Im new and going to WDW this October! Help!

[happy.family.of.6]

Hi, my family (6 of us) and my mom and neice are going to WDW this October. We are trying to decide what to do there. First, does anyone know how busy it is during October 17-25? Also, is Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom and Not so scary halloween worth the money? And last, do you think that we can get away with one day at each park at that time of the year? I really would like to have some time to relax on our vacation too and not just be all go go go with WDW. We are staying off resort at an awesome time share with water park. LEt me know what you guys think!

Thanks soooooo much!

 

[ms_missy66]

I definitely say Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom are worth a day. The Halloween party, while I'm sure is great, is probably something you could skip. As far as relaxing, I guess it matters how old your little ones are and what type of experience you want. I've learned that staying off-property can make for semi-lengthy travel times between the World and the hotel. So going in for the morning, going back to the timeshare for a nap in the afternoon and back at night sometimes takes up a lot time and makes me wonder if it's worth it. So maybe what would work better is to just plan a few mornings or afternoons off to spend in the water park or doing other things.

Have fun! You're going to love it!!!

 

[happy.family.of.6]

yes, I do understand we will be staying a whole day at each park. I'm just saying I would like some days where we aren't there (WDW), so we can do other things and just relax. If we do Magic Kingdom in 1 day, Epcot in another, Animal Kingdom in another and Hollywood Studios in another, then that only leaves 3 days off (was kind of hoping for 4 but could deal with that if it's really worth it.) So, I'm just wondering if Animal Kingdom or Hollywood Studios is worth the time/money given that. We have a 5 yr old, 7 yr old and (2) 9 yr olds. Thanks for your help!

 

[Lesley Mahler]

yes, I do understand we will be staying a whole day at each park. I'm just saying I would like some days where we aren't there (WDW), so we can do other things and just relax. If we do Magic Kingdom in 1 day, Epcot in another, Animal Kingdom in another and Hollywood Studios in another, then that only leaves 3 days off (was kind of hoping for 4 but could deal with that if it's really worth it.) So, I'm just wondering if Animal Kingdom or Hollywood Studios is worth the time/money given that. We have a 5 yr old, 7 yr old and (2) 9 yr olds. Thanks for your help!

Personally, I would skip Animal Kingdom and do 2 days in Magic Kingdom with kids that age. But that is just my opinion...when we go in 3 1/2 weeks, we are doing Animal Kingdom 1/2 a day and Magic Kingdom 3 days, DHS 1 day and Epcot 2 days. Maybe one of your off mornings, you could go to Animal Kingdom that morning so you could form your own opinion of it...but I would definately give MK more than just 1 day.

 

[happy.family.of.6]

Thank you for your help! I will elaborate a bit more. We are staying off site. We are only going to purchase 3 or 4 days at WDW. We will only be in orlando for 7 days and I do want to be able to do other thing (beach, visit where my mom grew up, etc) We heard that that time in October it is totally off season, so we should be able to do each park in a day, including Magic Kingdom. Would you guys agree? And the only thing we are trying to figure out is to do 4 days and do all 4 parks, or do 3 days and not go to either Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom. Thanks!!!

 

[tjbaggott]

If this fwill be the kids first time going, I think all 4 parks are worth a day each. My kids, loved animal kingdom and Hollywood Studios as much as the other two, and they were 2, 7, 13 and 14 at the time. We only had 3 hours to devote to animal kingdom during that trip (our 1st), and there were several things we didn't get to do/explore. Our upcoming trip, we will have one full day devoted to AK, and if we finish sooner, we'll hop on over to MK for the remainder of the day.
I like your idea of being there for 7 days but devoting less than that to the parks. Resting for a day between parks, doing other things, sounds relaxing and appealing! Any a day should at that time of year be more than enough per park, so you could save money by not getting park hoppers. Oh, and as for MNSSHP, this will be our first time ever attending that, this fall. I've heard it's fabulous, and we have the tickets, but I was not impressed with the cost. We also are a family of 6. You will have a few more people than that. With tickets for that party at 50 something each, you'll have to decide if it's worth it. Some have said, it's a MUST do at least once. I don't know, but we'll find out for ourselves soon enough.
Have fun!

 

[AirGoofy]

Thank you for your help! I will elaborate a bit more. We are staying off site. We are only going to purchase 3 or 4 days at WDW. We will only be in orlando for 7 days and I do want to be able to do other thing (beach, visit where my mom grew up, etc) We heard that that time in October it is totally off season, so we should be able to do each park in a day, including Magic Kingdom. Would you guys agree? And the only thing we are trying to figure out is to do 4 days and do all 4 parks, or do 3 days and not go to either Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom. Thanks!!!

October crowds not bad. Definitely smaller than summer. With two DDs (7,5), we do MK and Epcot. We alternate AK and HS. HS is good with different live shows, Light, Motors, Action Stunt show, Indiana Show, Belle, Playhouse Disney, Ariel. But, it is hard to time all 5 shows. At night, Fantasmic is neat but only shows a few times a week. I love AK, but that is everyone's least favorite. AK is a LOT of walking, but is fun as well. AK closes the earliest and does not have a fireworks finale. As for the MNSSHP, it starts in the evening and goes late. You cannot get into MK with MNSSHP tickets until around 4:00 PM. You may consider that with off property Disney stay and plans for following day. Also, if you pick MK on a MNSSHP day, I think the park closes around 7:00 PM.

 

[happy.family.of.6]

Thanks for all the advise. We were there once before, but we only did MK and Epcot and didnt get to see it all at all. We did a land/sea trip and it was when it was insanely busy and just couldnt do it. It was miserable!! So I think we are going to go ahead and do the 4 days. We could totally fly in on Friday instead to give us 4 days there and 4 days off, but they went to change the amount of our car rental from $462/week to $767 for a week and one day and that is with the entertainment book discount! That's just crazy, and not worth it to us for an extra relaxing day So sad. But thank you for all the help.

 

[MotherofLandon]

You could do AK and DHS in one day, do AK in the morning. MK in one day may be very exhusting, if possible I would split it over 2. Make sure if you want to eat anywhere on property you make your ADRs as soon as possible. Consider the tusker house character meal at AK. If you want to do a beach day trip, consider Sanibel island... it is 1.5-2 hours away but absolutely gorgous!!