I need help with picking our park days in October

[heatherbynum]

My family, and 2 other families are planning a trip to WDW the week of Columbus Day.
Our dates are 10/7-10/14. I assume this would be a busy week with the holiday, and possible fall break week for some.

It’s a party of 7 adults, 4 teens(ages 17.17,16, 14), and a 2 year old. We will be staying off-site.

We have decided we want to purchase 6 day tickets. We plan on spending all day in every park, and starting at park opening. We plan on doing 2 MK days, and 1 day each for Epcot, DHS and AK.

We need help deciding on what days to do each park and if we should add a 2nd day for Epcot or DHS.

It’s such a decision because the teens are going to be interested in doing all the rides at DHS. We will be purchasing Genie+ for our one DHS day.
The adults will want to tour Epcot extensively and F&W Fest plus everyone will want to do the rides.

Saturday, 10/7 is arrival day with no park. Saturday, 10/14 is departure day with no park.
Our first park day would be Sunday, 10/8 with Friday, 10/13 being our last park day.

Which parks do y’all recommend for each day?

Which park do you recommend for Columbus Day on Monday?

Would you do 2 days at Epcot or 2 days at DHS?

Anything else that you recommend?

 

[JodyK]

I don't know if this is super helpful because I think it is hard to say exactly which parks till we get closer and have the dates of special events like MNSSHP because that will impact park hours and crowds.

In general for park pass reservations I would recommend booking 2 days of HS because that park sells out and if you are able to get all of the rides done you could pivot and more easily switch the second day to Epcot. It also mitigates the risk of rides being down for long periods of time which is more likely at HS than Epcot. I also wonder with a party that size if it may be worth considering splitting having some people doing 2 Epcot days and some doing 2 HS days.

 

[coasternut22]

First, you will need to wait until the Halloween party schedule comes out to plan your MK days. On those days MK closes at 6pm. On non-party days, MK get very busy as everyone who doesn’t want to waste a park day having to leave at 6pm go on non-party days. This is going to be your biggest hurdle and limiting factor when planning in this trip.

I also recommend not going to Epcot on a Friday night, Saturday, or Sunday. The F&W crowd gets very busy those days. Based on your schedule, it doesn’t appear this will be an issue.

As to whether you should do 2 days in Epcot or HS, that is entirely up to you. What I would do, though is reserve a second day at HS as reservations for that park fill up first. It’s easier to switch reservations last minute to Epcot. Go to both parks, see what you accomplish, and make a group decision afterwards as to where you want to go twice.

I highly recommend watching the YouTube channel Earscouts. He has the best G+ tutorial videos. He recently did a video on using G+ during a busy time of year (Christmas Eve). He got a G+ selection for every ride at HS. This will give you an idea of what to expect at HS and what you need to do if you want to do everything in one day.

 

[WeDontTalkAboutBruno]

I don’t have anything too helpful to add, but just wanted to say my family will be there Columbus week also! We’re going with 2 5 year olds and 1 2 year old. I’m planning for two MK days also but waiting till they announce the party dates before finalizing our schedule.

Also just a thought, but if your group isn’t dead set on a second day at HS or Epcot, you could always plan for a rest day.

 

[NashvilleMama]

I would second the idea of a rest day....and that week will definitely be crowded for a lot of southeastern school district fall breaks so as said above, I'd hold HS days since they'll book up and you can always switch to Epcot last minute.