Late October or Late November for trip?

[diselderm]

Now that I have almost everything arranged for our trip scheduled the week after Thanksgiving, I've started to think about changing the dates. I was considering the very end of October/early November. Looks like both times are not supposed to be terribly crowded.

We went last year in December, so even though we really like the Christmas decorations we can live without them. We've never been during the Food and Wine Festival. What would that be like with small children? I wouldn't attempt any seminars or special dinners, but the food booths seem neat. I have no idea what kind of ADRs I could get, though.

Should I just leave well enough alone? Anyone been over Halloween?

 

[ellyn2000]

I usually go for Thanksgiving, but went a few years ago during Veteran's Day week in early Nov. and was amazed at the small crowds. The weather was beautiful and we weren't rushed anywhere in WDW. We go for Thanksgiving because of the issues associated with time off from work and school. If you can go the first week of Nov. I think it would be nice. Have a wonderful trip.

 

[diselderm]

Thanks for your reply. I forgot to mention that I can get a AAA discount on the room if we go earlier also. Wasn't available for our first dates. I'm starting to get excited about this time.

Now I have to figure out if we might want to do the MNSSHP. My youngest will be 17 mo so we would take a very long nap/rest that afternoon. And still working on DH on changing the dates.

 

[disney_me]

My families very first trip to Disney was for the halloween. What a great first time trip. Disney transforms the park for halloween in one hour. (you have to buy a separate ticket for the "Very not so scary halloween") You also get to trick-or-treat in the MK. (lots of candy for everyone)

We also did the food and wine thing in Epcot. Ok, just the food The prices for some of the samples are a bit high. Love paelle, but my sister and I paid like $3.00 for a small samples. Just look at the prices.

The weather was great. Temps ran in the 80's in the day, and in the mid to upper 60's in the evening. No humidity during the day. The sun was hot

We have been to Disney in October, February and in December. Had great weather all 3x's. Booked our 4th trip for March 2007. Not sure about the weather for March.


I would do the MK in October. I think your family will have a great time.



TRIPS TO WDW:
OCT. 2003
FEB. 2005
DEC. 2005
MARCH 2007 NEXT

 

[diselderm]

Thanks Disney me. I think it will be really neat to see the transformation of the park for Halloween. We'll watch the sample prices--thanks for the tip.

 

[las3888]

I have been in October often but never for Halloween. I think it would be fun, but it's sort of like Christmas to me, I love being home!

At any rate, beware of Jersey Week which is I believe November 5-12 (or thereabouts). The state of New Jersey schools have Election Day off as well as the Thursday and Friday off of the same week so many many many Jersey folks descend upon Disney for the week. We went with no clue last year and found it to be a little too crowded for that time of year for our tastes.

Good luck with your trip and planning!

 

[diselderm]

Thanks for the tip on Jersey week. I think we're going to just miss it.

I'm a little bummed because I just realized that the October dates are regular season, so my AAA discount makes the price the same as the non-discount December rates that I had. Still lots of pros for the October trip though!

 

[mommy*RN]

Are you talking about going this October? It might not be a good idea. I've read a few posts that WDW is expecting larger than normal crowds due to conventions in town. I checked it out on the Orange County Convention Center website and sure enough two conventions are running and posted crowds of 30,000. That's a lot of people!

My family and I are going mid-October, and if I could change it I probably would...usually October is a wonderful time to go...but I just don't know about this year...

 

[PrincessV]

I have to say my experience with a toddler at the Food & Wine Fest was anything but fun. He wasn't interested in trying any food, and he was even less interested in waiting in line after line for ME to try food. If you really want to enjoy the festival, I strongly recommend using inroom abbysitting or one of the resort kids' clubs.

 

[Grendalynn]

Now that I have almost everything arranged for our trip scheduled the week after Thanksgiving, I've started to think about changing the dates. I was considering the very end of October/early November. Looks like both times are not supposed to be terribly crowded.

We went last year in December, so even though we really like the Christmas decorations we can live without them. We've never been during the Food and Wine Festival. What would that be like with small children? I wouldn't attempt any seminars or special dinners, but the food booths seem neat. I have no idea what kind of ADRs I could get, though.

Should I just leave well enough alone? Anyone been over Halloween?

Hi! I have yet to read all the posts as I am at work but just wanted to see what was up on The Dis today! Anywho - We just went last October (the 26th through the 4th of Nov) and what a great time we had!!!

The Halloween Spook-tacular looked to be a wonderful time! We headed out for the disney cruise and was not at WDW for Halloween itself, but was for 4 days leading up to it - it was an awesome sight! Halloween is one of my favorite "Holidays" so it was lot of fun! Our boys dresses up as Captain Hook and Peter Pan for Halloween on the Disney Cruise - what a blast that was! How many kids can say they trick or treated at WDW? A Disney themed costume is a must!

We did not take full advantage of the Food and Wine festival... Went to Epcot one of the nights and it seemed to be a great time - DH isn't much of a wine kind of guy - if had been a Beer Festival - things may have been different. But they certainly had lots of things to taste and try! Plus we were doing the whole Land and Sea package with the Disney Cruise, so we had just a few days at WDW and tried to get as much in as humanly possible!!

The Weather was great - granted is was RIGHT after Hurricane Wilma, but the weather was low 80's to high 70's during the day with little to no humidity! A few weeks later it was rather hot, but we made out like bandits - warm enough to swim and enjoy the Florida sun, but not hot enough that standing in line was sweltering hot! The nights were a bit chilly, a sweater was a neceisty, but not to chiily for an evening dip in the (heated) pools. Granted we are from New Hampsire and had snow on the Mtn tops when we left...

Dear Husband and I said we will def. chose to return to WDW the same time of year again in a heart beat! Early to Mid March is a comparable time as well - less crowds and moderate lines and prices. Be sure to watch the spring break schedule though! Hope this helps! Ask any question you might have and I will do my best to help out!

 

[mapmakerj]

Are you talking about going this October? It might not be a good idea. I've read a few posts that WDW is expecting larger than normal crowds due to conventions in town. I checked it out on the Orange County Convention Center website and sure enough two conventions are running and posted crowds of 30,000. That's a lot of people!

My family and I are going mid-October, and if I could change it I probably would...usually October is a wonderful time to go...but I just don't know about this year...

FYI: The two conventions mentioned above are running from Oct 12-15 and Oct 17-19, so they should not affect crowds at the end of the month.

 

[CharmedLife]

We've gone during the last two Octobers (2004 and 2005) and it was definitely more crowded during '05 than '04. I think that attendance continues to rise, and the popularity of the Halloween party along with the F & W festival is adding to that during October.

That said, I did like going in October, although the weather was much too hot for me both times (90's every day). The Halloween party was fun and I'll definitely go again, but I would say be prepared for it to be much more crowded than you find the week after Thanksgiving.

This year we're going the 2nd week of December, and I can't wait for the cooler weather as well as seeing the decorations!

Have fun whatever you do - a day at Disney is better than a day anywhere else, no matter what time of year it is!!

 

[diselderm]

Thanks for all your comments. Yeah, I don't know how the toddler will be but we won't expect too much from the Food and Wine Fest with the kids! Hopefully will get to sample a few things, at least.

I started looking into October initially because on another site it listed the crowd level as the same (and maybe a bit less on a couple of days) as the week after Thanksgiving. So that got me curious and I looked at room availability on the Disney website. It seemed that there were more rooms to choose from in the late Oct/early Nov dates than the week past Thanksgiving even adjusting the dates here and there. So I put a room on hold (and got the AAA rate which wasn't available for the Dec dates, though as it turns out puts me at the same cost). Then when I looked into ADR's they were just as available and at the same or better times as my original week.

So to me it looked like it might be an OK time to go. Then I started looking into MNNSHP and Food and Wine Festival (neither of which we've done) and started getting excited. Plus maybe the kids will get to swim. Adding to that the fact that we did mid-December last year, I'm really starting to like the Oct. idea.

But maybe it only appears equally less crowded because rooms are held at Disney for a time and then released? Also I've wondered if the "week after Thanksgiving is the best week" word has gotten out?

 

[mommy*RN]

FYI: The two conventions mentioned above are running from Oct 12-15 and Oct 17-19, so they should not affect crowds at the end of the month.

Yes and no...a lot of people I know who attend different conventions will go to the meetings and then have their SO meet up with them after the convention ends with the kids...they tack a vacation on to the end of the convention so they can spend a week in Disney with their familes and not be stuck in meetings all day. That would affect the crowds if even 25% of the people did that...and it would hit towards the end of October...

Of course a lot of people have their families come with them DURING the convention due to the free hotel and such...so it is a guess how many "extras" will be there at any given time.

Does anyone know how to search when Disney has conventions or meetings going on at any of the facilities?

 

[New2Disney2006]

Wow... I am so disappointed. This will be my families first trip to Disney. We are arriving October 12th and leaving October 18th. I guess we picked the worst dates to come. I had to work my dates around our schools Fall Break. I really was hoping that it wouldn't be so crowded. Oh well... I guess we will just have to deal with the crowds. Thanks for the info...

 

[mommy*RN]

Wow... I am so disappointed. This will be my families first trip to Disney. We are arriving October 12th and leaving October 18th. I guess we picked the worst dates to come. I had to work my dates around our schools Fall Break. I really was hoping that it wouldn't be so crowded. Oh well... I guess we will just have to deal with the crowds. Thanks for the info...

Don't be disappointed! You are going to WDW! Even if there is a slight influx of people it will still be magical and fun! I don't think we will compete with the crowds at Christmas or such. Just a few more people enjoying all the magic. Trust me...it won't be horrible! Your travel dates are actually when the conventions are running so all those people will be stuck indoors while you and I enjoy the warm Florida sun!

 

[CharmedLife]

Wow... I am so disappointed. This will be my families first trip to Disney. We are arriving October 12th and leaving October 18th. I guess we picked the worst dates to come. I had to work my dates around our schools Fall Break. I really was hoping that it wouldn't be so crowded. Oh well... I guess we will just have to deal with the crowds. Thanks for the info...

You should definitely NOT be disappointed - October is a really fun time to go, and the crowds are not nearly as bad as a lot of other times of the year. I was just comparing the October crowds (which I would characterize as "moderate") to the after-Thanksgiving crowds (which I would characterize as "low"). I still think October is a great time, just a little warm for my Wisconsin blood. But we LOVED the Halloween party and will probably do October again in the next year or two.

Trust me, you will LOVE it and have a super time!