October at Disney

[disneycinderella94]

Hello!

I am going to Disney in October and wondering about crowd sizes? I have seen mixed reviews ranging from not crowded to a madhouse. We are going the 2nd week in October.

Any feedback will be lovely! This is my first trip and want to make sure to see everything! Thanks!

 

[Barbydoll8]

Many veterans and locals will tell you there really isn't a slow season anymore but Oct can be mobbed or ok. Epcot will be crowded. F&W is in full swing. If you want to attend F&W do it like on a Monday or Wednesday. Stay away from the weekend. That's when us crazy locals mob the park.
MK can be busy especially on MNSSHP days.
AKL - we don't know yet. With the addition of Avatar, I would expect this park to have lots of traffic.
HWS - um... I don't go there nor will I until the construction is done. Not enough for me to go at this point but these crowds should be moderate unless they are doing a special event that isn't announced yet.

Weather will be very warm. We really don't experience a cool down or lower humidity until the last week of Oct or later so expect summer like weather.

 

[NYCANC]

Columbus Day is 10/9- there will be more crowds around that time frame.

 

[DisneyAddictTom122]

We always check a WDW Crowd calendar when we are looking to book.... so far it has been pretty accurate as far as crowds go although as it was said in an earlier reply, watch out for the special events like the food and wine festival - we happened to go on a week that was supposed to be low crowds and the food and wine festival was happening, while overall crowds weren't an issue for us, the small pavilions set up around the world showcase in Epcot for the festival had ridiculous lines which made getting a beer and a bit kind of a pain but overall not too bad.

 

[disneycinderella94]

I've seen them go from wall to wall crowds to not crowded. It's our first trip, trying to get as much info as I can.

 

[karen1987]

We've been once before in October and found the crowds very manageable and are visiting again this October. Like others have said, look at crowd calendars, as these have been quite accurate for us in the past.

However, Epcot on a Friday night and all day Saturday and Sunday was busy and also not too pleasant due to many intoxicated folks from the F&W Festival!

 

[disneycinderella94]

We've been once before in October and found the crowds very manageable and are visiting again this October. Like others have said, look at crowd calendars, as these have been quite accurate for us in the past.

However, Epcot on a Friday night and all day Saturday and Sunday was busy and also not too pleasant due to many intoxicated folks from the F&W Festival!

I think all the planning is overwhelming me! LOL!

From what I've read and seen it seems like as long as we have our dining reservations and fastpasses for our preferred rides to do first we should be good. I never knew how much went into planning a WDW vacation!

We're staying right by Epcot and HS, we plan on watching fireworks from our hotel, LOL!

 

[karen1987]

If you're a planner, then a WDW holiday is great fun! But as you said, as long as you've got your dining reservations and fastpasses sorted in advance, you're half way there!

Also, take a look at tried and tested itineraries for each park. There are plenty of free guides out there with lots of advice on what to do first etc.

 

[BelleBriarRose]

I went over Columbus Day weekend a couple years ago and the crowds weren't too bad at all. I was expecting it to be mobbed, but it definitely wasn't. I would describe the crowds at MK as moderate, and the crowds at HS and AK were lower.

 

[Mickey's Best Girl]

We've been limited to Octobers for the last few years because of my DDs college fall break. Now that's she's a graduate I'm excited to get my mid November trips back. October is too busy for me. A combination of MANY North American fall breaks, food and wine, Columbus Day for Americans and Thanksgiving for us Canucks, I think there's a marathon (?)in there somewhere, the weather is a huge selling feature and of course Food and Wine.

Some will say it's manageable and I don't disagree. It is manageable. But it's also too crowded for my liking.

 

[Accident]

This is my first trip and want to make sure to see everything!

This is impossible to do in a lifetime, let alone your first trip.. Even if you are the only one at WDW, you just can't do, discover and find it all..

I am going to Disney in October and wondering about crowd sizes? I have seen mixed reviews ranging from not crowded to a madhouse. We are going the 2nd week in October.

This is because crowd sizes are relative. Someone who always goes at the height of summer would find much of the fall less crowded, but there is times in the fall that look like xmas used to years ago and it's shoulder to shoulder... sometime who remembers the parks in the 80s will say that never happens and it doesn't anymore.

whenever someone online says it wasn't that crowded, they aren't saying it's not crowded, they are saying it's less crowded than they last remember. Or they are saying that could do double the amount of stuff than a more crowded day or be more spontaneous...

My recommendation is plan that you are going to get 1 attraction per hour with the crowd. some won't be that long, others will take longer. That might sound really long until you learn that some attractions are a 40 minute show or 25 minute boat ride.. It doens't mean your waiting around an hour for 1 minute of attraction it just balances out to roughly that. It also helps build in some spontaneous time as your going to run into random characters, street performers, interesting stores, random things you never expected to see and you'll want time to be able to stop for them as well. table service is roughly 90 minutes not counting getting to/from or waiting when they are running late. Getting from anywhere to anywhere on property, 40-60 minutes at least, the place is larger than some states.. it's 47 square MILES of property.

this october is going to be packed.. rumors from travel agencies are saying it's really packed and prices for rooms are high.. there's almost no discounts or the discounts are very small.. plan on a very busy crowd and you'll be ready and in the right frame of mind to have a great time. plan for empty and walk into a crowd and you'll be miserable and hate it..

 

[Blackadder337]

We went from Oct 13 - 23, 2016 and there were really only 2 times we found the crowds to be what might be considered "overwhelming". The one time was at the MMNSS Halloween Party. Now we did fully expect it to be very busy that night so it was fine in that sense. But compared to the rest of the trip that was a busy busy time. The second time we found the crowds to be overwhelming was at Epcot. But again the Food and Wine was on at that time. It wasn't so much that the crowds were super full I guess, but I think a lot of it had to do with the amount of people and alcohol that was around and the lack of balance that accompanies it had a lot do do with it. But we had fantastic luck with minimal lines and crowds at Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom and Universal Studios. For the most part we never waited more than 20 minutes for a ride/show, without fast passes.