Is Oct. Always Like This?....Can't Imagine a Summer Trip

[Mike Bartenhagen]

We just returned from a week long trip to WDW. This was our second time to go in October (also went in 2004) and I can't see us ever going at any other time. The crowds were very light both times. Most of the rides were a 10 minute wait or less and on some rides like Big Thunder we were able to stay on 2 or 3 times in a row as there were no lines. The Halloween party is a great time and again very short lines. I think the longest wait we had for any ride was 20 minutes and most were 10 minutes or less. We had some friends go in the summer and only have the opportunity to ride 3 or 4 rides a day. They said the wait for the Rockin' Roller Coaster was 3 hours, ours was 10 minutes and that included the 5 minutes or so it took to walk from the entrance and watch the intro, I can't imagine waiting 3 hours. Are the crowds always so light in October or did we just get lucky both weeks we were there? The only downside was that we had to take the kids out of school for a week but as I told my wife my parents used to take me out of school every year for a week of vacation and I still managed to graduate from college and now have a good enough job that I can afford to take the kids on vacation every year so it didn't set me back that much.

Mike

 

[PottersMom]

What about animal kingdom? no wait for EE?!

 

[MonkeyPants]

What about animal kingdom? no wait for EE?!

I rode it 4 times in the first hour I was there last week

 

[kirbsam]

i think october has been busier than past octobers, and it is really hit or miss. this year, with no hurricane worries, i bet it was nice.

 

[katytrott]

We were there the first week in Oct. Generally pretty good waits normally 10-15 mins. The odd ocasion when we saw 40 min (eg for RnRC, EE, TOT) we thought they were awful and went away! The majority of times we went back at the end of the day and we could stay on.

 

[Mike Bartenhagen]

What about animal kingdom? no wait for EE?!

We rode it 3 times and I was kinda disapointed that the line was moving so quickly as I would have liked to have had more time to look at some the things in the yedi museum. Our wait was about 15 minutes but because of the length of the que it would probably take about 7 or 8 minutes to get on the ride even with no one else in line so it was a very short wait.

Mike

 

[PratersloveDW]

We always love October for this very reason!! Cooler weather and shorter lines - what's not to like?!

 

[cobbler]

Wow, I just got back and thought it was busy. Everywhere I went there were lines. All the people must have been where we were

We didn't encounter any wait shorter than 40 minutes.

 

[MonkeyPants]

Wow, I just got back and thought it was busy. Everywhere I went there were lines. All the people must have been where we were

We didn't encounter any wait shorter than 40 minutes.

my sister and I just returned and I have to agree, except for right when the park opened and during the MNSSHP (no one was on the rides) it seemed as busy as ever with 50+ minute waits for things like Splash Mountain.

 

[laceemouse]

Glad you had a great trip! Yes, I think you were very lucky, but I also think that most times when the majority of kids are in school the crowds will be lighter. I do have a comment about the school thing though. I am not sure about Nebraska, but most school districts now though have programs which are VERY DIFFERENT than when some of us were kids. We have moved several times, and we were always in highly rated, highly competitive schools. For elementary students, missing a few days of school is no big deal as long as they are doing well, but things change when they get to Jr High and High School. Having different teachers for every subject, class lectures, groups projects and LOTS of standardized testing can make it very hard to miss school and still be able to keep up and keep their grades up. Of course, it depends on the rules in your district, and the principals and teachers your kids get, but it just gets a lot more difficult the older they get. By high school, with honors and AP classes and such, most kids I know don't WANT to miss school. Making up the work is just not worth it (also, many kids are sick of Disney by then anyway.) Lots of folks on here say they still take their older kids out, but I have never seen that happen in the districts we have lived in. We currently homeschool, but believe me we still have schedules and activities to work around. Not trying to start a debate, but just keep in mind that things can and do change over time!

 

[rapriebe]

Wow, I just got back and thought it was busy. Everywhere I went there were lines. All the people must have been where we were

We didn't encounter any wait shorter than 40 minutes.

I totally agree, we thought it was busy also. If you went first thing in the morning then it was okay but the afternoons and evenings were packed. We went over to MK two different afternoons and all of the rides were 40+ minutes wait. If you went in the evening, you could forget riding anything. We thought it was very crowded - the slow days of October are gone I believe.

 

[MonkeyPants]

I think it was a little less crowded then it was this time last year, tho I didnt spend as much time in the parks as I did last october. I will say one thing that held true from last year was that english was one of the least heard languages. Plenty of international tour groups again this october, the appeal of the mouse is universal

 

[JeanfromBNA]

Many school kids in the south have fall break around the 15th of October.

 

[Abbracio]

We just got back from our First trip. We had a GREAT time!!
We went from Oct. 13- Oct. 19th.

We thought that it was really crowded our FIRST and LAST day. We were at Magic Kingdom those days.

Also, those two days were realllllly HOT!! OH, MY!!

I know that on Wednesday, Oct. 18 it was 90 degrees and the humidity had to have been wayyyy up there too!!

The other days were great. The mornings were verrrry pleasant and it was warm, but not unbearable like that last Wednesday.

The lines in the morning were very short, but by afternoon things picked up.
We used Fastpasses and that saved a lot of time.

We have a wonderful First visit and we are already planning our next trip.

Take care
kathryn

 

[MonkeyPants]

I know that on Wednesday, Oct. 18 it was 90 degrees and the humidity had to have been wayyyy up there too!!

The other days were great. The mornings were verrrry pleasant and it was warm, but not unbearable like that last Wednesday.

yes indeed, wednesday was hot, spent most of the afternoon in the pool at OKW

 

[keishashadow]

Columbus Day week was busier than I thought it'd be, especially epcot (F&W crowd) and MK POC (up to 45 min wait; never less than 1/2 hour).

That said the crowds were nothing to compare to last week in June, although the weather was almost as hot.

Did see alot of the tour groups, with their brightly colored flags...we usually just went to another attraction if they were nearby.

So far, early Dec. has been the nicest time we've toured crowd-wise.

 

[inaminute]

I've visited during October in the past, and have loved the weather and lighter crowds. This year the parks were packed and the weather was almost unbearably hot! The mornings were good--nearly walked on every ride, but the afternoons got crowded.

I figured if I could handle last week, I can handle June. So, I'm taking my grandson back in June when school lets out!

 

[MonkeyPants]

I've visited during October in the past, and have loved the weather and lighter crowds. This year the parks were packed and the weather was almost unbearably hot! The mornings were good--nearly walked on every ride, but the afternoons got crowded.

I figured if I could handle last week, I can handle June. So, I'm taking my grandson back in June when school lets out!

last week and june are nothing a like. yes it was on the warm side and on the crowded side, but nothing compared to june...but good luck

 

[Tiltowhirl]

We were there the first week of October and I thought the lines weren't too bad. The first couple of hours the park were open the rides were pretty much walk on. From 11-3 the line spicked up but still not more than 40 minutes. Fastpasses were fine to get around this. The longest line we saw all week was for Everest which was an hour around 1:00pm. Fastpasses were also gone for Everest by noon. We rode it first thing with a 10 minute wait although it ptobably took us about 5 minutes to get on. We then grabbed a fast pass and did it later in the afternoon.

 

[NancyIL]

I was in the parks Oct. 11-14 and thought they were pretty crowded - but then it was the week of Columbus Day. Think Ill go later in the month if I return next October.