No resort availability 9/30-10/06

[mill4023]

The Disney website behaves badly on a regular basis. I was checking for rooms for next March and it showed nothing available for the week long period I'm planning. I checked Expedia and there were rooms available pretty much everywhere.

Try calling them instead.

 

[madge]

I'll add to the Expedia comment--looking at it right now, it looks like Saturday, Oct 1 is a busy night at the value & mod resorts.

The comments I've heard from dining CMs is that the opening weekend of the Food & Wine Festival and MNSSHP is making things busy. Crowded? Hard to tell until that weekend gets here...and, by then I'll already be in FLorida, LOL!

 

[palmetto]

I was checking rooms at Coronado Springs for the second week of January and it did the same thing. I figured it was just the website.

 

[guangs]

I checked 10/02-10/06 and showed availability in a lot of resorts. It's 9/30-10/01 that doesn't have much availability. Hopefully it will only be that weekend that is really busy!!

 

[CalvaryMike]

The Hilton Grand Vacations at Seaworld is sold out the first week of October.

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

But don't take me too seriously; I have pre-vacation jitters. I am going to Orlando the first of October and I just know that the airlines are going to go bankrupt and won't honor any tickets and that they will not be flying anyway due to strikes and I will not able to find any gasoline if I drive and I will get stuck somewhere in the middle of Floridia where there is no electric power due to natural gas shortages and I will get hit by a Hurricane and we will not be able to go outside because of an encephalitis outbreak. And the parks are still crowded! (Which Disney Character am I?)

Um, Eeyore? LOL you sound like me except I don't voice my worries... just keep it all inside... well pretty much. LOL I am starting to get worried about hurricanes while we're there... shut your mouth about the airlines going bankrupt and not honoring any tickets! LOL new worry for me..... arghhhhh

I think many are right about the breaks... we're going Sept 28th-Oct 3rd and I'm not taking my kids out of school to do so. We have a "fall break" from that Thurs-Mon here at our schools this year....

 

[Shooby doo]

Having only been once out of Sept/Oct (never again queues up ward of 180 mins!!),last year we were last week in Sept & first 2 in Oct.1st week we practically walked on everything,2nd week maybe 20-30 mins at peak times & the 3rd week 60-90 on rides like Splash & Space.Weekdays seemed quieter than weekends,the last thing to bare in mind is the UK schools,leading up to & including our school holidays WDW will be busy!
As for the F&W I wouldn't have said Ep was any busier earlier in the day but "the world" was definately busier later on.
HTH SD aw:

 

[cnaumann]

LOL you sound like me except I don't voice my worries... just keep it all inside... well pretty much.

It helps me to write things like that down. It seems a whole lot sillier on paper than it does in my brain.

I reread my notes from my last trip in early October 2003. For the most part, the parks were not very crowded. There was a fairly large crowd at the Magic Kingdom on Monday, but we were able to do everything we wanted by getting to the park early and by using FastPass. Animal Kingdom seemed crowded on Tuesday, but the lines for the rides and things were not that long. By 4:00 Anmial Kingdom empty. We walked on most of the rides at Epcot. We had a little trouble with Tower of Terror at MGM because it was down most of the day (we were able to do Rock 'n' Roller Coaster over 6 times). We went to Blizzard Beach on Wednesday afternoon and the line for the Summit Plummet was about an hour, the Slush Gusher was about 40 minutes but the rest of the lines were very managable. We spent 4 hours at Blizzard Beach, and the kids were exahusted from climbing stairs! (If your idea of fun is a 120 foot water slide with a near vertical drop, get to Blizzard Beach at the opening bell.)

The resorts were on the full side during that vaction too. We tried to extend our stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge but no rooms were available. I doubt too much hs changed in the last two years.

The weather was fine. Even if there is a hurricane, it shouldn't knock more than a day out of your vacation. They tend to move through pretty fast, and a little rain does not even slow things down (in fact, it makes the parks less crowded.)

The bottom line is that we had a great time! Don't go in October expecting to have Magic Kingdom to yourselves; do use the basic stratagies of getting to the parks when they open, using FastPass, and avoiding Magic Kingdom on the morning extended magic days (or hop out mid morning).

 

[meatballsmom]

I was worried about this also since I am going 10/1-10/8. I just ran it through on the website and there seems to be plenty of available 9/30-10/6, even at POR. The only date of my week that seems very limited is on 10/7. Hardly anything availabe that night. I'm glad I don't have plans to be at the parks on that night. We are going to be doing the Peter Pan cruise with some fellow DISers.

 

[SpectroMagic*o*]

Having only been once out of Sept/Oct (never again queues up ward of 180 mins!!),last year we were last week in Sept & first 2 in Oct.1st week we practically walked on everything,2nd week maybe 20-30 mins at peak times & the 3rd week 60-90 on rides like Splash & Space.Weekdays seemed quieter than weekends,the last thing to bare in mind is the UK schools,leading up to & including our school holidays WDW will be busy!
As for the F&W I wouldn't have said Ep was any busier earlier in the day but "the world" was definately busier later on.
HTH SD aw:

I'm glad to hear u walked on everything in the last week of Sept/first week in Oct cuz thats when I'm going this year and I've never been there that time of year. I was wondering what the situation on that was, thanks!
ug:

 

[GinaGrumpyDwarf]

But don't take me too seriously; I have pre-vacation jitters. I am going to Orlando the first of October and I just know that the airlines are going to go bankrupt and won't honor any tickets and that they will not be flying anyway due to strikes and I will not able to find any gasoline if I drive and I will get stuck somewhere in the middle of Floridia where there is no electric power due to natural gas shortages and I will get hit by a Hurricane and we will not be able to go outside because of an encephalitis outbreak. And the parks are still crowded! (Which Disney Character am I?)

Is there a schizophrenic dwarf??

 

[Andrea]

When we went in june, the hotels were booked and we just figured because of the time, but it turned out it was the week that the "make a wish" foundation was out there but we never ran into a busy day

 

[southernwingz]

It has been a long time since I've visited the DIS. Our last trip was in Dec. '03, so I guess when I'm not in planning mode, I don't visit.

As you can see from my location, I am in hurricane ravaged south MS. My son's 13th birthday is on Sept. 30, and obviously we wanted to make it an extra special day for him. We had planned to give him a complete golf set-up....clubs, bag, shoes, accessories, the whole bit, but there really is no place to golf now. There's no place for a nice dinner out, there's no place to take him and his friends for a night out on the town, we were really at a loss.

So, we've decided to visit WDW that weekend. I do hope it's not too terribly crowded....the lines and the heat are not really issues at this point, we've been doing that for weeks now here.

I believe Friday, the 30th, we're going to be hanging out at Typhoon Lagoon. Other than that, does anyone have any suggestions that will make this 13 yr old's birthday extra special and memorable?

He doesn't have a clue about the trip. It's going to be a total suprise.

 

[pixie36]

You could go to MNSSHP on the evening of 9/30. It does cost extra but I've heard it is alot of fun. This is our first trip and my DD7 cant wait.

Everyone in that are has been in my thought and prayers. Enjoy your trip !!

 

[i like stitch]

You could go to MNSSHP on the evening of 9/30.

I agree! You could do TL for part of the day then head over to MK later. We had so much fun last year, that we are going again!

Whatever you decide, your surprise is a wonderful one. Have a great trip!

 

[guangs]

I'm sorry I scared you gals....I just checked travelocity and (as of 5 minutes ago ) here is some ACCURATE information....

9/30 (friday) and 10/01-- The only resorts sold out are dolphin, ASMu, ASMo, ASSp, and Pop That's it!!!

10/02 (sunday) - 10/06 (thursday)-- The only resorts sold out are ASSp, WL, DBV, BC, and Swan That's it!!!

I hope you all have a magical vacation!!!!

 

[TDC Nala]

Columbus Day is October 10. That weekend used to be a good one for travel because not everybody got it as a holiday, but that doesn't seem to be true anymore. It's getting to be quite popular for travel.

It wasn't terrible at Epcot last year because Tropical Depression Matthew decided to visit on that weekend and dropped a bunch of rain. I've seen pictures of the MK from Columbus Day weekend in 2003 and it looks like wall to wall people. Could be just a typical fireworks crowd, but from the photos it didn't look that way.

You need to take conventions into account, too. A lot of them happen this time of year. They'll be taking up hotel space but won't be in the parks much; they'll be busy with convention stuff.

 

[Redbudlover]

Hi, I just got a monorail resort as an upgrade from POFQ. It was showing availability online but when I called to upgrade the CM told me everything was booked. Long story short - there are different inventories for online and telephone ressies. Keep checking online - if you see something open call and tell them it is available online and ask if they would please check with Guest services - who has the entire inventory available - to see what GS can find for you. The reason they tell you everything is gone is that from their computers all they can see is their whole inventory is gone. I kept questioning and questioning the CM and lo and behold she found space for us at the POLY! another tip I saw on these boards is that inventory is released at 8 a.m. Orlando time each day so if someone cancels your best bet is calling them at 8. Good luck! let me know if you get something....

 

[guangs]

Columbus Day is October 10. That weekend used to be a good one for travel because not everybody got it as a holiday, but that doesn't seem to be true anymore. It's getting to be quite popular for travel.

It wasn't terrible at Epcot last year because Tropical Depression Matthew decided to visit on that weekend and dropped a bunch of rain. I've seen pictures of the MK from Columbus Day weekend in 2003 and it looks like wall to wall people. Could be just a typical fireworks crowd, but from the photos it didn't look that way.

You need to take conventions into account, too. A lot of them happen this time of year. They'll be taking up hotel space but won't be in the parks much; they'll be busy with convention stuff.

There is a lot of availability Columbus day weekend, but there are probably a lot of locals there that weekend!!

 

[madge]

9/30 (friday) and 10/01-- The only resorts sold out are dolphin

The Dolphin is not sold out on October 1. There is still availability through Dreams Unlimited Travel, including the $129 government rate.

Additionally, the Swan is not full on either night