Hi everyone,
We are traveling to DL on Oct. 21-24! We are so excited bc this is not only our first family trip to DL, but we are suprising our boys with this trip! I am curious, how bad are the crowds and wait times during this time at DL. We have always made trips to WDW during value and high season. So we are use to the crowds, but we have never done DL. I know DL can get a little more busy bc of the higher level of locals and AP holders. What should we expect for the wait time with Star Tours, Little Mermaid, Toy Story Mania, and all of the other major rides.
It sounds like you are used to busy times at WDW, so you will probably be fine. You may or may not know that DL's walkways are overall smaller, so it can FEEL more crowded if you're, say, trying to get up Main Street during fireworks. And the construction in DCA may or may not cause congestion over there; I think we'll have to wait and see.
We went mid-October last year and I was surprised by the crowds, which were higher than I'd expected. You'll have fun but I'd definitely imagine "high-season" crowds, and then you won't be disappointed if they're smaller!
The below is all speculation; overall, we won't really know how crowds are until October starts. But it sounded like you wanted some ideas, so here are mine, even though they're guesses.
Star Tours I imagine will probably still be at least 90 minutes throughout the day. If you don't want to wait, get there right at opening, and/or get a FP.
The Little Mermaid is a fast-moving line without as much repeat appeal as Star Tours (there's only one way through the ride, not 21 different "combinations", and Little Mermaid is not a thrill ride). I'm not saying people won't want to ride more than once, but the wait times seem to be approaching reasonable (I've seen reports of 15-20 minutes, but believe it or not, a lot of days in July seem to actually be less crowded than some days in October!). So I wouldn't stress TOO much about that one.
Toy Story Mania is another where it's almost always busy and there's no FP. I've heard it actually gets LESS busy later in the day. IMO if you see a 30 minute wait time, you may not do any better. But that would be the case whether the parks are jammed full or just regular busy.
The other rides in DL, reports are that Star Tours actually seems to be taking some of the audience away from them, especially in the early morning. So hopefully that trend will continue in October. In other words, the parks are busy, but a lot of the people will HOPEFULLY be on/waiting for Star Tours.
Have a great trip!
