October Crowds - Columbus Day

[julia & nicks mom]

I might have to change the week I go this year up a week to the week of Columbus Day -

I am very hesitant to do this - can you tell me how the crowds are that week -

also if you went another year before 2004 and you could give me and idea that would be great -

thanks

 

[beccasmom]

Federal holidays are normally crowded. I can't speak for Columbus Day, but MLK day in January is pretty busy. October is getting to be known as a wonderful time to visit WDW and it’s busier in general than it used to be. I would say that the weekend of Columbus Day would be fairly busy. The Tuesday after and the rest of the week would probably calm down considerably. It will not be as busy as say, going in July.

 

[kilee]

It is typically the most crowded weekend during October. If you're going for more than just the weekend, then I wouldn't worry too much about it. If you're only going for a handful of days, and it's just the weekend, then I'd try to avoid it.
Pretty much it's just that Fri-Mon thats really crowded.

 

[Wee Annie]

We went for Columbus Day week in 2003. We arrived on Sunday, and Monday (Columbus Day) was our first day in the parks. It was incredibly crowded and somewhat unpleasant (my family does not have a high tolerance for crowds/waiting in line). The rest of the week was really nice, though. The very next day -- Tuesday -- MK was almost all walk-ons for the first hour or two. So it's probably just the long weekend that's really crowded.

 

[eeyorina]

We were at Disney Columbus Day weekend 2004. Did the parks Fri thru Tues. and didn't find the parks too bad but of course we were use to crowd levels of Feb. school vacation week and Thanksgiving week. We only pulled a fastpass once and that was at MK. The World Showcase got pretty crowded in the evening but the Food and Wine Festival is going on then. I thought it was a great time to visit but I'm sure other times in Oct. would be better but it was very manageable. Enjoy

 

[ReggieB]

The past two years we have arrived at WDW on the Wednesday right after Columbus Day. It was pretty busy at MK on the Wednesdays, however not at all the crowds you would expect peak time. I guess Columbus weekend is going to be pretty busy. By the following week we noticed the crowds had dropped right off again. 2003/2004 comparison, there was a noticable increase in crowd size, not huge, but it was definitey busier that Columbus day week in 2004. Factors that might have effected that were the hurricanes, people might have delayed or rescheduled their visits. We used fast pass when we felt the waits were too long on the big rides (more than 40 mins) It really wasn't bad. I mean I would take that holiday over July 4 (crowdwise that is, I'm sure it's a blast on the 4th)
This year we are going in May, and I am expecting it to be much busier than October, but you know if you are armed with this knowledge you can plan your trip so that it doesn't make too much difference. I wouldn't let it worry you too much.

 

[mommykds]

We are going the week before Columbus Day. Anyone have an idea how busy the week before Columbus Day is? Rosh Hashanah is in there too...how would that affect crowds? We always go off season so I try to take the kids out of school as little days as possible & this seemed like a good week to do so (oct 1-10). Thanks!