PLEASE explain the October crowds.

[2BoysMom]

We were just at WDW from Friday through Monday (10/12 - 10/15) and we have gone on many October trips. I have never seen the size of the crowds at any time EVER on any of our previous trips. We have FL Seasonal passes, so we purposely avoid "crowded times" like Christmas, Easter and Summer. I had a good friend who went the weekend before us, and she said her weekend was also so crowded she barely went on any rides.

Any ideas? Do you think this is a trend, that October is now crazy busy, or was it just our couple of weeks?

 

[annacali]

Ok, so glad it isn't just me We were there from Oct 6-13, and it was our first ever pull the kids out of school fall trip. We were looking forward to the previously reported lower crowd levels of October. All our previous trips were summer ones. I thought the crowds last week rivaled our July trip, but since we hadn't been for over a year thought maybe I was just remembering wrong. Really enjoyed the weather though!

 

[AJA55]

My guess is that a lot more people are taking advantage of the Columbus Day (Thanksgiving Day for Canada) week off. Just a guess on my part.

We were there October 4th  12th and thought it was wicked crowed. So much so that we will not visit at that time of the year again.

Oh and we thougth the weather was more Summer like. We like Fall weather better.

 

[disneyfan888]

I think it has to do with the new fantasy land expansion. Even though the official opening is not until November, many people were aware that Disney would be doing "soft openings" this month to test the attractions out and get feedback. Before we lived in FL, October was always our month of vacationing to Disney World and the low crowds have remained through out the years.

 

[TXHauntedMansionFan]

We were there Sept 27th through Oct 7th and also thought that it was the most crowded that we had seen it other than when we went during the beginning of Christmas week.

We figured that a combination of the following were to blame: the Inaugural Tower of Terror Race (9,000 runners - it's why we came!), the start of the F&W Festival and Columbus Day weekend.

We still had a lot of fun (except for the heat and humidity!!) and would still go back in Oct. The F&W was great and so was the MNSSHP!

 

[jgh]

Strange. We went October 11-13 and I thought the crowds were great...

In fact, we were at Magic Kingdom October 11th until 3pm and the most we waited for a ride was 15 minutes for Winnie the Pooh, everything else we practically walked on. We got to the park at 6:55am for EMH.

We did EVERYTHING at least once except just a handful of things...like the Hall of Presidents, Jungle Cruise, Riverboat, Aladdin...things we don't even do usually. We didn't get into the new Fantasyland unfortunately and I didn't hear anything about it while I was down there. Ended up being able to do Peter Pan twice, PhilharMagic twice, new Dumbo three times, Pirates twice and Space Mountain twice.

Saturday (10/13) was a bit crowded, but it seemed like normal October Saturday crowds to me. Though we did not go to MK on Saturday...just DHS and AK.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I think the word is out about October being nice crowdwise so more people are going then.

I also think that more people have schools that are on break in October which also contributes to the crowds since people are trying to avoid Christmas crowds and spring break.

It should be interesting to see how next October will be and if the trend of crowded Octobers continue.

 

[Tropical Wilds]

We went the last week of September into the first week of October last year, then this year we went September 30 - October 6th. This year was faaar more packed then last year. The weekends were slammed... Almost unmanageably so. On October 6th, the line for a sandwich at EoS was about 45 minutes long.

We're not going during this time of year again. It's still too hot, the weather too unpredictable, and during that first two weeks of Food and Wine, it was a nightmare with how crowded it got.

 

[AndreaA]

We are at WDW right now and I think the crowds are extremely, extremely light.

We went to Animal Kingdom on Sunday (10/14) and had breakfast at Tusker House. We were late arriving due to the busses, and yet were still seated in under 5 minutes. We then grabbed a fastpass for the safari but the standby line was only 10min. We walked on with our fastpass less than an hour later. Then we made our way over to Expedition Everest and grabbed fastpasses, but the standby wait was only 20min. When we returned after Paganini trail, we could have walked on via the single rider line. We left by about 3, but there were still no appreciable waits.

We went to Epcot on Monday, and didn't arrive until after 11 and there was only a 20min wait for Nemo (likely much shorter). We walked the aquarium instead, went to lunch, walked the World, and then went back to Nemo around 2 and walked on.

Today we went to Magic Kingdom. We were there for RD, 5-10min wait for Dumbo, walked on Pooh around 9:30, walked on the carousel (just waited for the current cycle to complete), 5 minute wait for Peter Pan around 10, walked on Philharmagic, walked on Small World, grabbed FP for BTMRR even though the wait was only 20min, went on the railroad, could have walked onto Splash (boats were running EMPTY), rode BTMRR 4 times with FP (alternating hubby and myself and using our toddlers' FPs.) and the standby was only 10 min. at that point, around 11am. Showed up to our Crystal Palace reservation almost an hour early and were still seating within 15min. NO crowds for the parade at noon. I kept checking the wait times for all rides and the longest I saw was 35min. In fact, I just checked again (we're back at our hotel) and at 3:54 the longest wait is still just 35minutes.

Hopefully these crowds will stand for the rest of our visit!

 

[mjallemand]

You guys are making me dread my upcoming (10/21-10/27) trip...

 

[MADnNOLA]

It's funny how how different people perceive things so differently. I just return on Sunday from a Wednesday 10th - Sunday 14th stay. I thought the crowds were low!

Most ride lines ran 10 to 20 minutes each. This include the very popular ones of all the Mountains, Everest and Kali, Rockin' and TT. I did notice some times during the heavy crowd parts of mid-day, the lines may hit 60 minutes (including PP, WTP,). But I went on the other rides and attractions during those times and avoided the waits.

Even during F&W on Friday, I did not think the crowds were bad, and that was the "park to avoid". I only waited 2 - 3 minutes in the long lines for food, and the other attractions had lines again of 10 - 20 minutes (except for Soarin').

I never felt crowded or rushed anywhere in any of the parks. I never had an issue of getting service at food or merchandise establishments. Even during the fireworks, when the crowds gathered, I did not feel they were overwhelming.

I was last in the parks in November of last year, and that was a PACKED House time. Compared to that visit last week we a breeze!

 

[saturdaygirl]

We are at WDW right now and I think the crowds are extremely, extremely light.

Hopefully these crowds will stand for the rest of our visit!

I hope so too! I'm bringing my best friend who hasn't been since 2004 and I don't want her to leave feeling overwhelmed!

 

[DebbieB]

I think picking your park days has a big effect. I've found that during party season (MNSSHP, MVMCP), MK is very crowded on non-party days because of the later close. Party days are less crowded up until late afternoon. The last time I went in October (2010), everything was walk-on at MK on a Tuesday party day. I remember one trip where we went to MVMCP on a non-party day so that we could see Spectro that night. It was so crowded we left at noon and came back in the evening. It has the opposite effect on the other parks, people head to other parks on party days.

 

[crathy21]

I realize it's all relative to what you are used to or expecting but for us we had a great trip and thought crowds were reasonably low, except for Epcot's F&W and even that was managable.

We followed Touringplans and easywdw's recommendations and had a great week. MK was awesome on the days of the MNSSHP. The weather was perfect for us- no rain!

Cathy
WDW trips
Jan 2008 * 2009 * 2010 * all MLK Jr weeks
May 2011 Flower & Garden Festival
October 2012 MNSSHP -best trip ever!!

 

[SSR]

Getting to parks before or at rope drop makes a huge difference, even in October. Starting the day at 11 am puts you right in the thick of the crowds. Starting at rope drop, not so much. We're early-birds and find we get so much done by 10am that the rest of the day is much more leisurely, regardless of crowds.

 

[jlwhitney]

we were at WDW oct 5-7 and the crowds were horrible. Def higher than past trips around same time.

I blame it on Food and Wine alot, since that really drives crowds and keeps gaining in popularity.

 

[Chee Chick]

The schools in my area are now having Fall Breaks. This has only started in the last couple of years. The public schools in my town are off this entire week for the first time. May have something to do with increased crowds.

 

[mjallemand]

The schools in my area are now having Fall Breaks. This has only started in the last couple of years. The public schools in my town are off this entire week for the first time. May have something to do with increased crowds.

And next week...?

 

[nansmama]

We were there October 5-8. The parks were crowded. NOT Christmas or 4th of July crowded, but quite busy. Epcot on weekend afternoons and evenings was packed due to F&W. Downtown Disney was the most crowded I have ever seen it. And it was HOT, nasty humid, and rainy on top of it. I'm glad we went and got to see the decorations and MNSSHP, but we won't go again in October.

 

[DW2010]

We were there October 1-6 and it was really busy compared to our end of September trip in 2010. We still got lucky and didn't have excessive wait times but in 2010 we were able to ride popular rides multiples times in a row without even getting off! Our average wait time was probably 15 minutes or so this time but we did avoid the long wait time rides. We were still able to ride all the rides we wanted. I guess, based on wait times we had, the crowds were low. It just seemed more busy than our last trip.