October hours- They have officially scared me off from Fall trips

They ALWAYS have late hours in October, because of all the party nights. This is nothing new. In fact, they took forever this year to update.

What about all those MK 8am opens they just added, do they always do those?
 
We love May! We actually went the last week of May this year and crowds were still manageable. The weather during early May is awesome.. warm but not terribly humid and few rain showers. I actually picked the end of April for our Disney wedding because of the great weather and low crowds.

I've been wanting to go to F&W forever, so I scheduled our planning session for our wedding for Oct 30th that way we could hit F&W, MNSSHP on the 31st and stick around until Nov 5th to maybe see some Christmas decorations. It will be interesting to see how crowds compare to late Spring.

Totally off-topic from the original post...but I'm so glad to hear good things about early May. We're usually fall/winter visitors but in 2018 we're doing a cruise and wanted warmer weather, so we are going 5/4-5/14. I'm a little anxious about it just because I don't have any personal experience going during that time frame. And congrats on your wedding! :)
 


We're going Oct. 14-21. I had our plans already in place before the park hours were changed with our base tickets. So the hours changed has very little impact on us. Sort of worried in a way since it's our first trip ever. Yet I chose our park days by last year's crowds, avoiding EMH except for our last day at 7am which I heard isn't that busy, we made a deal where we aren't doing any standby longer than 30 minutes, and we have early evening dinner ADRs. We're just happy to be going there really. We have our FPs and if anything else is done it's gravy. :thumbsup2
 
How funny! I keep seeing the hours change and it's making me more and more excited to go in 11 days!! Sure, I'm expecting big crowds, but we have our Fastpasses and good dining reservations, so that's all I need! I don't let myself stress too much over crowds. Then again, we've gone in some very busy months in the summer so I know how to navigate without feeling too much stress.
 


I've been nervous ever since seeing the BC sell out for our week (10/28-11/5) We've stayed at the BC over 20 times and we've never experienced the hotel selling out months in advance. This will be our first Fall trip and if crowds are anything like I'm expecting it might be our last Fall trip! I'm kind of wishing we booked the first week of December. We usually do late April-early May or early December.
This week sells out because of the Wine and Dine running events I think. We were there last year during that week and will be again. It wasn't terrible last year and hoping it won't be bad this year.
 
I am thinking we will be May people from now on. Our kids get out of school mid month. We can pull them out for their last week since they don't do anything anyways. That would put us going 2nd week of May.

Hate to burst your bubble, but we have been going the mid-second into third week of May for the past 5-6 years. It isn't what I would call a "slow" month and has become busier each year. The extension of Flower & Garden may be partially to blame, but more than likely it is simply folks trying to beat the crowds, heat and higher pricing of summer. We have also been going 1st into 2nd week of October since 2010. It has gradually become as busy then as it ever was when we used to go after school ended in June. We find both times manageable, but don't go into it thinking it will be a "slow" or "low crowd" time in May.
 
I've been nervous ever since seeing the BC sell out for our week (10/28-11/5) We've stayed at the BC over 20 times and we've never experienced the hotel selling out months in advance. This will be our first Fall trip and if crowds are anything like I'm expecting it might be our last Fall trip! I'm kind of wishing we booked the first week of December. We usually do late April-early May or early December.
If it makes you feel any better, early December has been booked up for quite a while. No one knows if it's a website glitch or a record breaking crowd but there may be similar issues in December as well.
 
I'd be glad if they'd had that kind of late hours over the summer. It was a big disappointment to have the summer MK fireworks at 9pm, and MK closed at 10pm. On top of the that, what they called AK EMH was only the Avatar rides.
 
Here's why I don't think things are going to be nearly as dire as some folks think it is going to be.
I'm looking to move park days around, switching up and heading to MK on Saturday, 10/7 (not typically recommended day for MK)
Checking FP for this day, I can get FP for every single ride (for 3) right now, including Mine Train.
Don't know about you but that doesn't sound like a slammed busy park to me
 
Interesting. In December the 8ams don't usually kick in until 12/23. Same with Easter - usually starts on Palm Sunday or after. So these October dates are busier?
I've been there for both time periods and no, not even close. December dates are MUCH busier
 
What about all those MK 8am opens they just added, do they always do those?
They had several 8 am openings in October 2012 when we last went.

MY personal opinion is that Disney realized the shorter hours this summer ( and the shorter hours that were originally planned for October ) were a mistake and they are fixing that now.
 
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FWIW, when we went 5 years ago in 2012 people were saying the same thing.

" Oh, October is going to be so busy "

" Oh, the lines are going to be the same as the summer months "

" Oh October isnt the slow time anymore"

So I was a bit scared when we went, but we had a good plan that included only going to the MK when it had a party night, avoiding EP on the weekends and we also avoided EMH since we didn't qualify for them anyways. Our trip was fantastic. I would say our average wait time was 10 minutes ???? Some rides we walked on, some we waited 20 minutes. The longest we waited was for Dumbo and that was around 30 minutes. Now this was before FP+ so I am expecting things to be a bit different this time, but I am also glad we don't have to criss cross the parks so as to grab the paper fastpasses.
 
They had 8 am openings in October several times in 2012 when we last went.

MY personal opinion is that Disney realized the shorter hours this summer ( and the shorter hours that were originally planned for October ) were a mistake and they are fixing that now.
Exactly my opinion as well. No one seems to have considered that they've listened to complaints and extended hours
 
Exactly my opinion as well. No one seems to have considered that they've listened to complaints and extended hours
Right. I think what people are forgetting that the original October hours for 2017 were not the norm. I'm talking the MK closing at 9 ? I havent seen October hours like that for the last 5 years. Disney is just extending their hours and making them what they were supposed to be. I imagine they got tons of complaints this summer and realized their little experiment didn't work.
 

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