October crowds

[Antonio]

i went in October in 2011 and remember the crowds being very mild. I'm going October 5-13. Is that a good week? I know about Columbus weekend maybe being a little rough but how about the rest of the week? I just went last December 16-23 and the crowds were insanely busier than I thought they'd be giving the kids were still in school.

 

[jillgunter]

Two years ago we went the third week of Oct, it was crazy crowded. Then our school switched last year to the last week of Oct for fall break. Was not as bad. A lot of schools have fall break the last two weeks.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

They will definitely not be what you remember, but they won't be Christmas or July 4 crowded either.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

It was back in the day, that Oct was a great month to visit WDW, however not any more, Oct can be crazy busy.

 

[elphie101]

We visited over Columbus Day weekend this past year, Thursday Oct 9th-Friday Oct 17th to be exact. If Food & Wine is a priority for you, definitely plan wisely when you want to visit Epcot - stay away from the weekend and Friday/Monday of the holiday (I'd recommend middle of the week - we had good luck our Wednesday - or whenever Epcot EMH isn't).

It's definitely not as mild in terms of crowds as it used to be, but it's not summer or holiday crowd level.

 

[PSUGuy]

This will be our 6 th Oct trip in recent years and our only experience with large crowds came over Columbus Day Weekend one time and of course Saturdays at WS. We avoid that weekend and Sat is our Ragan Road night.

Bill From PA

 

[KeroKero]

We've consistently been going on Oct for the past 4-5 years, generally arriving after Columbus Day weekend. It's been ages since I've been during other times of the year, so my perception may be rusty, but I find the October crowds totally manageable. The queues for the attraction aren't ridiculous (except for totally high demand attractions), walking around the parks I don't feel overwhelmed by people. I would just suggest not going to MK on a party day unless you're attending the party yourself, and don't go to Epcot's World Showcase for F&W on a Fri or Saturday (the locals residents come to the festival and its SUPER BUSY).

 

[Praying Colonel]

We were there the last week of Oct 2010 and it was crowd-level nirvana: 2s and 3s with a magical 1 day at the MK (Walk-on Space Mountain 3 times in a row? Yes, please!).

Went back the first week of Oct 2013 and it was a different show. Much more crowded, especially on a MK Sunday where it was supposed to be a 1 and felt more like a 7.

So maybe it's what week in October you're there, or maybe it's just busier now than a few years ago. I would expect Columbus Day weekend to be busy.

 

[Hopefully]

We've been going to WDW for the last 10 years. Each and every year is busier than the year before. I agree it is not holiday crowd busy, but it is quite busy now

 

[Brocktoon]

We were there the last week of Oct 2010 and it was crowd-level nirvana: 2s and 3s with a magical 1 day at the MK (Walk-on Space Mountain 3 times in a row? Yes, please!).

Went back the first week of Oct 2013 and it was a different show. Much more crowded, especially on a MK Sunday where it was supposed to be a 1 and felt more like a 7.

So maybe it's what week in October you're there, or maybe it's just busier now than a few years ago. I would expect Columbus Day weekend to be busy.

Yep, we've been going during the 2nd half of October since 2006. It was amazing how empty the parks were probably til ~ 2011 - 2012. I think a lot of the uptick is due to so many schools having fall breaks. While not packed yet, if fall breaks continue to increase I can see October eventually starting to rival summer break times.