Just curious about late October

[Banana22]

We booked our trip in January for a stay the last full week of October. We booked dining at 180 days and were able to get every reservation we wanted at nearly the "ideal" time we wanted. Today was 60 days until arrival, and I was able to get every FP we wanted (including Frozen and 2 FP's for 7DMT on 2 different days) and there was seemingly a good amount of times/options.

A couple of thoughts- there's no Free Dining for the time we're going, and there's very little availability in terms of resort/hotel rooms. That would make me believe occupancy is satisfactory.
What do you think is behind the dining and FP availability at their respective dates?
What do you think that means in terms of crowd levels as compared to the crowd calendar estimates on various sites?

 

[newdeal]

The fall isn't really that slow at Disney anymore, its just slow compared to march break, summer, christmas, easter etc. There will still be a lot of people at the parks. You are analyzing it too much, the crowd level is going to be what its going to be. Just be happy you got your plans all set and have a good time.

 

[absolutmey]

I'm going that same week. I thought the availability of ADRs and FP was good, just as you said, because we got everything we wanted too. I just checked room reservations and there was quite a bit of availability, even with the RO discount showing.

On these boards, I've gleaned this about fall and ADRs/FD in WDW.

- People love going at this time of year. People love MNSSHP.
- People booked their rooms for this time period, well in advance, with some anticipating that Disney would offer Free Dining during October. (I'm guilty here. I didn't want FD, but I booked well before any discounts were announced in anticipation of a room only offer.)
- FD was announced "late" this year, as compared to previous years.
- FD usually causes a lack of ADR availability.
- When the rooms were already booked to a certain capacity, Disney didn't see the need to offer FD to fill rooms on site, so it wasn't offered.
- Some people who booked early and didn't get FD kept their hotel reservations. I think some of these people made less ADRs b/c they would be paying out of pocket.
- Some folks cancelled or moved dates because they wanted FD specifically, which freed up more rooms/ADR/FP during this time.

Just some thoughts. And all of that being said, I think the crowds will be manageable, especially with a good touring plan.