Planning 2nd disney trip, came here for help!

[jlkoontz]

Hi all, I am trying to nail down some plans to take my oldest son (age 4, will be 5 11/13/12) to WDW this Oct/Nov. It would either be over Halloween week or the week leading up to 11/11. My DH is a resident and doesn't get his coming schedule until April so we have only known his schedule a couple weeks and therefore haven't booked before now.
Any recommendations about going or NOT going over Halloween? How about if we wait and go that 2nd week of November? Will Christmas be out? Parade started for holidays? Lights? I know there is a race that weekend but it will be our last day there so I am not too worried about that.
Also when would be our best time to book? There is free dining right now, but only through September and that is not an option for us. We need to be kind of frugal with this one. Plan to stay at WDW but probably in the value resorts. We won't be in there much at all anyway.

If there are threads going that might be of help to me, I'd love to have links to those too. Thank you all!

 

[jesswindsor]

Halloween in my favorite time going to WDW, but I have never actually been on Halloween due to the crowds. I usually go a week or two before Halloween and have found it very nice. MNSSHP is great, and at EPCOT the Food and Wine festival is going on at that time also. If you want to try to avoid crowds I would go the week leading up to 11/11 if you don't mind missing out on the Halloween Decor. I'm sorry I don't know for sure when they but out Decor for Christmas. Have fun on your trip!!!

 

[jlkoontz]

Halloween in my favorite time going to WDW, but I have never actually been on Halloween due to the crowds. I usually go a week or two before Halloween and have found it very nice. MNSSHP is great, and at EPCOT the Food and Wine festival is going on at that time also. If you want to try to avoid crowds I would go the week leading up to 11/11 if you don't mind missing out on the Halloween Decor. I'm sorry I don't know for sure when they but out Decor for Christmas. Have fun on your trip!!!

Thanks for the info. Our options are going to be either going November 5th-10th or Oct 28-Nov 2 for sure. I think it could be fun on Halloween but yeah the crowds kind of worry me.

 

[Rx774]

This year will be our 2nd year going as well. Never even thought about trying to go during H'ween. That is a wonderful idea. That's why i love this place so much!!!

 

[maganda]

I've gone the last week of October for the Food and Wine Festival. We didn't go to MNSSHP and personally I don't feel any regret for missing it but that's just me. We loved the Food and Wine Festival, and the weather was perfect.

I would definitely return in late October if it weren't so tough to pull my kids out of school for a week.

 

[kmb584]

We've been at WDW for Halloween proper in 2010 and 2011, the last day of our October trip year will fall on Halloween as well. IMO, the crowds are not bad at all, nowhere near compared to what you'll see during the summer months and peak times! Last fall we spent the day at EPCOT and had minimal wait times for every attraction except Soarin' and TT (which was no big deal as we FP those to begin with).

I don't think you can go wrong with either time slot you're considering. If you're there in October, definitely consider purchasing tickets to MNSSHP. I'm not a Halloween person AT ALL but bought tickets on a whim in 2011 (we wanted more time at MK after dinner but the park was closing early as it was a party night) and it was probably the best night I've ever had at WDW. We were able to watch Boo-To-You and HalloWishes, DD did a bit of trick-or-treating (something we don't do at home), and the overall atmosphere was excellent. The best part? We walked on to EVERY SINGLE attraction, which in my book was worth the ticket price alone. DD was able to ride all of her favorites, and my aunt watched her while I rode SM x 2 and BTMRR x 2. In fact, when it came time to unload from BTMRR the CM let me just stay on as there were only 6 people waiting to board.