact is nothing like MLK Day or President's Day. However, this year, Columbus Day is right next to Yom Kippur, and the regions of the country that observe one as a school holiday have a large overlap with the regions that observe the other. So in 2016, you are likely to see a bigger influence of these combined school holidays, particularly from the Northeast. I would bet that the second week of October will be much more crowded this year than in a typical year. The combination of these two school holidays only happens once in a while. But 2016 is one of those years.

 

[Tia1977]

We typically go to the world early December and enjoy great temperatures and low/medium crowds. We went this last time during Memorial week and wow it was busier than I expected. Our next trip starts during Columbus weekend (trip October 8-15) what can we expect as far as crowds and weather goes?

Thanks in advance!

While I can't be of help, thank you for asking! We'll be there the 7th-16th. Our 1st Columbus week too. I agree with the poster that stated crowd calendars seem to vary. For that 1st wknd, we have a mix of resort pool/lazy time, MK at night only for FP's & fireworks/ and resort hopping with ADR's planned. And since Columbus Day is predicted as busy anyway, we have our MNSSHP planned that night. We might regret possibly, but my thinking was maybe more manageable at the park with a ticketed event.

 

[bumbershoot]

Columbus Day is very regional. As it is not a school holiday all across the country, crowd impact is nothing like MLK Day or President's Day. However, this year, Columbus Day is right next to Yom Kippur, and the regions of the country that observe one as a school holiday have a large overlap with the regions that observe the other. So in 2016, you are likely to see a bigger influence of these combined school holidays, particularly from the Northeast. I would bet that the second week of October will be much more crowded this year than in a typical year. The combination of these two school holidays only happens once in a while. But 2016 is one of those years.

Terrific answer and reasoning.

That holiday is barely celebrated anymore (sad since it's my birthday, and it was always nice). But some school systems have placed their fall breaks around there. But many don't.

For some reason CA still has it as a holiday, and there's a definite upswing in crowds at Disneyland, but not that I've ever read about for WDW.

 

[Delirium]

3 years ago, we were there for 12 days, the week before Columbus Day and the week of Columbus day (up till Thursday). The week of Columbus Day was significantly busier than the week before. But, it was not as crowded as we've experienced in our June trips.

 

[wallskm]

We will be there that week too! I am expecting crowds- there's not much availability when I look at the resorts! Just planning to go with the flow and hope for the best!

 

[hogwartsdropout]

We were there for Columbus week last year, and the week before it. The crowds were great the week before, quite quiet. Columbus day week was SO busy, we heard people talking on the bus how they all took the whole week off to come to WDW and even CMs were commenting how crazy busy it was compared to previous years.

 

[Missyrose]

October has gotten exponentially more busy in each of the last five or six years. More schools across the country are doing fall breaks and those are typically attached to Columbus Day in some way. It's no longer a low-crowd time at WDW and some would even argue that it's shot right past moderately crowded and would fall in the heavier-crowd category.

It's all about expectations. If you go in expecting it to be crowded and have a good plan, you'll have a good time. If you go in expecting low crowds because "it's the offseason," you will likely be disappointed. Regardless of crowds, it's my favorite time of year to go.

 

[Koz]

Not terrible. I snapped a photo of our visit on Columbus Day, last year, 45 minutes before park opening.


























































































Just kidding, deep breath, you'll be fine. It is very regional as alot of areas of the country don't care about this particular holiday.

 

[LuvinDisney83]

Thanks all, has it started to cool down at all or has the hummidity dropped a bit at least? I can handle crowds better if it's not summer hot.